Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Everything Else => Topic started by: Generic Eric on June 25, 2014, 08:58:23 pm
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Have any of you cool cats extended your network?
My main target is to extend network. Strong preference for gigabit ports.
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Are you talking bout wireless then?
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Derp
Ya. Wireless n
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I used DD-WRT on a few wireless devices to make a bridge out to my detached garage.
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Derp
Ya. Wireless n
I was gonna suggest running Cat 5. Wireless is pretty great, but man does having a couple of gig ports in ever room feel good.
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Derp
Ya. Wireless n
I was gonna suggest running Cat 5. Wireless is pretty great, but man does having a couple of gig ports in ever room feel good.
Word.
Just trying to avoid busting walls. It's an old house with plaster walls.
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I just bought a cheapo Netis router off of amazon with repeater support. Paid about 20 bucks.... I get wifi all over the property now, even in the other house.
Understand that we have about an acre.
Avoid any routers that consumers say need restarted a lot, but other than that, it honestly doesn't matter that much for a mere repeater setup.
The only thing I would suggest is to get one with three antennas. This is best for repeater mode so the bandwidth isn't cut just by communicating with the main router.
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I just bought a cheapo Netis router off of amazon with repeater support. Paid about 20 bucks.... I get wifi all over the property now, even in the other house.
Understand that we have about an acre.
Avoid any routers that consumers say need restarted a lot, but other than that, it honestly doesn't matter that much for a mere repeater setup.
The only thing I would suggest is to get one with three antennas. This is best for repeater mode so the bandwidth isn't cut just by communicating with the main router.
got a link for that one?
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1. Homeplug 500
2. Cat6 cable runs to Gig switch
3. Directional Wireless N dongles via Helical antenna or the poorman's folgers can.
4. Hybrid Heterogeneous Network.
5. Fibre
6. Two tin cans and string....
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Derp
Ya. Wireless n
I was gonna suggest running Cat 5. Wireless is pretty great, but man does having a couple of gig ports in ever room feel good.
Cat 6. At this point it's not even worth considering 5 or 5e unless you're using a spool already in hand.
I did the main floor of my house with cat6 when I bought it in 2001. Even with two ports in every major room I'm still sticking hubs in there. Everything has a network connection now, it seems. The typical entertainment center with a Wii, PS3, video streaming client like WDTV, and a recent AVR is 4 devices right there.
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315112 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315112)
I've got one of these. Based on the reviews, I did the firmware upgrade before I even attempted to use it. Honestly couldn't be happier with it.... I live in an old house that only had one cable line running in it - to the furthest back corner of the house. This thing plugged into an outlet in the foyer blankets the whole property with a good signal. I've had to reset it exactly once in 8 months.
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Some people pinch pennies. He said gig network and all the cat5e I use supports it just fine. So of you can afford it and want to "future proof" a little then yeah cat6, however I still suggest 5e
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IF 300Mbps is fast enough for you Newegg has this TP-Link model range extender in their sales e-mail today - that just plugs into a wall outlet for $19.99 shipped right now (normally $28) using code EMCPDHD45
Product Link - ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704201&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL062614&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL062614-_-EMC-062614-Index-_-OGShadeCloths-_-33704201-L0F (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704201&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL062614&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL062614-_-EMC-062614-Index-_-OGShadeCloths-_-33704201-L0F) )
and Pic :
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I hooked up one of these in my father's business so he could use his laptop at the house located about 300ft away.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear-universal-wi-fi-range-extender-with-ethernet-port/2733324.p?id=1218349687077&skuId=2733324&st=wifi%20extender&cp=1&lp=1 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear-universal-wi-fi-range-extender-with-ethernet-port/2733324.p?id=1218349687077&skuId=2733324&st=wifi%20extender&cp=1&lp=1)
Had to cut a square in the metal siding for the signal to get through, but in the end I was surprised at how well it worked.
That was around Christmas and I haven't had any calls from him to fix it.
They have a model with an outdoor antenna, but it's usually pricey.
EDIT: I should point out that this repeated network shows up as a separate network, so devices have to connect to it separately from the original network.
It shows up as your original network name with EXT after it.
Pretty sure it's 300Mbps.
The one JDFan linked to for $20 is probably just as good.
Me personally, I don't like anything in my house cutting into the wireless bandwidth my laptop and phone are using.
I use a TrendNet gigabit switch for the bluray/cabs/clock radio/surround receiver: http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Unmanaged-Gigabit-GREENnet-TEG-S50g/dp/B001QUA6R0/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1403804739&sr=8-7&keywords=gigabit+switch (http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Unmanaged-Gigabit-GREENnet-TEG-S50g/dp/B001QUA6R0/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1403804739&sr=8-7&keywords=gigabit+switch)
Literally plug and play. No configuring, nothing to install, nothing. Easy as plugging Christmas lights together.
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Derp
Ya. Wireless n
I was gonna suggest running Cat 5. Wireless is pretty great, but man does having a couple of gig ports in ever room feel good.
Word.
Just trying to avoid busting walls. It's an old house with plaster walls.
Consider powerline adapters. The only PITA part is that a lot of them get flakey if they aren't plugged directly into the wall.
(no power strips)
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The other thing that should be noted is if your house has old wiring, they may or may not work.
I've also had reports of them not working if the main router and the extender aren't on the same circuit. (Again probably due to flaky wiring).
So keep that in mind.
