Professional Advice on Best Performance Network Switch/Power Line Adapter for purchase

[ejp]

Hello SNB Community,

As you guys are always the most knowledgeable in any area of networking, I wanted to direct a nub question I had about setting up my new home network to some real network professionals. The question I have is as follows:

- If anyone would be so kind, could you please provide me with your opinion on what the very best performing network switch & power line adapter would be? It seems that Ubiquity EdgeRouters are pretty high quality but I'm unsure on the details of what PoE means. I know that some models only power 24v (some say they work with 24v/48v) which creates a problem for some users, so would someone be so kind as to provide me a link to what the best performing switch would be from Ubiquity or another brand? Moreover, would someone kindly explain what PoE is and what benefits the technology provides over other switches? In terms of the PowerLine adapter, I have no idea which brand or model would yield the best performance, so I'm very much open to any suggestions.

Essentially, I will be creating a network in my new home with a router that doesn't quite have enough Ethernet connections to support all of the devices in my office, so from what I understand, a switch is what I would need to best serve as a solution in my circumstance. If it matters, I probably will also be looking at a Ubiquity access point to connect to a power line adapter to have strong signal at the other end of the house.

Thank you so much in advance to anyone willing to help.

 

[Cloud200]

You are talking about 2 different technologies here.
Powerline is where you modulate data along a 120/240v AC power circuit
POE Active (also known as 802.3af/at) is the ability for a device to request 48v power from a switch
POE Passive (usually used with ubiquiti and mikrotik hardware) sends either 24v or 48v power at all times. This can damage devices not designed to handle it and the exact voltage it sends.

POE is usually used for the following things:
IP phones
Security cameras
Wireless Access points
As to why you should use it? Read this;
http://www.technologyintegrator.net...ome-automation-av-security-installations/all/


Now Ubiquiti Edgerouters are not switches. You need to decide if you need a router, a switch or both. Read this for the difference;
http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solu...k_switch/index.html?referring_site=smartnavRD

As for a powerline adapters, Choose one of the top 3. Cant go wrong.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/rankers/powerline/ranking/AV2-MIMO/rev1/130

 

[ejp]

You are talking about 2 different technologies here.
Powerline is where you modulate data along a 120/240v AC power circuit
POE Active (also known as 802.3af/at) is the ability for a device to request 48v power from a switch
POE Passive (usually used with ubiquiti and mikrotik hardware) sends either 24v or 48v power at all times. This can damage devices not designed to handle it and the exact voltage it sends.

POE is usually used for the following things:
IP phones
Security cameras
Wireless Access points
As to why you should use it? Read this;
http://www.technologyintegrator.net...ome-automation-av-security-installations/all/


Now Ubiquiti Edgerouters are not switches. You need to decide if you need a router, a switch or both. Read this for the difference;
http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solu...k_switch/index.html?referring_site=smartnavRD

As for a powerline adapters, Choose one of the top 3. Cant go wrong.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/rankers/powerline/ranking/AV2-MIMO/rev1/130

Thank you so much for the help.

I currently have two routers on hand: a new neatgear Nhawk R7000 and an Asus 3200, so my idea is to use the Asus as my main router at one end of my house with all the hard connections plugged into it, and setup the Nhawk as an AP (or bridge as I'm unsure how I should set it up) at the other end of my house using a Powerline adapter so everyone with wireless devices at the other end of the house get good connection. Maybe I should purchase one of Ubiquities AP's to better implement this setup?

Thus, I will need a switch at the Asus end of the house because there aren't enough ports on the router for the hard connections needed at that end, however getting a Ubiquity switch with PoE that can damage my hardware concerns me. I will be sure to read up on the links you provided me with, but would you be so kind as to lend me your thoughts on my recent responses as I may not have the networking knowledge to make full sense of the information. Are there different brand switches that come in the same quality/performance as the Ubiquity hardware, and if so, which would you recommend?

 

[wbond]

Your premise is sound, connecting the router at one end of the house to the AP at the other with a powerline adapter will probably work. If it were me I'd get a powerline adapter kit and try it with your existing hardware before considering a different AP.

The problem with powerline is that you don't really know what type of performance you'll get until you try it in your environment. Even moving to a different outlet in the same room can have an effect on the performance. If you get acceptable performance then you can save the cost of a new AP and don't need to worry about PoE. There are reviews of powerline adapters on this site, and reading a few of those will give you a good idea of what to expect but don't expect to get what the manufacturer claims as far as speed. I'm using a TP-Link TL--PA6010Kit in our house, it works fine and I haven't had to mess with it since it was installed. Since you'll probably use the powerline adapter even if you buy a new AP it's probably not going to go unused.

As for the switch, you didn't state what type of switch you need, unmanaged, smart, managed. If you're not planning on using any smart/managed features and you use your existing router/AP then you can probably use an unmanaged switch, get one with gigabit ports. I've paid as little as $15.00 for an 8 port unmanaged gigabit switch that's been working 24/7 for years. If you end up getting a new AP and need PoE you can probably use a PoE injector instead of a PoE switch and still use the non PoE switch.

