Search the Community

I am trying to set up a mesh network in my 2600 sq ft home, my internet provider is AT&T Fiber. I bought a TP-Link TL-SG1005P POE+ switch & 2 TP-Link Deco AX3000. I plan to use the AT&T-provided router (later switch to TP-Link ER605) to connect it to the switch and use both Decos as APs connected to the switch. Since this would be a wired backhaul (read topology does not matter in wired), I expect full wifi bandwidths from the APs (500 Mbps in 2.4 and 2400 Mbps in 5). I do not know anything about networking so any input on this setup or feedback is appreciated. Note: The house has Cat 6 cable routed to the mounting points. The Decos would be ceiling-mounted. I will be subscribing to the 300 Mbps plan and might move to 500 Mbps if the need arises. The TV and PlayStation will be wired connections, and have a wireless surround system (will not be wired) Will have smart switches, light bulbs, smart appliances. Thank you for your suggestions

A quick search on YouTube and browse of the forums makes me think that LTT should do a new build your own firewall tutorial all things Sophos XG Home specifically. The upload of PfSense / OpnSense is great, but a dedicated upload from start to finish for XG Home would take it to another level. I'm no security engineer/expert however I'm tinkering with XG Home. Having Linus showcase XG Home would encourage loads of others to get on board and bring enterprise grade firewalling to the home, encouraging younger viewers to become interested in security. The fact it is free for home users, even with limited hardware specs, it's more than capable for 1Gbps WAN users with all the features turned on. I'm using a SFF PC with a LP 4 port card from eBay. The machine has a 6400 and 4GB memory. I've managed to LAG all the card's ports for LAN use and the board's port for WAN. There are a ton of features that open source do not come with as standard (although you can always add a plug-in) but even just covering the basics in a full upload from LTT showing how to configure DNS, change LAN IP range, etc would be epic. The one thing I'm personally struggling with is UPnP for basic use such as PlayStation, PC applications such as Plex. You have to manually apply rules to make specific applications to run without problems. As I said, I'm not a network guy so this I struggle with compared to a plug-in you can get using alternatives.

Hey so recently there has been this issue that I believe is my ISP's fault but before i give them I call, I want to make sure its not on my end, so my plan is 150/20 and the download is fine. but its the upload that's the issue. On a good day its around 13mbps but sometimes it can go as low as 3mbps with no other device using it. is there anything that can be causing this. I know my house has had pretty scuffed upload with the ISP's blaming it on "rusty cables" or "a cut cable" but that doesn't make must sense cause I always thought if its rusty then there would be no internet and same with it being cut cause there is only one COAX cable coming in. anyways is there anything to improve this? Also is there any info on what to tell them on the phone? Edit: This test was ran on wifi but it was on 5g and transferring a file to my local ftp server resulted in over 250mbps

I'm planning on building a home server to host media on a plex server and host on LAN, do any of you have recommendations for a cheap pc that I can use many 3.5in drives in?

Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you all are! I am reposting my post as suggested by the forum automated message. I completely forgot about my post and life sort of took over.... So I wanted to simply revive it and finally deal with this issue once and for all..... For reference and any previous replies from members... here is the post below.... and below that... I will begin my post.... So currently I'm running my main router as the Asus GT-AX11000 3 AiMesh routers as follows: AX-92U (2 of those on different floors) GT-AC5300 basement EDIT: Since then, I have been told that more extenders is not necessarily good, and so I now only have the GT-AC5300 in the basement and one AX-92U in a bedroom at the top floor of the house, not the main floor where I used to have one. For Easier imagination, the main floor of the house as the GT-AX11000, it used to also have an AX-92U near the front entrance to the house. My internet is now gigabit from Rogers, 1000 down and 30 up. I'm getting tired of the fact that I don't feel like I'm optimizing my settings. We have about 23 different devices connected at any given point of time whether actively or passively, and we use WiFi 6 on a lot of devices. Lots of gaming happens too on my Xbox series X or PC and so I just want to stabilize my connections and understand how to use my features properly. I also find that I'm not consistently downloading data at 1000GB although speed test does say that my connection can give me 4K due to the fact that I do get 200+ down most of the time (more so than 500 or even 400). Also I cannot seem to figure out how to enable choosing custom control channels....it gives me preset channels and before I was able to somehow choose channels 100 for example for 5GHz, and it has to do with enabling the DL/UL+ MU-MIMO or something....but I can't figure it out. but here is everything .....all the data in PDF files and screenshots. Not sure where to start with presenting info so I'll leave it to someone to slowly "interview" me haha. Hope this info will help others eventually too. Cheers 2_4 ghz channel stats.pdf 2_4ghz scan.pdf 5_2ghz channel stats.pdf 5_2ghz scan.pdf 5ghz channel stats.pdf 5Ghz Scan.pdf

