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Tag: WiFi Mesh

Remote Work Space

With Kiran back at Oberlin for her final semester, I went back to using her room as an office.

With Kiran back at Oberlin for her final semester, I went back to using her room as an office.

The company laptop had issues maintaining a wireless connection to the eero Pro 6 wireless mesh network even when the wireless access point (WAP) was in the same room. It kept bouncing between the nearest access point and the access point in the family room on the first floor. This destabilised the VPN connection, with the connection dropping each time the laptop switched between access points.

The company laptop is the only device which has this issue. None of the iPhones, iPads, or Macs has this issue. Neither the ecobee smart thermostat nor myQ remote garage door opener has this issue.

The laptop maintained a stable VPN connection when it was connected via Ethernet cable directly to the eero Pro 6 base station. My solution was to purchase another eero Pro 6 base station for the "office", join it to the wireless mesh network via the existing eero Pro base station in the family room, and plug the laptop into the base station. I’ve not had any connectivity issues since doing this.

eero Home WiFi Mesh Network

Someone finally commercialised a configuration I have been using with multiple Airport Express/Extreme routers since 2009.

From the eero

With eero, you simply plug one device into your modem. Additional eeros simply need power from a standard outlet. They automatically connect to each other to create a single wireless mesh network that covers your whole home. If you already have Ethernet wiring, you can always choose to hardwire your additional eeros.

From the article I wrote in 2009 when I first set up my Apple Airport Wireless mesh network.

Apple’s online documentation mentioned that I could use WDS to “set up two to five base stations as a unified network that shares one Internet connection.” In other words, I could setup multiple Apple WAP to create a single large wireless network that I could reach from multiple locations in the home. I could put a WAP in the basement, one in the family room, and one in the living room (near the back of the house) basically saturating my home with wireless. This is exactly what I did.

The eero doesn't support AirPlay, but from the documentation may be easier to configure than the AirPort and has seven antennas to ensure signal strength and reduce collisions. On Amazon, you can purchase a pack of three for $500. That's enough to cover a 2000-3000 square foot home and is slightly more expensive than an Apple AirPort setup.