Blameless Cleric An angel made of sapphires each more flawlessly cut than the last Registered Userregular
edited September 2020
Ok that sounds amazing. Our house is made of a lot of seemingly random materials (some walls kinda.. smoosh? if you press on them, some are brick. Various pieces of it have been here in some form since ~1841) and I think I may be able to convince everyone to shell out that much!! If there is a lower tier option I would love to know about it if only so I can present it as context for taking the better one haha
Ah also I’m sorry to ask for more work but I’m looking at Eero stuff and I’m not sure which thing to suggest we get, the beacons or the like boxes? Or both? Hm. Looking at your map (BEAUTIFUL thank u) I think it would be 2 regular box ones + 2 beacons (maybe 3 if that back room doesn’t get stuff)?
one flower ring to rule them all and in the sunlightness bind them
I'd love it if you took a look at my art and my PATREON!
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Nah, no beacons. Go with the $250 three pack here and a single additional here . If you set everything up and find out you need one more stand alone unit, get it then. Try without it though. Setup is dead easy, it's all app based so it will walk you through the process.
Disclaimer: the links go to best buy. I work for them, but I'm a field work grunt and ultimately don't care where you buy them. If you find a better price, please take it.
Hey all, I just set up a wireless mesh network (Netgear Nighthawk) and it's been working really well and we now have solid signal everywhere in the house (lath and plaster in our old home created a lot of dead zones), but that's not the reason I'm here. My old router (Archer C7) had a USB print server which was great for connecting my non-networked laser printer into the network and allow any (Windows) device to print to it. I'd love to be able to move the printer into the closet of my office, which has an electrical outlet and some shelf space, in order to clear some space on my desk since the printer doesn't get used all that often.
Is it possible to set up that old router as a wireless print server (connection chain: Printer--usb-->old router--wireless b/g/n-->mesh router-->all networked devices) or do I need to purchase some kind of wireless print server dongle which seems to run ~$60-100?
Hey all, I just set up a wireless mesh network (Netgear Nighthawk) and it's been working really well and we now have solid signal everywhere in the house (lath and plaster in our old home created a lot of dead zones), but that's not the reason I'm here. My old router (Archer C7) had a USB print server which was great for connecting my non-networked laser printer into the network and allow any (Windows) device to print to it. I'd love to be able to move the printer into the closet of my office, which has an electrical outlet and some shelf space, in order to clear some space on my desk since the printer doesn't get used all that often.
Is it possible to set up that old router as a wireless print server (connection chain: Printer--usb-->old router--wireless b/g/n-->mesh router-->all networked devices) or do I need to purchase some kind of wireless print server dongle which seems to run ~$60-100?
Hey all, I just set up a wireless mesh network (Netgear Nighthawk) and it's been working really well and we now have solid signal everywhere in the house (lath and plaster in our old home created a lot of dead zones), but that's not the reason I'm here. My old router (Archer C7) had a USB print server which was great for connecting my non-networked laser printer into the network and allow any (Windows) device to print to it. I'd love to be able to move the printer into the closet of my office, which has an electrical outlet and some shelf space, in order to clear some space on my desk since the printer doesn't get used all that often.
Is it possible to set up that old router as a wireless print server (connection chain: Printer--usb-->old router--wireless b/g/n-->mesh router-->all networked devices) or do I need to purchase some kind of wireless print server dongle which seems to run ~$60-100?
Edit: looking into this again, it may not work without an attached computer.
Another option would be something like a RaspberryPi connected to the printer and acting like the server.
So, there may be an issue here, but not the one most people would think. The problem is that most consumer grade routers aren't designed to connect to an upstream device via wireless on the same network - that is, you don't have the option with most routers to connect with wireless to an existing network, and with those that can (like my little travel router), it's designed to connect on the WAN interface, not the LAN. If you really want to keep the old router, you can buy a wireless extender with an Ethernet port, and connect it that way. But as suggested above, the more flexible solution is to go with a Raspberry Pi running CUPS, if your printer is supported.
