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Linksys Velop MX4200 + Deco M5?

Kevster

Casual Member
Hi,

Apologies in advance - random newbie questions coming up!

Just got Community Fibre installed. I'm getting high speeds directly from the main supplied Linksys router (upwards of 800mb)

I've connected my old Tp link Deco M5 mesh system and they bring the speed right down - around 150mb from the main Deco unit, and 50mb elsewhere in the house.

1) Do in need a different mesh system? Is the Deco M5 compatible with the new Linksys? It's 'wifi 6' or something - is this too much for the Deco to handle?

2) Has anyone bought extra Linksys units? Do you just get the identical model and set it up as a mesh system? Is there another mesh system anyone can recommend?
 
Congratulations on joining CF. With 1Gbps come performance challenges for existing wireless kit you may have to fully benefit from the speed upgrade.

TP Link Deco M5 mesh is Wifi-5 technology which typically performs upto 500Mbps at 5 Ghz. It may get impacted by additional nodes if it doesn’t have a dedicated wireless backhaul link and not using ethernet.

I’d get another Linksys Velop MX4200 off ebay and extend the mesh and retire the TP Link.

Finally, use ethernet between nodes where possible for best performance.
 
I think @stackdell covered most of your questions. But adding to that is to say all Mesh Wi-Fi systems are incompatible between themselves since there is no actual mesh standard. Perhaps one day we may have one mesh standard but not today. Whether you need to buy the same model or not depends on the mesh system. In terms of what the best Mesh system for me it's the Ubiquiti Unifi. If you want to go crazy you can get Ubiquiti Enterprise access points which are Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. But it won't be cheap...
 
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Cheers guys. Kind of disappointed as I’d heard great things about the range of the CF router - but it seems weaker than my old Virgin 3 thing.

I’ll be connecting wirelessly as no access points upstairs. Do you think another Velop is the best option? The signal seems pretty weak…

Are any of the other Tp Deco things any good? The M5 has been amazing for the last 3 years.

What do you mean about mesh systems being incompatible? I used to have the mesh system and the Virgin WiFi router on the same named network and it seemed to work ok.
 
Cheers guys. Kind of disappointed as I’d heard great things about the range of the CF router - but it seems weaker than my old Virgin 3 thing.

I’ll be connecting wirelessly as no access points upstairs. Do you think another Velop is the best option? The signal seems pretty weak…
Different access points will give you different results in different conditions, it's hard to predict what each AP will do. The best way to achieve max speeds on each access point and to have super stable wifi mesh is to use a mesh system that supports wired APs and wire them. If you won't wire them you can't expect miracles.
Are any of the other Tp Deco things any good? The M5 has been amazing for the last 3 years.
The Deco M9 Plus is Tri-Band AC2200 as oppose to your M5 Dual-Band AC1300. Might give you a better speed, you will have to try. The M9 supports wiring the APs (sometimes called ethernet internet backhaul) so that's a good thing if you are willing to do the work to cable them.
What do you mean about mesh systems being incompatible? I used to have the mesh system and the Virgin WiFi router on the same named network and it seemed to work ok.
Mesh systems being incompatible means you can't mix and match different brands into the SAME wifi mesh system. Each brands wants to form it's own wifi mesh not being part of an existing one. Some Wifi routers can work in "extender" mode which uses the same wifi network, but this is a very old and deprecated way to get better wifi than a mesh and should be avoided at all costs. You should also have a single wifi network working at any one time, having more than one it's a recipe for intermittent wifi issues as the access points are not aware of each other and fight for the bandwidth. All the wifi devices share the same bandwidth. The less devices you have the better. That's why it's highly recommended to use ethernet internet backhaul for all your wifi acces points, as this sends a significant portion of your wireless traffic into copper cables releasing bandwidth to wifi devices. Another thing you should try to wire are your TV or streaming boxes as these will be heavy users of constant traffic.

So if you want top performance, that's the way. If you don't want to wire your access points then you will get less performance and stability. There are no free lunches...
 
