Upgraded Network Options from Nest Wifi (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Here is my current setup:

Nest Mesh Wifi router (not the pro model)
1x Nest Mesh Wifi Point (this device is in the hallway, midway between the router and mini)
Brightspeed C4000LZ DSL Modem
1x Raspberry Pi 1 running Pihole
Mac mini m2 running Pihole in Docker Container (this device is on the other side of the house from the router)

All this is in a 1500 ft2 home with solid wood construction, single floor at this time, but the option to finish out the attic, and it is on a crawl space. It soaks wifi signals up like nobody's business, which is why I initially went with the Nest mesh system.

I have had 2 instances where something happens with a power flash with my existing Nest mesh wifi system, and then I can't connect to anything, and the Home app won't connect either. It happened last night, and a few months back. The lack of a web interface to connect directly to the router and change DNS settings is ridiculous. Not being able to do WPA2/WPA3 at the same time stinks. After starting back up the pihole system on the Mini, (I think the flashes corrupted the Pi 1), a bunch of swearing and ranting, and FINALLY it came back up. Right now, so that everything just works, both Piholes are offline, and I am defaulting to Google DNS servers. Surely there is a better option.

I am wanting another mesh system, if possible, the option of wired backhaul, and a web interface for when I mess something up, or power flashes mess something up. I also am currently using the mini as a kind of DIY NAS (don't recommend), and am running various services on it. The ability to put a 2.5G wired connection would be a plus for it for large file transfers. Are there any suggestions, or am I overthinking something? I have been considering Ubiquiti hardware, as I am also wanting to divest myself from my Blink and Ring systems for cameras.

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I've been an orbi mesh guy for a while now, and they're fairly great at wifi coverage. I'm currently running the Wifi 6 Pro with multiple SSIDs backed by different VLANs for layer 3 separation.

primary wifi: phones, laptops etc
IOT: Ecobee thermostat, some "smart" home Assistant/hubitat things
VPN: a fun experiment where instead of having the vlan's default gateway be my router, it's a dual-homed Linux VM that has a VPN client, forcing anything on the VPN said to go out through New Zealand

They're expensive, and I've never used them as routers (only in AP mode), but they have consistently been great for bouncing the wifi coverage from the basement where my cable modem resides up through the main floor and into the second floor of my townhome.

Edit: rereading your post and looking at the 2.5Gbps comment. Good luck with that. Finding non-commercial gear that will handle those speeds is a bit of a struggle. I too wanted to take advantage of high speeds for a Proxmox cluster, so I opted for a Brocade that supports SFP+ (10Gbps fibre). This is probably overkill for my environment, but VM migrations are now nearly instantaneous.

this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025

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