You are not being a ‘goober’ these are all valid concerns and questions. I don’t have specific answers to all your bullet points but I can offer my advice.
I’m currently using Spectrum.net as my ISP - they provide cable TV, phone, and internet to my home.
What I’m planning on doing is purchasing a mesh system to provide wifi to my home. Currently, the cable modem/router is providing wifi. I’m also not satisfied with the wifi performance here. I have decided to purchase the EERO pro mesh units. When they arrive, I’m planning to make the cable modem a bridge and have it send all traffic to the EERO pro unit connected directly to it.
With Spectrum, they have to enable the device that is directly connected to their network. You probably can buy something to replace your router but each ISP is different.
a mesh system helps if you have a large square foot home. A third party might definitely help but isn’t necessary. I’m not a network guru but usually, the cable techs that arrive only know what it takes to connect everything and not necessarily is the wifi in spec.
One option would be to connect a device to the ethernet port with a cable and see if you are having connectivity issues. This would indicate that it is a wifi issue only, not your network configuration.
I changed because my local power company in MS became an internet provider with much faster service (1 Gbps). For now I am currently using their router instead of my eero. I may attach the eero at some later point.
When I was using the ATT internet the eero provided better coverage throughout my house than the ATT router. I have the eero pro with 1 beacon. Again, this worked well for me.
If you are a Setapp subscriber, they have 2 apps that can give you some info regarding your wifi: Netspot and Wifi Explorer. Someone on here may be able to recommend something better. But I would do as @pmconaway suggested and connect an ethernet cable from your computer directly to the ATT router then check your speed with speedtest.net
You can also test your speed coming into your ATT router. The router should have a label on the bottom with the address and password. Takes a little looking around to find it (at least for me it did, since I did this so infrequently). I’m sure ATT looked at this when they came out but it doesn’t hurt to confirm this yourself.
You need an app that can “see” other WiFi networks that are nearby. I’ve used iStumblr on our laptop in the past. Then you walk around your property and see if there are any other networks, besides yours, that are using the same WiFi channel(s) as yours. If you find any, you should be able to change your router to an unused channel.
I have a similar set up, and use a Google mesh running simultaneously with my ATT signal. Everyone here refers only to Eero’s–are they substantially better than the Google product? A store salesperson talked me into the Google product. Also, this thread makes me wonder if it is a bad idea to have the wireless systems running at the same time. Anyone have a thought on that? I tend to go back and forth, depending on what signal has the best Speedtest numbers at the time.
Also consider what is between you and the router. Distance is only one factor. I’m running an eero mesh connected to my ISP box. One of the eeros is in one room, but depending on where I am in the next room, maybe ~10ft away, I get a spotty connection. On the flip side, other places in the house or even outside, 50ft away are fine. Though I can’t be certain, my guess is the closet between the two rooms is blocking a lot of the signal, which probably is made worse by the closet having floor-to-ceiling sliding mirror doors spanning most of the wall. I’m planning to move the eero to a different position to see if that helps avoid the closet interference.
So perhaps try moving the router, if possible. You can also try using mobile apps like “Oka Wifi” to map out signal strength in various locations to identify dead spots.
I did this for a while before I had mesh. It was fine, but annoying and a mess when it came to smart home stuff. This also sort of defeats the purpose of mesh. Ideally, you’d want to get another access point for the mesh if there’s a weak signal somewhere.
Set the ATT box in to “Bridge Mode”
Install a Synology RT2600ac router and spend time configuring all its features. You will need a small flash drive to store the database.
By now I have more then 20 of these RT2600ac routers and a bunch of
Thanks everyone for your kind advice. I purchased and installed 3 Eero pro devices throughout the house. I now have only U-verse TV, HomePods and some echoes running through the AT&T access point and all other devices through the Eeros. So far, everything is working. I’ll know how much progress I’ve made when I try another large Zoom conference. I have a 40mbps plan and I’m now getting 39.48 download via WiFi. That is excellent!
Also, I purchased the eeros at Best Buy and they were giving away an Amazon Show 5 with the purchase.
Thanks again, the kindness and expertise on this forum is amazing and appreciated, especially by Goober!
What’s the name of your internet service provider?
Is their router available for purchase on Amazon or other sites (or is there any information about it online)? If so, could you provide me with a link or two?
Yes. Gigabit internet provided by my local power association (NEMEPA) that covers many counties in northern MS.
The router is from a company called Calix. I don’t think they sell routers to individuals nor, most probably, would you choose this one if given a choice. It’s working fine for me at present but at some point may connect my eero to see if there is any difference in coverage.
If you Option Click on the WiFi icon in your menu bar it gives you detailed information about your network and your neighbors when you hover over their network name.
I can’t speak for everyone but as a new user having installed three Eero pros yesterday after having had significant wifi issues using Zoom with 200+ in a call, my wifi is much better. I understand that for most people installing Eeros is simple and fast. In my case it took a couple of hours because I had to create a bridge with the AT&T router before I could create a new wifi network with the Eero.
Though I have not yet had an opportunity to replicate the 200+ person Zoom call, I can definitely tell the difference throughout the house. I have an Eero in the kitchen, study, and master bedroom in a three story home. I have a 40mbps plan and I’m consistently getting 33 to 38.5mbps throughout the house and the back patio while my wife uses her laptop and the TV is on using wifi for U-verse TV. Additionally, there are three Amazon echoes, two Home Pods and two smart plugs on the network. I’ve segmented the network so that U-verse and the echoes run off the AT&T access point and all other devices run through the Eeros.
Purely based on my past experience with Internet Provider-supplied routers (2 models from Cox Communication; 3 from ATT). In each case, eero provided better coverage. I could be wrong about the Calix router. Time will tell.
Not everyone on this forum loves eero. Here is an example of a topic on routers on this forum. There are most probably others. Search for “router”.
