Mesh Points & Backhaul

[BlairArmstrong]

We have a rather large house and needed to install additional mesh Wifi points.  (1st one acts as the Wifi Router, plus the other 6 act as Wifi Points)

A couple of the points have a weak signal, and there isn’t a better location to move them to, so I’m wondering if I plug them in directly to the LAN, will it improve the signal? And, if I do plug them into the LAN, will it automatically can figure them for backhaul, or is there something I need to do?

[olavrb · Accepted solution]

I hope your place is big or has poor design for wireless reception, because 7 pucks sure sounds like too many. In fact, Google recommends a maximum of 5 in wireless mesh, any more might degrade performance due to the overhead.

• https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7182840?hl=en

That said, wired backhaul will give better performance. It should be "plug an play", pucks should detect that they have wired backhaul available eventually.

• https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/6274262?hl=en
• https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7215624?hl=en

It's recommended to go either all wired or all wireless, because mesh (802.11s) doesn't travel over ethernet. Mixing can cause strange behavior, but might work.

Also, be sure to follow topology recommendation when wiring things up:

• Use a unmanaged switch. If a managed/ smart switch is used, be sure to disable any loop protection features, often named STP (spanning tree protocol).
• Wired it like so: Modem -> Nest Wifi main -> unmanaged seitch -> All other wired devices, included Nest Wifi secondaries. Try to avoid daisy chaining pucks, even though it usually works. Everything should ideally go back to this main switch behind the main/ master Nest Wifi puck.

[BlairArmstrong]

Thank you! That’s exactly how I’ve set it up, and yes, the house is broken into to separate living areas, separated by a garden.

And the house is built on a hillside with front entrance at street level, and each room is lower as it goes down the hillside.

Lastly, it’s one level in some areas, two levels in other areas, and three levels in two areas, plus roof top terraces above… and all walls are made of 30cm concrete!

This old colonial vacation home is in Centro Historico in a city in Mexico.

So, you get the idea why we need seven. And all are now wired for backhaul.

Thanks again.

[olavrb]

Interesting architecture. 🙂

You're welcome!

[Jeff]

Hi BlairArmstrong,

It looks like @olavrb and you were able to troubleshoot this out and get a resolution. That's great to see. Before I mark this as resolved, is there anything else you might need?

Thanks,

Jeff

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi everyone,

Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, I would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let me know.

Regards,
Mel