Was talking to my son about my MESH network, and how I seem to like it the first 36 hours. He seemed a little discouraged, as he thought his wasn't working as well as it should.

Currently I don't know the brand he uses.

But he says when he is on his Mac, and he pulls down the wireless, that the list of choices including his and all of the surrounding neighbors, show a list that completely goes off the screen.

Thought I would see if that is normal, and what could be done to make a MESH system not slow down, if getting interference, if indeed it is, and fixing it.

Does he have "automatically connect" selected for his specific home network?

Might be specific channel interference -- crowding on a specific one b'c of everyone using their own system's default; he could change the channel that his network uses.

(Dangit, I know how to do this, but am not on a WiFi network at the moment and can't get to one to see the setup, and my memory is cloudy as I've not done it in ages. Someone else should chime in and explain further)

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Really depends on where you live. Apartments and townhouse arrangements are bound to be saturated with lots of wireless access points. Even single family homes can have a long list of networks. Needless to say, fewer networks will mean less interference.

The trick to avoid interference is to choose a channel within your network's range that is different than that of the networks around you. I should think that a mesh network would do that automatically as some single access point hardware does.

EDIT: A sure fire way to avoid interference is to hardwire your devices, and with a mesh network that can also mean wiring each access point to your modem.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2020 09:11AM by mikebw.

To build on my post, and add to what mikebw said; I currently have an Orbi system; household wifi/mesh is excellent, but the key is that there's a dedicated backhaul for the nodes/satellites, so anything ethernet-wired into them is running at practically the same speed as the hardwired base station.

e.g.; my Orbi base station (connected via ethernet to the cable modem) is running at 355Mbps; my Mac in my office (connected to the Orbi satellite via Ethernet) reports 350Mbps.

Each computer in the house has its own Orbi near it and is connected via Ethernet to it. Phones/iPads and a few streamer boxes are using the WiFi, as well as the occasional visitor/etc.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2020 10:17AM by Zoidberg.

.....MESH underwear is pretty comfortable and breathes.....

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Zoidberg
To build on my post, and add to what mikebw said; I currently have an Orbi system; household wifi/mesh is excellent, but the key is that there's a dedicated backhaul for the nodes/satellites, so anything ethernet-wired into them is running at practically the same speed as the hardwired base station.

The dedicated backhaul runs on the 5 GHz band.

I don't believe the dedicated backhaul channel is utilized on every manufacturer's mesh system -- one of the reasons I am such a big proponent of the Orbi solution.

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It is what it is.

To be clear, backhaul can be wired or wireless.

Hopefully it is obvious, but a wired backhaul would be the preferred solution in order to avoid interference from other wireless devices.