Poor WiFi & adding a mesh system

[1ststevec]

Good afternoon everyone. I live in a solid walled 1930’s house and the WiFi is frequently poor/drops out. I have researched alternative options and bought a mesh system. The instructions say to turn the superhub 3 into a modem only and then set up the mesh system using their app. This is fine but I’m getting conflicting advice from VM users. Some say yes do this, others say leave the  S3 in router mode, turn it off, connect the main mesh system ‘pod’ via an Ethernet cable then others as & where needed. What do you advise? Keep the superhub 3 as it is, with the mesh or change the hub into a modem only and use the mesh additionally? Also, the VM box is connected to the S3 hub by an Ethernet cable, if I use the S3 hub as a modem and rely on the mesh system, can I leave the VM box connected to the then VM modem or will it need connecting via the port in the mesh ‘master’ pod? 
TIA

Steve 

[jb66 · Accepted solution]

If you dont need any ethernet ports on the hub other than the s3 then go modem mode, otherwise router mode with wifi turned off

[Andrew-G]

If it's anything like me TP-LInk Deco M4, you probably need to do the set up of the first mesh unit with it connected to the hub with the hub in normal router mode.  But you can't leave it like that, otherwise the hub router and the mesh router will conflict causing all manner of odd problems.  Write down all setup passwords and user names for the mesh.

When the first mesh unit is setup, then put the hub in modem mode (because the mesh system has a better router capability), turn it off, unplug any ethernet cables, then turn the hub back on with only the first mesh unit connected.  Only one port works on the hub when in modem mode, so long as only the mesh is plugged in, that will be connected properly.  You should now have a mesh system of only one unit.  Follow the makers instructions to add subsequent mesh units.

If you then need to connect wired devices, they can be linked to the spare port/s on the mesh units.  If you need more than are available, a fifteen quid unmanaged gigabit ethernet switch can be plugged into the mesh unit and will give you four or six additional ethernet ports.

[jbrennand]

In modem mode (the best!) the only port on the Hub that works is the one the mesh is using.

All other ethernet connections must come from any of the Mesh units. These often only have one (make sure it is a 1GB one) so if you need more you simply get an unmanaged switch with (say) 5-8 additional GB ports and connect that with a short Cat6 cable. Should all be about £!5-25 on Amazon