 

[System Error Message]

This post seems familiar as i did explain POE recently. If you go for the edgerouter POE-5 with the dual core 500Mhz MIPS it would be fine. You can also go with a POE switch from ubiquiti too that are managed.

Active POE converts the voltages required for each port to the one you need and uses some kind of protocol. Passive POE is the simplest and cheapest but will only supply one voltage across all ports based on the PSU used. if all your equipment uses the same voltage you can go with passive POE.

A POE injector can be used for non POE capable hardware but than again, look at the voltages when deciding between using a passive or active POE type.

 

[AdvHomeServer]

1) There really isn't "a best" of anything. Experts have opinions based on experience, but they are opinions. Some are good and some aren't. You won't be able to tell the difference, most likely. (Hint: opinions are easy to find - explanations that don't involve more opinions or don't sound like verbiage that came from a mfgr gospel page - are not.) Amazon ratings are a great place to find a consensus on common technologies. Always save the receipt in case you need to return it.

2) I had a bad experience with the Edgerouter lite. They use a flash drive to hold the OS. They are reputed to be of mixed quality. Some break down pretty fast and others run like the energizer bunny. It's difficult to replace one and move the operating system, plus you void your warranty. I did it and also got an error message about possible counterfeit software after reloading the OS, even after I put back the original flash drive. I threw it out.

3) I also own the TP-Link TL--PA6010Kit powerline. I have the main unit next to my router, which is next to the main circuit box for the house. The other box is about 50 feet of wiring away. Throughput is a little over 200Mbit, which seems to be good according to stories from others. Some powerline performance can be pretty bad and / or mediocre. It's better than nothing but run a wire from the main switch if you can.

4) TP-link makes some highly rated consumer switches and they don't cost a lot. Look them up on Amazon.

5) PoE is used to carry power over the internet cable to a device that needs power to run, such as a video security camera. If you have no powered devices, you don't need PoE. If you do, some devices and switches have non-standard power. Make sure you know exactly what you are buying and what you plan to use it for - precisely - before buying any PoE equipment.

6) I hate to say it, but get an education in basic networking. It's not easy but then you won't be at the mercy of 'experts'.

 

[System Error Message]

1)
2) I had a bad experience with the Edgerouter lite. They use a flash drive to hold the OS. They are reputed to be of mixed quality. Some break down pretty fast and others run like the energizer bunny. It's difficult to replace one and move the operating system, plus you void your warranty. I did it and also got an error message about possible counterfeit software after reloading the OS, even after I put back the original flash drive. I threw it out.

Agree with you on the 2nd one. Was going to mention it but forgot. Never used it but there are just too many complaints about it all around. If you are going to consider an edgerouter, Mikrotik do have switches that have POE and they are managed. If you want internet the only mikrotik router that matches the performance of the edgerouter would be the RB850gx2 and RB1100AHx2. They are both dual cores and boasts speeds from 500mhz to 1Ghz so its a case of 64 bit MIPS vs 64 bit PPC with IPSEC acceleration. Both are similar but ubiquiti has a nicer interface while mikrotik is a better router. The choice is mainly to skill and which CPU you want

 

[Cloud200]

Agree with you on the 2nd one. Was going to mention it but forgot. Never used it but there are just too many complaints about it all around. If you are going to consider an edgerouter, Mikrotik do have switches that have POE and they are managed. If you want internet the only mikrotik router that matches the performance of the edgerouter would be the RB850gx2 and RB1100AHx2. They are both dual cores and boasts speeds from 500mhz to 1Ghz so its a case of 64 bit MIPS vs 64 bit PPC with IPSEC acceleration. Both are similar but ubiquiti has a nicer interface while mikrotik is a better router. The choice is mainly to skill and which CPU you want

I would not recommend mikrotik switches for anyone but a serious networking professional, or someone using it as a dumb layer 2 switch. The routers while randomly buggy between releases at least have a decent amount of guides and follow standards, so it's not so bad for an advanced user to follow.

 

[gatorback]

My phone lines reach into every corner of the house and were wired with CAT5 and I use 4 of the 8 conductors for 100 Megabit Ethernet. I don't really use the other 4 conductors for POTS, so I really should just rewire everything for Gigabit Ethernet.

 

[ejp]

Ok, so I recently purchased and installed my new tplink powerline: AV1200 3-Port Gigabit Passthrough Powerline Starter Kit, and I've used it to hard connect one of my netgear nighthawk routers at the other end of the house that I will just be using as an access point to ensure tablets, phones, and all other wireless devices have a strong wireless signal at the other end of the house (away from my main Asus tri band router).

My next, and hopefully last, question is the following:

- I have another netgear nhawk router (the same exact model r7000 series router) totaling 2 nhawk routers I can use as access points on the other end of my house. Is there anyway I can hard connect both my nhawk routers as 2 access points on the other end of the house right next to each other to increase the wireless speeds to their maximum? I seem to remember a review I read some time ago on these forums when the netgear Nhawk AC routers first came out that mentioned something like you needing 2 of the same AC router to maximize the wireless speeds, which I very much would like to do in using both of my spare Nhawk routers as access points on the other end of the house. Can anyone who knows lend their thoughts to me on this idea? Thanks so much, you all have been a great help throughout this process.