Edit: Short version - old routers can be repurposed, but they require a good deal of setup (turning off all routing functions, making sure their IP address is set up correctly, etc.) to do so.
Hey all, I just set up a wireless mesh network (Netgear Nighthawk) and it's been working really well and we now have solid signal everywhere in the house (lath and plaster in our old home created a lot of dead zones), but that's not the reason I'm here. My old router (Archer C7) had a USB print server which was great for connecting my non-networked laser printer into the network and allow any (Windows) device to print to it. I'd love to be able to move the printer into the closet of my office, which has an electrical outlet and some shelf space, in order to clear some space on my desk since the printer doesn't get used all that often.
Is it possible to set up that old router as a wireless print server (connection chain: Printer--usb-->old router--wireless b/g/n-->mesh router-->all networked devices) or do I need to purchase some kind of wireless print server dongle which seems to run ~$60-100?
Second: Flash your Archer C7 with a custom firmware that allows you to use it as a wireless bridge. OpenWRT would be my choice. (https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/archer-c7-1750) This is going to be more complicated and require more work, though. The benefit of doing this (besides not spending any money) is that you can use the OpenWRT-flashed router for other purposes as well, like running a wireless repeater.
Third (not recommended): Raspberry Pi with CUPS. If you're going to put that much work into it, I'd just OpenWRT the old router.
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
Ok hello!! I live in a giant old house with 8 people and now that we’re all working from home our internet needs to function at a level above “kind of ok I guess”! Unfortunately that seems to be somewhat complicated by a couple of factors! First, the current set up was put together by someone who doesn’t live here any more and is not a reliable narrator so idk exactly what’s up with it! Second, Comcast (the only provider locally) thinks we are 2 houses and wants us to have 2 separate internet plans, but that is not the case and there is only one coax hookup in the house, and we cannot seem to disabuse them of this notion, so for years we have been using a WiFi extensor to get internet to the back half of the house, and that is inconsistent at Best & in one room does not work at all.
So! What to do! I have been put in charge of this by virtue of knowing the word “coax”. We have decided that one thing we should probably do is replace the standard Comcast router with a better one??? I guess?? I dunno! What do you think?
Currently we have
1. The standard Comcast router
2. These other things
3. This guy (the extensor I think)
In the following layout:
I’ve marked out where the Worst internet areas are. Also the antennae on that netgear guy have been straightened.
Thank u for all help
@Blameless Cleric I just wanted to commend you on doing this work and these diagrams. Mapping the space is the most important part of solving wifi coverage issues.
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
Hi networking thread! I hope this is the appropriate place to post questions about cabling.
We moved into a new apartment in September. It's a new build, so it has wall-mounted ethernet ports in the den and the living room, along with the coax out in the living room where a TV is best suited to sit.
My question is: how do I get these ethernet ports hooked up to a router/modem and working? We have a central cable internet panel, which looks like this:
As far as I can tell, the cat5 cables for the wall ports are the blue ones coming in at the top, but they seem to be all spliced together in that beige rack thing near the top:
If anyone has advice that will lead to successful wired connections in multiple rooms, I'll be ecstatic.
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
edited January 2021
:bigfrown:
That's just ethernet thrown into a punchdown block. It's not going to do anything there. Either cut them out and put on new tips with a switch in there, or cut them out and put them into a proper ethernet patch panel with a switch. How it's set up right now will really only work for a corded phone.
That's just ethernet thrown into a punchdown block. It's not going to do anything there. Either cut them out and put on new tips with a switch in there, or cut them out and put them into a proper ethernet patch panel with a switch. How it's set up right now will really only work for a corded phone.
Well, they need to first verify that they can remove it, since this is an apartment. You'll also want to verify that the wall jacks were also punched down correctly - ideally, you'll want to get a line tester with a separate termination block (since you need to hook each end up in separate rooms.)
You already have internet set up in the house, I'm guessing? I'm trying to identify that various pieces of equipment in that cabinet, but I don't recognize all of it.
