What is best, multiple devices into switch and to a mesh device, or direct wifi connection?
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Hi,
I have three Deco PX50s. In one part of my property I have five devices all situated close together (TV, Nintendo Switch, Android box etc). At present all of these devices link via their own Ethernet cable into a simple TP-Link switch and then that switch connects to one of the Deco PX50's. This seems to work, but sometimes the connection is lost to a device and it won't re-establish.
Would it be better to just connect each device to WiFi directly? I did this for one device, my TV, and it is now connected over 5 Ghz WiFi and seems ok. Is this a better approach? It would save a switch and all the cables. Advice appreciated.
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The thing to note: wired Ethernet link offers stable speed, WiFi speed will fluctuate. In most cases WiFi speed fluctuation goes unnoticed, except for streaming.
I have Sony 4K TV and when it were connected by WiFi to Deco less than a meter away - streaming in 4K with Netflix will occasionally degrade picture quality briefly. For whatever reason WiFi link speed will briefly drop and Netflix overreacts by dropping from 4K to HD and below. Picture quality restores soon after automatically, but when it happens it gets annoying really fast.
I wired my TV to Deco unit and problem went away.
So, yes, you could get rid of switch and cables if you want to, but keep that in mind. Your PX50 has two Ethernet ports: if you see picture quality fluctuates with Youtube, Netflix, etc. on TV or Android set-top box, or if you see Nintendo swtich game console lag - hardwire that device directly to one of PX50 Ethernet ports. The rest of devices can do just fine on WiFi.
Mind you, with distance that short you don't need newer Cat 6, Cat 7 or up Ethernet cables. The problem with them is in last few years amount of counterfeight or not up to specs Ethernet cables increased. When bought recently, even from reputable retailer, the chances are you might get bad Ethernet cable.
If you have older short Cat 5E cables you used before, try those.
PS. Depending on TV brand, you might need to explicitly disable WiFi in its settings, to force it stay on Ethernet. If your TV has that option, make sure WiFi is disabled and Ethernet is enabled when you use Ethernet cable.
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My personal preference is to wire everything that can be wired. If there are issues with that, WiFi is an alternative. After all, this is the point of WiFi: to provide wireless connectivity where wired connectivity is not available or not feasible.
I would suggest you do basic troubleshooting of wired links before switching everything to WiFi. If all devices connected to the switch lose connectivity at the same time, I would replace Ethernet cable that connects switch to PX50, and also plug that new cable to different Ethernet ports of PX50 and of the switch.
If single device out of (TV, Nintendo Switch, Android box etc) lose connection, I would replace Ethernet cable which connects that device to the switch.
If that does not help, just try WiFi. Also, if going with WiFi, PX50 should support Client Connection Preference - I would suggest configuring it for these five devices so that they will always connect to the PX50 nearby. See Part 2 of the following document: How to select a preferred signal source on the Deco App
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@Alexandre. Thanks for the reply. The Ethernet wires are only a meter long to the first PX50. Originally these went to a homeplug, but now I have mesh and homeplug was problematic as we have a large property with lots of wiring and 3-phase. I don't think this small length of Ethernet is a massive benefit, do you? After all, WiFi connectivity is available and is feasible here.
Not all devices lost connectivity, just the TV did (which was wired). If I swapped to WiFi and back to wired it worked for just a few seconds and would not connect againn, so maybe the Ethernet wire - I will change it to see and report back.
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The thing to note: wired Ethernet link offers stable speed, WiFi speed will fluctuate. In most cases WiFi speed fluctuation goes unnoticed, except for streaming.
I have Sony 4K TV and when it were connected by WiFi to Deco less than a meter away - streaming in 4K with Netflix will occasionally degrade picture quality briefly. For whatever reason WiFi link speed will briefly drop and Netflix overreacts by dropping from 4K to HD and below. Picture quality restores soon after automatically, but when it happens it gets annoying really fast.
I wired my TV to Deco unit and problem went away.
So, yes, you could get rid of switch and cables if you want to, but keep that in mind. Your PX50 has two Ethernet ports: if you see picture quality fluctuates with Youtube, Netflix, etc. on TV or Android set-top box, or if you see Nintendo swtich game console lag - hardwire that device directly to one of PX50 Ethernet ports. The rest of devices can do just fine on WiFi.
Mind you, with distance that short you don't need newer Cat 6, Cat 7 or up Ethernet cables. The problem with them is in last few years amount of counterfeight or not up to specs Ethernet cables increased. When bought recently, even from reputable retailer, the chances are you might get bad Ethernet cable.
If you have older short Cat 5E cables you used before, try those.
PS. Depending on TV brand, you might need to explicitly disable WiFi in its settings, to force it stay on Ethernet. If your TV has that option, make sure WiFi is disabled and Ethernet is enabled when you use Ethernet cable.
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@Alexandre. Good points there, thanks. I will carry on with wired to the Deco unit for the time being. I can disable Wifi on the devices, and have done so where possible. Will report back.
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