@Gjjb 

 

Hey

 

I set them up for the exact SSID and PW as my wifi router, which was probably a mistake but it seemed to work, but stuff dropped and reconnected enough to make me not like it

 

Yeah that will happen, this is called forced roaming.  Basically as the devices are 3x stand alone and dont talk to each other, they are unable to move clients between them.   The end result is the client (phone laptop etc) will drop connection on one, and move to another.. or hang on till grim death... either way its not the result you want.

 

A system like Deco that talks to eachother can move the client from AP1 to AP2 without disconnecting, its called seamless roaming.  In short its "one network" and not 3 networks with the same name / password.

 

If I plug my POE switch into one of the DECOs (which would be my new primary router) can I have a setup where I have the three DECOs and the three Omada eap615 access points all using the same SSID?   I just want the one SSID everywhere, and strong.  

 

You can indeed do this.. but honestly its not the best option for you!   The deco will work as one network fine, however its Mesh isnt compatible with the EAP615 you have already.. so when you move to an EAP615 area it will do the disconnect thing again..

 

Better option in my opinion would be stick to the EAP615 (business grade device, far better) and just buy yourself an OC200 to control it.  The OC200 is a WiFi controller and will allow you to setup Seamless Roaming, Band Steering etc that is what you wanted in the first place.   

 

I use the Omada controller and EAP range, its far superior if honest.

 

 

Deco is Good.. dont get me wrong.. but its home grade.  Omada EAP is a different and better system.   Get an OC200 controller and unlock the full potential. 

 

Just my two cents!

 

Philbert

 

 

  @Philbert 

THANK YOU!!!  That's why I reached out...   I'm not sure what's best, so your advice is perfect for me.

 

Couple more questions (sorry)

 

1- I see the OC200 has a POE IN on port 1 ??   Or is that out to a POE AP?  I assume Port2 is just a regular port and goes to the router as the source?

 

2- Because I have the POE+ switch, which as two uplinks, can I just use one of the ports on the oc200 to connect to the switch uplink, which already feeds the three EAP615s?  Switch is below...   Any final tips you can give me in connections (oc200 and switch) would be great.

 

I bought my switch on Amazon. 

YuanLey 11 Port gigabit switch POE+

YS8023GS-P

Not even sure most of what it does, but I wanted a POE+ switch (since the Eap615 allows a POE output with that feed).

 

 

  @Gjjb 

 

Morning

 

Questions are good, never be afraid to ask! :)

 

1- I see the OC200 has a POE IN on port 1 ??   Or is that out to a POE AP?  I assume Port2 is just a regular port and goes to the router as the source?

 

Port 1 is POE IN so you can power the controller from a POE switch (like you would an AP).   If you dont want POE you can power it from a micro usb connection on the back, POE is the better option however.

 

Port 2 on the device is standard LAN port, but only 100MB throughput (more in your next question).

 

2- Because I have the POE+ switch, which as two uplinks, can I just use one of the ports on the oc200 to connect to the switch uplink, which already feeds the three EAP615s?  Switch is below...   Any final tips you can give me in connections (oc200 and switch) would be great.

 

As mentioned above, the controller only has 100mb ports, but this is by design.   As its a controller, all it does is talk to the APs, Switches and Routers (Omada hardware) and tell it what to do, there is no actual DATA going through the controller as such, its purely for management.  For that reason only one LAN port should be used (port 1) and it should be connected to the switch like you would an AP, dont connect anything to port 2 as its used only for diagnosis / techs to hook into.

 

 

OK so looking at your switch.. lol.   Ive worked in IT 20 years and never seen that before, honestly it a weird one!  It seems to have a VLAN dedicated to each port and these go to the uplink ports.. strange idea that! 

 

What concerns me about it is that if each port is a VLAN.. the switch wont allow your APs and controller to talk.  I was looking for a manual on it and couldnt find the answer, hoping the switch on the right if set to standard mode (S) will disable the VLANs as you dont want that. 

 

Ideally, it should be setup something like this

 

Port

1 - AP1

2 - AP2

3 - AP3

4 - OC200

5, 6, 7, 8  - whatever you want

9 - leave blank as its an uplink.

10 - Your Router / internet connection

 

The concern I have is that ports 1-4 need to be able to talk to each other for this to work, if they cant communicate due to VLANs then that will cause you drop out / loss of access.  The uplink ports are really only for Switch to Switch or Switch to Router connections.   I am hoping the switch on the right of the device in S mode disables the VLANs and this will work for you.