ᐅ Wi-Fi across three floors: is it better to set up access points or use mesh repeaters?

Good morning everyone,

here is my situation.
I have a house on a slope with 3 floors: the basement is living space, the ground floor is for the kids, and the top floor is for the parents.
The fiber optic connection is in the basement, where the main router (7490) is also located. On the ground floor (7490) and top floor (7362 SL), there is another Fritz Box set up as a mesh repeater via LAN (ground floor) and Wi-Fi (top floor).
However, a lot of steel and concrete were used in the construction of the house (the ground floor has a concrete parapet wall / ledge that extends 90cm (35 inches) beyond the basement).

When I use FaceTime, my iPhone often switches between Wi-Fi and LTE, causing connection issues, which is quite frustrating. Generally, the Wi-Fi throughout the house works well over the mesh system (I have named the Wi-Fi network the same on all floors, and my device connects well across them).

Now my question is:
What difference would it make if I set up the two mesh Fritz Boxes as access points instead?
Would that improve the range?

Or would it make sense to try another router and set it up as the master in the basement? For example, the new FB 5590.

I’m still not quite clear about the difference between mesh and access point setups.

Maybe a network expert could help me understand this better.

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,
Micha

I had the 7362SL and 7590 combined as a mesh setup. That wasn’t ideal either.

I’ve now replaced the 7362SL so that I have both frequency bands available everywhere and faster Wi-Fi on both. I feel it has improved somewhat. The 7362 simply doesn’t support 5GHz or the ac standard.

Thank you, I usually use FaceTime in the basement on the couch.
I have to admit that I have also hidden all three routers inside cabinets, which I read is not really ideal^^
But the main problem is that during FaceTime I keep switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data, even though I’m not sitting very far from the main router (12m (39 feet)).

Have you tried turning off mobile data? Does the connection drop then?

Wi-Fi performance often depends heavily on the placement of the Wi-Fi router or access point. These devices should be placed as high and as openly as possible. Positioning them inside furniture, on the floor, or under piles of cables is clearly less than ideal. It’s no coincidence that most access points available on the market are designed for ceiling mounting. A distance of 12m (39 feet) is not exactly small. Of course, it also depends on how many walls or other obstacles are in between. I would first try improving the position.

In general, if the routers are connected via LAN, then you already have access points (assuming they are configured correctly). The AVM mesh system has nothing to do with a proper mesh network. With AVM, mesh means the support for handover of Wi-Fi devices from one connection point to another.

Musketier schrieb:

Have you tried turning off mobile data? Are there still dropouts then?

Yesterday, I enabled airplane mode and turned on Wi-Fi, and it worked at first, but then there were dropouts again.

Unfortunately, I can’t reposition the main router—it’s at a height of 1.4m (4.6 ft) behind a kitchen cabinet because all the house connections are located there.
As an alternative, I considered adding, for the living area (which is an L-shape with the sofa in the back corner), a repeater like the AVM 2400 connected to a LAN outlet further away in the living room and testing it again. That way, the Wi-Fi would generally be more stable on the terrace and in the garden.

@hanse987
The one on the ground floor is connected via LAN but also located inside a cabinet. On the upper floor, it's only connected via Wi-Fi, but I could reposition it later if needed. Up there, I estimate the distance from the bed to the router is just under 6m (20 ft).