Home/Small Business Networking

[Accudio]

Hi, I'm looking at completely redoing my home/home business networking, and not being the best with networking, and with the amount of different options I just get confused over what solution would work well.
 

 

So that's our current setup, and frankly it works horribly.The routers are not designed to just be extenders, and almost every day we're rebooting everything so it all works. 

 

We have no in-wall ethernet so that's pretty much out of the question, and the modem/router does unfortunately have to be in a different room from the office, as the master telephone socket is in the kitchen.

 

So basically I've been looking at tons of different options, but have no idea what to go with, with questions like modem/router combo? Business Grade wireless AP so we don't need wireless extenders everywhere (we have thick walls that struggle with wifi)? Or getting dedicated wireless extenders instead of old routers?

 

I'd appreciate some advice on what models and stuff too, I don't exactly have a huge budget, around £300 (~$500) would be the very most, however something around £200 (~$325) would be more comfortable.

 

The idea I'm currently leaning towards is getting a standalone modem, an Asus RT-N66U, a Ubiquiti Unifi for the wireless (I wonder where I got that one from...), and just get better powerlines and a basic well-reviewed switch for the office.

 

Cheers,

Accudio

[Steve H.]

Powerline adapters are crap. Period. That's where you loose most of your speed and probably network integrity/stability. Please mention what kind of routers do you currently own. It really depends on the kind of routers you have and if they are setup properly.

Personally I would go for wireless extenders and use cable for everything else that is critical for the office.

[Accudio]

Yeah, that's my big issue at the moment, ideally I want rid of the Powerlines but not sure if I can without just getting a cable installed (which we may end up getting done anyway).

 

One of the main reasons of me posting this is we want to replace everything. Currently we have a Netgear N6200, but it's completely buggered and has some serious issues. The other 2 are Netgear Rangemax 150's I think, but again, they've seen better days.

 

I've thought about wireless extenders but kinda avoided them when doing some research, just because they're not an ideal solution, and I was hoping to find something that might work better, but I'll definitely reconsider them.

 

Cheers.

[dalekphalm]

Yeah, that's my big issue at the moment, ideally I want rid of the Powerlines but not sure if I can without just getting a cable installed (which we may end up getting done anyway).

 

One of the main reasons of me posting this is we want to replace everything. Currently we have a Netgear N6200, but it's completely buggered and has some serious issues. The other 2 are Netgear Rangemax 150's I think, but again, they've seen better days.

 

I've thought about wireless extenders but kinda avoided them when doing some research, just because they're not an ideal solution, and I was hoping to find something that might work better, but I'll definitely reconsider them.

 

Cheers.

If you're thinking about replacing everything, then you should consider this:

The choice of having a standalone modem, then that ASUS router is good. You could also get a Ubiquiti Unifi if you have wifi dead zones, but depending on how powerful the Ubiquiti Unifi is, you may want to disable the Wifi on the ASUS router, or have both. Depends on your signal strength in various places around the house.

 

Next, you need to ditch Powerline. Ideally, wire Cat6 or Cat6a through the walls to each room. If possible, run a cable for each jack you intend to have in each room. But if you have one room with many hardwired devices, you could consider running one cable and then using a Gigabit switch, but that will of course create a potential bottleneck. You should connect a Gigabit switch directly into the ASUS router, and route all Ethernet cables through the switch instead.

 

You want to completely remove powerline, and minimize the number of Wifi broadcasts in your network. Having only one router as well, with everything routed through Switches will help increase your overall network performance and reliability.

[Steve H.]

Basically what he said^^

 

Here where I live I have 1000/100 internet for cheap (~ 25 US dollars/month) and I've been going through routers like crazy when they first installed gigabit internet. Most of the routers on the market, even if they are gigabit, are good for 200 to 300Mbps tops, everything above and the router (insert generic brand here) will hang or restart, well most reasonably priced ones, the usual suspects which are 100 pounds and above usually have hardware NAT built in and cope with high speed traffic easily.

Going through lots of routers, Tplink, Dlink, Netgear, Mikrotik, etc. I found this little gem very well priced: TP LINK TL WR1043ND. It has hardware NAT and does easily maintain a 930 ~ 950Mbps traffic through a PPPoE connection with firewall rules in place. I have connected to it 3 PCs, 5 mobile phones, 2 Smart TVs and a couple of laptops. I've never had it hang or chuckle when it comes to high speed traffic. I've achieved uptimes of 60 days+ without having to restart. You could use a 1043ND as a switch and wireless extender at the same time, they are rock solid.

 

PS: You don't need Cat 6 or 6a for in house cables, 5 or 5e is sufficient for 1Gbps traffic and is much cheaper.

[dalekphalm]

PS: You don't need Cat 6 or 6a for in house cables, 5 or 5e is sufficient for 1Gbps traffic and is much cheaper.

You're perfectly correct of course. I only recommended Cat6 or Cat6a since if you're gonna wire up a house, may as well use cables that will allow you to upgrade to 10BASE-T 10Gig ethernet when it becomes consumer grade. Depends on cable pricing of course.

[Accudio]

Cool, thanks a lot all of you, that helps a lot! Currently our internet is at a very slow 10Mbps max down, 5 up, however the line is currently being upgraded to "super-fast", which is apparently going to be 100/10, which is in part why we're upgrading now!

 

Cheers!