wired network Hard Wire Whole Home

[d4thev]

     Hi everyone! I hope everyone is healthy and distancing. I would like to hard wire network my home. I have been looking into this for years at this point, but I think possibly by this winter I want to pull the trigger and do it, so I have a lot of time between now and then to buy what I need. I live in southern Texas, so doing it now is out of the question do to the heat in my attic. I'd like to run my cables through my attic and down my walls to my PC, my sons PC, my NAS, Nvidia shield, apple TV, PS4, Xbox One, and wireless router. I am fairly new to networking apart from setting up my wifi routers, and a switch confuses me, I don't understand what it means when its said that the switch creates networks and the router connects the different networks.

 

Question #1

Do I go from modem, to router, to switch or from modem, to switch, to router? I have seen both suggested.

 

Question #2

What is a good switch to get? I'd like at least gigabit, I would say 10 gigabit but I don't think any items on my network have a 10 gigabit connection.

 

Question #3

Is there even a point to 10 gigabit? Would that allow items to connect to my internet better or just to each other better? I know from LTT's video "Home 10 Gig Network Upgrade for CHEAP" that 10 gigabit is somewhat affordable, albeit not cheap. Would having that "room to breathe" in network allow better net connection? I am getting gigabit speed from ISP, so I know that having a 10 gigabit network won't magically give me a 10 gigabit internet connection(that would be awesome though).

 

Question #4

What is a good switch to get? I was looking at some Linksys ones, since that is what I have usually had for routers, and current router is a Linksys(Max-Stream AC5400), but I just want a good one.

 

Question #5

I can afford Cat8 cable from pricing I have found, and I'd like to future proof this network, so is there a reason to not get Cat8?

 

Question #6

My modem is a Arris Surfboard SB8200 and I am paying for gigabit from my ISP(Grande), can anyone tell me why when I connect my PC directly to the modem I get basically the full gigabit but when my PC is connected through router, which is all on same desk my speeds are usually 300mbps or less.

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, d4thev said:

Do I go from modem, to router, to switch or from modem, to switch, to router? I have seen both suggested.

modem to router to switch. It won't work anotuher way.

 

4 minutes ago, d4thev said:

hat is a good switch to get? I'd like at least gigabit, I would say 10 gigabit but I don't think any items on my network have a 10 gigabit connection.

budget? POE? Features? If you don't need anything special any unmanaged switch will work fine

 

4 minutes ago, d4thev said:

s there even a point to 10 gigabit? Would that allow items to connect to my internet better or just to each other better? Would having that "room to breathe" in network allow better net connection? I am getting gigabit speed from ISP, so I know that having a 10 gigabit network won't magically give me a 10 gigabit internet connection(that would be awesome though).

 

Its mostly for a nas or server use in homes, it won't help with wan for almost all people

 

5 minutes ago, d4thev said:

can afford Cat8 cable from pricing I have found, and I'd like to future proof this network, so is there a reason to not get Cat8?

 

No real reason not to, but cat 6a is probalby fine for a long time, Its unlikely you will need more than 10gbe anytime soon, and 6a can do 10gbe for 100m

 

5 minutes ago, d4thev said:

My modem is a Arris Surfboard SB8200 and I am paying for gigabit from my ISP(Grande), can anyone tell me why when I connect my PC directly to the modem I get basically the full gigabit but when my PC is connected through router, which is all on same desk my speeds are usually 300mbps or less.

Probably cause your router can't handle the full speed

What router do you have?

 

[Bombastinator]

As an old fart one thing I have seen is wiring completely change like 3 times.  You got to keep on replacing it and fishing stuff sucks.  Don’t fish wire.  Fish flaxible conduit.  It’s more money because you’re buying extra stuff, but the next time wiring changes you just fish the conduit with a piece of string. Or just tape the new wiring to the old wiring and pull it through. Muuuuch easier.

[beersykins]

1) The vast majority of setups are/should-be modem-router-switch.  Some more advanced setups with managed switches place the router on an outside vlan, so physically you'd modem-switch-router but logically it's still modem-router-switch.  You need the router in front to be able to NAT the rest of your network behind the single IP the ISP gives you.

 

2) Anything unmanaged are pretty synonymous.  You just would pick how many ports you want and if you need PoE.

 

3) For workloads or transfers that you want >125 MB/sec.  Usually NAS or backup/bulk-data oriented.

 

4) They're all basically the same from an unmanaged and home use perspective.  Unmanaged gigabit are pretty inexpensive.

 

5) 6a would probably be best for 10g and mGig (those weird 2.5/5 speeds) from a cost perspective.  The premium over 5e is outweighed by not having to do it again for 10 gig in the future.

