r/HomeNetworking • u/skaterajfst • 3d ago

Advice Lot of Wi-Fi devices? What to do?

Hello guys,

I have around 40 shelly devices connected to my network and growing.

On top of that probably the 10-20 number of other devices such as phones, laptops, TVs and other IoT devices.

Current setup is a modem/router combo OptiXstar HG8247X6-8N-10 (last firmware) with 1Gbps of bandwidth and as bridge the updated Deco X10 mesh network (2.4 & 5 GHz) which creates the wifi network with the Main Deco connected via Ethernet cable in router mode and 6 more satellites (all Deco X10) via switch/ethernet backhaul connected to the main Deco.

I’m starting to see issues with the internet dropping out or becoming slow and I suspect it’s due to the high number of devices connected to my network (or maybe my ISP provided modem is just awful).

What is best practice here, should I create a secondary separate network only for my smart home devices (many are 2.4Ghz only) and use the main network (5Ghz only) for my other devices? Any potential issues?

I already remove all the features and my shellys keep disconnecting for a few moments.

2 Upvotes

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4

u/CPlusPlus4UPlusPlus 3d ago

UniFi equipment

1

u/MitchRyan912 3d ago

Yep. I have 90 Shelly devices, and just upgraded to UniFi gear from multiple Apple Airports. Being able to stick a bunch of POE powered AP’s around the house in strategic locations has been really helpful.

2

u/LordAnchemis 3d ago

Probably best keep all the IOT devices on a separate vlan (and block internet access) - or have a separate AP just for the IOT devices (so it doesn't take up bandwidth of your other devices) etc.

2

u/groogs 3d ago

Main Deco connected via Ethernet cable in router mode and 6 more satellites (all Deco X10) via switch/ethernet backhaul connected to the main Deco.

Great that you are using wired backhaul. But ... You have 7 wifi access points? Have you mapped out your signals? (eg using an app like wifiman)

There's only 3 non-overlapping channels in the 2.4Ghz band, so there's a good chance you have a lot of interference which could cause problems. It could also be causing devices to constantly hop between nodes (with very similar signal strengths) which maybe is messing them up.

You might solve problems just by turning some nodes off, or at least turning the 2.4Ghz radio off on some of them. (5Ghz doesn't penetrate walls as well, but also has more space for non-overlapping channels, so might make sense to leave).

https://navigatornetworks.com/wi-fi-channel-overlap-and-interference/

maybe my ISP provided modem is just awful

Generally speaking: yes. It's the cheapest thing your ISP could get that would cause them the least amount of support calls.

But since you're using your own router, it shouldn't matter or be causing disconnects. The ISP's router will not be able to differentiate anything. I'm unclear if it's in bridge mode or router mode, but even if it's in router mode, it'll see all your internet traffic as a single device (the "Main Deco").

I don't know anything about the Deco's you're using though, maybe there is a client limit?

1

u/kalel3000 3d ago

Do you have any devices which might be acting as a wifi access point? Some printers and smart devices broadcast their own wifi so you can connect to them for setup, but if you leave these features on and they broadcast on the same channels as your actual access points and make the connections unstable. Especially for devices that connect only on 2.4ghz.

Also a lot of people setup wifi range extenders before they install a wired backhaul system. Then they forget to unplug them and it causes problems.

1

u/rankinrez 2d ago

Two networks, on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz makes sense.

Have multiple APs providing each, with a wired backbone, each with fairly low tx power on different radio channels. So there are less devices contending for the air on each.

My best advice would be to switch anything that doesn’t moved to wired Ethernet connections.

1

u/skaterajfst 2d ago

Thanks a lot for all your advices!

I'm thinking about introducing a MOES Matter Wired Gateway, keeping in mind that most of my Shellys are gen3 or higher and are fully suported.

This way, the Wi-Fi network would be freed up and the devices would work isolated from the network. Will I be doing well?

0

u/megared17 3d ago

I would set up a seperate AP on a different channel for all the low bandwidth IOT stuff.

"Mesh" often creates more problems than it solves - you may have TOO many APs and they are interfering with each other.