Wireless Coverage for house

[hussain]

I am Buildinga 7500 square foot house with three floors i.e. basement, ground floor and first floor. Each Floor consists of about 2150 square feet.

I want to run a wired connection throughout the house. As i am going to place media streamers in atleast 4 bedrooms. I also need wireless network coverage in all rooms mostly for internet.

Would One Router Suffice or would i need to place Access Points on each floor. Also what is the maximum length of a network cable without signal loss. What is the recommended router for my requirements

Thanks
Hussain

 

[sfx2000]

CAT6 is good for 100 meters

Drop an AP on each floor - dual band 3 stream if you can afford it backhauled via 1000BaseT (gigabit) to the main ingress router with a managed switch...

Broadband - ingress router - GIGe managed switch - AP1/AP2/AP3 plus ethernet drops to various locations.

Since you're building new - I recommend at least running 2 drops into every room - CAT6 - you can use the pair for telecom or ethernet depending on how you wired it to the jack.

 

[hussain]

Hi,

I must confess i didn't understand most of what you said.

Can you recommend routers and access points which shall be good on a budget. What are the advantages of dual band routers?

Regards

 

[tipstir]

He's speaking shop but what he does say makes sense to use CAT6 instead of CAT5e. I still use CAT5e as there is higher in the series

Drop in two lines per each room he's telling you. Drop (line connection to the jack box) Or you can just drop out two CAT6 Ethernet connections. Fancy way it so make it neat looking.

You should have enterprise load balance router (wired) for your main router
You should have some PoE WAP depending on your requirements and signal you need to have balance.

Build a network closet house a metal rack in this rack you would have your rack mounted router, 24 or 48-port panel, 24 or 48-port gig managed switch, nas, etc.

Sounds you want to keep it simply network?

 

[hussain]

Can any please recommend equipment for the following considering my requirements.

1. Ingress router
2. GIGe managed switch
3. AP1/AP2/AP3

By the way, wouldn't the ubiquiti router suggested in the forum work for me.

Regards

 

[hussain]

Bumpedy Bump!

Please anyone?

 

[stevech]

advise (for what it's worth)

Lots of cat5e or cat6 cables. One or more per room. More in an office and home theater area. Home-run each room to a central place like the garage or basement panel. Put a simple gigabit switch there. 8 Port or 16 port. Don't need a more costly managed switch.

WiFi.. need several access points. These too need cat5/6 runs. The floor plan of your home is needed to plan where to put these. These APs need not be fancy, just properly placed. They'll be replaced every 3 years or so as technology changes.

If you foresee VoIP phones, you'll need even more cat5/6 wiring.

At 7500 sq. ft. this home's cost justifies paying an expert to advise and design.

 

[tipstir]

Can any please recommend equipment for the following considering my requirements.

1. Ingress router
2. GIGe managed switch
3. AP1/AP2/AP3

By the way, wouldn't the ubiquiti router suggested in the forum work for me.

Regards

Yes to all of your above choices except the 2nd one you can use Smart Switch will give you port configuration access. the first one allows you managed ports also. Which I do with my ingress and egress settings enterprise LB router.

You need need to stick with enterprise network equipment. Last one is going to be tricky. That brand ubiquiti you should read up on the forums there before you shell out your funds on that hardware. If you feel it's a green light then go with it. But their best AP not cheap and it's the only one with gig ports which you'll need if you plan on doing heavy media streaming in 1080p and beyond the 1080p is coming soon. Gig is going to 10 gig also. Right now it's a gig world but still it's up to you what you get. Getting in a Pro to help will cost you also, you can DIY (do-it-yourself) also to save money. You do have a very large property to cover though. You'll need help positioning those AP in the right spot. If you don't it's like shooting craps getting it to work right.

I use free cloud base web site to manage mine here they now have free software to do the same on clients WiFi gear. Best you get a small Android tablet or Smart phone use the WiFi Analyzer and do a site walk around survey to see how the internal signal is. The stronger the better. The weaker areas you need to place a AP there.

Like mentioned already use Ethernet CAT5e OR 6 to each of these AP. I must add use a dedicated port from the main smart switch or get stackable smart switches for more than 50 and higher nodes (network device) .

It's a huge project for one person to do so get help on your end.

 

[hussain]

Thankyou for detailed answer however both you guys missed what i was asking for.

Please someone recommend equipment i.e. ingress router, switch and AP's

As I live in pakistan and not much professional help is available.I will definately run cat 6 around the house hooked to a gigabyte router.




Thanks

 

[tipstir]

Thankyou for detailed answer however both you guys missed what i was asking for.

Please someone recommend equipment i.e. ingress router, switch and AP's

As I live in pakistan and not much professional help is available.I will definately run cat 6 around the house hooked to a gigabyte router.


Thanks

Well you need to tell us where you as most of us including myself will just assume your in the USA or North America.

So now tells us what network hardware is available to acquire in your neck-of-the-woods?
Then we can go from there?

Also you should plan out what you need in using Heat Mapper is free but requires you to provide info and email to get the link to download the free wifi site planner software. Since your doing the work yourself.

 

[Mark Uhde]

Okay, first of all, for a home user I have to disagree on the managed switch. It's adding a lot of complexity that you just don't need. Just get an unmanaged gigabit switch with Power over Ethernet (802.3af, you'll see why later)

Second, regarding CAT6, it really has no advantage over CAT5e today. CAT6 is needed for 10 GigE Is it more future-proof? Maybe. But 1gbps of data to every room is a heck of a lot of data I can't imagine you needing to exceed in the lifetime of the wiring to be honest. Not only that, but 10 GigE on normal CAT6 can only go 55 meters, not 100, so you could possibly bump into the distance limit, though it's obviously very unlikely in a house.