 

6) As above, probably an underpowered router.

[d4thev]

10 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

modem to router to switch. It won't work anotuher way.

 

budget? POE? Features? If you don't need anything special any unmanaged switch will work fine

 

Its mostly for a nas or server use in homes, it won't help with wan for almost all people

 

No real reason not to, but cat 6a is probalby fine for a long time, Its unlikely you will need more than 10gbe anytime soon, and 6a can do 10gbe for 100m

 

Probably cause your router can't handle the full speed

What router do you have?

 

My router is a Linksys Max-Stream AC5400

 

Budget will probably be whatever it needs to be to get it done right, if I need to wait a little longer to buy something but it allows it to be correct that's what I will do, but for example I don't want to spend $1,000 on a switch if there is no real reason. 

 

Should I get a managed switch?

 

I do have a Synology DS918+ that I mainly use for as Plex server, and I'd like to eventually have all of my movies on, and currently Nvidia shield can handle streaming from it just fine but apple TV no longer can for some reason, which is one of the reasons I want to have wired network.

 

I don't have a HUGE home so I guess Cat6a might be good enough.

 

I really appreciate all of the help from everyone!!!

[d4thev]

10 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

As an old fart one thing I have seen is wiring completely change like 3 times.  You got to keep on replacing it and fishing stuff sucks.  Don’t fish wire.  Fish flaxible conduit.  It’s more money because you’re buying extra stuff, but the next time wiring changes you just fish the conduit with a piece of string. Or just tape the new wiring to the old wiring and pull it through. Muuuuch easier.

I am definitely going to look into putting in the conduit instead of just running cables, thank you!

[d4thev]

7 hours ago, beersykins said:

1) The vast majority of setups are/should-be modem-router-switch.  Some more advanced setups with managed switches place the router on an outside vlan, so physically you'd modem-switch-router but logically it's still modem-router-switch.  You need the router in front to be able to NAT the rest of your network behind the single IP the ISP gives you.

 

2) Anything unmanaged are pretty synonymous.  You just would pick how many ports you want and if you need PoE.

 

3) For workloads or transfers that you want >125 MB/sec.  Usually NAS or backup/bulk-data oriented.

 

4) They're all basically the same from an unmanaged and home use perspective.  Unmanaged gigabit are pretty inexpensive.

 

5) 6a would probably be best for 10g and mGig (those weird 2.5/5 speeds) from a cost perspective.  The premium over 5e is outweighed by not having to do it again for 10 gig in the future.

 

6) As above, probably an underpowered router.

I didn't think my router was underpowered when I bought it, it's a Linksys Max-Stream AC5400 (EA9500) but if it is underpowered what should I look for?

 

I am thinking I will go unmanaged for switch.

 

I am now leaning towards Cat6a.

 

I would like as fast a connection bad possible between my Apple TV, & Nvidia Shield to my Synology DS918+ that I am using as Plex server.

 

Thank you!

[Bombastinator]

8 minutes ago, d4thev said:

I am definitely going to look into putting in the conduit instead of just running cables, thank you!

My understanding is one common name for it is “smurf tube” because it’s light blue.  The bigger it is the more expensive it is but if you want to pull a cable with a connector head you may need a surprisingly wide tube.

[beersykins]

2 hours ago, d4thev said:

I didn't think my router was underpowered when I bought it, it's a Linksys Max-Stream AC5400 (EA9500) but if it is underpowered what should I look for?

Ah I was half expecting this to be like most threads where they are still using a WRT54G

 

Do you have QoS enabled on the router?  Usually that tanks any sort of performance on ARM style CPUs (such as inside the router).

[d4thev]

10 hours ago, beersykins said:

Ah I was half expecting this to be like most threads where they are still using a WRT54G

 

Do you have QoS enabled on the router?  Usually that tanks any sort of performance on ARM style CPUs (such as inside the router).

I have looked everywhere for QoS setting in the Linksys "Smart Wifi" interface for my router where I change all of my settings, but I haven't been able to find anything, I will keep looking and keep you posted.

 

**EDIT**

DUDE! I found out that the "media prioritization" setting in router is what QoS is called on my router, I turned it off and my speed went from 300mbps to 871mbps! Thank you so much!

 

Thank you

[d4thev]

12 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

My understanding is one common name for it is “smurf tube” because it’s light blue.  The bigger it is the more expensive it is but if you want to pull a cable with a connector head you may need a surprisingly wide tube.

I will look into this, and how I can run conduit in existing walls, might be a pain,  but sounds like it might be worth it.

 

Thank you

[d4thev]

Do any of you have experience with the Ubiquiti UniFi line of products? I am considering going that route with the hardware.