Hello guys, i need block tiktok app form my internet i try opendns and the app still working

Hello! So I've been plagued with some issue with my home network the last few weeks after attempting to fix some DNS/wifi drop issues my roommate was having. Since attempting to use Google DNS and to modify the wifi settings so that it's consistent, I may have caused things to be worse so I'd like your wisdom to help me set up the router to play nicely with Destiny 2 and to help our DNS Lookup errors from plaguing us. I enabled UPnP on our router, and put the time to live in hops to about 50, and set the DNS server to Google's (8.8.8.8) (8.8.4.4) This is using a Netgear R8000 Nighthawk Router in a small apartment with a Netgear Modem. Our bandwidth heavy devices are wired in, especially after the wifi drops, and I've changed the broadcast frequency on the wifi radios to collide less with the nearby networks. So. If I factory reset the router and Modem, and set up port forwarding for Destiny and our other games, what else can I do to help with these DNS errors? I can handle a computer okay, but networking is something else. Thank you in advance, need more info feel free to ask.

Hi, I am looking to build a small home server/Nas using an old system I restored. Luckily, it has onboard graphics, which frees up the pcie 2.0 x16 slot, which aside from 2 PCI, is the only expansion slot. (I intend to put gigabit Ethernet in the PCI, which would pretty much saturate the bandwidth). Therefore, I need a raid card that could support multiple different raid arrays, (likely a raid 1 SSD array and a raid 5 hdd array) at the same time. I need it to have a good number SATA ports (>6 would be nice) so that I can expand down the line, and maybe even have a third array running off it if possible. Does anybody know of a good card for this that would be reliable, windows 10 compatible, and if possible, be likely to get support down the line so I could use it again on future projects. Another question: is there a way to add per-drive status and power LEDs? Since the case I am using doesn't have them. Something like a small interconnect board with the lights on it? Last question: is there a way, I windows 10, to share usb ports across the network, meaning anything plugged into the port, be it a thumb drive, cd drive, external HDD, or even floppy disk drive, will automatically be available on the network? I was thinking with a batch script that gets triggered in task scheduler, but I am not sure how to write the script, or the event ID I would need for this, nor the effectiveness. Thanks in advance:)

HI all, so i got 1 modem and 2 router in my house with a couple of LAN addons (STBs, and CCTV server), okay here is the basic layout of my internet network right now: ZTE F609, modem from my internet provider, only 1 unlocked LAN port (rules from my ISP), I connect it to my ground floor router (Pro-Link prc3801), and via LAN connecting it to my 2 STBs (barely on, we rarely watch cable tv nowadays), CCTV server, my upstairs router (Asus RT-AC1200g+), and my problem for past couple of weeks is the internet from the both of the router dead from time to time (random time), and if i restart both of them it'll fix them. couple of solution that i alr tried: --IP conflict problem? my friend said my problem is ip address conflict, but if i look at my router setting (im not so certain because not my expertise) seems like i have different my ip pool address from both of the router, i saw it in my dhcp server client range, 192.168.123.2 til 192.168.123.253 for the Pro link one, and 192.168.1.2 til 192.168.1.254 for the asus one, so i think its not ip problem? -ISP problem? i dont think so, just need a restart for both of them and suddenly its fine what should i do or if you need somethin more in detail i can show you that, sorry for the bad english, not a native english speaker

