Question Home Networking Recommendations - UK New Build

[CaptOwen]

Hi all,

I'll shortly be moving into a new house (UK 5x bed new build). The house builder has been completely unable or unwilling to make any M&E adjustments (which is another topic in itself...) but I need to start thinking about a good networking solution.

Coming with the house will just be a single FTTH connection into a ONT on the ground floor.

On the same level I'll have a smart TV and the usual IOT devices. Upstairs will be 2x work computers, 1x gaming computer and more IOT devices.
There's also a garage built on to the side of the house that I'd like to get at least basic WiFi.

In my current house I'm running a RT-AX82U plugged into the ONT with a powerline adapter providing Ethernet to upstairs for the gaming PC.

The new house will be significantly bigger so I suspect I'll need some sort of mesh/repeater upstairs for WiFi.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a WiFi/mesh system compatible with the AX82U?

Also, short of installing Ethernet cable myself which is probably outside of my capability, is just flooding my house with WiFi the best solution?

Cheers,

Owen

 

[kanewolf]

Hi all,

I'll shortly be moving into a new house (UK 5x bed new build). The house builder has been completely unable or unwilling to make any M&E adjustments (which is another topic in itself...) but I need to start thinking about a good networking solution.

Coming with the house will just be a single FTTH connection into a ONT on the ground floor.

On the same level I'll have a smart TV and the usual IOT devices. Upstairs will be 2x work computers, 1x gaming computer and more IOT devices.
There's also a garage built on to the side of the house that I'd like to get at least basic WiFi.

In my current house I'm running a RT-AX82U plugged into the ONT with a powerline adapter providing Ethernet to upstairs for the gaming PC.

The new house will be significantly bigger so I suspect I'll need some sort of mesh/repeater upstairs for WiFi.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a WiFi/mesh system compatible with the AX82U?

Also, short of installing Ethernet cable myself which is probably outside of my capability, is just flooding my house with WiFi the best solution?

Cheers,

Owen

I am unclear on what, if any, low voltage wiring you DO have already.

"Flooding" a house with WIFI is OK, but those WIFI sources need a wired network to tie them together.

 

[CaptOwen]

I am unclear on what, if any, low voltage wiring you DO have already.

"Flooding" a house with WIFI is OK, but those WIFI sources need a wired network to tie them together.

Hi Kanewolf,

Im honestly not sure... just fairly standard new build UK house wiring all leading into 1 circuit breaker.... probably doesn't help you too much, sorry!

 

[kanewolf]

Hi Kanewolf,

Im honestly not sure... just fairly standard new build UK house wiring all leading into 1 circuit breaker.... probably doesn't help you too much, sorry!

Low voltage -- network or coax. Not mains power wiring.

 

[CaptOwen]

Low voltage -- network or coax. Not mains power wiring.

Ohhh sorry! Nil, AFAIK. It'll all be mains power wiring. Nil network unless I install it myself!

 

[kanewolf]

Ohhh sorry! Nil, AFAIK. It'll all be mains power wiring. Nil network unless I install it myself!

With zero wired networking options, your home network will be disappointing in most cases.
You are stuck with trying to use WIFI repeaters. You could try powerline network for upstairs. This might allow you to use the mains power wiring as a data network. Something like this -- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenda-PH6-Passthrough-Powerline-expansion/dp/B078JJ8K4Y You plug one into the wall and plug an ethernet cable into your primary router. Then you plug the second one in upstairs. You can then add an ethernet switch for multiple connected devices and a WIFI access point for improved WIFI. Don't expect "gigabit" performance as the marketing says. Typically a couple hundred megabits.

 

[CaptOwen]

With zero wired networking options, your home network will be disappointing in most cases.
You are stuck with trying to use WIFI repeaters. You could try powerline network for upstairs. This might allow you to use the mains power wiring as a data network. Something like this -- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenda-PH6-Passthrough-Powerline-expansion/dp/B078JJ8K4Y You plug one into the wall and plug an ethernet cable into your primary router. Then you plug the second one in upstairs. You can then add an ethernet switch for multiple connected devices and a WIFI access point for improved WIFI. Don't expect "gigabit" performance as the marketing says. Typically a couple hundred megabits.

Hi Kane,

Thank you! I use the TP-Link TL-WPA7510KIT at the moment. Would this to provide ethernet through powerline to the gaming computer + a wifi extender upstairs be suitable? If so, are there any recommended wifi extenders, is Asus AIMesh worth it?

Cheers,
Owen

 

[kanewolf]

Hi Kane,

Thank you! I use the TP-Link TL-WPA7510KIT at the moment. Would this to provide ethernet through powerline to the gaming computer + a wifi extender upstairs be suitable? If so, are there any recommended wifi extenders, is Asus AIMesh worth it?

Cheers,
Owen

All you can do is try it. Every home is wired differently (and I live in the US, so I have never seen UK wiring). Newer homes have things like arc fault circuit breakers. They can interfere with powerline network hardware (again, not sure of UK building codes)...

 

[palladin9479]

How comfortable is OP with running their own Cat-5/6 wiring? This part is importing because it determines the solution and you don't want to be one of those guys that has to constantly fight with their own network. Do you plan on having some sort of central networking closet / location?

So ONT is in the basement, which is fine. From the ONT will be an RJ-45 Cat-5/6 wire that represents "the internet" and gets plugged into the WAN port of whatever your home gateway device is. You then need to either run wire to various rooms for direct connections or at least hang Wireless Access Points (WAPs) off them. This is why running ethernet wire is usually the best solution, if it's possible. Otherwise we need to look into something like MOCA to create an internal layer that ethernet can ride on and that's more expensive.

Wireless, in general, is a pretty poor protocol. It's simplex, meaning only one device can transmit at a time, and the signal has problems going through brick and metal. This gets worse if you try to use wireless bridging because your bandwidth gets halved for each bridge you have to cross. WDS is the protocol that devices use and other then the frame protocol there is no standard, meaning every manufacturer use's it's own implementation. OpenWRT packages a general purpose one into every release, but that requires someone with advanced skillsets.

Everything You Need To Know About Wireless Bridging and Repeating - Part 1: WDS - SmallNetBuilder

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=3573

www.smallnetbuilder.com

So figure out what your backbone is going to look like first, either Ethernet wireing through the walls to some sort of central location, a MOCA fabric over your existing cable wires, or some weird powerline over the existing power sockets. Then we can move to what sort of distribution layer needs to be built on it.

 

[Manvadher85]

Don't all uk new builds have aerial connection to the rooms... Couldn't you use a mcoa thingy that the us guys use a lot of?

 

[bill001g]

Don't all uk new builds have aerial connection to the rooms... Couldn't you use a mcoa thingy that the us guys use a lot of?

It is generally called coax cable but nobody really hooks up aerial antenna for over the air tv anymore.....even though I was surprised by the massive number of channels a tv found one day.

In the USA even houses 30 years old were wired with coax more for cable tv. For some reason it seem it is not very common in the UK. Houses being built today tend to run ethernet. What you tend to find is all older houses have telephone and if you are very lucky it is actually ethernet cable that can be repurposed.