The big piece of work that needs to be done is what Shadowfire mentioned. If you're comfortable buying a CAT6 punch down tool ($20 or so) and crimping the wires yourself, you can terminate each CAT6 line with a standard RJ45 jack. You would then mount an ethernet switch in the cabinet, with each room wire plugging into the switch, plus one additional wire running from the switch to the router.
If you're not comfortable doing the wiring yourself, you can buy a patch panel like Shadowfire linked. The back will show you where each of the 8 wires need to go to connect up the rooms. You will still need to purchase a switch, and a handful of short (1 ft?) ethernet wires to connect the patch panel outputs to the switch.
Depending on how many rooms there are and the router you have, you may be able to skip the switch entirely. Looks like 3 rooms? Most off the shelf routers have 4 ports, so you could just plug each room directly into the router, whether you decide to terminate the lines yourself or use a patch panel as an intermediary.
You already have internet set up in the house, I'm guessing? I'm trying to identify that various pieces of equipment in that cabinet, but I don't recognize all of it.
It looks like the incoming connection is via the white Rogers box in the lower left. From there I see a fiber line going to maybe a MoCA? And out from there. That's why I'm thinking the punch panel up top is just for phones. You can plug a VoIP phone into any phone jack and it will make all the other ones active.
I do have internet already set up — I have a Rogers Ignite gateway and a Netgear Nighthawk AC2100 router. It's cable internet coming through that Rogers box in the cabinet, through the black coax to my modem in the living room.
I've already bought a punchdown tool and a cat5 cable crimper kit (with some rj-45 connectors and a tester included), since 1) I impulse purchase with abandon and 2) I'm happy to get a bit more into physical networking and I'd like to have some tools for it. I also have plenty of cat5 cable lying around.
There are only three room connections, so I'd like to just put them directly into my router, without buying a patch panel or switch.
Am I correct that these are the two options:
1) Cut the cat 5 cables away from the punchdown block, crimp them, terminate them in RJ-45s, plug them into my router, connect the router to the modem, done
2) Remove the rj-45 connectors from some old cables on one end, punch those into the punchdown block, connect them to my router, connect the router to the modem, done
Which one would be easiest or most stable? The second one has the advantage of not really messing with the existing cabling setup in my apartment. Would the punchblock successfully transmit an ethernet connection?
hey so I live in a pretty small 800 stone Sq ft apartment but I'm having some issues getting good wifi signal from the living room where the modem router unit lives through the two walls to my room. it cuts the speed down to less than a third of what I know I can get if I'm using wifi in the living room which is still a bit slower than wired obviously just due to interference from the neighbors and such.
what's the absolute cheapest way I can improve the speed in my room without moving the current modem to like the middle room, which will probably still almost halve the speed in the living room and my room?
I really don't want to buy a ethernet switch and a second wap to plug in in my room. but I will if it can be had for under like 50 bucks. I would prefer to spend less though.
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
I do have internet already set up — I have a Rogers Ignite gateway and a Netgear Nighthawk AC2100 router. It's cable internet coming through that Rogers box in the cabinet, through the black coax to my modem in the living room.
I've already bought a punchdown tool and a cat5 cable crimper kit (with some rj-45 connectors and a tester included), since 1) I impulse purchase with abandon and 2) I'm happy to get a bit more into physical networking and I'd like to have some tools for it. I also have plenty of cat5 cable lying around.
There are only three room connections, so I'd like to just put them directly into my router, without buying a patch panel or switch.
Am I correct that these are the two options:
1) Cut the cat 5 cables away from the punchdown block, crimp them, terminate them in RJ-45s, plug them into my router, connect the router to the modem, done
2) Remove the rj-45 connectors from some old cables on one end, punch those into the punchdown block, connect them to my router, connect the router to the modem, done
Which one would be easiest or most stable? The second one has the advantage of not really messing with the existing cabling setup in my apartment. Would the punchblock successfully transmit an ethernet connection?
