The general rule of thumb is that you can go through one brick wall in a straight line from the AP - so in your 5 bedroom if you can position an AP in the centre (like the hallway) and from there you can draw a straight line into each of the rooms without going through 2 brick walls (or at most just brushing a 2nd wall), you might get away with 1 AP on each floor. However if you are going to the effort of running a cable, I would be inclined to go for 2 and then have it positioned in such a way that 2 APs will cover the top bedrooms.

You would probably find 1 AP is fine on each floor for things like your mobile phones etc, but if you have any older Smart TVs they can be a bit sensitive and if you have TVs in bedrooms against walls etc they can get a bit delicate then if you are breaking the above rules.

Regarding your detatched garage whilst I can't claim to know the Devolo powerline solution I would be inclined to suggest you do not attempt to use that in conjunction with a new setup, it will probably end up interfering or causing some issue with roaming due to security mismatch and other things. Mesh systems simply do not like other APs on the same network for a varity of reasons. If you cannot get a cable into the garage and it might be difficult to get 2 cables into 2 APs in your upstairs (should you find you need more than 1 AP), I would be inclined then to be looking at a mesh system which isn't reliant on so-called ethernet backhaul - buy a 4 or 5 AP mesh system and put on of them in your garage and then it's all done and dusted..

Why not try the eero system - if it doesn't work out you could probably even return it to Amazon for a full refund.

Re Ubiquiti (which may not be the best bet in your situation) normally the powerline is sold separate. It's best to go for a PoE switch in my opinion as otherwise you end up with cable spaghetti. I put in a 4 AP Ubiquiti system at a friends house and he didn't want to pay for a switch, instead choosing the PoE injectors, and then every time he tidies up he proceeds to phone me up asking for help when he plugs all the cables in wrong. Highly frustrating. Aside from when he messes up what cables go where due to his stupidity, the system works perfectly.

That's how my Linksys mesh system from Community Fibre works, I was having problems with losing signal for my smartphone and the lighting in the bedroom, got a 2nd unit, set up the WiFi to the main one, then took it upstairs and plugged it in to the switch in the bedroom, everything WiFi now works all over the house.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

I would still recommend going for latest technology (i.e WiFi 7) because your devices will always play nicer with it. They'll use less power, it will be more stable, you'll likely get more range, etc. It's just that you don't need to neccessarily pay for the models with multiple radios etc.

Less Power - debatable.

Ubiquite U7-Pro and U6-Pro are very similar in performance terms, coverage, data rates, power in 2.5 & 5, clients &c. U6 is 13W, U7 is 21W - teh 6GHz radio is 23dBm - or 200mW even allowing for the radio only being 50% efficient that is still well under 1W. The U7-lite has a coverage area of around half, no 6GHz but still takes 13W

Was referring to the power consumption on the client device, which is normally battery powered, and therefore where it counts - the newer standards are more efficient.

Agreed. I have used separately Fritz!Box and TP-Link gear meshed, each with 2.5Gb Ethernet backhaul, no issues. WiFi-only backhaul is not necessarily a real requirement.

If you are likely to be on a 30Mb connection into the foreseeable future then there is no point in over-specifying the kit you install. A lot of the advice earlier in this thread is given by technologically adept users and is sometimes more comprehensive than an average domestic user would need.

We have an FTTC connection with 70Mb+ download speeds. We live in a stone built fisherman's cottage which has been extended to the rear (outside the pre-existing 40cm. thick stone wall) then a detached concrete garage 30m. from the house. We bought the cheapest 3-node mesh we could find (in our case a set of Tenda units) with the master unit adjacent to the router in the downstairs living room and hard wired, the next unit upstairs on the other side of the stone wall just about in line with the access stairway through the wall and then the third unit daisy-chained from that unit and mounted above the inside of the garage door. No hard wiring to either of the slave units. I have not noticed any significant speed drop anywhere in the area covered by the mesh and transfer from node to node when walking about with a mobile phone on wifi calling is seamless.

I accept that when we move to FTTP we will need to upgrade the kit if we wish to take advantage of any higher speeds but until then our current system is perfectly adequate for normal domestic use.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

What do you mean mesh with ethernet backhaul?

Mesh means you don't have ethernet backhaul (well apart from the main AP of course in terms of its connection to the internet..)

As I understand it, Mesh means not that you don't have ethernet backhaul but that you don't have to have it. MY question is asked in that form so as to avoid an irrelevant discussion of the backhaul.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

...Mesh systems simply do not like other APs on the same network for a variety of reasons. If you cannot get a cable into the garage and it might be difficult to get 2 cables into 2 APs in your upstairs (should you find you need more than 1 AP), I would be inclined then to be looking at a mesh system which isn't reliant on so-called ethernet backhaul - buy a 4 or 5 AP mesh system and put one of them in your garage...

I'm getting a bit confused here. I thought an Access Point solution was different from a Mesh solution, but you are referring to "a 4 or 5 AP mesh system". Does this mean that the nodes of a Mesh system are just ordinary APs with some special mesh software. If so, can you switch the APs in or out of mesh mode with a simple software configuration change?

I'm also puzzled as to why you don't appear to like using wired Ethernet backhaul. Is that not always faster and more reliable than wifi backhaul?

A standard AP has to be connected to a wired connection. The wired connection is what connects you to the network, the AP may have software that allows it to detect other APs and form the beams so as to control the level of interference.

A mesh is an AP with additional software (and maybe hardware) that allows it to do the network connection via the wireless network itself. It will also usually have software that allows it to form the beams to control the level of interference with other APs.

A standard AP cannot work without a wired network connection. A mesh AP will generally work with or without a wired network connection. A wired connection would be better (as long as it is done properly). A wired mesh access point may also be the backhaul for other non-wired mesh access points so you could use a single wired connection to get a good connection to serve a number of mesh access points (you could use this potentially for an outbuilding where you can't get good wireless signal to it but once you connect to a wired connection you can mesh the wireless happily within the outbuilding without more cabling).

An access point is an access point - it may be a traditional access point, or it might be a mesh system. It's still an access point. Some systems allow the APs (access points) to operate in a Mesh configuration, or just "normal" AP mode. But that depends on the vendor. Most mesh systems, last time I checked, are designed only to work in a mesh configuration and with APs of exactly same model, you can't change them to run as standalone APs.

I am not against ethernet backhaul - I am simply saying that if you have areas of your house where you cannot get cables run then you would be better focussing on a mesh system which runs as a traditional mesh (i.e no firm reliance on backhaul/cables) because ultimately that's what most of the system will be running on.

If you can get cables to most access points, you can then look at one which can leverage ethernet backhaul to help but you better make sure that the APs where you didn't get cables to can act reliably in the traditional mesh sense.

If you can get cables to ALL access points, then there isn't any compelling reason for buying "Mesh" gear at this point. Just buy ubiquti and run cables to them all and provision it in normal mode.

Edited by Pipexer (Tue 09-Sep-25 21:30:59)