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Labthrift What to buy. What to skip. Why.

Written 9 Sep 2026. This is a how-to, not a product card.

A mesh kit can wait

Router DNS to the leftover box is enough. Don't buy a mesh kit so ads skip.

Ads skip when the house asks the leftover box for names: point the house at the ad block. If banners come back, check the computer: when ads come back, check the ad block. A new eero, Nest, or “whole-home Wi-Fi” kit does not make Pi-hole more true. A cable on the leftover box beats radio: a cable beats Wi-Fi.

When extra Wi-Fi is later

Come back to a second access point only when a real room is dead and a cable to that room is already possible. Power over ethernet is later: power two Wi-Fi points from one small switch. Guest Wi-Fi waits: a VLAN can wait.

What next

Weekend path: your first weekend. Tick Lab plan after ads skip on a phone that used the router DNS. A pretty URL still waits: a pretty URL can wait.

Optional: router DNS vs a later mesh kit as a sandbox in ByteRush — same Labthrift passkey as Plan. Skip if you just want to keep reading.

Skip

Skip eero, Nest, Deco, and “mesh for Pi-hole” this weekend.
Skip a new router so ads have a node. That is a new router can wait.
Skip a satellite hopping on Wi-Fi. That is not an access point.

Sources

House DNS: point the house at the ad block. Later Wi-Fi: power two Wi-Fi points. Lessons: ByteRush.

Also on this topic

A new router can waitFind the leftover box first. A UniFi waits. Point the house at the ad blockOne router DNS change. Phones need no app. When ads come back, check the ad blockThe computer is awake. Check Pi-hole before you buy a mesh kit. Power two Wi-Fi points from one small switchLater, when a real room is dead and a cable is possible.