Home Networking Help Needed

[molsonbeers]

Hi,

I've recently taken posession of a new home and during the build I had them include hardwired Cat5e to the livingroom and the upstairs office. When the internet provider came to do the installation he placed the modem in the basement where the 2 Cat5e cables intersected near the breaker box. The issue I'm facing is the wifi range on the modem is extremely poor and does not reach the rest of the house. My question is can I install a router on the second floor in the office while keeping the Cat5e in the livingroom to the modem connected? If so would there be any problems in doing so and thirdly is there a recommended router that would provide range to my 2000 sq home.

thank you,

Jason

 

[RealBeast]

You are quite fortunate that you have those Ethernet cables installed -- it makes for an easy fix.

Leave the router where it is planned in the basement and add an inexpensive router configured as a wireless AP on the first or second floor that can attach to the router by the Ethernet cable. You can see how one AP works, and you could even add another later. When you have the router configured as an AP the LAN ports still work and are like having a switch there also.

You can connect the modem to the router with one of the cables, but I would consider that a second choice.

You didn't mention if you currently own any router, if so what model?

 

[smorizio]

what you want to do is leave the modem in the basement. plug the cat 5 cable into the router. you have two option with the other floors of your home. you can use two ap and plug them into the cat 5 cables on each floor. doing this would have you use wifi for every pc and device in your home. if you want to hard wire a device then use a switch then plug your pc and ap into the switch.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G15S7838
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704043

 

[molsonbeers]

So ultimately I'll need a router in the basement to connect the Cat5e cables to? Is there anyway I can install a router in the upstairs office and leave the livingroom cable attached to the modem in the basement? If i put a router in the office I should have multiple LAN connection options plus the Wifi. Or do both cables HAVE to connect to the same router? What about these powerline things people have mentioned before?

oh and I dont currently own a router.

 

[RealBeast]

So ultimately I'll need a router in the basement to connect the Cat5e cables to? Is there anyway I can install a router in the upstairs office and leave the livingroom cable attached to the modem in the basement? If i put a router in the office I should have multiple LAN connection options plus the Wifi. Or do both cables HAVE to connect to the same router? What about these powerline things people have mentioned before?

oh and I dont currently own a router.

While there is no problem having the router in the upstairs office, you cannot use the living room cable if you do.

Consider an ASUS RT-N56U router, very good concurrent dual band router with excellent range.

While powerline adapters can be handy, they cannot replace a gigabit Ethernet connection in terms of speed and I would not elect to use a set over putting the router down in the basement. The router should ideally be at least three feet from your modem for best wireless performance though.

 

[molsonbeers]

Thats great, I just picked up the ASUS N56U! I'm hoping that the range will be good enough to reach from the basement to the upstairs level of the house. If not then I'll have to consider an access point. The last sentance you say the router shoud be ideally 3 feet from the router for best performace. Did you mean the router should be 3 feet away from the modem?

thank you for the help everyone.

 

[RealBeast]

Thats great, I just picked up the ASUS N56U! I'm hoping that the range will be good enough to reach from the basement to the upstairs level of the house. If not then I'll have to consider an access point. The last sentence you say the router should be ideally 3 feet from the router for best performance. Did you mean the router should be 3 feet away from the modem?

thank you for the help everyone.

Yes, three feet from modem to router. 😀

While the ASUS is the best in class, you may find that basement to third floor will be less than optimal -- but I would wait to see how it works before buying a router to use as an AP.

Good call on the RT-N56U!