I want to upgrade and optimize my home network!

[Vbgf]

Hey guys!

I really want to upgrade and optimize my network on a nice level and i need your guys's suggestions.

 

A little bit of context: I live in a block in the middle of a city so there is a lot of WiFi interference.

My apartment is medium size at around 80m2 (or 860 ft2) but there are a lot of thick walls due to the actual design of the structure.

Currently i have a 100mbit rj45 line internet (no fiber or anything) hooked up to a TP-LINK Archer C20 AC750 router placed on a high point at roughly the center of the apartment.

I also have a 8 port switch TP-LINK TL-SG108E. My wired clients are two PCs roughly 13m away (by cable), a NAS right next to the router and a server right next to that.

Additionally I've moved my smart TV to a wired connection (11m away by cable) and I'm planning to add two more TVs in the future, both around 13m away by cable from the router.

So far I've got a cat 5E cable run everywhere except my main PC, which has a cat6 cable.

My router, switch, NAS, server, both PCs and the cables are 1Gbps ready and currently everything is plugged in the switch and only the switch is connected to the router.

As for wireless we have at best two smartphones and a tablet, and at worst two laptops, ~10 smartphones, and the tablet (it gets pretty busy during the weekend here).

 

Currently everything wired runs at gigabit speeds (save the TVs) and wireless signal is okay in places and really bad in others. At best i'm getting 5MB/s on a file transfer sitting on top the router with wireless AC, around 3.5MB/s on wireless N.

I really want to fix the WiFi range and speed problems (well and take some feedback on my setup, maybe improve something else too).

I was thinking of two scenarios: getting a beefed up router and marching with just one strong device or getting an okay gigabit router and make a new access point in another part of the apartment. Currently i'm leaning towards the second option, maybe getting something along the lines of an Archer C7 AC1750 to put as my main router and putting the Archer C20 as the "dumb" access point.

 

What are your guys's thoughts, should i get a single expensive router or pair my okay router with another okay router? Should i look into features such as MU-MIMO, dual core processors etc? And about the backbone, should i stay with cat 5E or should i buy cat 6 in the future, should i move devices away from the switch and onto the router? Thanks!

[homeap5]

43 minutes ago, Vbgf said:

My router, switch, NAS, server, both PCs and the cables are 1Gbps ready (...)

Not really, your router is 100 Mbits, not gigabit router.

43 minutes ago, Vbgf said:

Currently everything wired runs at gigabit speeds (save the TVs) and wireless signal is okay in places and really bad in others. At best i'm getting 5MB/s on a file transfer sitting on top the router with wireless AC, around 3.5MB/s on wireless N

Max you can get is 10 MB/s. On good 100 Mbits router.

Wireless connection is throug your router, not switch, so 100 Mbits is your limit here.

 

Idea of making your C20 access point only and change router to better one is good. And Archer C7 or C9 is good choice.

 

Some routers have better signal than others. For example Asus is considered as great in that, but I don't recommend Asus as router - not everything works like should be (long story) and you pay for features that you'll never use (because they may work or not). ASUS router software is piece of @#$%.

 

Some people says that Netgear have great wireless range - but that of course depends on model.

 

Personally I have Archer C9 and I'm happy with that model, even if is not the best. For me is perfect, because TP-Links have ARP Binding in their software, since all other brands that made routers for home use - not.

[Vbgf]

3 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Not really, your router is 100 Mbits, not gigabit router.

My bad, my router is actually Archer C2, not C20, which is a gigabit router.

 

5 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Max you can get is 10 MB/s. On good 100 Mbits router.

I'm pulling files off my NAS (which admittedly is a low-end NAS) and server at around 20MB/s - 25MB/s. Could i get that number higher somehow?

 

8 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Idea of making your C20 access point only and change router to better one is good. And Archer C7 or C9 is good choice.

Nice! I'll be looking in to that more thoroughly in the flowing days. To be honest i want something like the google WiFi 3 APs put to lower transmit power but they are expensive and are not currently sold in my country.

[homeap5]

Gigabit or not - it's cheap toy. This is not so good router, it's more like basic router for someone who wants cheapest product with gigabit in specification. But you have switch and your NAS is connected by switch, so your transfers are really low. Don't know why.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Its quite possible its the limit of the NAS if its a cheap older model running an ARM CPU.