@AndyDowns 

 

Yea the P9s do connnect via Powerline first, WiFi second

 

That being said I'm not sure if you have ever used powerlines before?   They are good, but not always the get out of jail free one hopes.   The powerline connection can be erratic on some houses for a number of reasons

 

• Old Wiring
• Interference with some other device on the circuit
• Multiple Fuse / Junction / Breaker boxes
• Distance
• Trailing Leads, Multi port adaptors  - don't use will KILL powerlines!

 

I had one customer that had a sold wall extension that must have been 3ft thick.. nothing penetrated it and Powerline was a try, like you say it connected but wasn't stable.   Being honest, if TP Link Powerline doesnt work, then likely other brand wouldnt either.  From experience the 2x best PL adaptors are TP Link and Netgear, both work around the same performance wise.   Just to clarify I have no connection or preference with TP Link at all, just my 2 cents from experience so feel free to try netgear if you wish, but I honestly don't think it will make a difference.

 

Cant say for certain but its likely you may have no choice but to run a network cable for that jump, sadly not uncommon if truth be told.

 

Also consider your internet speed, the fastest I have ever seem a powerline actually transfer data is around 220mbps and that was a near perfect new build.   PowerLines are slow, period.   If you have faster internet (100mbps or more) powerline isn't an option, its WiFi or Cable runs.

@Philbert 

Thanks for taking time to give such a full answer. I fiddled with it further and am just not getting anywhere, so, it's been returned and I need to do more research and rethink my approach.

 

 

@AndyDowns 

 

Its not a problem  :)

 

What is your current situation / setup?  you have a few walls to penetrate?

 

@Philbert 

i have Virgin broadband and wifi with one extender. The range isn't too bad, but every so often has a wobble and misbehaves for a few days. I also have a workshop down the garden and it just about reaches the closest wall.

 

I have been playing around with zigbee and zwave home automation stuff which works very well and because it works on a mesh network can easily reach the whole property and my workshop

 

I would like to get the same range from my wifi, but can afford any of the expensive systems that would most likely do the job.

@AndyDowns 

 

Hey

 

I would be very cautious comparing ZWave, Zigbee and WiFi.. they are very different technologies and if you are expecting WiFi to working like ZWave, it wont.  Ill try to explain

 

• ZWave runs on the 800-900mhz frequency using Mesh topology
• Zigbee is a supped up Bluetooth that also uses mesh, but operates on the 2.4ghz frequency
• WiFi supports Mesh, but operates on the 2.4 / 5 and now 6ghz ranges

 

Simple as this, the lower the frequency the longer the range, and better the penetration.  However it comes a MUCH slower speeds, as you move in the higher ghz speeds ramp up massively but also the penetration and distance drops

 

Without going into too much detail, 800mhz has a long thin wavelength, 5ghz has a short and higher wavelength.   More height means more data speed, longer means more range

 

 

WiFi cant run on 800mhz as it would be too slow (-1mbps), but this is ideal for IOT devices like bulbs, plugs etc that don't need fast speeds as all they are doing is saying ON or OFF.

 

2.4ghz is the first range that WiFi can operate at a reasonable pace, however its flooded with interference in today's homes.. virtually everything runs on that frequency (Microwaves, Bluetooth, WiFi Speaker, Hands Free Kits.. the lot).  Therefore for WiFi its now sadly SLOW as its congested, you will really only get around 100mbps in real speeds at best

 

5ghz (and now 6ghz) came out as the replacement for 2.4ghz and offers much faster speeds (literally thousands of MB) however at a much shorter range and due to the increased speeds its much more affected by wall and interference.      If you scan the airspace with something like WiFi Analyser you will notice the 2.4 ghz is much stronger than the 5ghz from the same Access Point, that is just how it is

 

Sadly from your point of view it means you will never get the same coverage as Zwave, you might match zigbee but you will need 2x the devices to do so.

 

 

With that in mind Mesh.. the worst of all terms :)

 

Mesh means different things in IOT (zwave, Zigbee) vs WiFi 

 

Below is a screenshot of how IOT generally works when talking about Mesh.. namely each device just shouts out and talks to whoever answers in an irregular and non organised fashion.   Again this chatter is very low speeds .  

The signal from your office could bounce across anything from 1 to 100 devices before hitting the internet and that is acceptable for IoT as its not "urgent". 

 

WiFi Mesh wont do that..  It needs to know at   A  talks to B and C.. and only B and C..   This is to maintain that traffic goes via the same route each time and not randomly.

 

 

In the example above, the last node wont talk to the first node, only the second who will then relay to the first.  

 

This is the problem you will have that all your Deco / Eero or whatever you go with, it will want to talk to the master node is some way, add in the shorter range due to 5ghz and that's your problem there.

 

The real only solution I can even think of is to just litter the place in WiFi Deco.  Go for 6x of the cheaper E4 / S4 (no powerline) and just flood the place in them!   hopefully the sheer short distances between nodes might be the winner for you.

 

 

 

@Philbert 

Thank you for taking the time to explain that, it has helped tremendously. I had some of the understanding, but was missing some crucial points.

 

Something else I struggle with is the relationship with wifi6 and mesh. Is all wifi6 mesh?

 

It sounds like your solution to litter Decos or something similar about the place might be the best route for the house, but the workshop is too far to get a reliable signal. I think I may have to bite the bullet and run a cable to it.

 

@AndyDowns 

 

Hey

 

WiFi regardless of version 4, 5 or 6 can support Mesh, but not all do sadly.

 

Mesh is simply the ability for each node / access point to talk to each other to create one larger network, as the user moves around it will move the user from node to node without disconnecting them.   Its pretty standard now

 

If you don't have mesh, as you move out of range of Node A and closer to Node B, rather than gracefully switching over it will kill the connection and reconnect.    This will drop any calls, video or whatever you where doing at the time.