RedlandRanger
Moderator
Thanks for the info from a pro - I'm in IT but my focus is enterprise web software development. I'd say I know enough about networking to be dangerous - certainly not an expert. I've done what you suggest a couple of time - the obvious problem is having that wired circuit to hook up the second AP, but that does seem to be the best solution. Wired is always the preferred option, IMO. If we ever build a new house, I'm going to make sure it is well covered with CAT6 - multiple jacks in every room, including the shop.So generally WiFi is shared spectrum. If you live close to lots of other people you'll have terrible throughput no matter what you do. Adding a mesh system to this WiFi soup will serve almost no purpose, and could decrease your overall speed (because it's half duplex you lose 50% each hop) even if the signal strength shows "Excellent".
My somewhat professional opinion (I deployed large scale wifi for hospitals in several parts of the country) would be to get a high quality wireless router and:
If you need to cover house and yard, put it as high as possible in your house OR If you only want to cover in the house and a little yard, put it in your basement.
The basement will shield it from a lot of the noise of the neighborhood and allow it to "hear" better from the signals above it. This will improve the overall signal quality and support better throughput.
If you do that, and find that you have other areas that are poorly covered, run a cable from the router to the area that is undercovered, and put another access point (basically a router without DHCP running as a bridge) in that location with EXACTLY the same SSID on a different channel.
As a former wireless engineer and an Extra class ham radio operator, the invention of these 3 and 4 band WiFi shotguns terrifies me. When everyone is trying to blast out several GB of packets all the time on several bands at once, nobody is going to have a good time.
Also, be a good neighbor. If the device you are using supports it, lower the output power to the least usable power level so that you aren't shouting over your neighbors and in effect starting an arms race (your neighbor is on the honda civic forum right now asking the exact same question).
Something like this with similar SSID and Channel setups for the 5Ghz stuff.
EDIT:I just realized I had3 wireless AP's in the diagram, eliminate the one in the top right and just have the ethernet cable go from basement to bonus room. I've fixed the diagram.
I don't have the problem of having too much interference from neighbors as we live out in the country and have some space between houses. I typically can see a couple of my neighbors APs, but they aren't really strong enough to try and connect to.
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