I'm not following you on #2... #1 should be the route you go.
Question: is it worth it to turn on QoS if I'm not noticing any bandwidth issues?
I currently am running a router that's limited to 100MB which I know isn't much, and yet my family has run three separate Zoom meetings simultaneously without any noticeable problems. So I suppose I shouldn't mess with anything if it's working out for everyone. Right?
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
I switched to Cspire from Comcast and am getting better speeds but nothing near advertised. How can I increase my speed? Its not bad but I'd like more of the pie.
Cspire ran the service to an outlet that they claim is running around 850mbps.
Players:
Old Pc Directly connected
Roku
Back of House(my gaming PC) referenced as BOH.
All speeds are estimates because I did multiple speed tests, speed tests on roku were performed from an amazon kindle connected by wireless with me standing by the Roku.All wireless tests were on the 5ghz network.
OLD PC showed about 280mbps after the switch
Roku 36mbps
BOH 25mbps
I decided my Router was slowing things down so I replaced it with a TP LINK AC2600
OLD PC 380-400mbps
Roku 76mbps
BOH 46mbps
1) Why does the direct connect get nowhere near the 850mbps the tech was claiming? Can an old NIC be an issue? That pc is probably 8 years old.
2) Is there a way to get better wireless speeds without switching to AX? Does the router processor effect speed?
Yes, your NIC might have a cap, could be an old 10MB connection.
those aren't terrible speeds for what you have. You are dealing with a few things to keep in mind. What's your line in. if max is around 850 you won't hit that very often because most things you are going to connect to won't give you that much back. Second, your devices may be limited on their end, i think most roku can only get up to 100.
for video streaming anything > 20 is probably going to be OK.
Yes, your NIC might have a cap, could be an old 10MB connection.
those aren't terrible speeds for what you have. You are dealing with a few things to keep in mind. What's your line in. if max is around 850 you won't hit that very often because most things you are going to connect to won't give you that much back. Second, your devices may be limited on their end, i think most roku can only get up to 100.
for video streaming anything > 20 is probably going to be OK.
Thanks for responding, I really appreciate it. I did networking for a living but stopped in 2007. Tech has changed sooooo much. I do mostly gaming, Vermintide 2, some left 4 dead 2, I really haven't had an issue with the wireless, It's more of a "GRRR go FASTER!" My wife streams a ton and my kids are on Youtube constantly.
So on that note:
1) Is wifi 6 worth it yet? I'd have to get a new nic for my BOH I assume, and the Roku would still use AC.
2) I have never fooled with the dual band. If I go Dual Band on my BOH are there any issues I need to know about? I know nothing about it. Is it doing it already? Do I need a special dual band wireless nic?
How old is the Roku? The AC devices I have in my house get over 100 Mbps even wireless.
I prefer Netgear myself but I don't think TPLink gear has bad radios. It could also be a distance issue. Can you more centrally locate your wifi gateway?
Example: we were getting bad coverage at the other end of our house so I spent an afternoon (and a long ethernet cable) moving the gateway to different spots. It now sits on my fridge; which is central to the main floor (I got to have some fun running ethernet a few places - no I really did enjoy it).
Yes, your NIC might have a cap, could be an old 10MB connection.
those aren't terrible speeds for what you have. You are dealing with a few things to keep in mind. What's your line in. if max is around 850 you won't hit that very often because most things you are going to connect to won't give you that much back. Second, your devices may be limited on their end, i think most roku can only get up to 100.
for video streaming anything > 20 is probably going to be OK.
Thanks for responding, I really appreciate it. I did networking for a living but stopped in 2007. Tech has changed sooooo much. I do mostly gaming, Vermintide 2, some left 4 dead 2, I really haven't had an issue with the wireless, It's more of a "GRRR go FASTER!" My wife streams a ton and my kids are on Youtube constantly.
So on that note:
1) Is wifi 6 worth it yet? I'd have to get a new nic for my BOH I assume, and the Roku would still use AC.
