New Mesh WiFi system w/ powerline backhaul. Get it!

[BamaNation]

Just replaced my Google WiFi mesh network with a TP Link Deco P9 mesh w/ Powerline backhaul. It was about $199 on Amazon and delivered next day. Total setup time was about 10 minutes - and that included unboxing.

" The Powerline Deco P9 adds a third lane for data to travel through, similar to a Tri-band mesh router, to create stronger connections between Deco units and increase the network's overall performance, eliminating signal interference from walls and other objects."

So, if you've got a decently sized house or have multiple walls/floors that your signal travels through top to bottom, one end to the other, this might be what you're looking for.

I have had the Google WiFi connected to my Fiber FTTH modem for many years (since Google wifie v1) but it was near end of life and would occasionally drop the signal for no good reason making me thing they were failing. Some would go offline and I had to restart them manually.

The TP Link Deco P9 mesh w/ Powerline backhaul comes with 3 devices (with Google I had 7) and the signal is much stronger everywhere AND with the powerline backhaul, it doesn't interfere with itself. Pretty slick! There is no "special plug" for powerline, just plug it in and the backhaul back to the main device travels over powerline instead of wifi. You can add additional Deco devices as needed. The P9s are about the size of a can of big Pillsbury biscuits

As you do with any WiFi changes, you'll need to reset your WIFI config entering the new ssid & pw on all wifi connected devices (computers, Roku, AppleTV, smart devices, tablets, phones, etc. etc. etc.).


If you click on the picture or link, we may earn a commission if you buy this or other products from Amazon.com

 

[Padreruf]

Just replaced my Google WiFi mesh network with a TP Link Deco P9 mesh w/ Powerline backhaul. It was about $199 on Amazon and delivered next day. Total setup time was about 10 minutes - and that included unboxing.

" The Powerline Deco P9 adds a third lane for data to travel through, similar to a Tri-band mesh router, to create stronger connections between Deco units and increase the network's overall performance, eliminating signal interference from walls and other objects."

So, if you've got a decently sized house or have multiple walls/floors that your signal travels through top to bottom, one end to the other, this might be what you're looking for.

I have had the Google WiFi connected to my Fiber FTTH modem for many years (since Google wifie v1) but it was near end of life and would occasionally drop the signal for no good reason making me thing they were failing. Some would go offline and I had to restart them manually.

The TP Link Deco P9 mesh w/ Powerline backhaul comes with 3 devices (with Google I had 7) and the signal is much stronger everywhere AND with the powerline backhaul, it doesn't interfere with itself. Pretty slick! There is no "special plug" for powerline, just plug it in and the backhaul back to the main device travels over powerline instead of wifi. You can add additional Deco devices as needed. The P9s are about the size of a can of big Pillsbury biscuits

As you do with any WiFi changes, you'll need to reset your WIFI config entering the new ssid & pw on all wifi connected devices (computers, Roku, AppleTV, smart devices, tablets, phones, etc. etc. etc.).
View attachment 14867

If you click on the picture or link, we may earn a commission if you buy this or other products from Amazon.com

Is there any reason to buy the latest version of this as listed on Amazon?

 

[BamaNation]

Is there any reason to buy the latest version of this as listed on Amazon?

The latest and greatest version has wifi 6 in it. I would save the $50 and get the one I linked. It has the powerline backhaul and the "upgrade" does not (although it has wifi 6 - which isn't truly standard yet)

Also, there are other products which might work as well or better than the one I linked but this one is giving me consistency, enough throughput that I'm content, and pretty good value relative to other offerings. It's probably not the "fastest" but the "fastest" is at least 2X the money this one is for probably not much noticable difference. Here's a decent review of the P9: https://www.blacktubi.com/review/tp-link-deco-p9/

 

[Padreruf]

The latest and greatest version has wifi 6 in it. I would save the $50 and get the one I linked. It has the powerline backhaul and the "upgrade" does not (although it has wifi 6 - which isn't truly standard yet)

Also, there are other products which might work as well or better than the one I linked but this one is giving me consistency, enough throughput that I'm content, and pretty good value relative to other offerings. It's probably not the "fastest" but the "fastest" is at least 2X the money this one is for probably not much noticable difference. Here's a decent review of the P9: https://www.blacktubi.com/review/tp-link-deco-p9/

I have AT&T -- 1 gig at the connection into the house. However, the problem is that we have a lot of thick walls, stone, etc., which interfere with the signal....At best I can get a signal of 125 download....that's connected by ethernet to a router. Usually it is about 50mbps. All the other owners of these townhomes have the same issue. One neighbor solved this by running cat 6 cable to the center of his home and connecting the main router there. My question is whether the use of the powerline aspect would enable me to overcome the other negative issues related to poor signal, etc.

