Home Networking/WiFi Question (1 Viewer)

[Polish Hammer]

I'm going to be switching from FiOS back to Xfinity (will be getting 250 Mbps, allegedly).  With Xfinity they have the xFi Advanced Gateway which is a router/modem/voice combo for $13/month.  Read some reviews on it, and it seems to be pretty good.  I also have at home an ASUS RT-AC68 router that I had used before and was quite good (not sure how good it holds up 2 years later).  My house is a finished basement, main floor, 2nd floor.  It's a colonial, so the same footprint top to bottom, essentially.  House is NOT currently wired for Ethernet.  Currently with FiOS we have what I guess is a mesh setup where the basement and the 2nd floor each have wireless access points.  The WiFi through them was fine, but not great.  In some ways I felt the old ASUS had better coverage.  

In the basement we have an Xbox One S that I like to have connected via Ethernet for speed on streaming Netflix and PLEX and for downloading games when the kids need to do that.  On the main floor I have a Sony smart TV that is connected on WiFi - speed there seems to be fine unless I'm streaming 4K stuff from Amazon, then it can be choppy from time to time.  Up in my office where the other wireless access point is, I have two computers that I suppose could be run on WiFi, but I prefer to have on Ethernet.  At least for one of them since that houses the media we stream via PLEX.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out what the best solution will be once I switch to Xfinity on Sunday.  I'm going to at least start with this Gateway so that I didn't have to rush and buy a modem right away.  Does anyone have experience with that unit that can give me info?  Will I be better off just buying a telephony modem and using my ASUS router?  Then maybe add some Powerline equipment if I need to use ethernet elsewhere?  One of my sales reps was telling me about this product that just happened to show up today on Slickdeals.  Is that a better option?  Any and all input appreciated.

 

[ffldrew]

Not sure about the xFi - but I'd suggest looking at a Mesh router/access point solution for the house. I have an ORBI and it works pretty good - there are others out there. But it sets up a 3 band network so that each access point still operates under the same SSID and it backhauls the return traffic on a different band. It allows more devices to use the full bandwidth of the WiFi. You should see how you can set up xFi - but with what you have you could take your ASUS and turn it into a router without the wifi on and then take your mesh router and turn it into the WiFi Access point. In an ORBI - there is a ethernet connection that would go to your ASUS "router" - What I do is set up a non-routable network (10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x) on the inside of the house/ORBI. You can even set up a guest network on the ORBI as well that is pretty easy. It also lets you control the access point so kids are metered on when they can use it.

 xFi --------(Xfi network- public) ethernet -----ASUS ----(Polish Hammer Network - private) -----ethernet------ORBI -----wireless------- ORBI Satellites --------wireless devices

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072ZN4PSB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=50&v=H7LOcJ8GdDo

 

[Rhythmdoctor]

Orbi. 

/thread

 

[Rustoleum]

Orbi. 

/thread

I just went with Linksys Velop triband and have been happy, but yeah, get a mesh WiFi and don’t look back.

 

[Ron Swanson]

Google Wifi is also a great solution and a little cheaper than the Orbi.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Been using them for years, haven't much trouble with the internet, and when I have, they were great on Customer Support. Coming out to my house several times to check wiring and other items.

If you are concerned about coverage in the house, look at the xFi pods. I haven't needed them, because our house isn't all that big, and the room that is furthest from the router with the most walls in the way we don't use that much wifi.

 

[apalmer]

Been using them for years, haven't much trouble with the internet, and when I have, they were great on Customer Support. Coming out to my house several times to check wiring and other items.

If you are concerned about coverage in the house, look at the xFi pods. I haven't needed them, because our house isn't all that big, and the room that is furthest from the router with the most walls in the way we don't use that much wifi.

I have the pods and highly recommend them.