Home Networking Plan

[rlcal]

The picture is my first draft of my plan for networking everything in my house together.  All ports used will be Gigabit.  I am making the assumption that more ports used increases the throughput, please correct me if I am wrong.  The 5 port switch will be in the living room with the router to connect any random things to.The 16 port switch will be more centered in the house.  

 

My questions are these:

Will this work as I think?

I know I will need a wireless bridge to wirelessly network devices, but at what point is it best to add one in?  

Will the switches add a noticeable or damaging amount of latency inregards to gaming?

 

The hardware I plan to use:

 

Modem:

Virgin media Superhub 2ac in  modem mode 

 

Router: 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NQY3WO8/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=6SFHTCCWVAMK&coliid=I29SLIDKQ7ZOHX&psc=1

 

5 port switch

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS105UK-Gigabit-Unmanaged-Ethernet/dp/B0000E5SEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455056398&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+switch

 

16 port switch 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS105UK-Gigabit-Unmanaged-Ethernet/dp/B0000E5SEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455056398&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+switch

[Pcinacan]

oh i have the 8 port one of these (it holds up my right monitor) best part is that it holds it at just the right place and for the right i have a dremel case also is just the right length. lol  

[cynexit]

Ditch all that multi link stuff. If you don't know what you are doing it's not worth it, also your switches aren't even capable of doing link aggregation, so just connect everything via one gigabit port and you will be totally fine.

The only thing I can think of that would benefit would be your NAS, but only if more then two people are accessing it at the same time and even then you are limited to the read speeds of the drives in your NAS so max 200MB/s = 2Gb/s ports.

 

TL;DR: Link aggregation is a bitch, don't do it.

[rlcal]

2 minutes ago, cynexit said:

Ditch all that multi link stuff. If you don't know what you are doing it's not worth it, also your switches aren't even capable of doing link aggregation, so just connect everything via one gigabit port and you will be totally fine.

The only thing I can think of that would benefit would be your NAS, but only if more then two people are accessing it at the same time and even then you are limited to the read speeds of the drives in your NAS so max 200MB/s = 2Gb/s ports.

 

TL;DR: Link aggregation is a bitch, don't do it.

I'll take your word for it and simplify it then,  Cuts down on hardware costs too then.

[dalekphalm]

9 minutes ago, cynexit said:

Ditch all that multi link stuff. If you don't know what you are doing it's not worth it, also your switches aren't even capable of doing link aggregation, so just connect everything via one gigabit port and you will be totally fine.

The only thing I can think of that would benefit would be your NAS, but only if more then two people are accessing it at the same time and even then you are limited to the read speeds of the drives in your NAS so max 200MB/s = 2Gb/s ports.

 

TL;DR: Link aggregation is a bitch, don't do it.

 

5 minutes ago, rlcal said:

I'll take your word for it and simplify it then,  Cuts down on hardware costs too then.

As started above, minus all the link aggregation stuff, your basic plan is solid.

 

FYI a wireless bridge is pretty much something you always want to avoid. If you need better wireless coverage, you should consider dedicated prosumer Wireless Access Points (AP's). I would see how the coverage of your AC router does and judge after I'd you need better.

[cynexit]

Sorry, totally over looked your other questions...

22 minutes ago, rlcal said:

Will the switches add a noticeable or damaging amount of latency inregards to gaming?

It won't, you really don't have to worry about it. With this distances you shouldn't even be able to measure the difference without special equipment. (If you can your switch is broken )

 

24 minutes ago, rlcal said:

I know I will need a wireless bridge to wirelessly network devices, but at what point is it best to add one in?  

dalekphalm basically gave the best possible answer, it really doesn't matter from a network topological standpoint. You can go the budget route and simply use your router OR (and this is the cool thing if your house is wired up like this) get multiple APs that can work together like the ones from UniFi and connect them at different locations to get the best coverage.

[MariusJS]

Other than what has already been said I'd drop that Asus router and get a "proper" one +2xAC AP's (If u want AC) and then a 24 port switch

 

You could for example look into the Edgerouter Lite

[dalekphalm]

Just now, MariusJS said:

Other than what has already been said I'd drop that Asus router and get a "proper" one +2xAC AP's (If u want AC) and then a 24 port switch

 

You could for example look into the Edgerouter Lite

I don't know if that's really necessary for his home setup. The EdgeRouter Lite is pretty expensive for just a router (~$100 or so), and would guarantee that AP's would be needed (Since no integrated WIFI - $150-$200+ per AP). It also might be more complicated to properly setup.