I live in england, we use the telephone line for internet connection so I have a rj11 connection in my wall which goes to my modem rj11 to rj 11 however due to the layout of my house the position of this socket is awful and i cant run cable throughout my home. RJ11 to RJ45 cable > Primary PPD > Secondary PPD > RJ45/ ethernet cable > Router Would it still get internet if I don't use my BT modem and swap it for a TP-link router? Would I need anything else to make this work? RJ11-RJ45 cable: https://www.amazon.co.uk/rhinocables®-Ethernet-Modem-Telephone-Cable/dp/B01MTEWGVD powerline passthrough Device(PPD): https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-PA4010PKIT-Passthrough-Powerline-Configuration-Required/dp/B01G5Q9E0O?psc=1 TP Link Router: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-C50-Wireless-Supports-Parental/dp/B075PDLQ2Y?psc=1

Since the router part of my ISP's provided modem/router combo is a piece of crap and the WiFi is super unstable at times, I'm planning to set up a little bit of a better network, but networking isn't my strong suit. My subscription is a 100/10 Mbps up/down. Currently I'm looking at Ubiquity gear as it seems nice and was thinking the following: EdgeRouter X - put ISP unit in bridge mode and have this do the routing UniFi Switch 8-60W - will replace living room Netgear GS305 Unifi AP-AC Lite - living room WiFi; PoE provided by Switch 8 If I'm not mistaken the order would then be modem > EdgeRouter X > through wall ethernet cable > Switch 8 in living room > AP-AC Lite with PoE. Am I getting that right, will this work together?

Quick question are there any home routers that enable you to set different DHCP pools or preferably allow private VLANS. I am trying to get a router that would allow me to have a guest network for visitors that move in their own isolated VLAN or be part of their own network with a different DHCP pool so they can't connect to the smart features in my home but can still have internet. Any suggestions welcome.

I have a server that I am using as a seed box and nas however, I want to expand my home network with a local vpn so that I can set up remote access to the nas and have better security in general. Is it advisable to use virtualization to host the vpn and these other services on the same machine? I would also likely switch to using a dedicated nas os as right now I'm just using a smb share on ubuntu server. The computer itself is quite overbuilt for what it is doing currently with an i7 7700es 8gb of ddr4 3200 and gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 so I don't think performance would be an issue. Unfortunately googling for this just results in people asking if they can connect to a vpn when using a hypervisor so now I'm bothering you guys, thank you in advance.

So every few weeks the network gets so slow, like from 40Mbps Download to 2-3Mbps Download and Upload is usually the same as it has been maybe a about 1 Mbps slower and High ping an Jitter. We switched the DSL cable and even the router but the issue keeps happenning.. After restart the issue goes away for a few days or week but it returns.. I am trying to narrow the issue as much as possible its a bit hard to diagnose.. Also good to say that through out the week only the older computer serving as nas is active the two are powered off and only wifi is being used pretty much. My potentional issues: The DSL cable is run right next to power cable - It has been like this for a few years and never has been an problem until a year back Im running an pihole (meaning all DNS trafic goes through that) on a bit older computer (serving also as NAS) but its ethernet does have 1Gbps and it has not been throtteling in any way i belive. ISP - The ISP has been here two times, they said nothign was wrong changes the cable an modified an config on their side.. Helped a bit.. Network layout: The router has only one ethernet connector in use. The cable goes through the house to room with an 2Gbps capeable switch from there to three computer. The Wifi is serving around 5-6 clients.. PS: When the speed are low the admin ui is still saying that it detects the correct speeds on the DSL cable.

