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hci
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Home Wifi Beamforming

Tue Dec 20, 2022 9:33 pm

Been looking at some home wifi routers of various brands with 6 or more antennas and state beamforming. Does MikroTik have anything in works like this? Was just looking for better in home or building coverage through interior walls etc.
 
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mkx
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Tue Dec 20, 2022 9:41 pm

Mikrotik has only devices with up to 4 antennas ...
 
holvoetn
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Tue Dec 20, 2022 9:50 pm

By far the best way to get coverage through a wall or a building is a wire.
Ethernet, powerline, coax, ... whatever.
Fiber if you really want to go wild :lol:

Have you investigated those options first to the maximum extent ?
Don't look at straight paths only. Around the building or first down and then up again is also a way to go from one side to the other.
 
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mkx
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Tue Dec 20, 2022 9:58 pm

By far the best way to get coverage through a wall or a building is a wire.

What an outrageous idea in time when wireless charging became mainstream.

The above is sarcasm if that's not obvious.
 
holvoetn
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:03 pm

I got it

Even for charging, especially with current energy prices -> wire. Too much losses with wireless :lol:
 
gotsprings
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:53 am

Take you phone.
Call someone.
Put it on speaker.
Then throw it into another room while you are talking.

Sound ridiculous?

Why do you want your WAPs in another room???
 
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mkx
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:52 am

Why do you want your WAPs in another room???

Here's why: everybody knows wireless is the thing of tomorrow - just look at all those specs, promising multigig transfers while wire only supports single gig. And everybody (and their dogs) know one needs one of those mean-looking APs with gazzilion of antennae. But then the important one (wife/girlfriend/mum/...) bans that beast from any publicly accessible room so it has to end up in a closet. And then one needs even meaner-looking device to actually break signal out of that closet ... on the way loosing much of advantage provided by that gargantuan number of antennae. So at the end of the day it'd be better to wire a few small, nicely looking APs placed strategically around living space but that means a) wiring job and b) low "wow effect" on nerd friends

Ah, the joy of being geek with too much money and too little technical knowledge.
 
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mkx
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:53 am

Take you phone.
Call someone.
Put it on speaker.

Lately I can observe a lot of (younger) people doing it while walking in public spaces. In stead of holding phones to their ears, they are holding them in front of their mouths ... probably because they want that people close by can hear both parts of conversation. :roll:
 
hci
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:10 pm

The HAP ac3 uses the IPQ-4019 wifi chipset. The chipset has beamforming listed. Does this mean with wifiwave2 installed it can do beamforming?
 
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mkx
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:18 pm

Theoretically yes, it can do beamforming. As can Audience. Experience with them is positive for majority of users (myself included). But it doesn't make miracles. If legacy AP works decently, then beamforming will perform well. If legacy AP performs pooorly, then beamforming won't make it decent.
 
holvoetn
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:38 pm

Rule of thumb for 5Ghz networks = 1AP per room/open space
You may (or may not) pass some walls but there will be substantial losses. Hence 1 AP per room.

Have you investigated the wired options completely ?
Really no possibility to use that route ?
 
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Ca6ko
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Re: Home Wifi Beamforming

Wed Dec 21, 2022 6:24 pm

Was just looking for better in home or building coverage through interior walls etc.
That's not what beaforming is about.
You don't change the physics in any way.
Its main task is to weaken the interfering signal and at the same time to slightly strengthen the useful one.
Even the industry leader Ruckus adds 3-6 dB of useful signal due to beaforming. For comparison, put the phone on the table, turn on the signal meter. Then move the phone to 1 cm to any side and after 30-60 seconds look at the signal level and repeat this until you move the phone to 20 cm. You will observe fluctuations in the signal level of about 10 dB.
So increasing the coverage area can only be achieved by proper positioning in space and installing the required number of devices.

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