[SOLVED] Ideas on how to bring internet to the whole house

[Keithngan162]

Right now I live in condominium where in I just connect my pc to my main router/modem via ethernet since it is just in the next room. Everyone else just connects via WIFI, so were not really having any issues with internet since everyone is so close to the router as its a pretty cramped condominium. I am gonna be moving to a new house around next year and I am just planning on how to bring internet around the house since it will be a 3 storey house and primarily made out of concrete which WIFI will have trouble penetrating.

The first and second floor just needs good WIFI they wont be doing any internet intensive tasks much.
But on the third floor, I need to bring ethernet to 2 rooms, both will have a pc that will be mostly used for gaming so ethernet would be ideal. WIFI is also a requirement on the third floor (specifically the two rooms)

I was thinking of putting the main router (most likely ISP's router) on the ground floor and put extra routers on the 2nd and 3rd floors that will act like range extenders I guess. however I doubt a single router will be strong enough to bring good WIFI signal to a whole floor because of all the concrete walls it has to go through, and it might be very messy because of all the cables.

Im not very good with networking stuff with all this stuff like range extenders, powerline, access points, PoE. confuses the heck out of me

Comments and other inputs on how to set up my internet more effectively are welcome!

 

[bill001g]

The only way you get true ethernet is if there are ethenet cables running between rooms you need it. Many houses have ethernet in them so your first step is to see what ethernet if any you have and try to start with that.

Anything else it not actually ethernet it is some media converter that happens to have ethernet ports. It will not perform the same as ethernet.

If you have tv coax you can try a technology called moca. This is the fastest of the fake ethernet.

The next to try is powerline networks. You want the newer av2 technology. This you might get 300mbps.

For wifi you would plug a AP or router running as a AP into these "ethernet" in the remote room. This way the wifi signals never have to pass through concrete.

Anythings else is going to perform much more poorly especially with concrete walls. Repeaters should always be you last choice. They are extremely dependent on placement. They must be place in a area that they can get good signal from the main router and still provide signal to the end device. In a large open area it would be 1/2 between. When you have a concrete wall it might be that the signal is good on one side but can't be sent through and if you place the repeater on the other side it may not get enough signal.

 

[SamirD]

Excellent info by bill001g as always, and I'd like to add that repeaters generally also half your speeds so you really don't want to try them. If you won't have ethernet or telephone wires in the walls that you can re-terminate to ethernet, then moca, and then powerline. I've used all of them and the performance with moca is pretty stellar.

 

[Keithngan162]

The house I'm moving into doesn't have any ethernet inside. Powerline also doesn't seem too good of a solution. I'm thinking of putting a few Wireless Access Points on the first floor and second floor. I might also put 1 router(running as AP) in each of the 2 rooms on the 3rd floor to give them both ethernet connectivity and WIFI. But that would mean a lot of cables, each access point would need a separate power cable, unless I use POE but I have lot of questions about POE.

I've seen a review on a Ubiquiti WAP that has its own POE injector, that's good if I only need to use one of their WAP since the injector only has one Data+Power Out, meaning it can only power one WAP. In my case where I want to use around 2 or 3 WAPs I'm guessing I'm gonna have to use a POE switch? (sorry this is all pretty brand new to me) Am I correct to assume that I have to connect the POE switch to my main Modem/Router and then connect the POE switch to the multiple WAPs that are capable of POE?

 

[bill001g]

What you want to look for is the words 802.3af or 802.3at. Those are the industry standard form of PoE. Most switches only support this kind. Everything else is proprietary and you need to see what works with what. Ubiquiti sell both types of AP just read the descriptions.

Not sure what you are attempting. A AP is hooked to a ethernet cable. If you do not have ethernet cables it will not work unless you intend to run new ethernet.

 

[kanewolf]

The house I'm moving into doesn't have any ethernet inside. Powerline also doesn't seem too good of a solution. I'm thinking of putting a few Wireless Access Points on the first floor and second floor. I might also put 1 router(running as AP) in each of the 2 rooms on the 3rd floor to give them both ethernet connectivity and WIFI. But that would mean a lot of cables, each access point would need a separate power cable, unless I use POE but I have lot of questions about POE.

I've seen a review on a Ubiquiti WAP that has its own POE injector, that's good if I only need to use one of their WAP since the injector only has one Data+Power Out, meaning it can only power one WAP. In my case where I want to use around 2 or 3 WAPs I'm guessing I'm gonna have to use a POE switch? (sorry this is all pretty brand new to me) Am I correct to assume that I have to connect the POE switch to my main Modem/Router and then connect the POE switch to the multiple WAPs that are capable of POE?

Yes, as @bill001g said, WAPs really need to be connected to your primary router. Ubiquiti, can do wireless uplinks, but only to other Ubiquiti APs. If you don't have a Ubiquiti AP as your primary WIFI source, wireless connectivity won't work.

 

[SamirD]

Powerline also doesn't seem too good of a solution.

Powerline is actually an excellent solution. I've been using them on 2x sites for the better part of 5 years now and even used them at commercial sites where they technically shouldn't have worked at all--and they were all plug and play in 5 minutes.

Powerline should be superior for latency and bandwidth in a use case such as yours. I would definitely try them first before getting a bunch of APs everywhere.

 

[Keithngan162]

What you want to look for is the words 802.3af or 802.3at. Those are the industry standard form of PoE. Most switches only support this kind. Everything else is proprietary and you need to see what works with what. Ubiquiti sell both types of AP just read the descriptions.

Not sure what you are attempting. A AP is hooked to a ethernet cable. If you do not have ethernet cables it will not work unless you intend to run new ethernet.

Yes, I do plan on running ethernet cables around the house. Will look for 802.3af or 802.3at.

 

[kanewolf]

Yes, I do plan on running ethernet cables around the house. Will look for 802.3af or 802.3at.

If you are going to run ethernet cables, then a POE switch will connect and power your APs. Ubiquiti has switches, APs, and routers that can all be managed by a single application.

 

[IantoJonesisaHero]

If the home has coax running throughout already, have you considered a MoCA network? May be an alternative.

 

[gggplaya]

If the home has coax running throughout already, have you considered a MoCA network? May be an alternative.

I was also going to suggest this. Most homes have coax cable running to various floors of the house. MOCA also gives actual gigabit speeds, unlike powerline adapters. Most homes have a centralized coax splitter somewhere in the house, usually in the basement or attic. Get yourself a cheap cable tester and figure out which cable goes to which room. Label them accordingly. Then get a coax coupler and remove them from the main splitter and couple them together. Voila, you have yourself a run of coax from downstairs directly to upstairs. Get 2 moca adapters and you've got full gigabit ethernet. Connect one side to your router switch and the other to an access point upstairs. This is assuming you aren't going to have cable or satelite tv in either of those rooms.