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IT Forum >> Anything wrong with my home network plan?
| 10/31/12 7:45 PM | |
attjack
Edited: 10/31/12 8:28 PM Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 42966 |
Wireless is not cutting it for streaming HD video so I want to wire the house. Here's the Network Plan drawn out: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ococ8i2301whi71/NetworkPlan.pdf I have a big roll of CAT5e cable. I plan to buy 3 surface mount single CAT6 boxes, 5 surface mount double CAT6 boxes, a 5-Port Fast Ethernet Switch, and another video streamer (already have the other 3). I will also need the supplies for making small network cables from the CAT5e to connect to the devices from the surface mount boxes. My question is there anything I'm about to do that won't work or doesn't make sense the way I plan on doing it? |
| 11/5/12 3:59 PM | |
Billittome
4 
Member Since: 3/23/07 Posts: 403 |
You may need some conduit for running the wires down a wall. Don't forget the data jacks that go inside the boxes and a punch down tool to connect the wires to the jack. Get a label maker so you can label jack numbers onto the outside of the boxes. Put a double box in your foyer/living room for future growth and also add one to the spare bedroom as long as you are wiring the house. Other then that you plan looks good. |
| 11/6/12 11:22 AM | |
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NotsoMightySkull
6
Member Since: 3/8/05 Posts: 2118 |
Looks good. Does your Router have more than 4 jacks on the back? I see you have some expandability in your office with the switch. Looks like you have everything planned well. You can add a switch in the basement later if you need to. Good luck running the cable. How do you plan to do that? False ceiling? Through the walls? |
| 11/6/12 4:09 PM | |
|
attjack
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 42967 |
Thanks for having a look. I'll take your advice (from both of you), good point to plan for expansion now. My router is a Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router with just four jacks. Is there any reason why using switches would be bad? Or for my purposes is the switch no different than coming directly out of the router? Also if not should I just run one wire to the basement and add another switch there? I'm not looking forwards to using a punch tool because I remember many years ago when I wired my first house it was a pain in the ass. |
| 11/6/12 5:30 PM | |
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NotsoMightySkull
6
Member Since: 3/8/05 Posts: 2125 |
I think I have that same router- 4 jacks is fine. Switches are fine, same as the router. The ports on the back of your router are just a built in switch. It really depends on how much you want to spend and how redundant you want your setup to be. You do not need another switch. You have 2 wires running into your downstairs to 2 different areas. If for some reason one of those wires went bad you could install a switch on the remaining working wire and then run a wire from that switch to the devices in your downstairs and be back up 100% quickly. This would also give you an option if one of the ports on the back of your router went bad. I would go with your plan because it does offer a redundant wire vs running just one wire to your downstairs. You can add a switch later if you want to expand. Guess it really depends on much of a pain in the ass running that wire is going to be. |
| 11/8/12 8:46 AM | |
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lazermonkey
54
Member Since: 1/27/04 Posts: 12449 |
What kind of wireless router were you trying to use to stream HD? Also how much bandwidth are your wireless adapter/s capable of? I test for Netgear and stream HD video from my laptop which has a dual band card capable of 300mbps The router I have is the test version of the newly released Netgear Centria with a 2TB HDD and is capable of 450+450mbps over 2.4 and 5Ghz. So it is possible to stream HD with the right setup :) |
| 1/2/13 2:54 PM | |
|
attjack
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 42968 |
I took all your advice into consideration and decided to first upgrade my router. That way I would have gigabit capability and a chance at being able to stream HD without running cable. I went with a NETGEAR Wireless Router - AC 1200 Dual Band Gigabit (R6200). So far almost so good. Once set up things were working as they should. But one night I did experience buffering which was disappointing. So I added back in the NETGEAR WN3000RP-100NAS Universal Wi-Fi Range Extender that I had hoped would solve my streaming issues with the old router. I have not had any issues yet with the extender back in. "Also how much bandwidth are your wireless adapter/s capable of?" I did have to switch out the mini wireless adapter from the bedroom and go with the better linksys one I had. Now the signal in the bedroom is maxed out and it streams like a champ. I'm not sure how much bandwidth they are capable of specifically, but I know the router is better than the adapters. One thing I didn't get was when I set up the router it defaulted to "Mode: Up to 145 Mbps" so I immediately changed it to "Mode: Up to 300 Mbps" but it didn't seem to work well until I changed it back. Are my wireless devices too weak to take advantage of the higher speeds? Anyway, thanks again, things are working well. I also ordered a new modem (Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem) that should arrive today. I'm curious to see if I see any performance boost over my old SURFboard Cable Modem SB5101. I'm hoping I will at least see a speed boost for my wired connection, I don't know it it will help wireless speeds though. |
| 1/2/13 4:02 PM | |
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lazermonkey
54
Member Since: 1/27/04 Posts: 12652 |