 

[BamaNation]

I have AT&T -- 1 gig at the connection into the house. However, the problem is that we have a lot of thick walls, stone, etc., which interfere with the signal....At best I can get a signal of 125 download....that's connected by ethernet to a router. Usually it is about 50mbps. All the other owners of these townhomes have the same issue. One neighbor solved this by running cat 6 cable to the center of his home and connecting the main router there. My question is whether the use of the powerline aspect would enable me to overcome the other negative issues related to poor signal, etc.

should definitely help. I have 1 gig fiber and am getting 250+ mb wifi now from down to upstairs through about 5 walls 100 feet away by having 1 deco at the source, 1 in middle of house downstairs and one in middle bedroom upstairs. This is 2-5X what I was getting with the older 7 google wifi devices. All devices seem to be connecting with 4-5 bars. TP Link advertises this for 6000sq ft multilevel homes.

The huge benefit of this design is that it's not usually going to try to send data back and forth via the mesh wifi. Instead it travels inside your walls over the powerline as if it were ethernet. Then it beams the wifi from the access point to your device and you can move around with your phone or tablet or laptop and your device can automatically connect to the access point with strongest signal.

 

[BamaNation]

Here's what they list. The parental controls are awesome and easy to setup as well. Great for you to block out adult and other sites from grandkids accessing.

Deco P9
AC1200+AV1000 Whole Home Hybrid Mesh WiFi System

• Powerline Backhaul: The Powerline Deco P9 adds a third lane for data to travel through, similar to a Tri-band mesh router, to create stronger connections between Deco units and increase the network's overall performance, eliminating signal interference from walls and other objects.
• Whole Home Coverage: Cover up to 6,000 sq. ft. with seamless, high-performance WiFi that eliminates dead zones and buffering.
• Intelligent WiFi Network: Unite your home under a single WiFi name and password while enjoying a seamless connection as you walk from room to room.
• Parental Controls: Manage, limit and monitor internet use with parental controls that let you customize WiFi access for every person and device in your home
• Easy Setup and Management: The Deco app helps you set up your network in minutes with clear visual guidance and keeps you in control even when you aren't home.
• Works With Alexa: Pair with Alexa to share your guest password, add devices and more using just your voice.
• Universally Compatible: Deco works with any internet service provider (ISP) and modem.

 

[Padreruf]

should definitely help. I have 1 gig fiber and am getting 250+ mb wifi now from down to upstairs through about 5 walls 100 feet away by having 1 deco at the source, 1 in middle of house downstairs and one in middle bedroom upstairs. This is 2-5X what I was getting with the older 7 google wifi devices. All devices seem to be connecting with 4-5 bars. TP Link advertises this for 6000sq ft multilevel homes.

The huge benefit of this design is that it's not usually going to try to send data back and forth via the mesh wifi. Instead it travels inside your walls over the powerline as if it were ethernet. Then it beams the wifi from the access point to your device and you can move around with your phone or tablet or laptop and your device can automatically connect to the access point with strongest signal.

Thanks...you've really helped me...

 

[BamaNation]

I should have added *nothing is guaranteed* But it's a HUGE stepup so far from what I was using.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

It sounds attractive. I'm using a Netgear Orbi mesh system. I have the walls and the distance problem. (House is 160' long.) However, I have two main entrance panels and a slave panel for my west end. I tried a simpler powerline system years ago and it couldn't bridge the gap...

 

[Padreruf]

Mine is to arrive on Thursday...I'll give you all an update asap.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

Mine is to arrive on Thursday...I'll give you all an update asap.

Mine does pretty well inside, but I would like to have a better signal outside, toward the back of our property.

 

[BamaNation]

@Ole Man Dan - you may want to investigate the Ubiquiti indoor/outdoor antennas and access points or something like the Ubiquiti NanoStations. These are capable of beaming wifi over many miles. Lots of various Ubiquiti products and options depending on how far you really want to beam it.

Before my in-laws were able to get cable broadband, they were on a bad DNS connection. The whole thing would crawl when everybody was visiting for holidays. My bro-in-law & his family live about 5 miles away and have fiber so I was going to install a ubiquity router at his house with an antenna on top of his house and beam it to my in-laws' house. Fortunately, they finally were able to get broadband and it was a moot point but I had done the research They're a little more hands-on than the mesh networks but for the price/value and performance over large areas, they seem to be top notch.

 

[Padreruf]

Mine is to arrive on Thursday...I'll give you all an update asap.

Took all of about 10 minutes to install...and it does work well. Really well...has quadrupled my download speed. I think that if I can ever figure out how to shut off my AT&T wifi and just go with this it will be even faster. However, it is running 60-90 mpbs with a lot of devices, etc. I love it...and my spouse loves it as well. I just watched a movie on Amazon and had zero disconnects!!!

 

[NationalTitles18]

Any idea of how well this works with a UPS with power conditioning?

 

[NationalTitles18]

I just replaced my Nighthawk router, which was close to 5 years old, with an Asus ZenWiFi AX 6600 Tri-band MESH WiFi6 (XT8 2 pk) system.

Wow!

Fastest speeds previous to this were 28.8 down and 12.3 up. I switched it out last night and am consistently getting 40-45 down and 25+/- up. Yeah, I know some of you have much faster speeds, but we're in a remote area and this is the best speed we've had here.

