What a three-floor mesh network actually needs
Ever since moving from a single floor condo to a three floor townhouse, there have been two things I don't miss: not having to deal with stairs, and not having to worry about wi-fi coverage.
Our original setup
When we moved in, the kids had just been born, we were stressed and sleep deprived - so I had our internet setup, wired jacks for our offices on the top floor and basement, and used the ISP's single router (on a co-ax cable to boot - more on this later). While our desks could be hard-wired, the rest of the house suffered in its wi-fi coverage. Anything not on the main floor with the router had weak signals.
First Upgrade
I bought the Google Mesh Routers - a 3 pack. I still had not dug too much into networking, but felt like this was a good move, since we already had so many smart devices, half of which were on the google ecosystem. Worked fairly well - an improvement for sure. But the main floor started suffering more now. That was because, there was no wired jack on the main floor (only the co-ax!). Google Mesh routers work best when they are all wired in - otherwise, they are relying on each other's signal to boost it further, which in the end reduces the strength of that signal overall.
I moved the router on the main floor to a more central spot so the distance between each router was minimized - this was the best we were getting. But that signal reduction still impacted several devices - and Google did not offer anything like splitting bands (2.4 vs 5 GHz), or controlling which router each devices connects to.
Enter UniFi
Fed up with everything, I started researching for more advanced equipment that could give me the control I wanted. I ended up with UniFi - my own gateway in front of the ISP modem, three access points, and more stable coverage. I did have to install a third jack on the main floor (did not want to bother with a MoCA adapter). Things are finally looking good, I can manage everything from my phone.
Takeaways
- Wired connections for routers are a must, so each device can send out its own signal for the mesh network
- Being able to have both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands separate
- Being able to set preferences for devices to connect to a specific router, equally distributing loads