I currently have a Batman-ADV mesh with the main router + 3 APs. All 4 devices have 2 radios: 1 for 2.4GHz, 1 for 5GHz. The mesh is set up on both radios on all devices with bonding enabled. This setup gives me an acceptable experience most of the time. Speeds are not fantastic but latency is decent and I can move around the house with no issues.
That said, I'm looking to improve this setup by adding a device next to each AP to serve as mesh backhaul only. The idea is that this device will have a 5GHz radio that will connect to the mesh, and then connect it to the AP via an ethernet patch cable. The AP would then be relinquished of its meshing abilities, and staying free to serve WiFi clients only.
Is there a device that's cheap enough to make this setup worth it?
The closest I found to what I want is to replace the APs with a device with more than one 5GHz radio, such as ipq4019 based ones, but that would cost more than I'd like.
Thanks! That seems to be a list of triple-radio devices though. What I'm looking for is single-5GHz-radio. I already have dual-radio APs, and just wanted something cheaper to serve as a wireless backhaul to the mesh.
Oh I see what you mean. Thanks, I've been considering it. Unfortunately due to cost, I can either find what I'm actually looking for, or keep what I currently have.
Here you are mistaken. The router market is surprisingly regional, both in terms of availability (there are many devices that are only sold in specific markets), commonality (it may be a very common device in the US, from a big vendor, it's technically available on the European market, but pretty rare there) and pricing. The best options vary wildly between North America and Europe, e.g. the T-56 is Europe-only (Dutch ISP branded, but shipping throughout Europe), in the US you'd have quite a few refurbished offers for ipq807x/ ipq60xx/ ipq50xx devices that can be very cheap, Walmart carried the rt3200 for a long time very cheaply (while European prices were no longer competitive and availability dwindling), the Chinese domestic market is completely different, things like the AVM Fritz!Box range is mostly sold in Germany and the surrounding European countries plus Australia/ New Zealand (but as they don't undergo FCC certification, they're completely absent of the North American markets).
tl;dr: for device recommendations your rough location (country) is indeed a major factor.
Just bear in mind that you’ll probably want to run the APs on separate channels once you get your backhaul and this may lead to congestion. I had the same dilemma when running a WDS bridge on 160 MHz. When I added another AP, the connection dropped to 80 MHz due to other neighborhood APs. So, it's a bit of a trade-off.
The problem with that is, in most, if not all, regions, and very much so in the UK/EU regions, it is very hard to get two separate channels for mesh and ap on 5GHz band. It is not feasible to use DFS channels for a mesh as remote nodes generate false "radar" detection, causing the backhaul to go down.
Counter intuitively, running the backhaul on 2.4GHz is very often far better.
It gives better penetration of walls etc and is less effected by multipath fluctuations.
With your Zyxel NWA50AX Pro devices you could run the backhaul on channel 13 HE40 and get 600Mb/s link rates.
Put your APs on 5GHz.
It all depends on what you are trying to achieve with regards to throughput/traffic-types.....
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts. I have a decent offering of channels available as I live in a suburb, on a corner and have only one neighbour that's close enough to cause any meaningful interference.
There are numerous HE20 channels you could use but there is no advantage whatsoever over 2.4GHz in your situation.
So in summary, using
Mesh on HE160, no channels available
Mesh on HE80, channel 42(indoor only) and channel 155(max 200mw ie very low power)
Mesh on HE40, channels 38 and 46(indoor only), channels 151 and 159(max 200mw ie very low power), channel 167(max 25mw ie ULTRA low power).
Given the relatively poor penetration, range and multipath-reflection performance of 5GHz, using 2.4GHz HE40 is more often than not the best option for a stable mesh backhaul.
For legacy and IoT devices needing 2.4GHz APs, a very cheap travel router class device can do the business if you really want 100% backhaul/AP separation.
IMHO you won't find a single-radio device for this. Instead, look at something like the GL-AXT1800 or similar for your mesh nodes, over budget no doubt, but the question is, do you want it to work reliably?
If a 300Mb/s backhaul is enough, you can save a few quid and look at GL-A1300 class devices.
Perhaps you are instead looking for a cheap device that includes a 5 GHz radio? Does it matter if the device has an excess radio (or two) left turned off, so long as it is cheap and has at least one 5 GHZ radio?
I recently picked up three refurbished Linksys MX4300 tri-radio devices for ~$30 each in the US. These are no longer available on Woot and it's the wrong country for you, but if you are not in a rush, waiting for a good deal to come along (perhaps even used off ebay) in your locale could be worth the wait.
I have already given up on HE160 even for my SSIDs as it's been too unreliable when I experimented with it.
On the 5 GHz bands, there are exactly 2 signals that are not my own, both HE80:
Channel 42, SNR 15-30% so pretty low interference.
Channel 42, SNR 1-8% so pretty negligible.
Note that WiFi Explorer actually shows them as channel 36, 80 MHz but I assume it's 42 which is the one that includes it.
If I decide to keep everything on HE80, I would probably put it on channel 42, assuming the interference from the neighbour is not strong enough to cause instability, and the SSIDs on one of the DFS channels where there's plenty of choice.
The 2.4 GHz band is a little more congested, likely due to the better wall penetration and range. Still, if I only consider SNRs over 50%, there are 3 signals on HE20 channel 1 and 1 on HE40 channel 11. The strongest is the one on 11, with roughly 75% SNR, approximately the same as my own signal. I might try putting my 2.4 GHz radio on channel 7 HE40.
If I do get separate radios, I'll probably put the mesh on channel 3 and SSIDs on 11.
I'll run some experiments based on these findings, but if you feel there's anything I missed I'd love to hear about it.
Yes, you're right that it doesn't have to be single-radio. I guess I've been expecting to find one of this kind cheaper than the alternative which may not actually be true.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll scavenge the used market a bit.
Signal or noise levels are measured on a logarithmic scale of "dBm", meaning decibels relative to 1 milliwatt.....
As it is logarithmic, a 3 dB increase doubles the power, while a 3 dB decrease halves it.
So, for example, if your signal is -60dBm and "theirs" is -63dBm, then the power received from them is 50% less than that received from yours.
But if yours is -60dbm and theirs is -120dBm, it means their signal is vanishingly small.....
