1mo ago

Mixing brands for home network

I do not see any brands that offer all I need. I'll be setting up TMHI (T-Mobile), and a mesh network through the house, because the TMHI device will not be centrally located in order to get the best position for signal. I also have two out-buildings that need limited internet - looking at point-to-point for those, and access points inside. I can find everything I need, but not under one brand. Also - I need more than two hard-wired connections inside the home. but most of the mesh 'masters' I see only have two - one in, one out... SO - I'm open to suggestions, please! thanks in advance for any and all assistance!

12 comments

ive had good luck with the unifi stack. seems to offer all the kinds of solutions i needed.. single pane config, ptp (house to garage), mesh etc. i was even able to set specific access points to specific devices. even standalone repeating.
aint cheap though.

Mixing brands is a non-issue, you just lose on some features like integration of everything with everything, so more manual configuration. But that's about it.
You can have your TMHI connect over Ethernet to a switch where you'll have ports then there you can get your wired connections and your point to points and your mesh network all off that switch. If you need more ports add another switch.
That said I'm pretty sure Ubiquity has stuff for all those needs, it's just pricier than random crap you can buy at BestBuy.
- You can have your TMHI connect over Ethernet to a switch where you'll have ports then there you can get your wired connections and your point to points and your mesh network all off that switch. If you need more ports add another switch.
  I’d much rather go this route too, using “mesh” for WiFi just sounds like too much chaos for me. It’s not sexy, but it’s a lot easier to maintain and upgrade (the individual parts).

Also - I need more than two hard-wired connections inside the home.
Just plug in an unmanaged switch to get more ports. They'll collectively be slightly slower internet-wise than the port the switch is plugged in to.

Have you looked into Ubiquiti equipment? They're generally pretty solid, and might have everything you need.

Mixing brands is fine, assuming one of two things is true:
They are following the same defined standard (e.g. 802.11ax, not "mesh Wi-Fi")
The proprietary feature you are looking for is contained within devices for that brand. IOW, that feature doesn't need to interoperate with other brands.
Most mesh systems are proprietary, so everything within that must match (for the back haul connection). But you can also just setup another WAP, following the 802.11 and 802.3 standards. Similarly, your point to point devices can connect to other devices using 802.11 or .3, but not to the mesh back haul.

I do nearly that all with omada.

What's your budget?
A $200 budget is going to get you VERY different options than a $1000 budget, especially since you're wanting to connect multiple buildings.
- Hoping for a $500-ish solution...
  
  I'd seriously consider unifi gear, like the other comments seem to have also suggested.
  The only thing you don't get is ethernet drops out of the APs or anything like that, but the UAPs in a mesh configuraiton could proabbly do everything you want, unless you have a shockingly large piece of property.

I could do this, I was hoping to not run cables, but this is probably the better solution. Two WAP would probably work.

Why not ditch the mesh and go with a properly switched network with Ethernet as the backhaul? Your latency is likely already hosed using cellular for WAN, why add even more as traffic boings around a bunch of mesh nodes?

12 comments