new house, network planning and shopping list.

[bobo990]

hi there, long time lurker, finally managed to make an account.

i have bought a house in italy, 2,5 stories, 250mq, stone and concrete walls.

during the renovation i placed cat6 in every room, and everycable reach an appropriate storage area where there will be the network equipement.

my internet will be low grade (the joys of living in the countryside) 10mb adsl, unless i decide to go starlink, but it is expensive.

i am a thinkerer, mechanical engineer, reasonably competent in computer stuff. not an it professional thou.

i will have in the future some cameras, that i think will talk to my synology nas or something similar. so i was thinking of having a poe switch to power them.

due to the house construction i will need more than 1 access point, and i will like to have the seamless transiction between them. I'm not sure this is the mesh technology that is widely spoken those days or something differnet, due to the eth backbone.

i'd like to have a guest wifi, separated form the rest of the net.

i'd like to have the iot stuff (not much, but some) separate from the normal network. and maybe the cameras as well? but then will they be able to talk to the nas?

some years ago ubiquity was all the rage for this type of ap, but maybe there is something better now? i ahve seen the AP 6 lite at a reasonable price, but i'm not sure if i need a controller, or a cloud something (not a big fan of those thing). maybe a netgear orbi kit? Cisco WAP581 AP?

switch: does it makes sense my desire to split the network like this? will i need a superexpensive cisco o juniper? maybe a cheap tplink can do the trick? i'm a bit at loss at what to get here. maybe i'm overcomplicating...

i wont' mind having a pfsense/pihole setup someday to cut on advertising. maybe the pfsense box can do the vlan?

sorry for the ramble, it is just that going from a single isp modemrouter to all of this gets a bit overwelming. I have read the topics of jasonreg and trpltongue about home revamp and they have way more clear ideas than me. due to the low isp bootlenek i feel stability and futurproofing is the way to go, more than performaces.

what are your thoughts? any help and pointer will be much appreciated.

 

[thiggins]

due to the house construction i will need more than 1 access point, and i will like to have the seamless transiction between them. I'm not sure this is the mesh technology that is widely spoken those days or something differnet, due to the eth backbone.

"Seamless transition" between APs is what consumer Wi-Fi gear makers want you to believe comes with a mesh Wi-Fi system. But reality is usually different. Clients determine when and to where they roam. If the clients and the system APs support 802.11k and v, the AP's can suggest the best BSS (AP radio) to move to. But, in the end, the client decides.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to tell whether devices or router/APs support 11k and v. And even when the spec sheet says they are supported, there are many sub-categories in each spec and you'll never get that information out of a manufacturer.

AP placement and signal overlap also are important, but few mesh Wi-Fi systems provide good guidance on node placement.

In your situation, with multiple floors and stone/concrete construction, at least your devices will roam, mainly because they won't be able to see the AP on the other floors. But "seamless"? Doubtful.

The main advantage a mesh Wi-Fi system that connects the nodes via Ethernet is a single management interface. But it's usually dumbed down and may only have an app to manage it.

I'm sure you'll hear from the usual SNBForum suspects that tell you to build a system using ASUS AiMesh using multiple RT-AX86U's. It's a pricey way to go, but you will be able to twiddle every knob you want.

Since you have Ethernet drops in every room, I suggest you build your system with low-cost 2x2 APs, @Trip seems to like TP-Link Omada. Here's a post you may find helpful.

Seeking advice for network overhaul (more info in post)

I am new to the forum and have limited experience with networking. I have gigabit speeds from Verizon FiOS. I currently use their router and am in need of serious improvement. I need to build a network. We have many devices on our network with various uses, including home offices, watching...

www.snbforums.com

 

[Tech9]

Since you have Ethernet drops in every room, I suggest you build your system with low-cost 2x2 APs

Indeed. One per room, if wall penetration is really bad, on low power.

Omada AC1200 Wireless MU-MIMO Gigabit Wall Plate Access Point

Omada AC1200 Wireless Gigabit Wall-Plate Access Point EAP235-Wall provides dual-band Wi-Fi of up to 1200 Mbps, also 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports for bridging (1× uplink + 1× downlink), with one downlink port supporting PoE pass-through to provide power for wired device. Ideal for the use in hotel...

www.tp-link.com

 

[coxhaus]

I would use Cisco small business wireless APs. They update their firmware regularly, TP-Link not so much from my 1 experience with TP-Link.

 

[bobo990]

the more i read and think the more i lean thoward the solution you proposed. thanks for the input and for taking the time to help a noob.

you guys and smbforum rocks.

 

[coxhaus]

My daughter is building a house right now. She is going to move in this summer. I plan to install 2 Cisco small business APs in her house. I picked the 2 ceiling locations. The builder is installing the wire for the ceiling and rooms. My granddaughter gets 2 drops in her room. They are also installing wire for 4 outside cameras.

 

[bdub76]

Either Ubiquiti or Cisco (small business) APs wired to a POE switch. I wouldn't go below small business gear given your home. And I'd probably pay someone to mostly set it up.

But you're significantly limited by your ISP. Any chance you can get a sat service out there? It's unlikely you're going to end up using much bandwidth other than what's internal to your network. I'd measure this to get an idea of how much data is moving through your network and at what rates. You might be able to keep most things wired.