New home setup for combined wired/wireless LAN

[spritemv]

I just moved into a new 2-story home containing multimedia plates with 2 cat5e and 2 coaxial jacks in most rooms. In the basement, there is a wall box containing the other ends of all these cables.

I would like to set up a network utilizing the cat5e for my stationary devices (desktop, printer, roku boxes, etc), while also using a wireless router (I currently have a Linksys WRT320N) to host a wireless network for my mobile devices.

Currently the router is in my main floor office to provide maximum coverage through my 2-story house. The desktop and printer are plugged directly into the router as they are in the same room. My 2 Roku boxes are plugged into the router using the 2 cat5e jacks in the office and joining the end of these cables in the basement wall box to the respective cables going to the rooms where the Roku boxes are located.

This works fine for now, but I'm wondering the best route as I hook up more devices that I would like to be on the wired network. Since I've already used the 2 cat5e outlets in the office, I'm guessing I'll need some kind of hub or switch in the basement instead (I'm already using all 4 wired LAN ports on the router anyway). I'm not sure how this wired network will then connect to the wireless router.

I'm willing to purchase more equipment if needed. Thanks for the advice!

 

[rhysiam]

In the end of the day for the kind of home workloads you're using, it probably doesn't matter at all, but if you want to follow best practice... Try and work towards a setup where you have a main switch and get as many devices as you can connected directly to that main switch. In a perfect world you'd have every device on your network connected directly to that main switch, but if you can't do that because you don't have enough cable runs, just make sure you're using as few hops as possible. If you run out of LAN ports on your wireless router, for example, I would be avoiding daisy chaining another switch to that set up because then you'd have traffic going through that switch and the switch in your router before reaching the main switch.

So the decision about where to put the main switch is made based on which location allows you to get the most devices (or the most performance critical devices) connected directly to the switch.

Remember that as soon as a device needs a wireless connection, or is talking to the internet, the impact of ethernet switches is basically irrelevant - the latency inherent in wireless and especially Internet traffic is so much greater that any additional hops within your ethernet setup just won't have any significant bearing. That's why your main router accessing the Internet doesn't need to be your main switch. It's devices streaming high quality video (from a local - not Internet source) or needing high speed file transfers over your LAN (like a NAS) that you want to prioritise on your main switch.

As I say, it probably won't make any real difference, but that's best-practice.

 

[jsmithepa]

To add more ethernet devices, all you have to do it to plug in more ethernet switches (you said hub but nobody uses hub anymore). As long as there is only one active NIC on each client device, ethernet or WIFI but not both, then things should be automatic and pain free.

 

[spritemv]

In the end of the day for the kind of home workloads you're using, it probably doesn't matter at all

I do stream local HD (up to 4K) and perform system image backups content over my LAN, so it would be nice to keep the network as efficient as possible.

So the decision about where to put the main switch is made based on which location allows you to get the most devices (or the most performance critical devices) connected directly to the switch.

I think the switch will need to be in the basement where all the free cable ends are since each room only has 2 LAN ports. Any advice on what to look for in a switch other than number of ports and gigabit support?

It would be ideal for my wireless router to be located on the main level to provide the best signal throughout the house. How do I then connect this router to the switch in the basement - simply run a cable from one of the LAN ports on the router to one of the switch inputs?

 

[rhysiam]

I think the switch will need to be in the basement where all the free cable ends are since each room only has 2 LAN ports. Any advice on what to look for in a switch other than number of ports and gigabit support?

It would be ideal for my wireless router to be located on the main level to provide the best signal throughout the house. How do I then connect this router to the switch in the basement - simply run a cable from one of the LAN ports on the router to one of the switch inputs?

Honestly I don't think you'd see any gain whatsoever from spending more than the minimum on a basic gigabit switch. I tend to buy TP-Link stuff because it's cheap and in my experience it just works... that's anecdotal of course, others will have different opinions.

More expensive switches introduce things like mangement and VLANs, teaming, multicasting and similar features as well as management for analysis and troubleshooting... but those devices easily cost 10 times the price of a cheap unit. While switching speed sounds important if you want a fast network, it only matters if you have multiple devices saturating their gigabit links simultaneously. You'd probably need 3 simultaneous gigabit transfers (meaning a total of 6 devices saturating their gigabit link at 100MBps +) to see a substantial performance drop on even a cheap switch.
TL DR -> just get a cheap switch with enough ports for your current and needs. If your needs change just buy a new one, they're so cheap it's not worth worrying about.

RE the cable to your wireless router... yes, that's exactly what you do. LAN -> LAN. In the old days you needed crossover cables but all modern networking equipment should be auto sensing so it's really just plug it in and away you go.