What should I do if I buy Mesh and find out that there are no network cables embedded in the wall? Wireless backhaul was half as slow, I tried four remedial routes

Last year during Double Eleven, I did something that makes me choked up just thinking about it. The house is 89 square meters, and the main router is on the TV cabinet in the living room. The signal in the master bedroom and study room always has two or three slots. So I gritted my teeth and bought two routers that support Mesh. I thought about putting one next to the main router and the other in the master bedroom, so that the whole house would have full slots. The night the goods arrived, I excitedly unboxed and matched them. It took only ten minutes to assemble them, and the signal in the master bedroom was indeed full. Then I measured the speed in the master bedroom - the living room can run at 520 Mbps, but the master bedroom can only run at just over 230 Mbps.

After looking through the information for a whole night, I figured out where the problem was.: The "invisible line" between the two Mesh units, which is the return path, is wireless. Wireless backhaul has to occupy the same 5G frequency band as mobile Internet access, so the speed is naturally reduced. Those who show the full speed of Mesh on the Internet are basically those who have network cables in the wall and use wired return. But my house was renovated eight years ago, and there is no second wire from the weak current box to the master bedroom. Return it. The signal in the master bedroom is really good. ； Keep it, this speed is too fast. Later, I struggled for a month and tried four routes. This article will record the costs, effects and pitfalls of each route.

Let’s talk about the return journey first.: Why is wireless backhaul half as slow?

Data needs to be continuously transferred between two Mesh machines, and this traffic is called the backhaul. The wired backhaul uses the network cable in the wall. A single Gigabit cable can theoretically run over 940 Mbit/s, which is stable. In wireless backhaul, the problem arises when two routers talk to each other in the air.: The mobile phones, tablets, and TVs at home are all crowded on the 5G frequency band, and the return traffic is also crowded on the same section of air, and everyone queues up with each other.

What's even more terrible is the speed loss. Two routers talk to each other across a load-bearing wall. If the signal weakens, the negotiated speed will drop down, and the actual throughput will drop accordingly. I tested it with two AX3000Ts.: The sub-router is placed in the master bedroom (separated by a wall). The mobile phone is placed in front of the sub-router and the speed is measured at around 230 Mbit/s. ； Move the sub-router to the corridor (only half a wall separates it from the main router), and the phone can reach 380 MB when placed against it. The same set of equipment, the location is a few meters different, the speed difference is 150 megabits. This is the reality of wireless backhaul: It’s not that it “can’t be used”, it’s that “it will never reach the bandwidth you need”.

By the way, correct a misunderstanding: It's not the Mesh equipment that won't work. For the same two machines, with network cables and wired backhaul, the sub-router can run at almost the same speed as the main router. Buying expensive Mesh can improve wireless backhaul (such as a tri-band model with a dedicated backhaul frequency band), but the improvement is limited, and the expensive money is enough for you to use the open line three times. So don’t rush to blame the equipment, first check if there are any wires in the wall.

first road: Zero cost, first squeeze out the physical locations of the main router and sub-router

You can do more without spending a penny than you think. I first moved the main router out of the TV cabinet. It turned out that it was stuffed in the middle of the TV cabinet grid, with boards and machines all around it, and the antenna couldn't be extended. After moving it to the top of the TV cabinet, the signal in the living room and dining room has improved visibly, and the master bedroom has changed from two cells to three cells. I'm here Sub-routing placement In that article, I wrote in detail the 8 points tested, and the core is just one sentence.: Don't stick to the "room with poor signal" for the sub-router. Place it in the middle of the main router and the room with poor signal. You can hear it from both ends, and the speed will be the best.

The second zero-cost operation is to change the WiFi channel and frequency band strategy. Go to the background and manually pin the 2.4G and 5G channels (for 5G, choose 36/44/149, don’t use automatic, which will jump channels in the middle of the night, cutting off the whole family for a few seconds), and then set the return priority of the sub-router to 5G. Some brand backends are called "backhaul preference" and have three levels: "wired priority/5G priority/2.4G priority". Choose 5G priority. Adding up these little tricks, my master bedroom speed test increased from 230 to around 290 without spending a penny, but that's it - the physical discounts and the settings make up for it.

One more reminder: If you haven’t bought Mesh yet, first think about how many rooms in your home you want to cover and whether there are wires in the walls. Don’t follow my example and place an order directly. I'll tell you how many units to buy. Should I buy two or three Mesh units? I calculated in that article that if you blindly add a third station, the return link will have one more hop, and the speed will be even worse.

second way: It's a bright line, it's a matter of tens of dollars, but it has to be psychologically related.

The so-called open wire means that the network cable does not enter the wall, but runs along the skirting line, the edge of the door frame, and the inner corner of the ceiling to the master bedroom. I bought a Category 6e flat cable online, a whole 15-meter cable with a crystal head, for 38 yuan. Use the matching line cards to nail one every half meter along the baseboard. Starting from behind the TV cabinet in the living room, follow the baseboard to the door of the master bedroom, climb over the upper edge of the door frame and enter the house. I lay on the floor for two hours.

The results are immediate. After connecting the open wire, the backhaul status of the sub-router shows that the backhaul status has changed to "wired". The master bedroom's speed test directly reaches 510 MB against the sub-router, which is only about 10 MB different from the living room. This is what a wired backhaul should look like. Moreover, the phone's full grid on the sub-router is no longer "fake full grid". It does not spin when watching 4K, and the game ping is also stable. This 38-yuan cable solved the 150-megabyte difference that all my previous settings couldn't make up for.

