Hub Two with TP-Link Mesh

[#1]

I am on Plusnet's Full Fibre service, & having used TP-Link mesh systems in the past whilst on Plusnet's FTTC, decided to get a three node TP-Link Deco XE75 Wi-Fi 6E system (one per floor) with ethernet backhaul, & use the primary node as the router i.e. not using Plusnet Hub Two at all. I am in a Victorian 3 story terrace so need the XE75 oomph to get through solid walls. Recently I have started experiencing drop outs & have now discovered that the (not cheap) XE75 does not offer the native functionality to measure internet speed, which is hampering any kind of root cause analysis. My understanding is that Plusnet support won't advise if not using the supplied router (Hub Two). So... I am now reconsidering whether I should be using the Hub Two in Bridge Mode, then connect to the Deco XE75s for Wifi (assuming I can see internet connection speed via remote log in to the Hub Two). What I don't know is if this will make any difference, any Procs & Cons etc. Any experience (with XE75s or just combining Mesh with HubTwo)  or advice from the wise owls out there would be much appreciated...

[#2]

If you have Full Fibre, a Hub Two in bridge mode isn't going to offer any solutions. It effectively turns it into an ADSL/VDSL modem which is not required (and will not work) with Full Fibre.

[#3]

Thanks for the reply Bob. If Bridge Mode is incorrect, how should I be looking at combining the Plusnet Hub Two FTTP with a Mesh Wi-Fi?

[#4]

how should I be looking at combining the Plusnet Hub Two FTTP with a Mesh Wi-Fi? 

Exactly the way you are , using the primary node as the router i.e. not using Plusnet Hub Two at all

assuming I can see internet connection speed via remote log in to the Hub Two

The connection speed on FTTP will always show 1000Mb ( assuming the ethernet port on the router is a gigabit port ) , as its the speed between the router and the ONT

[#5]

Thank you MisterW. Previously I used a combination of a SamKnows white box and the Deco app to confirm actual download speeds. Unfortunately Samknows don't offer this for the FTTP & TP-Link don't offer this in their Deco App (Android) for the  XE75 (although the functionality was there for the Deco M5s). So it sounds like I am limited to using something like Ookla Speedtest on a device connected via ethernet connection to the primary node/router. Oh well.

Thanks all.

[#6]

So it sounds like I am limited to using something like Ookla Speedtest on a device connected via ethernet connection to the primary node/router. Oh well.

that about the size of it, yes. For consitent results I'd suggest the cli version and make sure nothing else is active.

[#7]

@Quiffster68  On FTTP you shouldn't have to keep checking download speeds, they should always be at the expected rate. Why do you think that speed testing is required. There is no varying sync speed that could happen on FTTC services. With FTTP it's generally full speed or nothing at all.

[#8]

Thanks @RealAleMadrid. Very possibly a knowledge gap on my part, but I do see variations on download & upload speeds, & sometimes get messages around taking too long to connect from devices such as Amazon Firestick. In these scenarios I would want to eliminate poor ISP connectivity. However, having had some clarification in this thread I will try a more disciplined approach to when & how I check speeds. It's just a shame I have to crank up a workstation to perform the test (although... just discovered USB C to ethernet adapters exist, so maybe I can also use my Android mobile).

[#9]

@Quiffster68 

While I've never seen a TP-Link Deco XE75 but a quick look at the user guide on Amazon suggests that the units may have 2 Ethernet ports.

I would expect that on the Deco that connects directly to the Openreach fibre adaptor (ONT), the second Ethernet port would be for a LAN device (or connecting the Deco by cable to others).

Assuming the port is free you could put your Sam Knows box into that I guess.

[#10]

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@markhawkin wrote:

Assuming the port is free you could put your Sam Knows box into that I guess.

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As a SamKnows user, I agree that would probably work and is likely to give representative results.

However one of the features of SamKnows is that the box (in a normal setup) will skip doing tests when the broadband usage is busy with customer activity by detecting the network traffic going through it.  So having the SamKnows box hanging on an ethernet port might cause short bursts of intense WAN traffic activity every hour in the evening (which might lead to ping spikes if gaming),  and evening speedtests and latency measurements would appear worse than expected again due to sharing the WAN traffic with active customer usage. HOWEVER assuming that the connection was relatively unused after midnight then those test results would give a representative indication of how the internet connection was actually performing.

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[#11]

I run 4 XE75 Pro units using it in the Access point mode with ethernet backhaul which works very well, and still allows the benefit of all the extra toys available on the router (Draytek 2865). The Draytek doesn't have WiFi so I understand the router WiFi needs to be turned off to avoid interference between the 2 systems. 

The 'Main' Deco unit is connected to one of the router ethernet ports with 2 of the slaves being fed from the Lan ports on the 'Main Deco' and the 4th connected to another router ethernet port - set up the main unit first, and then add the others in turn.

There is a WiFi speed checker available in the TP Link app which will give you a good indication of speed from each node, but you will have to ensure you are connected to the node under test. each time.