Wifi7 mesh system with sky Superfast

[stevef73]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice please. I'm looking at getting a WiFi7 Mesh system (NETGEAR Orbi 970 Series) and just want to make sure that it will work with my current setup and if I upgrade to Full Fibre at some point.

Current setup is:

ER115 modem

network type MER

TIA

[Chrisee]

@stevef73 that unit cannot connect directly to a Sky FTTC servicexas it lacks a VDSL modem . Even if you sourced one of those it is not guaranteed to authenticate the connection as the Orbi range does not appear to offer DHCPv4 Option61 Sky use. 

You could connect it behing your er115 in a double NAT config turning off the Sky WiFi and possibly using the Sky hub's DMZ to avoid firewall issues. Alternstively you can configure the new system in Access Point mode for a simpler set up keeping the WiFi capabilities but losing some bells and whistles.

WiFi7 is pretty new and kit that supports it beyond the very latest phones is very limited so whether the premium pricecis worth paying is up to you but I would note a 2 unit 960 set up is around £600 whileas the 2 unit  970 is £1500. By the time full fibre speeds that can start to use offer those higher speeds we will be onto WiFi 8 or whatever so being an early adopter is an expensive business. 

[stevef73]

Thanks Chrisee, I'm about to upgrade my laptop to one that has wifi7, hence going for that system. I was going to use the er115 as the connection to Sky and use the Orbi for my WiFi. 

I have several WiFi devices and I'm struggling to get a connection to the end of my garden for a security camera. I've tried WiFi extenders without much success. So was hoping that a mesh system would be the answer and of course I want the latest, greatest system to try and future proof myself the best I can. 

We can get full fibre to the house now, but I'm not sure if I would notice the difference as there are only 2 of us in the house, and we're not gamers.

[TimmyBGood]

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@stevef73 wrote:

I'm about to upgrade my laptop to one that has wifi7, hence going for that system.

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Perhaps worth noting that multi-gigabit WiFi is not particularly advantageous when broadband to the address is limited to a maximum of 80Mbs by the manky bit of British Telecom copper connecting it to the outside world....

[Chrisee]

@stevef73 getting usable wifi outside is never easy but WiFi7 is unlikely to be better. The high speed 5 & 6GHz bands it uses to get speed are poor at penetrating external walls leaving the 2.4GHz band so placing a simple 2.4GHz wifi access point in a window facing the camera is probably the best solution.

My own old 3 unit Deco M4 mesh WiFi 5 system delivers 60Mb/s 25 metres (most cameras need under 10Mb/s) down my own garden. It dellivers up to 700Mb/s in the main area in my home dropping to 200Mb/s in bedrooms on the top level it costs currently roughly £100. The speeds WiFi6 offers are very unlikely to be able to be used in the next few years but if I was buying today I would probably buy a WiFi 6 system but as @TimmyBGood has observed in the past I have more money than sense. 😀

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chrisee wrote:

as @TimmyBGood has observed in the past I have more money than sense.

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That's OK: I have lots of sense but no money, so it all evens out in the end.

[stevef73]

In a bizarre twist of fate (or are 'they' watching us?) It looks like I'm moving to full fibre in December.