2) I have never fooled with the dual band. If I go Dual Band on my BOH are there any issues I need to know about? I know nothing about it. Is it doing it already? Do I need a special dual band wireless nic?
All dual band means is that it has a 2.4GHz and 5 GHz radio, which it needs to be able to support 802.11 in all its myriad flavors. (I mentioned previously that my router is a triband model, which means it has an additional 5GHz radio.) What you want to do is to check what protocols your router and computer support - you noted that you're using 802.11ac, which is designed for streaming and other high bandwidth applications.
I guess I should have said simultaneous dual band where it uses both bands at once. Any experience with simul dual band? Does it really work well like if the 2.4 drops does it handle the change well enough that it won't interfere with gaming?
***Evidently, I can't***** I read an article that I misunderstood that you could increase bandwidth by connecting to both but in fact it was talking about something entirely different. Mea culpa***
Yeah the critical things with wireless network are figuring out what all your devices actually can use. Tablets, laptops, home security systems, speakers, etc. could all be on various a, b, g, n, ac, ax(wifi-6). So you'll want to make sure you know what they can handle and adjust your choices based on that.
In the ongoing quest for "MORE POWER" , I replaced BOH's usb NIC (wnda4100) with a tp-link ac1300 usb with antenna.
My BOH speeds jumped from around 46 to around 200. Evidently the wnda4100 supports N but not AC? Anyway much better speeds whether from the antenna or the AC I don't know.
Because of this I checked my kindle fire. It's old and when I googled the spec sheet I think it only supports N as well. I wonder if I get a new kindle that supports AC if I will have the same results.
Now I'm wondering what my old roku supports....hmmmmm
Maybe I need all new hardware so I can buy all new hardware when I go to AX. :-)
In an effort for more people to see this and give me some input, I'm cross posting from the Networking thread in the Tech forums.
I have everything in the below graphic except the circled portion. Do I need to add that piece to keep from frying computer/laptop NICs downstream of the POE passthrough Switch?
In an effort for more people to see this and give me some input, I'm cross posting from the Networking thread in the Tech forums.
I have everything in the below graphic except the circled portion. Do I need to add that piece to keep from frying computer/laptop NICs downstream of the POE passthrough Switch?
Unless the device is rated for PoE, yes. Most network gear isn't designed to receive actual power over an Ethernet cable.
Aren't the power pins usually just not connected? At work I have plugged my laptop into a POE-enabled switch port. Alternatively, maybe you can just disable the POE function in the switch?
Lifehacker has a piece on using MoCA (Multimedia over coaxial cable) to establish a backbone for improved performance. As the article points out, it's not quite plug and play, but it's an option for older homes that have coax already.
In an effort for more people to see this and give me some input, I'm cross posting from the Networking thread in the Tech forums.
I have everything in the below graphic except the circled portion. Do I need to add that piece to keep from frying computer/laptop NICs downstream of the POE passthrough Switch?
If it's passive PoE (i.e. - always on power), then you run the risk of frying the ethernet port (at the very least) on your computer.
If it's standard PoE, then you're fine. PoE switches don't provide power on their ports unless the device plugged into it requests it (like a camera or access point).
@SeñorAmor I picked up a Netgear GS105PE. The datasheet doesn't explicitly state whether it's active or passive PoE. It is a managed switch so I'm assuming I can go in and turn off power to those ports.
The good news is in the short term I only need 2 unpowered ports; which is what the switch has.
So we bought a house (yay!) it is a little side of a duplex and we are about to get all up in there with our shit. We have an internet provider with gigabit internet, and I would like to avoid buying the shitty combo router, but I'm a little paralyzed with options because I haven't done this in a while.
When signing up for service, they give you this message,
oh no! scary!
DOCSIS 3.1 seems to be generally available, so I'm just wondering what is the best out there thats compatible and wont break the budget.
some FACTS:
- House is about 950square ft, and we will potentially want to extent coverage to the garage and finish it.
