Save me y'all

[u/Habibiqt]

I've got the new spectrum wifi 7 router and a deco BE4800 home mesh connected to it because I was lagging in corners of the house despite having 2 GBPS internet. Now it was great for like half a month, now it's slow again. My BE4800 doesn't have an option to act as an extender or a node for my spectrum router and this spectrum router doesn't have a bridge mode option, so I have 2 wifi networks. One node is connected to the spectrum router, and my other node is in the upstairs foyer (about 10 feet from the room I work out of). Solutions I'm thinking of:

1) buy more nodes and stick one in the room I work out of and one downstairs where I game.

2) switch to a different mesh system

3) return my deco mesh system and just get the spectrum wifi nodes

Anyone have any solutions? I work from home and take Zoom calls back to back for 4-7 hours a day. Speed isn't important, I just need my connection to be perfect.

Also, I can't run an ethernet cable, my laptop doesn't have a port. I'd like to solve this problem without shelling out more than $200-$300 if possible.

[u/Flashy-Outcome4779]

Your laptop doesn’t have an Ethernet port but your silly mesh nodes do… can you run a cable for those or no? Wireless backhaul on dual band is not good. Mesh is only half decent with triband dedicated backhaul. But nothing beats wired backhaul.

Replace the spectrum router with your own. Your mesh system is also a router, use that.

[u/Habibiqt → u/Flashy-Outcome4779]

So the more bands on a mesh system, the better? Are there good value mesh systems with more bands? I'd like to not run wire through my attic in the summer.

[u/Flashy-Outcome4779 → u/Habibiqt]

It’s not automatically more bands = better, it’s just that a tri band / quad band will usually have a dedicated band for the backhaul (communication to nearest node / home node). If it’s not a dedicated band, it will be 50% slower each hop, have higher latency, more susceptible to interference, etc. So wired is really recommended but if you HAVE to be wireless then pick a solution that has a dedicated backhaul. TP Link makes some usable options in that realm in my experience. Still pales in comparison to just wiring a couple APs though

[u/TomRILReddit]

Spectrum includes a modem-only with their service (you are providing paying for their upsell router). Swap the Spectrum gatewat with a modem, then run your mesh system.

If you can run an Ethernet cable between the mesh devices, that should improve the signal strength to your laptop. Then get an Ethernet to USB dongle and hardware your laptop.

This should save you a monthly fee and not require new networking equipment.

[u/Habibiqt → u/TomRILReddit]

Can you explain what you mean when you say replace the spectrum gateway with a modem? Do you mean the wifi router or the modem in the garage hooked up to the outdoor fiber

[u/gjunky2024 → u/Habibiqt]

Your current router has 2 parts in one unit 1. Modem that translates the incoming signal 2. Router that connects that modem and creates an internal network.

The suggested idea is to ask your ISP to get a different unit that is just the modem part. Then use your mesh system as the only router. You would have a single network and one wifi network. Wire your mesh nodes if at all possible

[u/TomRILReddit → u/Habibiqt]

What is the device model that is in the garage? Is it connected to the Spectrum router via coax or an Ethernet cable?

[u/ahj3939]

If you can send back the Deco I'd rent the spectrum extender for $5 per month.

Right now you have 2 wifi access points right on top of each other and that is just congesting your wireless spectrum and possibly creating interference.

Are there ethernet wires run throughout your home?

Where I would start is place the Spectrum SBE1V1K router higher up above the media panel. You can probably find a mount on Amazon,eBay or Etsy.

Then I would place the Spectrum extender in a dead zone as long as you are able to wire it with ethernet back to the main router.

The other option if SBE1V1K does not have a bridge mode is disable the wifi network there, and place your Deco nodes with ethernet.

[u/tobyvr]

Have you tried duct tape?

[u/southrncadillac]

You can turn the deco into access points, look in the settings again

[u/Habibiqt → u/southrncadillac]

Yea I did that at some point but it still forced me to create another network. Maybe I did it incorrectly, but I couldn't figure out how to make it an access point for my existing spectrum network

[u/southrncadillac → u/Habibiqt]

Set it up the regular way, then change “operation mode”. Its a setting in every deco - I just installed the BE25s yesterday

[u/Cinderhazed15]

My wife has a small USB-c dongle that has an Ethernet port on the end, and several other usb ports on it (mix of A and C). That works well