The Home Networking Megathread - Yes the OP is out of date

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Home Networking Megathread - Yes the OP is out of date

Branch Nvidian: Nov 29, 2012

fartzone_42069 posted:

And a bonus question: since it is dual band at 5Ghz, is the xFinity router's 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi interfering if not turned off?

If on a different channel than the Xfinity router then it probably won't interfere with your signal, however, I've had an issue in the past where I had the routing functions on an AT&T Uverse supplied modem/router combo still active when I set up my own router and the two started fighting over who controlled what, disabling all routing functions fixed that entirely.

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 16:26

Branch Nvidian: Nov 29, 2012

teethgrinder posted:

I for some reason didn't think to search SA/this thread first.

When COVID hit, my old hacked-together router bridge was no longer cutting it ... strangely wifi was no longer accessible at the front of the house after being solid for years, affecting the bedroom upstairs & doorbell camera drastically.

Got the second gen Google Nest Mesh and it worked well for years ... but the last 6+ months we'd been needing to reboot it 2-3 times per week to not have poo poo keep timing out. It would work perfectly for a day or two, but then degrade.

I thought now would be a good time to upgrade/replace but holy gently caress the sticker shock at WiFi 7 (mesh) prices. Most recommend kits ranging between $2000-3000 CAD!

So got a refurb Asus XT9 on WiFi 6. (Lol setup was a cinch after googling factory reset, because the setup didn't work with the router still set to the original owner's custom settings.) It looked like the new Google one is well-regarded, but we'd be losing the speaker function, and I just didn't love the overall experience of the last one.

How dumb am I for installing the XT9 mesh essentially side-by-side to the old network (though using it as the firewall/gateway)? (Different SSIDs of course)

I'll kill the old network if I notice problems still, and I disabled 2.4G on the newer Asus gear. My rationale is that we were using the smart speaker features of the old Nest nodes, especially just to play music. But I was also wondering if all the smartbulb/switch poo poo on my network was possibly affecting/degrading performance too. Maybe leaving them separate would be net beneficial.

Also I think most of those devices, especially my Teckin off-brand stuff, only operates on 2.4G. A weird quirk of the original Nest Doorbell cam is that it only operates on 2.4G in Canada, but also works with 5.0 in the USA.

---

I do want to buy better wireless speakers but that's such a mess itself. I'd be okay with a Nest Mini in a couple places but they weirdly haven't gone on sale for over a year. $70 CAD is tough to swallow when they used to so frequently be $30.

So I bought the Google Nest Wifi Pro 6E two-pack in January of last year for $300 USD and it's loving trash. It uses 6GHz for the dedicated backhaul, which has piss poor penetration for walls and such. My computers are connected to the extender node, and I was running into an issue where any time I did something that would download a large amount of data, like a game download or a torrent, everything else on that node got choked for data and essentially just went offline. After trying to use Google's awful Home app to try to manage the network I got fed up and replaced it with some admittedly hideous looking ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 mesh nodes ($430 USD) back in February and have had precisely zero problems with them. In fact the internet speed on the extender node increased by 10x.

I know you bought the XT9 system, but let this be a warning to you and anyone else: Don't buy the newer Google Nest Wifi Pro kit.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 14:33

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