Networking setup help

[JustTheChosenOne]

Hi guys, i have a question regarding networking - I have recently moved to a new appartment and I am currently solving quite a headache with internet connection:

 

Goals:

• Get good wireless coverage in two rooms which are the furthest apart - about 5m distance from the two nearest end, but through a 40cm thick solid old wall (should mounting it in one room to the closest point of the other room be sufficient at least for 2.4GHz to reach?
• Wireless connection should be sufficient for constant use of two phones and two laptops + maybe some smarthome junk (but i am thinking about doing this through MQTT not to jam wifi with constant status updates), it should also be 5GHz and have some decent throughput for wireless filetransfer on local network (nothing extreme though)
• Get wired connection to about 5 raspi-like devices in the living room aswell as to two laptops when placed on working desks (with a gigabit speed for file transfer + media streaming)
• Get  all of this working, when the damn modem is at the entrance and then there is a wall outlet for ethernet which brings it to the room where everything should be plugged in and i don't want to have cables running everywhere

 

Problem:

 

The diagram for the most naive setup would be this

 

                                                                         Wireless AP -> phone, ntb

ISP -> modem -> router -> wall ethernet ->

                                                                         Switch -> wired connections in the room

 

 

The problem with this setup is, that i would need to purchase a separate router, which i would strongly prefer to be quite a good one for all the goodies like a decent firewall, QoS etc. which increases the price and i (obviously) dont like it...

 

Basically the core of this first world problem is in the placement of the modem next to the entrance and the in-wall lan being fed from that point, as it requires me to put a router there, while i want an access point at the other end of the in-wall lan. What i mostly see in the networking department are APs combined with routers, which is really inconvinient for this setup.

 

Do you have any advice for how to solve this? And also, do you have any reccomendation on the hardware choices for these devices?

[Donut417]

20 minutes ago, JustTheChosenOne said:

Hi guys, i have a question regarding networking - I have recently moved to a new appartment and I am currently solving quite a headache with internet connection:

 

Goals:

• Get good wireless coverage in two rooms which are the furthest apart - about 5m distance from the two nearest end, but through a 40cm thick solid old wall (should mounting it in one room to the closest point of the other room be sufficient at least for 2.4GHz to reach?
• Wireless connection should be sufficient for constant use of two phones and two laptops + maybe some smarthome junk (but i am thinking about doing this through MQTT not to jam wifi with constant status updates), it should also be 5GHz and have some decent throughput for wireless filetransfer on local network (nothing extreme though)
• Get wired connection to about 5 raspi-like devices in the living room aswell as to two laptops when placed on working desks (with a gigabit speed for file transfer + media streaming)
• Get  all of this working, when the damn modem is at the entrance and then there is a wall outlet for ethernet which brings it to the room where everything should be plugged in and i don't want to have cables running everywhere

 

Problem:

 

The diagram for the most naive setup would be this

 

                                                                         Wireless AP -> phone, ntb

ISP -> modem -> router -> wall ethernet ->

                                                                         Switch -> wired connections in the room

 

 

The problem with this setup is, that i would need to purchase a separate router, which i would strongly prefer to be quite a good one for all the goodies like a decent firewall, QoS etc. which increases the price and i (obviously) dont like it...

 

Basically the core of this first world problem is in the placement of the modem next to the entrance and the in-wall lan being fed from that point, as it requires me to put a router there, while i want an access point at the other end of the in-wall lan. What i mostly see in the networking department are APs combined with routers, which is really inconvinient for this setup.

 

Do you have any advice for how to solve this? And also, do you have any reccomendation on the hardware choices for these devices?

Is your ISP box just a modem or does it have a built in router? Most ISP at least in the US, Canada and in Europe provide combo devices. Also, Ubiquti sells AP, with out the router portion, there is also Ruckus and CISCO. Also, a lot of wireless routers no days have "AP" mode, where it only acts like an AP. Depending on what your walls are made of, will highly depend on how well the wireless will penetrate. My room has thick plaster walls, the WiFI signal has no issues. Now if your talking concrete, it might have some issues. Though 2.4 Ghz does have good penetration power. 

 

Now if your ISP doesnt supply you with a router, any router that supports DDWRT will have a good firewall, QoS and such. Though DDWRT is a pain to setup, it works well. You might also look in to PFsense if you have old PC hardware laying around. Ive also heard Ubiquti edge routers have good features as well. 

 

As far as cabling goes, Cat 5e or Cat 6, what ever is cheapest. If you have a basement, crawlspace or attic, those are good places the run the cables to other rooms in the house. In hard to reach places power line adapter (speeds will vary, lower than 100 Mbps in most cases I have seen) and Moca adapter (400-800 Mbps) are good options. 

 

 

[JustTheChosenOne]

ISP box is just modem (which i opted for, as the offer rental for router combo at a price which will be repayed within half a year). I just cant put access point direclty next to modem, as i have already tried it out and it causes quite a problem in the room which is the most important for coverage.

 

The cabling in wall is already in place, my problem is that i probably cant just do the following: Connect the modem to the wall (which then has 3 other outlets in the main room), connect one of the outlet to the router and use the two remaining outlets for connecting devices (as they wouldnt be bridged by the router), right?

[Donut417]

8 minutes ago, JustTheChosenOne said:

ISP box is just modem (which i opted for, as the offer rental for router combo at a price which will be repayed within half a year). I just cant put access point direclty next to modem, as i have already tried it out and it causes quite a problem in the room which is the most important for coverage.

 

The cabling in wall is already in place, my problem is that i probably cant just do the following: Connect the modem to the wall (which then has 3 other outlets in the main room), connect one of the outlet to the router and use the two remaining outlets for connecting devices (as they wouldnt be bridged by the router), right?

That is correct. You will need a router. 

[paddy-stone]

I think your best bet would be to have your modem and router near the entrance, thenyou feed FROM that point into the wall, then hopefully you have outlets at both the living area where you can have a switch, and the outliers can have an AP that hopefully should cover the entire apartment between the wifi of the router and AP.

[JustTheChosenOne]

Thank you. Do you please have any suggestions for concrete HW which would be suitable? I am working with a flexible budget, meaning that i dont want to invest into this, but if it means that i can have solid connection only if i do, i can - what router would you reccomend? and which dual band AP?