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Mesh WiFi is digital cancer. It is the ultimate in selfish asshole technology. Let me explain. Elsewhere in the thread others have touched on WiFi channels bein

Mesh WiFi is digital cancer. It is the ultimate in selfish asshole technology. Let me explain. Elsewhere in the thread others have touched on WiFi channels being a shared medium so I'll skip over that. My neighbor has mesh WiFi. Correction - my neighbor THREE HOUSES OVER has mesh WiFi. How do I know this? Because his multiple access points show up in a scan with ridiculous output power, at nearly the same power as the AP in my own house. WiFi packet captures show these things are enormously chatty, constantly occupying the channels with management traffic to perform their mesh thing. You want to live out in the country with no one around you for half a mile? Have at it. You live in a dense neighborhood with many APs where channel selection is limited? Fuck anyone and everyone that uses mesh WiFi in this situation. Literally everyone around you suffers so you can have your "very very low latency and super reliability". It's like lighting up a cigar in a crowded train car with no regard for anyone around you.

motoboi 5y ago
I'm not sure what you are talking about. If your neighbour's ap appears at your house, at 5Ghz, means that either you are very close or his house if basically transparent to 5Ghz (lots of windows maybe?). There is no such limited channel selection in 5Ghz. In 2.4 sure, but 5ghz surely not, with over a hundred channels and poor material penetration. Meshed 5Ghz is neighbour friendly, not the other way around. Is a saner way of doing wireless network in crowded environments. Some equipaments even use proprietary protocols and licensed radiobands for the trunk traffic, thus alleviating even more the 5Ghz range.
- assttoasstmgr 5y ago
  > but 5ghz surely not, with over a hundred channels On which planet do you reside in which this is remotely true? Many devices (clients and APs alike) do not properly implement DFS. Which leaves the number of usable channels around a dozen or so. And that's in 20 MHz mode. In his quest for more speed, my neighbor runs his network in 40 MHz or 80 MHz mode (can't remember which) which cuts the amount of usable channels in half / quarters. So the rest of the neighborhood deals with interference while he binges 4K Netflix with his Y-fronts around his ankles on the toilet.

motoboi 5y ago

I'm not sure what you are talking about. If your neighbour's ap appears at your house, at 5Ghz, means that either you are very close or his house if basically transparent to 5Ghz (lots of windows maybe?). There is no such limited channel selection in 5Ghz. In 2.4 sure, but 5ghz surely not, with over a hundred channels and poor material penetration. Meshed 5Ghz is neighbour friendly, not the other way around. Is a saner way of doing wireless network in crowded environments. Some equipaments even use proprietary protocols and licensed radiobands for the trunk traffic, thus alleviating even more the 5Ghz range.

assttoasstmgr 5y ago
> but 5ghz surely not, with over a hundred channels On which planet do you reside in which this is remotely true? Many devices (clients and APs alike) do not properly implement DFS. Which leaves the number of usable channels around a dozen or so. And that's in 20 MHz mode. In his quest for more speed, my neighbor runs his network in 40 MHz or 80 MHz mode (can't remember which) which cuts the amount of usable channels in half / quarters. So the rest of the neighborhood deals with interference while he binges 4K Netflix with his Y-fronts around his ankles on the toilet.