Hello clever people and fellow LTT fans! I recently upgraded to a wired home network after years of terrible WiFi and could not be happier, it was a great decision. I'm a life-long PC and computing enthusiast, unfortunately my skills are restricted to custom watercooling and MS excel formulas. Oh and now running ethernet cable through walls it seems. I was therefore pretty pleased that after getting the wiring setup through the walls - it was simply a job of plugging the cat6 cables into the ethernet ports on my machines, plugging the other ends into the router, sharing the drives and hey presto - a home network with consistent speeds double what I was getting on WiFi. Beautiful. I have 4 machines in my house and have them connected directly to the routers 4 ethernet ports (sans a switch); PC #01 - HTPC / File Server PC #02 - Gaming System PC #03 - Work System PC #04 - Arcade Cabinet All 4 machines have no issues individually when it comes to network or internet connectivity, the issue is PC #02 is only visible to itself on the network, I cannot see it or access it from any other machine. I can access all other machines from each other without issue. I do try and address my technical issues myself first before asking for help, however I either can't find the exact FAQ or similar example I'm looking for or it's simply beyond my capability. Either way I'm stuck. Below is what I've done so far : Changing all cables around Resetting router / modem Upgraded firmware Password protected / unprotected drive sharing Played with SMB1.0/CIFS File Sharing settings across the machines (at one point I actually lost visibility of multiple machines playing with this feature but always restored back). The only other thing I can add is that the machines are not all running the same version of Windows - PC's 1, 3 and 4 are all Windows 10 Pro Build 18363 where as PC 2 - the PC I'm having the issue with is running Windows 10 Home Build 18362. I noticed when playing with the CIFS File Sharing settings that by default, PC's 1, 3 and 4 are running SMB Direct where PC 2 is running SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support. Guessed this was related to Windows version but not sure it makes a difference. Any support that can be rendered will be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, The Gas Man

Hi there, I'm currently working from home with two of my roommates and we are having some internet issues. My ISP was not able to resolve the issues either. We recently moved to a new apartment but had the same issue at our old one. I'm currently using a NETGEAR CM400 modem and AC1750 router. When refreshing the modem and I'm plugged directly into it, I get roughly 100 Mbps speed. However, after an hour or so, this speed is reduced to an almost unusable 5 Mbps. Is this something on the ISP's end or should I get a new modem? I was looking into a CM500 or CM600. I've also changed ethernet cables to test for any issues there. I appreciate any help you could give me.

Hello everyone, A friend of mine has a small home network with his small buisness. They have a simple server for filestorage that exposes a few network shares to the office PCs. The router is a relatively high end combo-box (not the one provided by the ISP). The network has been working fine for the last few months, but a few days ago (after the scheduled server reboot) the client PCs failed to connect to their network shares. After a few reboots most of the client's connections worked again, except for one. The one PC thats not working is causing the most headache right now. It is a notebook running Windows 7 Professional (it's due for a replacement) and it still refuses to connect to the network share and I don't know why. I tried every possible troubleshooting step known to me, but since I don't have too much experience with networks and the previous sysadmin (I'm just helping out until they find a new IT guy) left kind of a mess when it comes to networking, so maybe you could help me out. The server with the network shares is called "server", the clients connect using \\server\<share name> to connect to the network shares and that wasn't an issue so far. The server (Windows Server 2008 R2) also has the static IP 192.168.1.1 (I really don't know why since its not even used for routing). The standard gateway and the DNS server run on the all in one router at 192.168.1.254. The clients are also configured with an unique static IP. The PCs also all share the same <company name>-Workgroup. Pinging \\server doesn't work, its not able to resolve the hostname. Pinging the ip behind \\server (192.1.1.1) doesn't work either, its returing a timeout). I also tried re-joining the workgroup, but that didn't help either. Do you have any suggestions where the issue could be? We need the system to work until we're able to get a new PC with Windows 10. I appreciate your help!

ok here's my question I am a small time streamer and game junkie that over time has built a loyal community and over time I have added a Dell r620 1u rack server to my home network to host 8+ game servers from and I think I have finally killed or am killing my poor asus rt n66u router and I am wondering what would be the best solution for me I need at least 10 ports (w/ dual wan plugs?) I have a arris sb8200 modem with dual ports for link aggregation? I know I may be asking a lot of dumb questions but I am trying to do the best for my community and would love some help with this I appreciate all the help I can get thank

