New Home Networking

[John Boat]

Im just moving into a new home with 3 finished floors that runs about 3500 sqft.  Its an 1860's farm house with plaster and lathe walls and I dont want to punch holes to run cat-6 so I need a great wireless system.  I have 6 people living there are we are all techies and gamers so bandwidth is an absolute premium as all of our television, computers, cell phones, and gaming systems are on wifi alone.  I dont know (based on the shape/size of the house) if I should go for a bad-ass wifi modem (like the x10) somewhere in the middle of the home or have an access point on each floor.

 

Please help as we are supposed to move in early next month and I have to get this ironed out.

 

I have attached a floorplan I made with magicplan to give you an idea of what the house looks like.

Home Plan.pdf

[Crunchy Dragon]

I would personally go for an access point for each floor, especially if the need for bandwidth is so high.

[Donut417]

13 minutes ago, John Boat said:

Im just moving into a new home with 3 finished floors that runs about 3500 sqft.  Its an 1860's farm house with plaster and lathe walls and I dont want to punch holes to run cat-6 so I need a great wireless system.  I have 6 people living there are we are all techies and gamers so bandwidth is an absolute premium as all of our television, computers, cell phones, and gaming systems are on wifi alone.  I dont know (based on the shape/size of the house) if I should go for a bad-ass wifi modem (like the x10) somewhere in the middle of the home or have an access point on each floor.

 

Please help as we are supposed to move in early next month and I have to get this ironed out.

 

I have attached a floorplan I made with magicplan to give you an idea of what the house looks like.

Home Plan.pdf

Id have to agree with @Crunchy Dragon I dont think one WiFi AP is going to be enough for that space. Either you need separate AP's or some type of Mesh system. Linus recent released a video showing some of the cool stuff ASUS has done with Mesh. That might help. Other options to look in to are Moca and Power line adapters, Hopefully the wiring isnt from the 1860's. 

[AskTJ]

Look for Ethernet ports and an outlet, and plug a access point there.

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, AskTJ said:

Look for Ethernet ports and an outlet, and plug a access point there.

The house is from the 1860's I doubt it has been wired for Ethernet. Its not like the Internet existed back then. 

[John Boat]

36 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Id have to agree with @Crunchy Dragon I dont think one WiFi AP is going to be enough for that space. Either you need separate AP's or some type of Mesh system. Linus recent released a video showing some of the cool stuff ASUS has done with Mesh. That might help. Other options to look in to are Moca and Power line adapters, Hopefully the wiring isnt from the 1860's. 

Is a mesh system going to be able to handle our bandwidth requirements? I was looking at google home and it doesnt really look promising.

[Donut417]

4 minutes ago, John Boat said:

Is a mesh system going to be able to handle our bandwidth requirements? I was looking at google home and it doesnt really look promising.

Well, what you gotta understand is you really need Ethernet. Mesh would be an easier option for you. Access points need to be wired directly to the router. So if your not running Ethernet, AP's might be out of the question. Power line adapters can help, but generally speeds on power line are not the best, they are just more stable. Assuming the wiring is good. Moca is good, but its expensive and you need Coax ran to each location you need a connection. 

 

Doing this on WiFi, is more of you get what you get and hope that if works out fine. Its hard to say what a Mesh system is going to do in that environment. Mesh however is better than extenders. If you want the best approach you need Ethernet. The second best is Moca and the Third best is power line adapters. WiFi is at the  bottom of the list. 

[John Boat]

I might be able to sneak a pair of CAT 6 cables up the back side of an old stair case (servant stairs) in order to put access points on the second floor on both ends.  But running Ethernet around to each room isn't going to happen.  The patchwork for the historic plaster and lathe would cost me thousands of dollars.  WIFI seems to be my only option.  What I was asking for is recommendations on what WIFI system I should use (UniFI, Nighthawk x6)? What is going to give me the best throughput?

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, John Boat said:

I might be able to sneak a pair of CAT 6 cables up the back side of an old stair case (servant stairs) in order to put access points on the second floor on both ends.  But running Ethernet around to each room isn't going to happen.  The patchwork for the historic plaster and lathe would cost me thousands of dollars.  WIFI seems to be my only option.  What I was asking for is recommendations on what WIFI system I should use (UniFI, Nighthawk x6)? What is going to give me the best throughput?

The issue is, you have a big ass house. One wireless router is not going to cut it. Which is why you will need multiple AP's or some kind of Mesh system. Also, dont look at the Google system, Id be looking at what ASUS offers as you can use many models of their wireless routers to do mesh. Ubiquiti also has a Mesh system I think and it might be worth a look. Ubiquity also as some great AP's if you can manage to run some wires. Just make sure what ever you get supports AC. The trick is going to be how many AP's or mesh units are you going to need. Its hard to say, because it will be dependent on how many walls between units and how thick those walls are. 

 

Also, are any of the rooms wired for Coax?

[John Boat]

On 7/11/2018 at 10:28 AM, Donut417 said:

The issue is, you have a big ass house. One wireless router is not going to cut it. Which is why you will need multiple AP's or some kind of Mesh system. Also, dont look at the Google system, Id be looking at what ASUS offers as you can use many models of their wireless routers to do mesh. Ubiquiti also has a Mesh system I think and it might be worth a look. Ubiquity also as some great AP's if you can manage to run some wires. Just make sure what ever you get supports AC. The trick is going to be how many AP's or mesh units are you going to need. Its hard to say, because it will be dependent on how many walls between units and how thick those walls are. 

 

Also, are any of the rooms wired for Coax?

Quite a few of the rooms are wired for coax

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, John Boat said:

Quite a few of the rooms are wired for coax

Look into MOCA. Uses the coax sorta like Ethernet. It's only half duplex and might have a little more latency. But you won't need to run wires.