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315112 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315112)
I've got one of these. Based on the reviews, I did the firmware upgrade before I even attempted to use it. Honestly couldn't be happier with it.... I live in an old house that only had one cable line running in it - to the furthest back corner of the house. This thing plugged into an outlet in the foyer blankets the whole property with a good signal. I've had to reset it exactly once in 8 months.
Thanks for your suggestions everyone!
I've choosen a multi pronged solution! Eventually, I'm going to run the ethernet through the cable. I bought several runs of cat6 along with crimpers and connectors and keystone jacks and face plates from monoprice last fall. To that end, I bought a spool of fish tape and I'll eventually tackle each room.
I happened to look at amazon and saw the item PBJ listed for ≈$12 after shipping. Once I do get cable pulled and gigabit to each room, I can move that to the garage so I can have wifi on the patio.
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Don't totally rule out surface mount channels rather than fishing. It's SO MUCH EASIER and you won't damage the walls or displace insulation. Plus you can always pop the cover off and add a second run later if you want. Especially with plaster walls.
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Turds canceled my order. :(
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Depends on what your goals are. Wireless is ok are surfing the web and some streaming. But, you are going to get about 1/10 the theoretical max. So, I only have Wi-Fi for the laptops and other portable devices to use. But, for everything else I have cat6 with GigE swithes. One "trick" I've used in the past is if you have carpet you get a flat cat6 cable and run it under the carpet to another room without having to poke any holes. Works like a champ for a rental. :)
Sadly, GigE isn't enough for me, I really want 10GigE, but can't really justify spending the cash for that. >:D
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Forget flat cable.... the house has baseboards right? Either put it behind or under them... problem solved.
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Don't totally rule out surface mount channels rather than fishing. It's SO MUCH EASIER and you won't damage the walls or displace insulation. Plus you can always pop the cover off and add a second run later if you want. Especially with plaster walls.
Forget flat cable.... the house has baseboards right? Either put it behind or under them... problem solved.
A relevant reply to both...
I have that ?hydronic? baseboard water heat system throughout the house. At the top, to redirect the air is a painted piece of molding. Down the road when I can get a router table set up, I'd like to replace that. Still the problem is getting through each floor to the next. A picture will tell a better story.
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Forget flat cable.... the house has baseboards right? Either put it behind or under them... problem solved.
I haven't seen base boards that go across doorways.
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Haven't seen doors that don't have some kind of trim molding surrounding them either. Use your head there chief. ;)
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Forget flat cable.... the house has baseboards right? Either put it behind or under them... problem solved.
That will do the job but it's a ton of work. Lots and lots of baseboard that would need removal unless you planned the route really well.
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The base boards in most homes at least aren't secured very well. They intentionally come off fairly easy because any time you lay new flooring they need to be re applied. A putty knife should be enough to wiggle the bottom loose a little and slide some cable underneath or what have you.
Flat cable imho is more impractical. I suppose it would vary greatly depending upon the particular application, but the wires and insulation is much thinner so there is a greater potential for signal loss or breakage. The proposed method of pulling up the carpet is pretty bad as well... carpet is hard to secure properly without carpet stretching tools. It's also slightly more expensive, which wouldn't be a big deal in a short run, but would add up in a long one.
Then again the proper way is to run it through the walls, but I know first hand that depending upon the house it's easier said than done.
I don't think any of us can give really good advice on this one without pics of the house and the route he needs to take.
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Howard, it's a bad idea and you should let that one go.
:cheers:
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Heh, most places I have lived have 10 coats of paint on the baseboard and are on there really well. I suppose this might vary by region and age of the house. I know it would be a major pain in the ass to pull them in my house and even harder to put them back on without damaging the 60 year old wall. And my house isn't even plaster.
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Howard, it's a bad idea and you should let that one go.
:cheers:
Yeah it's so bad that I've already done it twice, took no time to do, and it worked fine.
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Each time I'm moving I dream up grand cabling ideas for the new place...but in reality throw up a solid wireless and forget all about the spool of cable and box of punch-downs in the garage.
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Cat5e to every bedroom (some have more than 1 run), my office, and the living room ( still need to make some runs from the garage and the basement) all going to a gig switch in my utility room. Modem, router, gig switch , and NAS all in there with it, and soon the media server will be in there too. So nice to have all that stuff out of the way. I also have 2 WAPs, with unsecured speed limited guest networks that have no access to anything on the network (just internet access), and a separate SSID for accessing things on the network.
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Each time I'm moving I dream up grand cabling ideas for the new place...but in reality throw up a solid wireless and forget all about the spool of cable and box of punch-downs in the garage.
Yeah I used to just run wire when I wanted to add a room, but honestly if it's just for internet use I use a wireless network anymore. My cable running days ended around 10 years ago. ; )
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The cable in the baseboard thing does work pretty well in an office environment where you have that cheap looking rubber crap along the walls. You can just lift it up and shove the cable under there. I got tired of waiting on a lazy IT guy to waddle to my office and string a cable over three ceiling tiles that I just did it Howard's way. When he showed up and started throwing a fit about it, he was told, "get out of my office."
People can never get over things, so he went and complained.
Apparently the real issues were:
1 - he didn't think of it first
2 - he was afraid everyone would rather have it done that way instead of his usual method of using a box cutter to chop a huge hole in a tile and crookedly slap conduit all over the place.
I've never lived in a home with wooden baseboards where it wouldn't have involved repainting. Wireless negates the need for this stuff anyway.
:cheers: