Help with Complicated home network

[Alchemi]

Hello, so I need help determining the best approach to a complicated home network. See My Mother, Younger Brother, his wife and 2 children, and myself are all going in together on a home (times are pretty tough). The place we're looking at getting has a main house with two large bedrooms upstairs, then it has a separate garage attached to a full functioning apartment. My brother and his family are taking the apartment, my mother is getting one large room, and I'm getting the other.

 

So I'm trying figure out how we're going to set up the network, as I'm sure the cable company would charge us extra to have a second modem. What we're wanting to do is dig a hole and run a pipe with a cable through it from the main house to the apartment, it's not a particularly long distant so we're not concerned about signal degradation. While I'm no stranger to working on networks, did it for the Navy for 5 years, it's been almost 6 years since I've last considered doing something like this. I'm hoping someone could give me advice on what's the best equipment to use for this project, and maybe a link to a solid tutorial. 

 

Needs: 

Advice on the best Modem for this (the provider says they offer 1gb service, unlimited data) 

Advice on the best routers to use

A good tutorial

 

My brother is a light internet user, but he does need a stable connection for internet calling.

His wife, is also a light user

The kids are still too young for the internet, the oldest being 5

They do however stream TV shows with multiple devices

 

My mother is also a light user, though she does also stream TV shows

 

I am, what is considered, a hardcore gamer.

Known to play my fair share of MMOs

A heavy internet user

And have, apparently, "Forced" Comcast to put restriction on my account...... multiple times...... They'll generally remove the restriction if I call asking why my internet is slow when I'm paying for the higher end service >.>

 

 So yea those are the needs of all parties involved. The idea right now is that we're going to run from the modem to the router (router #1) in the main house, then from there we'll run to the second router (router #2) in the apartment. Though I'm not 100% certain this is the best approach.

 

Current I have:

Modem: Motorola SURFboard SB6141

Router: Netgear Nighthawk R7000

 

Those are both mine, to my knowledge my brother does not own a router or modem.

[Lurick]

Best modem, in my opinion, would be the SB8200 which can be had for about $150-ish, depending on where you look.

For a router, the Nighthawk should serve pretty well but it will depend on the coverage needed (how many sq feet to cover) and if there are going to be a lot of other neighbors who also have wifi blasting out of their routers.

[Tabs]

@Alchemi

 

Unless you specifically need to separate all the machines into different logical subnets, your best approach is to use a single router and modem wherever it logically enters the home, and then use armoured (or at least resistant) cat6 cabling to unmanaged switches in other parts of the building where needed. If you're all sharing a single internet connection anyway, privacy is likely to be less of a concern than scalability and manageability. This approach also means you can buy additional wifi access points to ensure coverage wherever in the building, just hook it up to the closest switch.

 

If privacy is a concern, you may need to invest in a more heavy duty routing solution.

[Alchemi]

We're looking at about 2100 sqft for the main house, plus an addition 450 sqft for the apartment. Privacy isn't a big issue for now, not sure what the future is gonna hold though. (like I said oldest kid is 5) I'm not sure what type of set up the neighbors will have, I've only been out to the house to check it out once.

 

I'll look into the the wifi access points and switches, that actually maybe my best bet... Not sure why I didn't think about it.

[beyonddc]

I concur what @Tabs said.

 

How far between your house and the garage?  I think instead of digging hole and wiring Ethernet cable underground from your house to the garage, I would just put an access point where it is closest to the garage from your house and then setup a WiFi repeater in the garage to strengthen the WiFi signal.

 

Another way to do this is create a mesh WiFi network.  You can go on Newegg and search for "mesh WiFi" to see what is the current offering. 

[Alchemi]

@beyonddc See that was my original  thought, but my younger brother doesn't want that. He's not exactly a tech, but he's the kind of person that once we gets an idea in his head how things should be he won't listen to anything that says otherwise. In this case the idea is "Wireless Bridges aren't stable, you should set the house up in a mesh network".... As the one that will be running and doing everything in the network, I flat out told him no to the mesh network (I don't think he even understands what it is or how it works), but I couldn't get him to change his mind about the wireless bridge. Since it is "his" apartment, all I could convince him to do was just take me running a cat6 from the house to the apartment. Which is what lead to these very questions.

[beersykins]

I'd decline the repeater but mesh isn't a bad idea, the key difference being it uses a different backhaul radio.  A backhaul on the 5 GHz band is pretty solid if the signal is high enough between the two devices.

 

Cat6 to the apartment isn't a bad play, you could stick a switch there for wired.  If the signal from wifi sucks you could also add an access point in that area off of the same switch.  Burying cable and bringing it into each unit is kind of a PITA but worth it if you had any longer term connectivity requirements over there.

 

SB8200 or MB8600 are decent modem plays, I use the MB8600 if you had any questions about it.

 

If he wants to argue with you, he can always get his own connection

[Donut417]

5 hours ago, Alchemi said:

And have, apparently, "Forced" Comcast to put restriction on my account...... multiple times...... They'll generally remove the restriction if I call asking why my internet is slow when I'm paying for the higher end service >.>

You must use a massive amount of data. In my area Comcast has a 1 TB cap, and $10 for every 50 Gigs over the cap. OR you pay $50 a month extra for unlimited. My guess is your using several TB of data a month. They not going to like that. 

 

5 hours ago, Alchemi said:

Current I have:

Modem: Motorola SURFboard SB6141

Router: Netgear Nighthawk R7000

I have to agree with @Lurick recommendation. Ive heard good things about that modem. Also, its one of the few that supports Comcast's 1Gb service. That being said, the 1Gb is hell of expensive. Router wise, what you have might work. Not sure if its powerful enough to offer Gigabit internet. BUT it might be enough for you. Basically I wouldnt buy anything new until you setup your stuff at the new place. However, mostly I have seen Ubiquti products recommended as well as building a PFsense box. I have the top of the line Synology router. It works well for my needs, though its about a $200 router. 

 

If your not getting signal every where, then you might need to look in to AP (Access Points) or Mesh. AP's tend to need to be connected to the router via a wire, but if you set the AP's right you should have total coverage. The easier method is to use a mesh system. Thats because with mesh, they have a dedicated radio that communicates between the satellite units and router. Not as good as AP's but they can get the job done. My sister uses Googles mesh setup. It works, for her needs. 

 

The big thing you need to figure you is A) how much your willing to spend. B) Are you ok with running Ethernet? C) What features you would want in a router?