 

I would call the EdgeRouter a "Nice to have", not a "Need to have" item. If @rlcal can fit it into his budget after everything else, then sure, why not, but that means instead of getting one ASUS Router w/ AC Wireless (Which may be enough for his needs), he would instead be getting an EdgeRouter Lite + at least one AP - that's going to be at least $150-$200 more expensive of a solution that he might not even need.

 

Good idea, but potentially major overkill.

[MariusJS]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

I don't know if that's really necessary for his home setup. The EdgeRouter Lite is pretty expensive for just a router (~$100 or so), and would guarantee that AP's would be needed (Since no integrated WIFI - $150-$200+ per AP). It also might be more complicated to properly setup.

 

I would call the EdgeRouter a "Nice to have", not a "Need to have" item. If @rlcal can fit it into his budget after everything else, then sure, why not, but that means instead of getting one ASUS Router w/ AC Wireless (Which may be enough for his needs), he would instead be getting an EdgeRouter Lite + at least one AP - that's going to be at least $150-$200 more expensive of a solution that he might not even need.

 

Good idea, but potentially major overkill.

Agreed, but with the pricing on those Asus routers he could get the ERL + one of those new fancy unifi AC units (If he can get his hands on one ) for about the same price as that Asus  

[dalekphalm]

12 minutes ago, MariusJS said:

Agreed, but with the pricing on those Asus routers he could get the ERL + one of those new fancy unifi AC units (If he can get his hands on one ) for about the same price as that Asus  

This is the router he's selected:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NQY3WO8/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=6SFHTCCWVAMK&coliid=I29SLIDKQ7ZOHX&psc=1

$160 GBP (Free shipping in UK)

 

On the other hand:

Edgerouter Lite:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ubiquiti-Networks-ERLite-3-EdgeRouter-3-port/dp/B00EWYPA6Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1455140745&sr=1-1&keywords=edgerouter+lite

Amazon.co.uk - $75 GBP (shipping extra - not fulfilled by Amazon)

 

Unifi UAP-AC-Pro - The AC version of the Ubiquiti Wireless AP:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ubiquiti-Networks-UAP-AC-PRO-access-point/dp/B016XYQ3WK/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1455140830&sr=1-2&keywords=unifi+ac

Amazon.co.uk - $155 GBP (Shipping extra - not fulfilled by Amazon)

 

Total cost: $230 GBP + shipping (Probably another $20 GBP)

 

That's $70 GBP more expensive, for just a single AP. That's not about the same price. Of course, you might have better pricing on other UK sites, but I'm not familiar enough to know which ones to look on.

[MariusJS]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

This is the router he's selected:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NQY3WO8/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=6SFHTCCWVAMK&coliid=I29SLIDKQ7ZOHX&psc=1

$160 GBP (Free shipping in UK)

 

On the other hand:

Edgerouter Lite:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ubiquiti-Networks-ERLite-3-EdgeRouter-3-port/dp/B00EWYPA6Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1455140745&sr=1-1&keywords=edgerouter+lite

Amazon.co.uk - $75 GBP (shipping extra - not fulfilled by Amazon)

 

Unifi UAP-AC-Pro - The AC version of the Ubiquiti Wireless AP:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ubiquiti-Networks-UAP-AC-PRO-access-point/dp/B016XYQ3WK/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1455140830&sr=1-2&keywords=unifi+ac

Amazon.co.uk - $155 GBP (Shipping extra - not fulfilled by Amazon)

 

Total cost: $230 GBP + shipping (Probably another $20 GBP)

 

That's $70 GBP more expensive, for just a single AP. That's not about the same price. Of course, you might have better pricing on other UK sites, but I'm not familiar enough to know which ones to look on.

I'm not from the UK either, but I was thinking more the lines of the UAP-AC-Lite or UAP-AC-LR which should be around 70-100GBP (seems they are not on amazon though)

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, MariusJS said:

I'm not from the UK either, but I was thinking more the lines of the UAP-AC-Lite or UAP-AC-LR which should be around 70-100GBP (seems they are not on amazon though)

Amazon has a pretty crummy selection of Ubiquiti products. And the selection they do have are usually fulfilled by third party merchants, so you miss out on most of the actual benefits of buying from Amazon. The UAP-AC-Lite would be a decent AP for a home, but even then, I question the worth of it for a single story house (even with a basement).

 

I'd say at this point we've pretty well given the OP a ton of solid suggestions. If he can afford to get everything else plus the EdgeRouter + UAP, then sure, hell yeah, go for it. But I would put those two items at the very bottom, and the first to be chopped if it all doesn't fit into budget.