I now have good reception in the garage as well, whereas before I had virtually none.

This one can use either an ethernet or 5Ghz dedicated backhaul. I am using the 5 Ghz.

I expected an improvement. I did not expect it to be this good.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I just replaced my Nighthawk router, which was close to 5 years old, with an Asus ZenWiFi AX 6600 Tri-band MESH WiFi6 (XT8 2 pk) system.

Wow!

Fastest speeds previous to this were 28.8 down and 12.3 up. I switched it out last night and am consistently getting 40-45 down and 25+/- up. Yeah, I know some of you have much faster speeds, but we're in a remote area and this is the best speed we've had here.

I now have good reception in the garage as well, whereas before I had virtually none.

This one can use either an ethernet or 5Ghz dedicated backhaul. I am using the 5 Ghz.

I expected an improvement. I did not expect it to be this good.

My DL just tested at 826 and UL at 794. That's actually supposed to be beyond what my five-year old Orbi78 Netgear system can do. This is more speed than I've ever had and more than I ever thought I would have, so I'm not re-outfitting for another couple hundred...

 

[NationalTitles18]

My DL just tested at 826 and UL at 794. That's actually supposed to be beyond what my five-year old Orbi78 Netgear system can do. This is more speed than I've ever had and more than I ever thought I would have, so I'm not re-outfitting for another couple hundred...

Don't blame you for standing pat.

When I first moved to this area we had no reliable sufficient speed service. I began with Frontier at 5-10 mbps but it was off and on and terrible. I then added a wireless service which was only marginally better so I made myself a router with failsafe and load balancing out of an old laptop. I bought the Nighthawk then for wireless.

It worked fairly well and the wireless ISP improved greatly. Once we bought the house and transferred services the Frontier ISP got to be slower than dial-up (no exaggeration) so I dropped it.

The Nighthawk has been slowly getting worse over time (freezing up, etc;...) so I decided to replace it.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Don't blame you for standing pat.

When I first moved to this area we had no reliable sufficient speed service. I began with Frontier at 5-10 mbps but it was off and on and terrible. I then added a wireless service which was only marginally better so I made myself a router with failsafe and load balancing out of an old laptop. I bought the Nighthawk then for wireless.

It worked fairly well and the wireless ISP improved greatly. Once we bought the house and transferred services the Frontier ISP got to be slower than dial-up (no exaggeration) so I dropped it.

The Nighthawk has been slowly getting worse over time (freezing up, etc;...) so I decided to replace it.

I actually had a Nighthawk before the Orbi. I tend to like Netgear products. I only switched to the Orbi because I wasn't getting reception for my wife's work desk, which is about 110' away from the router. The entire house is 160', and I occasionally use my phone on WiFi at the end and even outside the house. The funny thing is I thought the original Orbi was a mesh system and the satellites were not, in fact, meshed. Naturally, they didn't perform as I expected. Later, I got an email from Netgear that a new firmware update was available and it would mesh the system. It did. The Google system is very tempting. The router and one satellite comes with being on Google Fiber. That, according to their specs, won't quite cover the house. The second satellite costs $100. You think your ISP is slow. In the French Alps, where my daughter is, they get 1 and 2 mbps. When they get too many tourists in the village, like now, it cripples streaming. The tourists are getting out even before Macron starts lifting the lockdown. When they start serving on May 17, it will be only on their terrace. She put up this video to illustrate how it'll be:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10224685201628272

 

[NationalTitles18]

I actually had a Nighthawk before the Orbi. I tend to like Netgear products. I only switched to the Orbi because I wasn't getting reception for my wife's work desk, which is about 110' away from the router. The entire house is 160', and I occasionally use my phone on WiFi at the end and even outside the house. The funny thing is I thought the original Orbi was a mesh system and the satellites were not, in fact, meshed. Naturally, they didn't perform as I expected. Later, I got an email from Netgear that a new firmware update was available and it would mesh the system. It did. The Google system is very tempting. The router and one satellite comes with being on Google Fiber. That, according to their specs, won't quite cover the house. The second satellite costs $100. You think your ISP is slow. In the French Alps, where my daughter is, they get 1 and 2 mbps. When they get too many tourists in the village, like now, it cripples streaming. The tourists are getting out even before Macron starts lifting the lockdown. When they start serving on May 17, it will be only on their terrace. She put up this video to illustrate how it'll be:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10224685201628272

Sounds like a good deal on the google system. I chose this one because it has good coverage and had the fastest tested speed at a distance from the router - essential for my garage having good WiFi coverage. I'm very pleased as it is providing speeds we've not been able to achieve here before and it's a much smoother experience. It was well worth the chunk of change I spent on it.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Sounds like a good deal on the google system. I chose this one because it has good coverage and had the fastest tested speed at a distance from the router - essential for my garage having good WiFi coverage. I'm very pleased as it is providing speeds we've not been able to achieve here before and it's a much smoother experience. It was well worth the chunk of change I spent on it.

I checked Comcast one last time the morning they came to connect the fiber. My DL at the time was 45. The only problem was that I was paying for 120...