A network mesh is designed for wider coverage. It’s really not different then a standard router with acces points. Keep in mind that internet/gaming over internet is dependent on the router performance. Also, wireless access points (as in mesh networking) will render your wifi bandwith running at half bandwith as it needs bi-directional communication. Also there is some performance issues with apple devices and routers, as Apple used proprietary drivers in their devices (they acknowledged it about a month ago and they anounced they exit networking bussiness). Games are also graphic intensive so they need routers with high total throughput wan-lan.
A second router will do you no good as you probably have only one internet proder with only one public IP.
I rage bought a Google Wi-Fi last week… it is scheduled for delivery today. I liked the idea of it being super easy (at a relatively affordable price) to expand the network later if needed.
Thanks, I mis-spoke a bit, I’m using the uverse gateway as router and have my netgear AC configured as AP, so I would move/add/upgrade AP.
I use the Ubiquiti too since December, and love what the mesh has done for the house, over my previous Airport and with Express extenders.
My Smartthings zwave and zigbee has long been really stable since there are 155 devices, but had dead zones and performance issues in my Wifi, and that has solved it. We have 31 devices an average connecting to our Wifi, FYI.
3800 sq ft home, 3 levels (finished basement), L shaped design with wifi router in back corner of main floor around the corner from rest of house. A challenge, and it works fantastic…including coverage to my front porch, finally!
Very nice.
Ubiquiti was actually one of the first products I looked at (recommended to me by an IT colleague). It’s good to see that so many others have had success with it.
Let’s be honest, Mikrotik is a different UNIVERSE! I use them as well for various things. One as an AP and it’s great for all my N and lower HA stuff (dedicated.)
@MEarly I’d definitely recommend the Archer C7 for your use case. Having two AP’s and a “real” router would be a better solution but then you go over budget.
Ubiquiti is nice too, but again, probably cost more than you want to spend right now.
More important than a mesh or multiple AP setup is how you use the radios. Make sure anything AC is on 5Ghz AC band. Then anything N and lower on 2.4Ghz. Multiple AP’s makes this WAY easier. I have two AC routers with the same SSID’s and roaming works great between them. Different bands so no contention. Then the 2.4G Mikrotik for HA, and a second 2.4G SSID on the AC routers for non HA old stuff.
Check your Zigbee band, and place your 2.4G devices in a non overlapping channel as well, if you can.
I’m using a Netgear X4S router which is AC2600. I live in a 3000sqft home and I also use a Netgear EX7000 as a WIRED AP. With this combination you’ll have a full signal anywhere in my house, patio, or lawn. I have about 30 wireless devices mostly on the 5GHZ network and a ton of Z-Wave/Zigbee/Hue automation devices.The Netgear X4S has the internal power to handle a lot of devices and will support fast speeds with AC2600. I pay for 300mbps and I get about 320 with this setup. I highly recommend netgear routers over linksys from personal experience. If you want to save some money the TP-Link Archer’s are a good choice as well.
If I were looking to upgrade my router at this time I would def go with one of the new mesh set ups. Some of them get really good reviews.
Still got that Almond eh? Got my Portal, it’s GREAT as an AC AP but it’s router features are still crap.
Yeah @chowder007, that was what I was initially considering. Great coverage. No fussing with APs to configure.
The thing that made me reconsider is that they’re all new, and there’s so much competition in the market right now. I want to see someone beat out Orbi.
Man, as well as the top 3 are reviewing I wouldnt be to concerned about buying in right now.
Once I found the setting that limited it to 50 devices per channel ( and had to tell Securifi about it, since they insisted it did not have any such limit, still deny it is there publically ) changed it to 75 per channel ( almost time to up it again be the looks of it ) it has been rock solid.
No HA devices helps with the load too of course. Betting if I moved my 150 devices on ST onto A+ it would have another total nuclear meltdown regularly.
I do make a good beta tester. If I don’t break it , chances are no " normal user" will have any problems.
Haha. I was looking at Almond 3 initially as well. My big hangup with them was their marketing was more focused on ease of use, looks, form factor, etc and not so much on technical stats. It made me think the company’s focus was on the QVC crowd.
I always thought the same, but @RLDreams likes his. I have enough routers and AP’s, I can’t go buying more just to play with them, so says the wife. 
I wouldn’t go that far LOL . As HA hub it is useless, unless you just want a touchscreen remote control and not actual automation. Although it has gotten better over the past year ( or so I’m told ). I do like the display screen so I can just look and see network status.
Only HA thing I really liked was 100% local control with triggers of 20-30 milliseconds .
I have no interest in A3. A+ hardware is good, the firmware just sucks. It would be great if somebody could hack up some actual decent firmware for them.
I just don’t see a reason to invest $300-$500 on new router , APs when I finally have A+ working as it was supposed to work 3 years ago( with exception of being HA hub)
The A+ has built-in Zigbee with an option Z-wave dongle, right?
No, ZigBee and Z-Wave are radios are built in, right next to the WiFi radios. No dongles required. IMHO the radios being in such close proximity is the basis of a lot of the issues.
Yeah, it seems like that might be a source of some stability issues.