Home networking

Buying a new home (new construction) and wanting to set up a nice home network.

I did not pay to have the builder run any additional CAT5, there is a run to the kitchen wall and the master bedroom. I snuck in one night and ran an additional run of CAT5 to the cable box where the TV will live in the living room. The builder will be making the Kitchen/Bedroom hookups into phone wall jacks, and I don't know what they'll do about my addition... All CAT5 runs to a box in the basement, where the cable and phone comes into the home, I assume there will be a phone and cable switch put in place, there will also be an outlet in the box (saw on electrical walk through pre-drywall).

I assume since they run CAT5 I can simply replace the wall plates? What will I need in the basement on the other ends of the CAT5?

I bought a 5 port 10/100mbps switch (http://amzn.com/B000FNFSPY) and a new wifi router (http://amzn.com/B0088CJT4U).

My plan unless one of you guys tells me other wise is to put the modem (cable or DSL, still need to price those out) in the box in the basement. Have the out from modem run to switch, switch to all of the hookups and one to my computer in the basement. The wifi router can then live at any of the hookups (master, kitchen or TV wall). All of the hookups will be on exterior walls, master is 2nd floor, other two are main level. The house isn't huge so I assume that putting on the main level should decently cover the whole house, if needed the master hookup could be used to add a booster?

In summary:
What other stuff besides wall plates will I need to switch the CAT5 from phone hookup to network? And are there special tools needed?
Does the current plan sound good?

Thanks gents!

I think you have it pretty well planned out. When my home was built wi-fi did not exist. I had CAT-5 pulled to every room and have it all going to a box in the basement (was done by private company). I have my modem and router/wi fi in the basement although I think I will need a wi-fi booster upstairs at some time.

Plan sounds pretty good, but I would do a few things differently.

Depending on the service you get, you will have just a modem (or you might have a modem/router combo).

I use cable, and own my modem (monthly savings, faster, etc), and that allows me to run my own router (significantly better than the integrated POS from comcast).

So, my plan for your situation would be:

In the box downstairs:
Cable modem - http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboar...rola+surfboard
Router - http://www.amazon.com/RT-AC66U-Dual-...ds=asus+router
Switch - Get Gigabit and more ports - Not that much more expensive and worth it. http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Unman...words=TEG-S80G

For changing out wall plates:
New wall plates
RJ45 Sockets
(depending on sockets, you may need RJ45's and crimpers)

For WiFi in the House:
Don't use another WiFi Router
With a good router, you can run separate access points, and leave the routing to the main router. This eliminates multi-level networks, and provides better WiFi coverage than crappy WiFi routers.
http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Netwo...words=unifi+ap
I use these. Their software makes it easy to run, and if you decide you need more coverage, you can add more AP's and have them all use the same SSID/Password.

ETA:

On the wireless stuff, any router can support external AP's, but when you pass all the routing back to one, it leaves everything on one network. This may not be important for everyone, but when you have a NAS/Media Server/etc you want any devices that use it to be on the subnet. If you use a cheap wifi router, it will want the LAN side to be a different IP scheme than the WAN side. This means that devices that search for your server (if on the wifi) won't see it.

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Originally Posted by SamuraiCO

I think you have it pretty well planned out. When my home was built wi-fi did not exist. I had CAT-5 pulled to every room and have it all going to a box in the basement (was done by private company). I have my modem and router/wi fi in the basement although I think I will need a wi-fi booster upstairs at some time.

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Do you have a cat5 that runs upstairs from the box in the basement? It it's not being used, add an AP that lets your router do the DHCP handling. If it is being used, I would by a little 5 port switch and do the same thing.

The coverage will surprise you.

Who are you useing for Internet service? I would personally of recommended going with the 802.11ac router and a 10/100/1000 switch.

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Originally Posted by trlcavscout

Who are you useing for Internet service? I would personally of recommended going with the 802.11ac router and a 10/100/1000 switch.

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This will most likely be based on who's offering a good deal around move in time... I'll pick up a 10/100/1000 just incase, it's the cheapest part of this whole deal anyways.

I recently moved into a bigger house and decided to go full wifi instead of running CAT. I have almost the same type of config as you with the router in the basement, but using 2 wifi extender/repeater to make sure i have full, reliable coverage. I was worried about reliability for video streaming and online gaming, but so far it's been rock solid. I did pay a pretty penny for a good router though.... But it was worth it.

I would start planning it out, pick a provider and plan around it. The equipment requirements are going to be different depending on providers. Comcast offers much higher speeds typically then century link so a better router would be needed as well as a GOOD cable modem so you don't have to buy twice. Comcast even offers fiber to the home in some Erie neighbor hoods if that's where your at. If going with century link or a different provider that router you got will work. If you want any detailed info on comcast service let me know.


i have a similar system at my house, DSL router in the basement, CAT5 to the attic and an AP on the second floor. All our wireless is off the AP and I have all the Xbox's and play stations hard wired. I can only get century link where I live so I am SOL! But if I had comcast I would either use their Cisco or Arris XB3 gateway with 802.11ac wireless or I would buy a netgear nighthawk or ASUS 802.11ac router and a cable modem with at least 16 downstream channels. 150Mb service is pretty common anymore and a 4 channel modem won't handle over 90Mb download speeds in most systems.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by trlcavscout

I would personally of recommended going with the 802.11ac router and a 10/100/1000 switch.

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Agreed. A Gigabyte switch is almost mandatory. Power Over Ethernet switches (POE) are also a good upgrade for the future. With a POE switch you could run WAP's or IP Cameras without needing to plug in a power cable.

Hopefully you pulled CAT5e and not regular CAT5 too.
Remember also you want the Wireless Access Point (WAP) in the middle of the house for best coverage.
Look at ASUS Router for cheap and pretty darn good home networking Router/WAP combos.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trlcavscout

I would start planning it out, pick a provider and plan around it. The equipment requirements are going to be different depending on providers. Comcast offers much higher speeds typically then century link so a better router would be needed as well as a GOOD cable modem so you don't have to buy twice. Comcast even offers fiber to the home in some Erie neighbor hoods if that's where your at. If going with century link or a different provider that router you got will work. If you want any detailed info on comcast service let me know.

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I've decided to go with Comcast, due to the higher speeds. Any info you have would be great.

Also need a suggestion on a modem, I do have an amazon gift card so one on amazon would be great.

Motorola (or arris) surfboard 6183

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Originally Posted by 00tec

Motorola (or arris) surfboard 6183

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Just ordered one, Comcast is showing up day after closing.

As a side note the builder ended up hooking up all of the CAT5 for me including proper wall plates.