- Both of us game (shooters), currently both of the computers are hardwired, but one PC might end up having to use wifi if we dont want to run a wire to the dining room that will be an office.
- We're at 3 PCs and a laptop so we are sometimes stressing the fuck out of the internet with all our shit.
Other things that I dont know if they are factors:
- I'd like to eventually set up smart devices through one of the open source smart home projects.
- We'll eventually be setting up security through something like simply safe
Costco has the Nighthawk AX6 6-Stream router and the CM1190 Modem both for 149.99, but I'm willing to hop on amazon and pay more if we need something better.
Oh also, I'm trying to get this all set up with no PC actually being over there. I have a Mac book, with no Ethernet port, will I still be able to get in there and mess with the settings?
Use their modem and have them bridge it and then provide your own router. The UI Dream Machine is a personal fave of mine, if you can afford it.
Looking it up, Suddenlink charges $10/mo for their modem. You're better off buying your own if you stay there for more than a year (Arris SB8200 seems like a decent bet, but check their compatibility list to be sure). Then yes, you'll want a router downstream from that - I like the Unifi stuff a lot, but there's plenty of options in that area.
Apologies for Necro'ing this thread, but I thought it might be the most appropriate place to ask this - My girlfriend is in the process of moving in with me, and has a number of "smart home" things she's very fond of. Specifically, a Ring doorbell, a number of Alexa devices, and lots of smart lightbulbs. While I can't deny the convenience of them all, I still have reservations about the security of it.
Some questions/thoughts:
If I simply put these things on a guest network (so they can see my internal devices, i.e. PC/PS5/etc), is that sufficient security?
Posts
Ah also I’m sorry to ask for more work but I’m looking at Eero stuff and I’m not sure which thing to suggest we get, the beacons or the like boxes? Or both? Hm. Looking at your map (BEAUTIFUL thank u) I think it would be 2 regular box ones + 2 beacons (maybe 3 if that back room doesn’t get stuff)?
I'd love it if you took a look at my art and my PATREON!
Disclaimer: the links go to best buy. I work for them, but I'm a field work grunt and ultimately don't care where you buy them. If you find a better price, please take it.
Is it possible to set up that old router as a wireless print server (connection chain: Printer--usb-->old router--wireless b/g/n-->mesh router-->all networked devices) or do I need to purchase some kind of wireless print server dongle which seems to run ~$60-100?
This is a little dated but should work.
https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/415/
Edit: looking into this again, it may not work without an attached computer.
Another option would be something like a RaspberryPi connected to the printer and acting like the server.
So, there may be an issue here, but not the one most people would think. The problem is that most consumer grade routers aren't designed to connect to an upstream device via wireless on the same network - that is, you don't have the option with most routers to connect with wireless to an existing network, and with those that can (like my little travel router), it's designed to connect on the WAN interface, not the LAN. If you really want to keep the old router, you can buy a wireless extender with an Ethernet port, and connect it that way. But as suggested above, the more flexible solution is to go with a Raspberry Pi running CUPS, if your printer is supported.
Edit: Short version - old routers can be repurposed, but they require a good deal of setup (turning off all routing functions, making sure their IP address is set up correctly, etc.) to do so.
Three options:
First (recommended): A wireless print server, like this one (https://www.newegg.com/startech-pm1115uw/p/N82E16833114129). This is going to have the easiest setup and the least maintenance.
Second: Flash your Archer C7 with a custom firmware that allows you to use it as a wireless bridge. OpenWRT would be my choice. (https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/archer-c7-1750) This is going to be more complicated and require more work, though. The benefit of doing this (besides not spending any money) is that you can use the OpenWRT-flashed router for other purposes as well, like running a wireless repeater.
Third (not recommended): Raspberry Pi with CUPS. If you're going to put that much work into it, I'd just OpenWRT the old router.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
@Blameless Cleric I just wanted to commend you on doing this work and these diagrams. Mapping the space is the most important part of solving wifi coverage issues.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
We moved into a new apartment in September. It's a new build, so it has wall-mounted ethernet ports in the den and the living room, along with the coax out in the living room where a TV is best suited to sit.
