Home setup with no ethernet cabling run

[np123]

Hi everyone.

So we renovated the house a little while back but at that time the other half couldn't decide fully on layout so the cat 6 cable didn't get run through the property which was a shame.

At the time I had already purchased a velop setup and felt ok with that.

Fast forward, and the velop didn't fully cut it. Drop outs, interference, it wasn't a great experience. I wanted more control over the WiFi itself, to counteract some of the issues.

It's a relatively large house, and unfortunately the internet entry point is at one end of the house, so I need a system that can cover the whole space.

Played around with using powerline adapters to move the router more centrally from the modem, but wasn't keen.

I think the recommendation on here would typically be to go for unifi kit. Is that the case? If so which one would be best, assuming that they can wirelessly transmit to one another from the first unit.

We have c 30-40 devices connected at any one time (smart speakers, laptops, Nas etc)

Thankyou for your help.

Sent from my Mi 9T using Tapatalk

 

[degrub]

if you have RG6 (digital cable TV, etc) you can run MOCA2 or 2.5 across it with the Actiontec modems or GoCoax modems. Then just set up switch (dumb or managed VLAN, whichever you need) and an AP of whatever flavor needed.

 

[Klueless]

Wish I knew more. What's your service speed and what kind of speeds are you seeing here and there? I'm guessing you're seeing pretty good performance when you're close to your Velop router and it's everything else that's pretty bad? "Renovation" suggests plaster and lath which could make wireless (e.g., mesh) throughout a bit nebulous?

For years I've watched in awe as cable and satellite TV companies come in and always find a way to run the cables for TV while we network types can never find a way to run an Ethernet cable or two : -)

Perhaps it's simply because the cable and satellite companies send out pros and foot the bill?

If you've an unfinished basement (or crawl space) it could be as easy as punching a small hole through the floor and running a line along the cellar ceiling? Or punching a small hole through a wall and running a line along the outside wall? Sometimes I'll take flat wire and/or wire molding and simply butt it up against the baseboard. Better yet, call a pro.

Before that you'll want to test some placement ideas. Download some WiFi analyzer tools. Connect your router to a long length of Ethernet and an equally long power cable and walk your router around the house testing various locations. (Turn off mesh nodes while testing.) Maybe the router will cover the whole house from a central location? Or maybe not? So pretend the router is an access point. Where do your measurements suggest placing the router and/or access points?

Or, as long as we're playing, you could simply take some long lengths of Ethernet cable, temporarily lay them out on the floor and connect up your Velop mesh nodes. See what you see when you're using Ethernet backhauls.

 

[ACwifiguy]

If it was possible to run Ethernet before, it sounds like is still possible now.

Forget all the wifi backhaul options.

Well worth it to either fish the Ethernet lines yourself (two person job, easier with a friend) or hire an electrician to help you. I was able to fish one line solo. One line I couldn’t get so I hired help. The CAT 6A cabling, faceplates, and electrician labor was only about $250 total. Well worth it. You’d easily spend that much on a quality mesh system that is full of compromises and mediocre performance.

 

[Trip]

Jumping on board here. First priority is getting any kind of wired backbone you can.

1. Best option is quality Cat6/Cat6a (slim commercial UTP like Belden 10GXS if you can), either by yourself with a helper, or hire it out to a high-end residential AV/IT shop. The good outfits make it look like a work of art and can usually route and terminate without much demolition at all, and the best ones usually do phenomenal finish work,too (cable routing, patching, labeling, painting, etc.).
2. If that's not possible, MoCa 2.5 adapters (with MoCa compatible splitters) over RJ6 if you have enough runs and F drops in the house. MoCa 2.5 will create a minimally-latent, 2+ Gb/s full duplex wired interface, which although not as perfect as ethernet, will still be better than pure wireless backhaul, by far.

If either of the above are possible, even just partially, you can put in a proper centralized AP product like UniFi or Omada, with good quality switching and away you go.

If none of the above is possible and you want to self-service, go Eero Pro tri-band (AC Wave 2); as many tri-band Pro units as are needed -- no Beacons or dual-band bases. It's miles better than anything else -- Google Wifi, Velop, Deco, Orbi, etc. -- due being way more well-coded from the ground up. Eero automatically uses as many or as few radios for backhaul and/or endpoint links as are needed based on real-time traffic flow analysis, coupled with packet smoothing and de-bloating between nodes and out to the internet. It does all that without you have to do anything other than set it up via the app.