We’re 4+ years on our Eero system, first 3 were remarkably trouble free and frankly it was a relief to not be futzing with Apple routers all the time. Then things got a bit buggy and in the process of sorting things out, Eero support essentially insisted that part of the problem was that my Eero password was too complex (it was a routine 1Password generated pw). The agent said it had to be only lower case and numerals, no special characters. On a subsequent support call a year later I asked that agent if this was true and was told yes, this is so. Strikes me as a really bad idea. Do you have any experience of this?
I cut the cord from Altice/Optimum to Frontier fiber and haven’t looked back. As part of the package Frontier included an eero 6 pro. It’s worked flawlessly, and is extremely easy to expand if you need to.
hi folks, i’ve just redone my home network with 3 used airport extremes (a1521). purchased used for less than $100 total, connected by ethernet cable with one as router and the other 2 in bridge mode. one on each story of the house and one in the coachhouse. this is connected to comcast compliant modem. i get ~ 950 Mb on the wired lan ports and ~ 450 on the wifi side. works great!
That sounds ludicrous to me, but I suppose you may as well change it in the way they suggest and just see if the problems go away.
The passphrase for my Eeros (I have them installed in two houses) have, and still include, something other than what you say Eero suggests. They’re working fine.
As a matter of fact, I have the guest network option I occasionally turn on for my networks if, well, guests show up (e.g., the cable guy comes). It’s using a passphrase that was suggested by the Eero app, and it includes both capital and lower case letters. Honestly, I think they’re just blowing smoke if they’re telling you that.
Perhaps you should have them ask a network engineer at the company call you back to explain why such a passphrase is problematic. It definitely shouldn’t be.
This will be the same name and password you use to connect devices to your network. You can make it anything you’d like, so get your creative juices flowing. This is a great time to replace the gibberish network name or password you’ve been stuck with forever!
Thank you, Karl. Yes, I use my own algorithm for password generation so I can remember them from device to device. I have no problem with Eero taking my password suggestion. Best, Patrick
I’m curious as to how large does a place have to be to require a mesh network. My previous house was 2600 sq ft and an Apple Express placed in the living room worked just fine from one end to another. I’ve now downsized to a1700 sq ft house but I use an Arris router Sparklight included.
Now at my previous place I had a 900 sq ft metal workshop located about 30 ft from the house but never tried to see if I could get a WiFi signal. I want to put a small workshop (about 375 sq ft) about 15 ft from the new house so I was wondering how to get WiFi in it. Would it be best to go with non-metal construction and see if the Sparklight WiFi signal works inside or would a mesh system work in a metal building?
That reminds me of another question: How long is a piece of string?
As you state the construction and materials used in the building as well as distance will determine if the wifi signal can propagate. A mesh wifi system typically uses a wifi connection to the remote - so you have the same concerns about wifi signal strength. The other thing to think about is that you can connect the two wifi nodes (at least I verified that with the eeros) with a point-to-point Ethernet cable - that way you don’t have to worry about the quality of the wifi signal between the two buildings.
Certainly non-metal construction will give you better chance, and the location of the wifi router within the house will be an influence as well.
I’ll second the idea of running Ethernet cable from your home’s base station to the annex. There you just attach another AP in bridge mode and done. That’s the best performing and most reliable method to spread your home wifi to another building with minimal fuss and near-zero config effort. It also relieves you of any constraints as to building materials for the new addition or its electrical (for eg. PLC).
I concur. That is definitely the fastest and most reliable way.
If that’s not an option (e.g. you need to open walls to run the cable), then you may want to consider alternate wired connections before using wireless to link the nodes. Some possibilities include:
Powerline networking. This uses your home’s electric wiring to carry data. The latest tech for this is HomePlug AV2. This is what I use in my home, using Netgear 1.2 Gbps adapters.
MoCA. This tech carries high speed data over coaxial cable (e.g. cable TV wires). If your home is already wired, it’s a great option. Note, however, that if you’re already using your coaxial wiring for TV or Internet access, you will need to be sure to get transceivers that don’t interfere with your other services, so do a bit of homework before just buying some interfaces.
G.hn / HomeGrid. This tech can carry high speed data over analog phone wire, coaxial cable or powerline.
All of the above use transceivers which connect Ethernet to its particular network tech (powerline, coax, twisted pair, etc.). Once you pair your transceivers with each other, you can just plug their Ethernet jacks into a device or router or switch, as required for your home’s network.
We have a somewhat similar situation, a stone cottage with two foot thick stone walls, a modern timber frame extension and a studio in the garden where myself and my wife work, about 1900 sq ft all in all.
So we went with an Orbi mesh network from netgear, a base in the middle of the house, with extenders connected via Wi-Fi in the cottage and the far side of the house. We ran an Ethernet cable out to the studio to connect the extender out there. It could have extended via Wi-Fi as well but I am keen to have an Ethernet connection from my Macs all the way to the main router.
I have noted speeds via Wi-Fi and Ethernet are identical, a measure of how much better mesh networks can be compared to the mix of old AEBS I used to have. I would never have had that with the older network.
Doug,
Thanks for your input.
re “you may as well change it in the way they suggest and just see if the problems go away.”:
That’s what I did, and everything (mostly) has worked fine since then. But it just makes me nervous to select a password that goes against all conventional wisdom.
Based on what you have told me, though, I think I will reset the pw to something more sensible. Then, if I’m back in Eero customer support heck it’ll be all your fault.
joke
A piece of string? A piece of string is never shorther than its length, but also never longer than its shortest measurement. LOL. I couldn’t help it. Sorry, but caffeine is to blame.
In reality: Get two Eeros, then add on if you need more. Either Eero or Beacon. Best, Patrick
PS: I just kill myself.
I don’t know how well your WiFi would penetrate a workshop’s metal wall, but I can tell you about our experience with rebar, concrete, and brick. I have an above-ground storm shelter 3 ft from the back wall of our brick-veneer-wood-framed house. The walls of the shelter are made of 6 inch thick concrete, with rebar spaced 12 inches in all directions, covered with brick.
I used the Mac app NetSpot (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/netspot-home/id514951692?mt=12) to map the WiFi signal strength from our Apple Airport Extreme router (located in our living room) around our house, as well as in the shelter. We had almost undetectable WiFi in the shelter, but we had good strength throughout our 2000 sq ft house with only fair strength outside the shelter. I suspect the rebar created something of a Faraday cage and the concrete also helped block the signal.
We decided to go with a TP-Link Deco mesh system (one WiFi router and two remote units). I replaced the Airport with the Deco, placing the main router in the living room, one remote unit in the utility room (connected via WiFi to the main unit) and the other remote inside the shelter (connected via WiFi) which is on the other side of the wall from the utility room. The two remote units are separated by one wood/brick wall, one concrete/rebar/brick wall and 3 feet of open space. The WiFi signal in the shelter is now as strong as the signal in the house.
You might start with NetSpot to see how strong your current signal is where you plan to put your workshop. If it’s pretty weak to start with you’ll know you need to make changes. Of course, you’ll get maximum speed if you use a wired Ethernet connection as others have suggested.
Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. They will help as I plan out the workshop. I don’t need a very high speed connection as I would only use the Internet for troubleshooting when working on my vehicles especially using Ross-Tech’s Hex-Net on my VW Jetta TDI.
I wonder if having a window facing my house in the side of a metal building would allow enough of an WiFi signal through especially if I use a Mesh network with a remote by the window; something to think about.
Since Netspot requires a Mac computer, I was hoping there was an iOS version but their equivalent app for iOS requires you purchase a $650 external device!