Third, specific equipment recommendations - I've had VERY good luck with EnGenius products EXCEPT the EAP300 (I'm working with EnGenius on that now, so I save my review for a bit, it's been problematic though). I'd get an EnGenius ESR750H router and two EnGenius EAP350 access points (unless you can wait for the EAP600 to come out later this year - dual band and prettier).

Why am I recommending those instead of another, better, dual-band AP? Well, dual-band just isn't that needed for a house and a ceiling-mount Power over Ethernet AP just has a much better aesthetic value in a new house. EnGenius has a much improved model coming out soon, the EAP600, so if you can wait to buy until the house is built, wait for those to come out.

Run CAT5e to the ceiling and then there's no visible cabling or anything. Your APs should be arranged one on each floor, using OPPOSITE CORNERS (not one in the middle of each floor - basically think of balls of coverage). Use channels 1, 5, and 13 for each AP, saving channel 9 (the remaining non-overlapping channel) for any future outdoor coverage or the like. Use channel 13 on the MIDDLE FLOOR - some American equipment will not allow you to even connect to AP's on 13 (some Android phones are one example), so that ensures any visitors/imported gear will still get OKAY signal though maybe with some dead spots. This really bugs me, since it's up to the network operator to assure legality. Most newer equipment seems to follow that rule, allowing cards to connect to whatever channel they see, and trusting the network that it's legal. But not all. Also, Macs (but not iPhones/iPads) are weird - they look at the set regulatory domain of what they do see to determine what to scan. So if you have a neighbor with an imported router set to North America your Mac may not see your channel 13 AP!. That won't be an issue if YOU have more than one AP and have your AP's set to a European regulatory domain, but for some people it is an issue. And it's stupid. Apple should passively scan everything and connect to what it sees... just like on the iPad/iPhone... UGH.

Anyways, hope that's of some help.

 

[RogerSC]

Okay, first of all, for a home user I have to disagree on the managed switch. It's adding a lot of complexity that you just don't need. Just get an unmanaged gigabit switch with Power over Ethernet (802.3af, you'll see why later)

Second, regarding CAT6, it really has no advantage over CAT5e today. CAT6 is needed for 10 GigE Is it more future-proof? Maybe. But 1gbps of data to every room is a heck of a lot of data I can't imagine you needing to exceed in the lifetime of the wiring to be honest. Not only that, but 10 GigE on normal CAT6 can only go 55 meters, not 100, so you could possibly bump into the distance limit, though it's obviously very unlikely in a house.

Anyways, hope that's of some help.

A comment about this, how often have you heard someone say, I can't imagine that you/I will ever need more than x of this in your lifetime? And generally speaking, in a few years, yes, there's more than x of whatever it is in use *smile*. If you're talking about wiring a house you're talking years and years, maybe 10Gb/s isn't so far fetched (I hope)? Thunderbolt runs at 10Gb/s already. Only time will tell, but if the past can be taken as a clue about the future, then we're headed there *smile*.

 

[stevech]

One might argue for laying in unterminated fiber.. .cheap.

 

[hussain]

Hi,

Although i live in pakistan but i plan to buy all my equipment from usa(as it is much cheaper there) and i have friends visiting there quite often.


I looked up the Engenuis products but they seem to be quite expensive.

Can't i buy three of these Linksys E3200 and use them as router as well access points. Much cheaper this way. Can somebody tell me what's the difference between these and the more expensive engenius ones.

Also I will need a gigabit switch so what is the recommended one.

Regards

 

[tipstir]

Hi,

Although i live in pakistan but i plan to buy all my equipment from usa(as it is much cheaper there) and i have friends visiting there quite often.


I looked up the Engenuis products but they seem to be quite expensive.

Can't i buy three of these Linksys E3200 and use them as router as well access points. Much cheaper this way. Can somebody tell me what's the difference between these and the more expensive engenius ones.

Also I will need a gigabit switch so what is the recommended one.

Regards

Yes you can and install DD-WRT on them use them as AP

Linksys E3200 v1.0

Router details
Additional information
Chipset BCM5357
Frimware: r17201
RAM 64 MB
FLASH 16 MB

Has to be V1.0 though..

You didn't say if you wanted Unmanaged, Smart or Managed Switch..

 

[hussain]

What is the difference between managed and unmanaged switches

 

[stevech]

managed switches are rarely or never needed in residential and most SOHO.

A managed switch allows an enterprise network admin to control and monitor on a port by port basis. There are many differences in features among managed switches. These can be as low cost as a Netgear pro line 8 port gigE for $100 or so. Up to many thousands for layer 3 swtiches from Cisco/Juniper.

A key feature in low end managed switches are VLANs - which allow you to compartmentalize ports on a switch for security reasons. But no residential user, save a geek-in-training, need VLANs.

 

[hussain]

So what is recommended unmanaged switch then

 

[arkhitektor]

So what is recommended unmanaged switch then

That's how I'm reading it.

 

[tipstir]

Depending on which manged switch you get. No all are the same. Some have better CPU 500MHz and 512MB buffering along with other features like you can change the port to match your hardware NIC but only if the other end of the line can be changed.

If it's Auto on the other end then the Managed Switch should be set to Auto for that port. Also features Web UI or console UI along with Network Storm protection. VLAN yes but you don't need it but you have the option to use it. Unmanaged switch have limited buffering memory, ports are set to auto by default. Just plug-in and use type.

I am using managed switch because my needs require to use one. I find the unmanaged switch slower for what I need to use. Smart switch is cheaper by then the managed but today most managed and Smart Switch prices are almost the same. Netgear ProSafe Smart Switch vs TP-LINK Managed L2 Switches both 16-port Gigabit switches are around the same price. Also depends where you buy it from online.