upgrade to wifi 6 router or google nest router

Fantastical wrote: ↑ I live in a 3,000 sq feet detached house (...) Thoughts? (...)

In Vancouver, you are LOADED!

Howdy.

I had a Google Nest network and just recently upgraded to $500(on sale from $600) Orbi Wifi 6 setup (the 4200 with one point). My short answer is that Google Nest Wifi (or even the older Google Wifi) is probably fine for most normal users, but if you're a poweruser (gamer, move lots of large files for work, have difficult to cover wifi spots like exterior buildings or unusual basement layouts), I'd pony up for a high quality wifi 6 unit.

My experience with Goole Nest was a bit underwhelming relative to its price. My main issue is that I have a detached garage with an office above it. It's not far from the house - maybe 20 feet. I needed FAST internet out there for videoconferencing, sharing large PDFs at work, etc.

Google Nest worked OK but not great. With one wifi point in my house's entranceway and one point in the garage (the other elsewhere inside the house to cover other living space), I was getting ~50mbps down in the outbuilding. That's fine for normal use, but once I was connecting to my work's VPN it was dropping to ~20 and was sometimes too slow to have smooth videoconferencing while screensharing while opening/closing large files. I tried buying another three google mesh points of Kijiji (since you can use those as range extenders and they provide the same wifi coverage as nest points, per my discussion with google reps, and because Google people suggested I put more points in when talking with them via their support chat).I spent two days effin around with those points, but the ultimate outcome is that I could get up to 80mbps in the office. OK, but not great when my modem is getting ~900. I also had trouble getting google nest to cover my whole basement.

I was planning to dig a trench and lay ethernet out to my garage/office once the ground thaws (I'm in ON, not BC), but thought I'd try another router first.

The Orbi is amazing. With the hub and points in the exact same locations as the nest hub and point that was covering the garage, I was getting ~300mbps to my work laptop. I hardwired it to the orbi point (since it has two ethernet outs on the back) and now I'm getting like 420mbps. The VPN still chokes it down to 80, but that's still way better than Google. So i'm a fan of Orbi.

I'm not sure all wifi 6 routers would be this effective. I basically searched for quite a while to find the router with the strongest signal because i was frustrated with looking unprofessional/glitchy on video calls. The only real downside to the orbi is that it is more complicated to set up. The app didn't work; I had to set it up through the browser like an school wifi router.

All of this being said, if you have a normal house (no outbuildings, etc), a Google nest (or even an older google wifi) system should provide adequate coverage and adequate speed. Oddly, the older google wifi has ethernet points so if there's ethernet in your house you could plug the hub into your ethernet and run the other points off your ethernet (whereas the new nest points can't do that). The nest looks nicer and has speakers and google assistant built into the points, along with better range from the hub.

One other thing - people on reddit seem to be complaining of a firmware update that is slowing a lot of google wifi devices down. I'm not sure if my issues had anything to do with that or not, but I was running newest firmware on all devices and still wasn't getting the speed I needed.

I'd try the wifi 6 knowing that you might need to return it and pony up for a higher-end wifi 6 device if it doesn't work.

I'm about to list the google points and wifi points on kijiji today, actually.

We're in a detached 1800 sf 2-story in Oshawa. All our houses in vicinity have a lot size of approximately 30' x 110' ...

I have two Huawei AX3 PRO QUAD CORE WiFi 6 Routers. Meshed perfectly.

The two Huawei AX3 PRO WiFi 6+ Routers:
- located in the living room at the back of the house ... signal can be reached at the plaza behind my backyard and 4 houses up on either side
- located in a bedroom at the front of the house ... signal can be reached in my neighbour's backyard across the street

I love what the naysayers are always saying about the negativity of Huawei ... I totally disagree.

I love the speed ... the stability ... the range (especially)!

Yes ... those naysayers will always talk about Huawei due to their so-called "spyware" and security issues.

My work laptop is plugged into the router directly ... and my work phone is connected to its WiFi ... I have yet to receive any notification from our IT department regarding breaches ...

Besides ... for home use ... what is there to steal? Your naked pics that mom and pops took of you when you were an infant?

Price is right ... does the job for me ... that is it. (I purchased mine on Aliexpress and Banggood ... they are currently available at Staples). Done deal.

All I can say is to each his own. My buddy who is a gamer stayed over during the holidays ... he brought his laptop over to test my connections while gaming ... he was surprised on how stable and fast it was (compared to his Asus Wireless AX5700 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router (RT-AX86U) ... he has Rogers Gigabit versus me having the Bell Fiber 1.5Gbps.

Thanks. I will try using just one Huawei AX3 PRO QUAD CORE WiFi 6 Router first to improve the wifi range issue.

I currently use Shaw Hitron modem for wifi....which is not good....so i expect a dedicated router would at least provide some improvement.

If it doesn't work as expected, i can add another one to the mesh network.

Fantastical wrote: ↑ I live in a 3,000 sq feet detached house and need to improve my wifi range and coverange.

If you need good coverage over that much floor area, there's no substitute for multiple access points connected through wired backhaul.

If this is in the house you just had built I can understand you not wanting to have the walls opened up to run Ethernet cable everywhere, but that is the best option.

Depends on how many wifi 6 devices you got or plan to get or upgrade to.

If none or no, you might be better with orbi rbk50.

