[SOLVED] Renovating upstairs, wifi questions

Nov 10, 2020
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So I currently have a one story house that had a single room upstairs. We used the google wifi (AC1304) with three pucks to cover all of the downstairs and the one room up. At times, the upstairs connection was slowed but not so much that it was unusable, that said there was not heavy usage upstairs at the time.
So now were doing a dormer and adding a full top floor with three bedrooms and it will act as our primary living space. There will likely be multiple TVs over time, as well as streaming devices and I want to make sure we have solid coverage throughout without any interruptions. Since half the house is opened up at this point I am looking for feedback on how to maximize this. Heres my situation:
Main puck is in living room and handlined into TV, never had any issues but its not a 4k TV and that will change in the future
Second puck is hardlined into office computer used for gaming, again never had any issues since the move to mesh
Third is on the main floor now, communicating with two computers that are used for Teams meetings and google classroom, towards the back of the house - since being moved to the downstairs we have not had much issue when all being used at the same time.

So now my questions
Do I find an option to run wire up to the upstairs from the modem so I can hardline an access point up there to boost my signal? Essentially what is my best option to make sure I have a clear signal up there with the thought that I will be using many more devices than I have and want to make sure it can last long term - will adding more pucks be enough?
Do I need to get a different mesh setup that just works better? Will I need to hardline my TV's to make sure they work well or should they work over Wifi? Again I realize running five devices on 4k tv while also streaming in the bathroom is a lot, I just want to try and plan right now so I can make decisions and save the money in the future. I can always pay to increase my speeds if thats the hiccup, I dont want to have to run wire and what not when I can now.
If I should add a hardlined puck upstairs, do I need one in every room - that seems very dramatic and overkill to me but I also want to try and make sure the TVs can stream without drops in quality
Overall is there an option I am not considering that would be more effective?

So I just ran my speeds via the Google wifi app, Im at 324 mps down and my connections to all the pucks are great. Appreciate the time and apologies for the long post.
 
Solution
Since you are doing so much work anyway, run a couple of CAT5E or CAT6 lines up there so that you can get full speed future Internet up there. You really don't want to rely on wireless or anything short of Ethernet when you are doing construction already.

I assume that you would start with an AP, but a couple lines gives you back up and options.

Make sure that the cables are not damaged, bent acutely, or run parallel to power lines (cross perpendicularly) to the extent possible. And don't staple or tie them down if at all possible, also pass them through large enough holes in 2x4s that they can easily slide where needed in anticipation of future need to re-pull cable. I've done a lot of cable work and a little work up front...

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Since you are doing so much work anyway, run a couple of CAT5E or CAT6 lines up there so that you can get full speed future Internet up there. You really don't want to rely on wireless or anything short of Ethernet when you are doing construction already.

I assume that you would start with an AP, but a couple lines gives you back up and options.

Make sure that the cables are not damaged, bent acutely, or run parallel to power lines (cross perpendicularly) to the extent possible. And don't staple or tie them down if at all possible, also pass them through large enough holes in 2x4s that they can easily slide where needed in anticipation of future need to re-pull cable. I've done a lot of cable work and a little work up front saves a lot of hassle later. Also, test the cables before and just after the drywall is hung.
 
Solution