Hey there, I have a home server using unRAID and loving it. I have a self contained flat in my former basement and I have a gigabit connection to my home and want to share the internet with the potential tenant downstairs while keeping them from accessing my server. I would have setup passwords etc on the server but when I try to access them in windows (which most people use here) I can't get access. I have 7 Ethernet ports in the apartment downstairs and so I was thinking of getting a separate router and hub and connecting the flat that way BUT I need to know how to enable them to access the internet without accessing my upstairs local network or server. Cheers in advance!

// I've reposted this from Tom's hardware to maximise chance of assistance // Need a networking magician to assist me here please So I'm looking to invest in an Asus RT-N66U router for use in a home network. In a nut shell my devices upstairs are absolutely shocking with Wi-Fi connectivity. I managed to somewhat sort out my Xbox One by doing some port forwarding tricks to make cod and fifa atleast playable however I'm frequently getting booted from servers on BF4/rocket league/arma 3 on my PC due to my ping going through the roof and connectivity is generally bad for the PC. On the many topics I've read about achieving a 2 router network I'm still somewhat confused on what I can do with it. My devices (PC, Xbox) being wired into the back of a router in my room, my grandads PC is currently wired into the EE Brightbox 2 router downstairs (ISP provided router for those unaware of EE) and the few wireless devices like phones iPad laptop being connected via wireless to the BB2, would this in theory create a subnetwork upstairs that I could take advantage of for gaming and downloading/streaming specifically? I'm in pretty dire condition here, my PC is using a terrible little dongle for connection and even as I type this on my phone I only have 2 bars signal for WiFi upstairs. DL speed (displayed by router configuration page) is 8.02MB/s. Average speed on steam is about 750kbps, ping can be anywhere between 20 to 300. Thanks in advance

Hello I'm a router/modem within $450 Aud preferably ive seen some like the netgear nighthawk d7000 and similar and was just wondering if anyone has had any good or bad experiences with one and can recomend one for a home network with about 10 devices connected via wifi and 4 on LAN . Im also on FTTN 100/40 (VDSL2+) Thanks in advanced. - Zack.

So I've been on a bit of a PC chore list lately. One of those things is to get the home network sharing working again. I had set up the original homegroup on a PC install that no longer exists, and all the other PCs no longer are connect to it and the password is not accessible anymore. Some googling told me to get on every windows PC in the network, and leave the homegroup so I can create a new one. There is one PC I cant access because my brother is at work, so I have unplugged it from the wall. But the rest of them (3 laptops and 2 desktops) are no longer joined to the homegroup but I cant seem to be able to create a new group, and the passwords I scavenged before leaving the homegroups (2 of them) arent the correct password so I am stuck unable to create a new group. Has anyone got any tips to troubleshoot further? Im at a loss at to what to do.

Hi everyone Recently I build a few systems for my home like a home PC, Media Player and I have some future plans for the networking in my house in which I want to include a Media server. I have attached an image for reference of what I really want. I was thinking of connecting an 8 port gigabit switch (for sharing between systems) to my router (100mbps max). That means I'll be using 5 ports in the gigabit switch for sharing between systems and 1 port for internet. I am concerned that the 1 port for internet connection might get saturated. Will it be fine to set up this way? Please let me know how can I improve. Note: I want this set up to be budget friendly as I don't want anything overkill. My internet connection is 25Mbps Gigabit speed for file sharing and media works for me. Do check the image attached. Thank You

I'm trying to get a 16 port POE switch in a structured media box. The only thing I have come up with is a Buffalo Networks 16 port w/ 12 ports POE. 120w max POE power, apparently 32Gbps switching capacity. Does anyone know anything about Buffalo? Are they a reputable company that makes good products? http://www.buffalotech.com/products/gigabit-green-ethernet-high-power-poe-switches#tab-specifications Thanks