Go here and perform a bandwidth test. Report back with the results. |
| 1/2/13 7:30 PM | |
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attjack
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 42969 |
Wired Desktop 18.7 Mbps - 3.45 Mbps - 10 ping (Before New Modem) 25.1 Mbps - 3.63 Mbps - 09 ping (After New Modem) Nexus 10 Tablet 10511 kbps - 3748 kbps 13 ping (Before New Modem) 25488 kbps - 3692 kbps 12 ping (After New Modem) I can't be positive that the Nexus 10 before speed was on the main WiFi and not the Extender Wifi. But if it was I'm seeing a massive improvement with the new Modem. Another plus is that I will no longer get raped by Comcast on the router rental. I honestly thought I was using my own router all this time (6 years). Bob, yes my newest media players are "extended-range Wireless-N". The Nexus is too I think. I'm a little bummed nothing uses the router's 5G wifi though. |
| 1/2/13 8:00 PM | |
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attjack
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 42970 |
I obviously didn't know what 802.11ac was so I just read up and understand it a little better now. I don't have any device that can use 802.11ac yet. |
| 1/2/13 10:16 PM | |
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lazermonkey
54
Edited: 01/02/13 10:16 PM Member Since: 1/27/04 Posts: 12654 |
Yeah the ISP's "renting" modems is a rip off. Have you checked the wireless settings in all of your devices to be certain they do not have 5 Ghz? BTW those are great numbers you have with your bandwidth test results. |
| 1/3/13 12:25 PM | |
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attjack
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 42971 |
So my Nexus 10 is capable of using the 5ghz wireless. Nice. The four media players are all single band though. |
| 1/3/13 12:57 PM | |
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lazermonkey
54
Member Since: 1/27/04 Posts: 12657 |
attjack - So my Nexus 10 is capable of using the 5ghz wireless. Nice. The four media players are all single band though. What are the four media devices?
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| 1/3/13 1:29 PM | |
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attjack
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 42972 |
I think this is everything in the house worth mentioning... WDTV Live Streaming (2x) http://www.amazon.com/Streaming-Media-Player-Wi-Fi-1080p/dp/B005KOZNBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357237433&sr=8-1&keywords=wdtv+live+streaming WDTV Live Plus (1x) http://www.amazon.com/Live-Plus-1080p-Media-Player/dp/B003MVZ60I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1357237478&sr=8-2&keywords=wd+tv+live+plus WDTV Live (1x) http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Network-ready-Media-Player/dp/B002KKFP9Y/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1357237478&sr=8-5&keywords=wd+tv+live+plus Google Nexus 10 (1x) http://www.amazon.com/Google-Nexus-10-Resolution-Accelerometer/dp/B00ACVHKSC/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1357237627&sr=1-3&keywords=nexus+10 Kindle Fire First Gen (1x) http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Fire-LCD-Display-Wi-Fi/dp/B0083Q04IQ/ref=sr_tr_sr_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1357237577&sr=1-3&keywords=kindle+fire iPhone 4s (1x) http://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPhone-4S-16GB-White/dp/B005SSB0YO/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1357237677&sr=1-1&keywords=iphone+4s Old HP Laptop (1x) |
| 1/3/13 3:42 PM | |
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attjack
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 42973 |
Oh, and two First Gen iPod Touches. |
| 1/4/13 2:10 PM | |
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Road Warrior Fin
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 30388 |
Powerline Networking = faster than you'd think and may make your life easier. |
| 1/4/13 5:39 PM | |
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attjack
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 42974 |
If all of the sudden the wireless stops working for me I'll consider it. But looking forward to new devices and technologies I'm happy that I seem to have addressed my problem without wires. |
| 1/8/13 3:12 PM | |
|
player101
Member Since: 2/25/06 Posts: 521 |
attjack - I took all your advice into consideration and decided to first upgrade my router. That way I would have gigabit capability and a chance at being able to stream HD without running cable. I had nearly the same predicament in my house. Though, instead of cabling up all devices, I ran 3 Cat 6 drops strategically around my house, then purchased a couple inexpensive wireless routers, configured them as access points with my main router handling DHCP. All routers have the same SSID, encryption, and password. Devices around the house connect to the best signal which is perfect for high bandwidth things like streaming video. Also, what is nice is wireless devices can now roam around my house and will drop/pickup signals based on wireless strength. |
| 3/19/13 2:33 PM | |
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NotsoMightySkull
6
Member Since: 3/8/05 Posts: 2310 |
I am doing this now^ Did you consider setting the wireless power to half to facilitate quicker switching between wireless access points. I have read that sometimes a device will hold on to a WAP longer than it should. |
| 3/25/13 9:53 AM | |
|
player101
Member Since: 2/25/06 Posts: 555 |
NotsoMightySkull - I am doing this now^ That is an interesting idea as devices do try to hang on for dear life to crappy signals. Though, when this happens (I dont often roam around on the internet) i just recycle the adapter and it hops to the best signal. |
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