There are two open-line pits. First, buy the "whole cable with crystal head". Don't buy the one that requires you to press the crystal head yourself. A set of crimping pliers and wire measuring instrument costs a hundred dollars, and it is normal for novices to crush three heads (I have detailed this before) Crystal head wiring As written in that article, it is enough to memorize only one line sequence for T568B). Second, when passing through the door, don't try to save trouble by pressing the thread in the crack of the door. As soon as the door is closed and opened, the thread will be worn out in a few months. The network speed will drop inexplicably, and even if you check it, you won't be able to find the thread. Go over the top edge of the door frame and spend an extra ten minutes to save yourself the worry later.

As for whether it looks good or not, I personally feel that the flat line running against the baseboard has a very low presence and cannot be seen without squatting down to look for it. If you really can't pass the test in your heart, look at the next way.

third way: Single line multiplexing, one line is used as two, a switch is required

If your home is like my friend’s home: There is a line from the weak current box to the master bedroom, but this line has been occupied by the network port panel of the master bedroom, so it is the turn of single line multiplexing. The principle is simple: There are actually 8 cores and 4 pairs in the network cable. Gigabit only uses 4 pairs of them. Use the other 4 pairs as well, or use VLAN to logically split a line into two lanes. My friend's house has one wire from the living room to the weak current box, and one from the master bedroom to the weak current box. What he wants is "the weak current box is used as the main router, and the signal goes out from the living room and the master bedroom respectively." However, the two wires are not independent enough to be used as a return outlet.

The last solution he used was VLAN single line multiplexing.: Add a switch with VLAN management at each end (he bought a second-hand TP-LINK SG105 Pro, one with 60 and two with 120), and divide the line in the master bedroom into two VLANs, one for the return route and one for the exit. The configuration process was a bit difficult. He had to set the PVID and tagged ports in the background of the switch web page. The first time he configured the wrong port, the master bedroom was disconnected from the Internet. He was so frightened that he thought the switch had burned down. It took me all night to figure it out. After it was connected, the master bedroom had a stable reading of more than 500MB, which was the same as the open-wire effect.

This road is suitable for two kinds of people: First, I really can’t accept the aesthetics of bright lines, and second, there are apartment types where one line has to serve two purposes. However, the configuration threshold is very real. It is common for VLAN misconfiguration and network disconnection, so you have to leave one night to take your time. Also, be careful to buy a "managed" switch that is marked as supporting VLAN. A stupid switch that costs dozens of dollars won't be able to do this job. Some operators' optical modems can also be configured with VLAN (some IPTVs share the same line with broadband). Whether it can be done depends on the operator. I'm here to explain the principle. IPTV single line multiplexing It was dismantled in that article.

fourth way: Power cat bridging, pour cold water on it first and then give instructions on how to use it

There is also a popular solution online: A pair of power cats are plugged into the socket next to the main router and the socket in the master bedroom. Household wires are used as "network cables", and the sub-router are connected behind the power cat in the master bedroom. It sounds perfect, it doesn't move the walls or the wires. I used a pair of old power cats (nominal 1000 MB) that I had lying around. According to actual measurements, the master bedroom only had over 90 MB, which was even worse than the 230 MB that I had for wireless backhaul. I bought a new pair from a friend with a nominal capacity of 2000 Mbit/s, and the actual measurement was about 170 Mbit/s, which is still not as good as wireless backhaul.

The upper limit of the power cat depends on the quality of your home circuit: A two-pin socket is not as good as a three-pin socket, the plug strip is not as good as plugging directly into the wall, and the circuit across the air switch is cut in half. My master bedroom and the living room are not on the same circuit, so the speed is particularly ugly. And power cats are afraid of power strips. I plugged it into a smart power strip with USB on the first night, and the speed was doubled. I wrote a special article about this category Is the Power Cat worth buying? , both nominal and measured accounts are included.

When will the electric cat be available? Rental houses, temporary residences, and old houses that cannot be connected to the Internet and are completely trouble-free, can accept speeds of one to two hundred megabits, and can be used once, which is better than zero threshold.: Just plug it in, press the pairing button, connect the network cable and you're done. If you have speed requirements, don't use it as your main backhaul solution. It can't save the speed of wireless backhaul. It just provides a fallback option for people who "can't route wires." How to choose between portable Mesh and portable routing in the rental scenario? I’m here Rental networking There is a more detailed comparison in that article.

How to choose among the four roads?: Check your seat according to the status of the house

Make a list of the costs, speeds, and thresholds of the four routes, and you can choose according to your own situation.:

My sequence suggestion is: No matter which one you choose in the end, the first step is always to complete the zero-cost thing - move the main router out of the cabinet, move the sub-router to the middle position, and nail the channel. After doing this step, you will know how much gap is left, and then decide whether to spend money. My own final answer is brightline: For 38 yuan plus two hours, the master bedroom goes from 230 yuan to 510 yuan. I think it is the most cost-effective expense in this house.

Finally, let me talk about my friends who haven’t decorated yet. Now you have the chance to save yourself all this trouble: During the decoration, ask the master to leave network ports in every room where a TV or table may be placed. At least one wire from the weak current box to each room, and two wires in key rooms. I have the accounts at these locations Should I install network cables throughout the house during renovation? I calculated in that article that the cost of one cable is a few yuan. If you leave an extra cable during decoration, the difference will be hundreds of megabytes when you live in it. Don’t worry if you have already completed the decoration. There is always a wall suitable for your home among the four paths above.