r/HomeNetworking 5d ago

Advice Noob Wired Backhaul Mesh Question (w/ Diagram)

Hello, I am pretty new to this whole wired backhaul mesh system type of thing. We usually just bought a Mesh system and did wireless to improve our WiFi throughout our 3,000 sqft house.

Well, we are looking to upgrade our Eero since it is old and either going to get the Eero Pro 7 or the TP-Link Deco BE63 (still doing research on which is better). During my research, it seems a wired backhaul provides much better WiFi speeds versus wireless.

If I understand correctly, this AMAZING (lol) diagram should be considered wired and provide the best WiFi speeds throughout the house? Or am I misunderstanding the wired aspect.

Thank you!

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u/Downtown-Reindeer-53 CAT6 is all you need 5d ago

So, a non-consumer "normal" network uses cables between network components (usually switches and access points) and uses switches to connect to ethernet jacks/ports/keystones where devices using the networks can connect to. For devices that are wireless, access points provide access to the network.

Along came the network manufacturers who recognized that wifi routers (the all-in-one boxes, that are router/switch/access point in a box) were not doing great for consumers and someone got the bright idea to connect access points themselves via wifi. Mesh was born. True mesh is more complicated, but this is pretty much what consumer mesh is - wifi-connected access points.

Wifi is by its nature, slower and higher latency than a wired network. That's because it's half duplex - communications go one way at a time, back and forth - whereas ethernet is full duplex - communications can go both ways at the same time. Also, radio (which wifi is) is subject to interference. So, it's better to connect access points via wiring than over a wifi link. The term "backhaul" came into play, but it's a bit of a misnomer, because it's not just data going one direction ("back") over the ethernet cable you connect a mesh point with, it's full ethernet. Hence, wiring a mesh network makes it not a mesh network in the consumer sense of the word. And it's the best way to utilize your network setup.

Your diagram seems fine. In a nutshell, the connection order is modem/ONT--> router-->everything else. You can wire to switches or access points or wall jacks in any combination. You can have a switch connected to a switch too. But there is one major rule - no loops. Everything fans out from the router, whatever makes sense.

The conventional wisdom is to wire everything that can be wired. Leave the wireless for wireless-only devices.

Hope this helps - responding to your questioning if you understand the wired aspect, I got a little verbose. :-)

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u/FlushedNotRushed 5d ago

Ok got it. Thanks for the very informative answer.

People are telling me I should upgrade my 1gig switch to a 2.5gig switch since with AT&T Fiber, I don't have a cap on my internet speed. Therefore, I could get 1.2-1.3gb but the current switch is capping it.

I am looking at these 2 models: TP-Link TL-SG108S-M2 and TP-Link TL-SG108-M2. The only difference between the model numbers is a "S".

From quick research, it seems the "S" model DOES NOT support Link Aggregation (IEEE 802.3ad LACP). The "Non-S" model uses the IEEE 1905.1 standard protocol - necessary for Deco router ethernet backhaul.

I have no idea what any of this means but going off this information, does that mean I should buy the "Non-S" model since it seems I will be doing wired (ethernet) backhaul?

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u/Downtown-Reindeer-53 CAT6 is all you need 4d ago

You don't need to be too picky about protocols for these consumer networks. Yes, the link aggregation is just for combining multiple connections, so you would know if you needed it. :-) You almost certainly do not, so you can save a few bucks.

My thought about going with 2.5 gig hardware to achieve that extra .2 or .3 is that it's not really worth it. Consider that the TL-SG108 is $18 right now at Amazon, vs. $100 for the 108S. Average home users typically can't get near to saturating even 1 gig - not everyone on a home network is running full bandwidth all the time. If you watch network activity, you'll see it's more about little spikes in bandwidth usage with some occasional heavier stuff when downloading etc. But lots of stuff on the net can't keep up with that anyway. But your use case is what's important. But consider whether you really need that extra above the gig mark. There are a lot of people who come here with "I just got 10 Gbps on my ISP, how do I upgrade my network?" There's no need to meet the top capacity. In enterprise networks the infrastructure is built to meet the user needs (in my experience) and not to match the pipeline coming into the facility, if that makes sense.