Is the link that you provided a "PRO" Huawei AX3 router? i don't see the word "PRO" in your link....not sure does it make a difference.

jdmfishingonly wrote: ↑ We're in a detached 1800 sf 2-story in Oshawa. All our houses in vicinity have a lot size of approximately 30' x 110' ...

I have two Huawei AX3 PRO QUAD CORE WiFi 6 Routers. Meshed perfectly.

The two Huawei AX3 PRO WiFi 6+ Routers:
- located in the living room at the back of the house ... signal can be reached at the plaza behind my backyard and 4 houses up on either side
- located in a bedroom at the front of the house ... signal can be reached in my neighbour's backyard across the street

I love what the naysayers are always saying about the negativity of Huawei ... I totally disagree.

I love the speed ... the stability ... the range (especially)!

Yes ... those naysayers will always talk about Huawei due to their so-called "spyware" and security issues.

My work laptop is plugged into the router directly ... and my work phone is connected to its WiFi ... I have yet to receive any notification from our IT department regarding breaches ...

Besides ... for home use ... what is there to steal? Your naked pics that mom and pops took of you when you were an infant?

Price is right ... does the job for me ... that is it. (I purchased mine on Aliexpress and Banggood ... they are currently available at Staples). Done deal.

All I can say is to each his own. My buddy who is a gamer stayed over during the holidays ... he brought his laptop over to test my connections while gaming ... he was surprised on how stable and fast it was (compared to his Asus Wireless AX5700 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router (RT-AX86U) ... he has Rogers Gigabit versus me having the Bell Fiber 1.5Gbps.

asus xt8

Fantastical wrote: ↑ Is the link that you provided a "PRO" Huawei AX3 router? i don't see the word "PRO" in your link....not sure does it make a difference.

PRO is the Quad-Core ... the regular one is the Dual-Core

Huawei WiFi AX3 Quad-Core Router with Wi-Fi 6 Plus - White @ Staples.ca

Thanks. Followed your advice and bought the Huawei router.

It's been amazing. 1 router is good enough for my 3,000 sq feet home.

jdmfishingonly wrote: ↑ PRO is the Quad-Core ... the regular one is the Dual-Core

Huawei WiFi AX3 Quad-Core Router with Wi-Fi 6 Plus - White @ Staples.ca

jdmfishingonly wrote: ↑ We're in a detached 1800 sf 2-story in Oshawa. All our houses in vicinity have a lot size of approximately 30' x 110' ...

I have two Huawei AX3 PRO QUAD CORE WiFi 6 Routers. Meshed perfectly.

The two Huawei AX3 PRO WiFi 6+ Routers:
- located in the living room at the back of the house ... signal can be reached at the plaza behind my backyard and 4 houses up on either side
- located in a bedroom at the front of the house ... signal can be reached in my neighbour's backyard across the street

I love what the naysayers are always saying about the negativity of Huawei ... I totally disagree.

I love the speed ... the stability ... the range (especially)!

Yes ... those naysayers will always talk about Huawei due to their so-called "spyware" and security issues.

My work laptop is plugged into the router directly ... and my work phone is connected to its WiFi ... I have yet to receive any notification from our IT department regarding breaches ...

Besides ... for home use ... what is there to steal? Your naked pics that mom and pops took of you when you were an infant?

Price is right ... does the job for me ... that is it. (I purchased mine on Aliexpress and Banggood ... they are currently available at Staples). Done deal.

All I can say is to each his own. My buddy who is a gamer stayed over during the holidays ... he brought his laptop over to test my connections while gaming ... he was surprised on how stable and fast it was (compared to his Asus Wireless AX5700 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router (RT-AX86U) ... he has Rogers Gigabit versus me having the Bell Fiber 1.5Gbps.

The CCP thanks you for your ongoing information.

Fantastical wrote: ↑ Thanks. Followed your advice and bought the Huawei router.

It's been amazing. 1 router is good enough for my 3,000 sq feet home.

Good to hear that. My neighbours connected to the Guest WiFi on it while on their driveways and were impressed with the stability and signal. One of them works for Bell IT Department. He's the one that noticed my Routers before they were even sold here. He knew about them but didn't think anyone would buy them.

jdmfishingonly wrote: ↑ Good to hear that. My neighbours connected to the Guest WiFi on it while on their driveways and were impressed with the stability and signal. One of them works for Bell IT Department. He's the one that noticed my Routers before they were even sold here. He knew about them but didn't think anyone would buy them.

What you know is great, it's what you don't know that I fear. Everytime you recommend Huawei router on the board, I always think about 0days virus. Pirated software with 0days virus inside work fine, they don't affect your computer at all until one day month later you wake up and you a cryptovirus on your hardrive.

I am not paranoid at all about internet security, for example I have disabled the firewall in my router. But I know that a router remain the crucial aspect of all your internet enabled devices !

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/as ... y/14643844

I would go with one of these, very good routers and you can add other ones if needed in the future but you likely wont need it.

get a few tplink eap245 and setup a controller to get proper roaming support

no reason to get a wifi 6 router

Lots of things we don't know.....we are at the mercy of the providers

But it does seem Huawei router works really well considering its price vs. other routers.

elgros4 wrote: ↑ What you know is great, it's what you don't know that I fear. Everytime you recommend Huawei router on the board, I always think about 0days virus. Pirated software with 0days virus inside work fine, they don't affect your computer at all until one day month later you wake up and you a cryptovirus on your hardrive.

I am not paranoid at all about internet security, for example I have disabled the firewall in my router. But I know that a router remain the crucial aspect of all your internet enabled devices !