Bridged wifi between floors, better config?

[brucew]

As one of my wifi routers has failed, I’m considering the best approach at a certain price-point going forward as I link the main internet on the first floor to the Hi-Fi on the ground floor. I’ve been using a pair of Edimax AC750 routers bridged to get signal to the ground floor since my interior walls are solid brick. Config is:

 

Modem/Router: Sagemcom HubOne

Switch: Netgear GS108 (DC Neg/AC Earth shunt on Meanwell SMPS)

NUC media server

Access point: Edimax AC750 (failed)

Bridge to Access Point, ground floor: Edimax AC750

Switches, ground floor (3x): Zyxel ES105

microRendu

Amazon Fire stick

 

General internet access for everything but the media system is Wi-Fi access to the HubOne router.

1. I could get a cheap mesh system for AP & Bridge: TP-Link AC1200 Mesh pair Deco E4.
2. I could replace the failed AC750 with a purpose-made Access Point: TP-Link AC1350 EAP225
3. I could replace the failed AC750 with a router configured as Access Point: TP-Link AC1750 Archer A7

 

The Archer A7 seems to have the highest speeds and performance, so I could swap AP router for AP router. Or the business-rated ceiling mount EAP225 could be used – lower specs but is a purpose-made AP. All three options are at a similar price-point.

 

Note: I find SQ significantly better when using routers dedicated to media (not mixing with other network traffic), and when using static IP addresses. I don’t know if using mesh system for media will be better, same, or worse than the above config for SQ.

 

Anyone with relevant experience and comparisons of SQ at different wireless configs?

 

[cjf]

So if I am reading the description correctly you have your advertised SSID point located on the ground floor and the "End Point Link" connecting the Ground floor to the floor above is broken? You have a well isolated environment (via brick) so signal strength is of concern?

 

If this is correct and if it were me, I would look to purchase a Ubiquti AirMax device (or two) to create a strong Point to Point Link between the two floors and restore your connectivity (and maybe even better it). These devices are very powerful with distances up to 15Km so powering thru the Brick walls shouldn't be too big a deal but even if it were, the power of the devices should at least allow for a signal as strong or better than you have used before.

 

I use a few Ubiquti switches today (Unifi Platform) and they are very nice and fairly cheap. They so have their quirks but are very reliable and hard to beat in terms of the Price/Performance ratio. If you require a "Tagged VLAN 1" for management purposes then you will need to get creative (Unifi platform can't do tagged VLAN 1) but short of that its a solid option.

[brucew]

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. My SSID-point routers are on the 1st floor above ground, one for main house use, SSID: HUBmain, and one to get dedicated signal to the ground floor for audio, SSID: HUBaudio config'd as an AP. I was getting plenty adequate signal between through a floor and a brick wall using 5G, but the HUBaudio AP router is failing so needs to be replaced. The only router on the ground floor is bridged to the HUBaudio AP (1st floor above) as point-to-point wireless connection, and still is working.

 

BTW: the HUBaudio AP router still works on 2.4G and passes signal adequately but SQ is markedly poorer on 2.4G, for whatever reason. I'm not trying to solve that question, just using 5G and moving on.

 

I could have used Ubiquiti instead but at the time they were advertised as not very user friendly for home-users to set up. I can get another router AC1750 and set up as AP or I can get a business AP device AC1350 for similar price and use as my HUBaudio AP which is sat next to the HUBmain modem/router and switch.

 

My first question is whether the AC1750 router with it's higher signal rate is truly likely to perform better than the AC1350 ceiling mount AP device. They are at a similar pricepoint and even my AC750 5G signal seemed to do fine through the brick wall.

 

My second question is, since dedicated router config'd to use 5G and static IP addresses gives markedly better SQ than shared routers or automatic DHCP IP addresses, is a cheap mesh router, Deco E4, likely to be step backwards in SQ, or forward, and for what reasons?

 

Does that help?