Hello everyone. I am currently using a cobbled together wifi/wired network in my house that just needs updating. I have the modem from AT&T which does one zone, then I'm running an old D-Link router in the other part of the house which is attached to the AT&T router via ethernet and the whole thing is a big mess.
First some info. The house is built out of concrete and inch-thick rebar. It's like a giant Faraday Cage, or rather a bunch of Faraday Cages set up in a horseshoe pattern. It's also from 1938. Cell phone signals are cut off inside the house. The modem is in the den which sits away from every other room in the house I had to set up the access point in the living room because the wifi signal barely makes it out of the den into the kitchen. By the time we get to the dining room, the signal is down to one bar.
Because of this and also because I've lived here for over 20 years, when wired networks were the name of the game, I also have a wired network going to the living room and the office downstairs, the garage where I have my office and each bedroom upstairs.
I need to upgrade everything. The wired network has an ancient 10/100 switch I found at a thrift store like 10 years ago, so that needs upgrading. I was thinking of either the Linksys SE3008 or the NETGEAR Nighthawk GS810EMX. I do gaming in the garage as well as work so I wonder if the extra expense of the Nighthawk is needed or not. They are both 8 ports.
I was thinking of the Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8) for the mesh network to go alongside the wired network. I figure that would futureproof (a little) and provide the strong signals or the flexibility to add more nodes as needed to get wifi to the different areas.
Does this sound like a good plan or is there something better? Also, can those nodes take advantage of the ethernet connections? I don't know ANYTHING about the mesh options. Thanks in advance for any help.
First some info. The house is built out of concrete and inch-thick rebar. It's like a giant Faraday Cage, or rather a bunch of Faraday Cages set up in a horseshoe pattern. It's also from 1938. Cell phone signals are cut off inside the house. The modem is in the den which sits away from every other room in the house I had to set up the access point in the living room because the wifi signal barely makes it out of the den into the kitchen. By the time we get to the dining room, the signal is down to one bar.
Because of this and also because I've lived here for over 20 years, when wired networks were the name of the game, I also have a wired network going to the living room and the office downstairs, the garage where I have my office and each bedroom upstairs.
I need to upgrade everything. The wired network has an ancient 10/100 switch I found at a thrift store like 10 years ago, so that needs upgrading. I was thinking of either the Linksys SE3008 or the NETGEAR Nighthawk GS810EMX. I do gaming in the garage as well as work so I wonder if the extra expense of the Nighthawk is needed or not. They are both 8 ports.
I was thinking of the Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8) for the mesh network to go alongside the wired network. I figure that would futureproof (a little) and provide the strong signals or the flexibility to add more nodes as needed to get wifi to the different areas.
Does this sound like a good plan or is there something better? Also, can those nodes take advantage of the ethernet connections? I don't know ANYTHING about the mesh options. Thanks in advance for any help.