Cool. Thanks for the comprehensive reply! So just to clarify, if I’m using extenders, I should shut down the original router’s WiFi (unless it’s the same system eg. the CF box we’re talking about)
 
Cool. Thanks for the comprehensive reply! So just to clarify, if I’m using extenders, I should shut down the original router’s WiFi (unless it’s the same system eg. the CF box we’re talking about)
Yes I think you got it but you are still confusing wifi extenders with wifi mesh systems. So wifi extenders typically work across brands of wifi routers but usually not with wifi mesh systems. Extenders are bad because they just rebroadcast the same wifi signal over the same channel/frequency. In effect they just "repeat" the same signal and rebroadcast it louder. They are bad because they only work over the same channel/frequency which is a recipe for wifi collisions. Imagine how retramissions work when wireless signals bounce all over your house and arrive at different times. It's a mess that's why repeaters usually never work well and why they have been superseeded by wifi mesh systems. A good analogy for wifi repeaters is Chinese whispers.

Wifi mesh systems do "extend" your wifi network but crucially they don't repeat the same signal that goes from your access point to the internet and back but they retransmit it over a different path. If your mesh access points are ethernet wired then you have in effect an "internet wifi router" in every place you have a mesh access point, because once your wifi device's traffic gets to the mesh access point it goes wired all the way to the internet. If they are not wired they are still miles better than wifi extenders/repeaters since they use a different channel/frequency for the traffic going back from the access point to the main wifi router and then typically back to the internet.

So to sum up if you use a mesh system don't call them extenders because mesh systems are different than old school wifi extenders/repeaters. But yes wish mesh systems do extend your wifi coverage.

If you use a different wifi mesh system than the one on your ISP router then you should certainly turn off your router's wifi to "clear" the wireless waves for your wifi mesh system to be able to use as much bandwidth as possible.
 
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Just an update (I know you're all dying to hear...!)

I upgraded to a Deco M9 and replaced the old M5s which I'm flogging on eBay. I can get 400-500mb in the living room from the main one and around 200mb in the loft, 3 floors up which I'm happy with. I'm also keeping one of the M5s in the kitchen to add a bit more wifi juice in that area.

Just a note on turning off the wifi of the Velop. Does it really make a difference? I've got the Deco mesh and the Velop on the same SSID and when I'm in the living room, my laptop hooks into that and I get the full whack of wifi strength. The Amazon Fire TV also runs off that. I tried turning it off to 'clear the wifi waves' but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

For the record, the TP-Link Deco systems are amazing which is why I've stuck with them. Absolute child's play to set up - literally 5 mins, and rock solid connection.

The only reason I went for the M9s and not the X50s or something more powerful is the size of the thing. Once you start hitting the 100s in mb strength, the strength is a bit irrelevant isn't it? I'm not into hardcore gaming or anything so don't need huge speeds.
 
Just a note on turning off the wifi of the Velop. Does it really make a difference? I've got the Deco mesh and the Velop on the same SSID and when I'm in the living room, my laptop hooks into that and I get the full whack of wifi strength. The Amazon Fire TV also runs off that. I tried turning it off to 'clear the wifi waves' but it doesn't seem to make any difference.
Trust me. It does. Clients can’t connect to more than a single wifi network at a time. If you force to have the same SSID and password you are looking for trouble. Mind you the two networks will try to avoid each other and they are probably running on different channels. Download a wifi spectrum analizer to see.
The only reason I went for the M9s and not the X50s or something more powerful is the size of the thing. Once you start hitting the 100s in mb strength, the strength is a bit irrelevant isn't it? I'm not into hardcore gaming or anything so don't need huge speeds.
That's correct. Few hundred megs is plenty for most WiFi devices. At this stage it will be more important to get stability than more speed. But of course people don’t need to have need for them to want to go for faster speeds. Sometimes you do it because you want to have the fastest WiFi posible or because you like to thinker.
 
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Yeah I tried that. The Velop is strong 1 floor up but gets pretty weak on the 2nd floor.
Exactly. And crucially the phone can't roam between the Deco Access Points because it's connected to the Velop which is not hosting a wifi mesh just a plain wifi network. And therein lies the key advantage of wifi mesh systems that can roam clients automatically between the strongest access point available in real time. Phones do that too but they won't leave one access point until there is pretty much no signal which is not a good experience as you will drop a call if you are in wifi call of start buffering if you are streaming.
 
Ah ha. That makes sense. I’ve even read that some older Apples hold on really tight to the signal even though it’s weak as.
 
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