Deco P7

For context, I live in a basement apartment where the router needs to be located just outside the apartment. Given I am renting, I don't have the ability to run any ethernet cables into the apartment, or to the satellite units. I have a 1.5 GB/s service from my internet provider. I recently upgraded an old mesh system (Deco AC1300) that was not serving my needs to an Orbi 770 mesh system (1 router + 1 satellite). The speed has significantly increased with the Orbi system compared to the Decos, but the stability/reliability of the connection has been quite poor. I've used the Orbi app and other scanning apps to ensure the wifi is set to channels with the lowest amount of interference, which has helped, but has not eliminated the issues. In use, I am getting significant lag spikes and occasional disconnection issues, both while gaming, and in Teams calls. This has been experienced across multiple devices. While the upload/download speeds were much lower with the old system (as expected), I did not experience any of these reliability issues. At this stage, I'm looking at alternatives to the Orbi 770 as it is still within the return period, and for the price, the performance is frankly not acceptable. I do not necessarily need a WIFI 7 mesh system (6E would be fine), and would welcome any input on viable alternatives.

Appreciate it - as I had some Deco's already and was happy with the stability of the old ones (just not speed), I went ahead and ordered some BE65s as they were \~25% off. I can always add one of my pre-existing Deco's from before if I need to extend the mesh anywhere in the apartment too. My parents do have the nest wifi system as well which they seem to be pretty happy with, so if this alternative goes poorly that will likely be my next step. I'd went into the settings pretty deep with the Orbi to make sure the channel selections were correct, updating firmware, etc. but the intermittency of the performance was just too bad to keep them.

I moved into a new place a year ago and ran.limited Ethernet cable. Using a tp-link deci mesh system to cover 3200 sqft (two floors). Great coverage throughout. I was surprised as I took the approach you are describing with my old house. Honestly, both perform the same. General use is streaming and remote work. No gaming. So, depending on your use, you might be overthinking. I saw the cat8 comment - you have a house not a colo, no need for cat 8.

I have a TP-Link Deco mesh system running to cover my 3200sqft two story house. I have no issues whatsoever. And mesh systems are not simply extenders. As you move about your house you will have seamless coverage with mesh.

1000 sqft does not need a mesh network. Get a solid AP or wireless router. I have the TP-link Deco network and it covers my 3200 sqft two story 4 bedroom house nicely. Anymore than one AP or wireless router will be overkill and unnecessary.

In my old house I had PoE unifi APs all with the same network name and it generally worked as a mesh network. When I moved I switched to a TP-Link Deco Mesh network with three APs. I was going to backhaul all of them, but after using it for a few months I found the speed and coverage was fine and the backhaul wasn't needed. They are not PoE units, so each one would need to be plugged in. But they are unobtrusive in the house. The first month the system seemed to learn as it was spotty. But then I found great coverage. The biggest difference I have found is that the Unifi APs tended to hang on to the connection vs handing it off to the next AP like the Deco does. I was very reluctant and skeptical of mesh after reading reviews, but I really could not be happier and the set up was a heck of a lot easier than running new Ethernet lines.

If you go with Ubiquiti, have IT guy install it. Otherwise go with simple (TP link Deco with Ethernet back haul). Ubiquiti is not for amateurs

Deco is easy / inexpensive: minimal level of effort. Ubiquiti is expensive / high maintenance and for very high number of users (public buildings)

I use deco pods. Super easy to set up. I'd recommend wiring in every access point. Mesh systems tend to lower total available bandwith, since things need to get broadcast more than one.

Yup, if you go in the app it will show you. I use deco pods in my home.

Yup, if you have Ethernet where your desktop is, you can wire up the deco and have it provide WiFi to that area.

Deco system is quite solid. I needed just 2 of those in a 3000sq ft house (one per floor). Given your setup, you should be able to put one right next to the router and another somewhat close to the middle of your place to have decent connection. My speeds were around 1.1gbit at the access point and 200 mbit at my neighbor's house...