Setting up a home network

[Euro Budget Gamer]

Howdy folks,

 

I just moved into a new apartment and I need help setting up a home network. Up until now I would have the PCs in the living room, within cable distance of the modem. This new place will have the Virgin Media Hub in the living room while I am using one of the bedrooms in the opposite side of the apartment as a home office. Setting up cables through the hallways is a bit troublesome (not to mention a potential tripping hazard) and I can't drill holes or nail the cables on the walls.

 

I was thinking of using powerline adapters plus a router/switch??? to connect my machines to the network. However I know next to nothing about this sort of thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[ThomasRed20]

How new is the apartment building? Older buildings tend to have issues with Powerline (My house does)

[Lurick]

Just now, thomasred20 said:

How new is the apartment building? Older buildings tend to have issues with Powerline (My house does)

Agreed.

 

In your situation powerline might not perform very well but you could get lucky and it will perform great. However you are on the right track that powerline and a switch would allow you to connect everything, it's just a question of the age of the wiring and building as to how well it might or might not work.

[sftgunner]

Personally, I've only had bad experiences with powerline - but I've only lived in older buildings. In my experience it tends to be less reliable and the speed drop is noticeable.

 

Currently, I've run 2 long CAT-5 cables along my corridor from my router to my desk, using white tape to keep it to the walls so it isn't a tripping hazard. Not sure how feasible this will be for you though...

[sftgunner]

Also, if your house is predominantly carpeted, you could try laying the CAT-5/6/7/whatever between the edge of the carpet and the floor/skirting board/wall...

[OsuMasterz]

6 minutes ago, Euro Budget Gamer said:

Howdy folks,

 

I just moved into a new apartment and I need help setting up a home network. Up until now I would have the PCs in the living room, within cable distance of the modem. This new place will have the Virgin Media Hub in the living room while I am using one of the bedrooms in the opposite side of the apartment as a home office. Setting up cables through the hallways is a bit troublesome (not to mention a potential tripping hazard) and I can't drill holes or nail the cables on the walls.

 

I was thinking of using powerline adapters plus a router/switch??? to connect my machines to the network. However I know next to nothing about this sort of thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Get some flat white ethernet cables and run them along the edging of the wall and floor or the ceiling and wall then use some white tape that won't rip the paint off the wall and boom.

[Euro Budget Gamer]

I don't know the exact age of the building, but I think it was made after 2000. I would have to ask the landlord about it. There's no carpets (laminated floor boards) and we're talking about at least 20-30m of cable (might be even more) that I would have to tape.

 

I discovered a second fibre endpoint on the main bedroom. Perhaps I can get a second modem from Virgin to connect to that one. I just have to wait to see what they have included in the gear package and how everything connects together.

 

Thanks for your help. I might have to come back asking for help if I need to buy some equipment myself.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Since you can't drill holes through the walls and don't want to trip on cables, I can recommend using a cable channel across the wall. They're cheap, easy to set up and depending on what type you get, can route a buttload of cables.

 

They're available at mostly any hardware store, come in different sizes and colors and require little to no extra work. Can be held in place with screws (which is out of the question) or double sided sticky tape (some cable channels come with it pre-applied. Stay away from those since they're more expensive and the tape is crap).

To remove them either use clear isopropyl alcohol (also available at hardware stores) or a hair dryer/heat gun.

[Euro Budget Gamer]

Update: The endpoint in the main bedroom is not activated. I have to keep the modem in the living room. I am using the WiFi now and the speed is quite decent (0ms ping, 37Mbps download and 35Mbps upload), but I should be able to get up to 300+ download. The main culprit here must be my old laptop's WiFi adapter.

 

Anyway, I checked the price of a decent powerline adapter kit and it's a bit on the expensive side at least compared to a 50m Cat5e cable. Most probably I will just buy one and tape it between the wall and the floor. My question here is: Do I need a different type of cable if I want to use a router/switch at this end? I think they are called "crossover"?

 

Also, for some idiotic reason, I can't buy any sort of switches from Amazon UK to be delivered in Ireland. Boggles my mind.

[paddy-stone]

22 hours ago, Euro Budget Gamer said:

Update: The endpoint in the main bedroom is not activated. I have to keep the modem in the living room. I am using the WiFi now and the speed is quite decent (0ms ping, 37Mbps download and 35Mbps upload), but I should be able to get up to 300+ download. The main culprit here must be my old laptop's WiFi adapter.

 

Anyway, I checked the price of a decent powerline adapter kit and it's a bit on the expensive side at least compared to a 50m Cat5e cable. Most probably I will just buy one and tape it between the wall and the floor. My question here is: Do I need a different type of cable if I want to use a router/switch at this end? I think they are called "crossover"?

 

Also, for some idiotic reason, I can't buy any sort of switches from Amazon UK to be delivered in Ireland. Boggles my mind.

No, just regular patch cable is all you want, either cat5e/cat6 is fine. You can then use an unmanaged switch in your room if you want to wire more devices up, and even extend the wireless range if you buy a cheap AP too, if you need to of course.

[Belgiangurista]

I have a pro-tip for the use of powerline-adaptors in appartment buildings AND houses these days:

- You have 3 standards (types of modulation through the electrical wiring) AV, G.hn, AV2

- All the electrical wiring is connected to other houses/apartments through the electrical meter boxes. This causes alot of noise on the electrical wiring from Solar panels, electrical motors and ofcourse homeplugs/powerline-adaptors.

- Most people these days use the AV-standard and this causes alot of interference in an apt, amongst all the AV-homeplugs.

- G.hn uses modulation frequencies different from the AV-standard and not many ppl are using them yet. They also have a built in feature called ARQ wich will re-transmit a signal when operating in noisy conditions.
 

 

Technical info: (from Wiki)

AV-standard:

The physical layer uses OFDM carriers spaced at 24.414 kHz, with carriers from 2 to 30 MHz. Depending on the signal to noise ratio, the system automatically selects from BPSK, QPSK, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, 256 QAM, and 1024 QAM, on a carrier by carrier basis.

 

This is saying if the Signal to noise ratio is good enough, it'll chose to operate at higher speeds.

 

AV2:

- Is operating in the same spectrum of frequencies and is interoperable with HomePlug AV.

 

G.hn:

linktowikipediasorrymyfootballmatchjuststarted

[Euro Budget Gamer]

I ended up getting a 30m CAT7 cable, secured it at the base of the wall with masking tape and a cheap Netgear 4+1 ports switch.