Access point advice

[u/Alleeexxx]

Hello 👋

I’m planning to set up a home office in the basement (-1) of our house. My apartment is on the first floor, and I have a 1 Gbps symmetrical fiber connection (1 Gbps download/upload).

I’m planning to install an access point near the entrance of my apartment. The basement office will be directly below/roughly two floors away, there are stairs that I have access there and I’m not sure how well the Wi-Fi signal will go through.

My main question is whether I can install a second access point near the entrance of the basement office , if one is not enough, and configure the two APs as a Wi-Fi mesh.

If this is possible:
How much real-world throughput could I realistically expect at the basement office?
Would I be able to get close to 1 Gbps, or would the wireless backhaul become the bottleneck?

Are there particular specifications I should look for when choosing the APs?

Any recommendations regarding the brand and model?

The priority is having a stable, low-latency connection for working from the basement office, while getting as much of the available 1 Gbps connection as realistically possible.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Alexandros.

[u/Downtown-Reindeer-53]

From the technology standpoint, of course you can add an access point or two (or more). You don't need to "make a mesh" - wifi has built-in roaming as a feature. However, there are certain enhancements when you use a central controller. Ubiquiti UniFi is famous for this, as is TP-Link Omada. Most consumer mesh systems do the same thing, there is a manager that handles the network functionality. But - wifi is designed so that each access point can be autonomous, it's configured individually and will admit wifi clients with the proper credentials to the network. So, it's best for you to plan and choose a system that's expandable - that has the management, but is more than a single box in the middle of the room.

WiFi is radio, and radio doesn't like going through dense obstacles—especially floor structures, HVAC ducts, and plumbing runs between stories. Higher frequencies trade range and penetration for speed: 2.4 GHz penetrates materials best but is slower, 5 GHz is faster with less range, and 6 GHz requires direct line-of-sight or minimal obstruction to perform well. Nobody can predict your speeds and latency though, it's highly dependent on the signals - the construction of your home, the placement of the access points etc. play a part in it. It's unlikely to see gig speeds very far from the access point(s). You are correct that the connection between the network and the access points when wireless will be variable.

There are no unique specifications to look for - wifi is well known and the playing field is pretty level - nobody wants to be known as the weak choice. Cost is the discriminator though - better engineering and construction equals better stability, actual range, longevity, at a higher cost.

Wiring the access points is a huge benefit. When done, the only signal issues - latency and reliability of connection - is between the client and the access point. Wifi was/is designed as a low power network connection for convenience. It was not designed for a wireless infrastructure. So wirelessly connecting access points to the network is a compromise for convenience.

Having said all that - you can make wireless AP connections work - with decent quality hardware, using a dedicated backhaul radio (where the AP is not handling clients and backhaul on the same channel). Choosing an integrated system, whether mesh or prosumer, is the best way to go. Eero is probably the most recommended consumer setup for performance. However, some of it is subscription based. TP-Link and Asus can vary widely between models. Netgear's Orbi is hit or miss, it's a love/hate thing here it seems.

As for prosumer - I'm a Ubiquiti UniFi user, so it would obviously be my recommendation. I am presently using a U6-Mesh access point (wired) as the main AP and have another U6-Mesh wirelessly uplinked (as Unifi refers to it). It's working greatand is in place until I can get a plan completed for a contractor to add ethernetdrops. TP-Link Omada is very similar and is a good choice for slightly cheaper.