Best way to extend wifi coverage in 3BHK house

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inc0d3r

inc0d3r

Messages
8
Location
Lucknow
ISP
Airtel
Hi Folks

I have Airtel Xtreme fibre where airtel provided ZyXEL PMG5617-R20B modem with 200Mbps plan in a 1500 sqft flat. It is right now kept in the drawing room which is in front of the house. Due to this I get extremely poor speed in the bedrooms. The speed is fine till the dining room, but as soon as I reach bedroom I get speeds in 15-25 Mbps. I have thought of following options, please let me know which is best:-

1. TP-Link Deco x20 x2 units - Place one unit in drawing room and connect it via ethernet to ISP router and use it in access point mode. Place the second satellite unit in drawing room and connect to main unit via wifi mesh. I still don't know if I will be able to get 200Mbps in bedrooms with this setup. Does at every hop of mesh node wifi speeds drop ? I also have a option to ethernet backhaul the second device, but want to avoid since I don't want wirings externally in the house

2. Powerful single router like Tplink AX53 or AX73 - Place this unit in the drawing room. Since this will have more antennas and powerful signal strength I might be able to get 200Mbps just with single router. I am not sure on this

Also I plan to use my own proxmox machine with NAS, PiHole. How to use Zyxel modem in bridge mode ? I see options disabled. Previously I used to use by asking airtel to unlock the modem and I changed the dns in router to my own hosted one. But this is a hassle at this needs to done on every ISP modem reset. Airtel just locks the firmware to allow me to make changes.
 
@inc0d3r If you want rock stable connectivity the only solution is wiring up your home with CAT5E, CAT6 cable and running access points from those outlets. I've done that and it works superbly. No issues about stupid repeaters, bandwidth loss, disconnections etc. I set up an Asus mesh system using the wired LAN outlets and walk from one room to the other on multiple floors with seamless wifi coverage for all portable devices. My desktops are connected via a patch cord. For me, wifi is a convenience not a reliable method to transfer large amounts of data which I do when taking backups on my NAS boxes.

For bridge mode you need to request Airtel to do it for you. It is done via their network centre.
 
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@inc0d3r i like your first option - use dedicated mesh units like TP-Link x20 (i prefer x60 but x20 should be fine if your main internet is 200 mbps) and connect them via wired backhaul. that will give best results.
 
Thanks everyone for your inputs. Got the X20 and it seems to solve the purpose. Have kept the Main unit next to Airtel router. Using main unit as router with Airtel ONT in bridge mode. Kept the satellite unit in dining room without backhaul. Able to ~200Mbps in all the rooms.
 
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