[SOLVED] Best way to wire basement for gaming

[CoachTom]

I am getting my basement finished and am running some cat6 in the walls. I am trying to do this myself and have some questions.

My internet is ATT Fiber and the modem/router is on the main level. I was thinking of running one line from the back of the router to the basement. From there I was going to run this wire into a router#2 for just the basement, then run lines from router#2 to ethernet wall plugs in a couple of locations in the walls.

My son says this will slow down the speed of our network. He wants to run 3 cables from the main router to the basement, but we only have 4 ports.

What is the best solution to maintain the gigabit performance we get? Would a switch work for this?

 

[RealBeast]

One Ethernet cable with a switch would suffice, but I always run a second backup cable. Best to have no sharp bends in the run and cross power lines perpendicular and do not run the cable parallel to power lines if possible. And the use one router configured as an AP downstairs (just make sure that it has gigabit ports. It will not slow down your Internet.

Also, don't staple the cable down, just loosely tie it in place and run it through 1/2 inch bores through studs as needed, just keep the holes away from other bore holes as to not weaken the stud.

And be careful when putting your drywall up not to spike a cable.

Down in the actual basement you can run cables around most of the room and have some planned outlets to minimize wireless use to when it is needed. Have fun.

 

[bill001g]

In theory 3 cables would be faster back to the main router but in real life home installs it makes no difference.

If you hook 1 cable to the router and then use a switch to hook up the other users you would be limited to "only" 1gbit that they would share back to the router. Most people do not have even a 1gbit internet connection. Now if you somehow had a 10gbit internet connection then running 3 cable to the router each could run at 1gbit. Still that is unrealistic....and even if it was true you would just buy more expensive equipment still run 1 cable but run it at 10gbit.

 

[kanewolf]

If you are considering having friends bring hardware for LAN gaming, put several power circuits in. That will ensure you have plenty of power in addition to networking.

 

[CoachTom]

One Ethernet cable with a switch would suffice, but I always run a second backup cable. Best to have no sharp bends in the run and cross power lines perpendicular and do not run the cable parallel to power lines if possible. And the use one router configured as an AP downstairs (just make sure that it has gigabit ports. It will not slow down your Internet.

Also, don't staple the cable down, just loosely tie it in place and run it through 1/2 inch bores through studs as needed, just keep the holes away from other bore holes as to not weaken the stud.

And be careful when putting your drywall up not to spike a cable.

Down in the actual basement you can run cables around most of the room and have some planned outlets to minimize wireless use to when it is needed. Have fun.

I like the idea of running a 2nd backup line!

Would it be best to run a switch and run router #2 off of the switch?
"Run the downstairs router as an AP", what does that mean?

 

[USAFRet]

I like the idea of running a 2nd backup line!

Would it be best to run a switch and run router #2 off of the switch?
"Run the downstairs router as an AP", what does that mean?

Router #2 is also a switch.
How many wired ports do you need down there?

Adding a switch is no performance difference, it just adds more wired ports.

 

[CoachTom]

Router #2 is also a switch.
How many wired ports do you need down there?

Adding a switch is no performance difference, it just adds more wired ports.

It's not how many I need, here's the problem I have now.
I currently (upstairs) have a second router that is plugged in to the ATT router, my sons hog the main ATT router with their computers and gaming consoles.
I use the second router to run my computer (and various wireless devices). But my speed never gets above 100mbps. Where the Att router gets 900-1000 mbps.
So when I run my connection downstairs, I don't want to lose that speed, like I am now. 100mbps is fine for me, but I want to get as much speed to have the boys get their gaming setup
and have all the speed I am paying for.

 

[USAFRet]

It's not how many I need, here's the problem I have now.
I currently (upstairs) have a second router that is plugged in to the ATT router, my sons hog the main ATT router with their computers and gaming consoles.
I use the second router to run my computer (and various wireless devices). But my speed never gets above 100mbps. Where the Att router gets 900-1000 mbps.
So when I run my connection downstairs, I don't want to lose that speed, like I am now. 100mbps is fine for me, but I want to get as much speed to have the boys get their gaming setup
and have all the speed I am paying for.

An ethernet cable run from the upstairs router to downstairs will get exactly the same as being connected directly to the upstairs router.
Whether there is another router or switch in the middle.
My current main system goes through 2 different switches before the router.

WiFi is a whole different thing.

 

[bill001g]

Be very sure the equipment you buy has gigabit ports. You maybe limited to 100mbps because your second router only supports 10/100

 

[gggplaya]

It won't be slower to run a single cable from the router to a basement switch if all the devices are trying to communicate with each other and are connected to the same switch.

Unless you have higher than gigabit internet, you won't have any slowdown from using just 1 wire to the router from the basement switch. Most wifi devices can't actually run higher than gigabit in real world scenarios, you would need more than 2 antennas which most devices don't have, so I don't expect to see any real slowdown with a 1gbe switch in the basement, unless your transferring huge files from a LAN pc to a wifi device and downloading at full gigabit internet at the same time.

In the future, you can get a 2.5gbe, 5gbe and even 10gbe switch and it'll run just fine on CAT6 depending on distance to the router. Newer routers are starting to get 2.5gbe ports.

 

[RealBeast]

I like the idea of running a 2nd backup line!

Would it be best to run a switch and run router #2 off of the switch?
"Run the downstairs router as an AP", what does that mean?

All of the posts you have gotten are from people with great expertise, and I agree with all of them. The router that you use as an AP will connect LAN to LAN to the main router and thus leave you three LAN ports, but you could add an unmanaged switch of any size that you want.

I never trust a single cable when it is in a wall that is not easy to replace. I learned that long ago when working with thinnet (10Base2) installations.

 

[USAFRet]

Thinking about this thread, I really need to document my whole setup. It has just grown organically over time.