Wireless range inside timber framed house?

[DanielCoffey]

I am in the fortunate position of being able to move out of a small (75m2) brick flat (with brick internal walls) in a built-up (wifi-congested) area to a more rural (wifi-quiet) location in a larger (130m2) timber-framed new build single-storey dwelling and I was wondering about where to position my router or whether I need to plan for router plus AP.

The new dwelling will be on a concrete deck all on one floor, roughly 18m by 9m. The main living room is at one end, the main bedroom at the other, connected by a wide central corridor. Kitchen and utility room hang off one side of the central corridor. Spare bedroom and bathroom hang off the other side. The principal construction will be exposed green oak timber frame with thick external encapsulation covered with thick oak weatherboard. Roof is encapsulation covered in natural slate. Internal walls will be typical plasterboard over timber.

While the main PC, NAS and AppleTV will be wired to the router, we do have several wifi devices (iPhone, iPad, printer, possibly some wireless security devices, home monitoring devices and two wifi speakers). It is these speakers that are making me want to think ahead about how the wireless will reach through the building. While one can be anywhere in the living room, the other will almost certainly be at the far end of the bedroom on the far wall.

The router is (currently) an ASUS RT-AC87U. Would you advise wall mounting it in the central corridor or is its expected range in this dwelling good enough that I can just site it with the PC at the far living room end and trust it will reach the speaker at the opposite end? If it didn't have line of sight, the signal would have to pass through three plasterboard walls, two of which would be tiled (bathroom). The speakers are 2.4GHz only. The household security/monitoring devices are likely to be 2.4GHz too but the other phone/tablets would be 5GHz.

Nearer the time when my Architect is asking about wiring I will of course come and ask about network cabling, switches and patch panels but for now where would you put a router in a dwelling like that?

 

[thiggins]

It is always best to locate a single router or AP as close to the center of the area to be covered as possible.

That said, Ethernet runs to all rooms, including attic and utility rooms, provide the flexibility to add more APs if needed. Ethernet will always beat Wi-Fi, MoCA, powerline, G.hn for throughput and reliability. CAT5e is fine.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Thanks for the suggestion, Tim.

Do you think the range is within the capability of a single 87U? I have no idea how timber/plasterboard construction affects wifi. I just know that brick stops it dead.

I don't have to worry about attic cabling since the property will have vaulted ceilings but I agree that ethernet to every room is a good idea. I would probably spec a pair of sockets in the bedroom, a minimum of two pairs in the living room, one in the kitchen, one in the utility and one in the spare room. Since the hallway is 1.5m wide I could easily get a slim cabinet mounted wherever I wanted and mount the patch panel, router and switch in there.

I have just remembered - I currently have 4 wired devices already at the moment (PC, NAS, Mac Mini and Apple TV). I have no idea if TVs need ethernet or whether they inherit their signal over the cable from the AppleTV - I am a bit behind the times in what TVs need. It won't be used for Netflix or surfing - just displaying films served from the NAS but I know that firmware updates may need to be delivered to it. We are correctly registered as non-viewers so have no cable or rooftop feed to the TV and that will still be correct in the new place.

 

[L&LD]

How well any single router will cover 1400SqFt of area with a good WiFi signal will depend on the actual layout of the home, including how many interior walls it has, the shape (long and narrow or more square) and the construction materials used. The single floor (bungalow) design is one of the best for WiFi (better than multiple stories) and if it was an 'open plan' type of design, even better too.

How more rural is 'more rural'? If your nearest neighbor is a mile away; that is ideal. If there are more than 3 homes in close proximity, the WiFi environment is not really exceptional (even if it is better than before) assuming that those close neighbors will also be using WiFi as heavily and concurrently as you.

As Tim mentions, place your main router in the center most area of the desired coverage. I would also place the router at least 10' (3M) above ground level and might consider higher with an 18x9 Metre concrete pad the home will be on. Do not put it inside a closet, a bookcase or nearby walls. Leave 3 feet (1M) minimum clearance all around it (a 'pedestal' to hold the router at the optimum spot is the best).

In this router's central location, I would run as many cables as the router (or any future router) has LAN ports. I would also run two redundant additional cables also. With the RT-AC88U offering 8 LAN ports and a ninth port for WAN, running 10 or more runs to this location is not overkill, imo. In fact, with an RT-AC88U I would be running 12 cable runs or more. These (main) cable runs would still potentially terminate at another location where more switches can be installed to accommodate more wired devices and to which the remaining runs in the home also terminate to.

While CAT5e is sufficient, CAT6 or even CAT6A might make more sense for this once in the (building's) lifetime of installing cables.

http://www.kit-communications.com/FAQCat5evsCat6.htm

If the contractor can ensure that your CAT6 runs are comfortably less than 55M, that is the cable grade I would choose to give you the ability to actually upgrade your network equipment to 10GbE without worrying about the cables.

To each other location within the home, I would run the same grade of cable (everywhere) with at least 4 cable runs to each end point. And at any point where an AP might be a future possibility (for example; both ends of the home, the backyard, the sundeck, etc.), I would be running at least the same amount to those locations as well (don't forget about the height from ground (minimum 10') and power requirements too at those locations). Yes, a lot of cables that may remain unused for a long time. But when and if they are used, you will have the flexibility of re-configuring your network optimally then without needing to tear up the décor. If you and a few friends can pull the cable runs throughout the home, you'll save money (the cost is the termination and testing of those cables, not the cables themselves in the grand scheme of things).

Make sure that each run gets properly tested (not just for continuity, but for actual data transmission as well).

What we may find is that future routers do get better at being able to cover a reasonable area with a single unit. Or, the regulations may change against that.

With the wiring plan outlined above, you will be able to make this work for your new home no matter the level of hardware (or firmware) that will be readily available today or in the future.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

My house is one floor 1600 square feet and I have my router right in the center I get full coverage everywhere in the house and that's using the 5 ghz band. Place the router as close to the center as you can and it should work ok of course with wifi anything can happen.

 

[pege63]

I have my Router/AP but still same bad cover and range?
Look here for more info about it, see option 1 http://www.snbforums.com/threads/best-router-to-buy-this-day.31505/page-2#post-260915
The next step is to try option 2

 

[thiggins]

Daniel,

I can't say with certainty that any product will cover any specific area. 2.4 GHz coverage will always be broader than 5 GHz. If you want the big speed numbers from 11ac, you need to be in 5 GHz.

Having a pair of CAT5e to each room, or to key locations is the best insurance policy you can have for the future. Gigabit Ethernet will do you nicely and that operates quite well with CAT5e. 2.5 and 5 GbE Ethernet will be here soon and also work fine with CAT5e.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/why-2-5-5gbps-ethernet-and-not-10gbps.27421/

As I said earlier, Ethernet always wins for throughput and reliability. That's what I run my streamer on.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Thanks for all the tips folks.

I will have a word with my Architect when we get to the wiring stage of the build which should be fairly soon and he does know I am needing network cabling.

I will go for a central location for the router in the main corridor and avoid a cupboard. I will also make sure we get a cabling test before the plasterboard goes up as it will be a lot easier to deal with fresh pulls before that stage.

 

[PolarBear]

When we renovated our house, we installed empty wall boxes in strategic locations, with empty tubes back to a central location.

The idea was that at a later date the tubes can be filled with coax, ethernet, or any other sort of cable. Fibre perhaps, if fibre to each room becomes the next big thing.

It's a lot easier to install empty tubes before the walls are plastered, and it costs very little.

(Empty tubes to wall boxes covered with blanking plates conform to the buiding codes where we live, but YMMV.)