My question is: how do I get these ethernet ports hooked up to a router/modem and working? We have a central cable internet panel, which looks like this:
As far as I can tell, the cat5 cables for the wall ports are the blue ones coming in at the top, but they seem to be all spliced together in that beige rack thing near the top:
If anyone has advice that will lead to successful wired connections in multiple rooms, I'll be ecstatic.
That's just ethernet thrown into a punchdown block. It's not going to do anything there. Either cut them out and put on new tips with a switch in there, or cut them out and put them into a proper ethernet patch panel with a switch. How it's set up right now will really only work for a corded phone.
Well, they need to first verify that they can remove it, since this is an apartment. You'll also want to verify that the wall jacks were also punched down correctly - ideally, you'll want to get a line tester with a separate termination block (since you need to hook each end up in separate rooms.)
The big piece of work that needs to be done is what Shadowfire mentioned. If you're comfortable buying a CAT6 punch down tool ($20 or so) and crimping the wires yourself, you can terminate each CAT6 line with a standard RJ45 jack. You would then mount an ethernet switch in the cabinet, with each room wire plugging into the switch, plus one additional wire running from the switch to the router.
If you're not comfortable doing the wiring yourself, you can buy a patch panel like Shadowfire linked. The back will show you where each of the 8 wires need to go to connect up the rooms. You will still need to purchase a switch, and a handful of short (1 ft?) ethernet wires to connect the patch panel outputs to the switch.
Depending on how many rooms there are and the router you have, you may be able to skip the switch entirely. Looks like 3 rooms? Most off the shelf routers have 4 ports, so you could just plug each room directly into the router, whether you decide to terminate the lines yourself or use a patch panel as an intermediary.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
It looks like the incoming connection is via the white Rogers box in the lower left. From there I see a fiber line going to maybe a MoCA? And out from there. That's why I'm thinking the punch panel up top is just for phones. You can plug a VoIP phone into any phone jack and it will make all the other ones active.
I do have internet already set up — I have a Rogers Ignite gateway and a Netgear Nighthawk AC2100 router. It's cable internet coming through that Rogers box in the cabinet, through the black coax to my modem in the living room.
I've already bought a punchdown tool and a cat5 cable crimper kit (with some rj-45 connectors and a tester included), since 1) I impulse purchase with abandon and 2) I'm happy to get a bit more into physical networking and I'd like to have some tools for it. I also have plenty of cat5 cable lying around.
There are only three room connections, so I'd like to just put them directly into my router, without buying a patch panel or switch.
Am I correct that these are the two options:
1) Cut the cat 5 cables away from the punchdown block, crimp them, terminate them in RJ-45s, plug them into my router, connect the router to the modem, done
2) Remove the rj-45 connectors from some old cables on one end, punch those into the punchdown block, connect them to my router, connect the router to the modem, done
Which one would be easiest or most stable? The second one has the advantage of not really messing with the existing cabling setup in my apartment. Would the punchblock successfully transmit an ethernet connection?
what's the absolute cheapest way I can improve the speed in my room without moving the current modem to like the middle room, which will probably still almost halve the speed in the living room and my room?
I really don't want to buy a ethernet switch and a second wap to plug in in my room. but I will if it can be had for under like 50 bucks. I would prefer to spend less though.
I'm not following you on #2... #1 should be the route you go.
tested it in my room where the main issue was. so much better. actually faster than in the living room somehow? bizarre.
It's only like 10mbps under wired now.
I currently am running a router that's limited to 100MB which I know isn't much, and yet my family has run three separate Zoom meetings simultaneously without any noticeable problems. So I suppose I shouldn't mess with anything if it's working out for everyone. Right?
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
Cspire ran the service to an outlet that they claim is running around 850mbps.
Players:
Old Pc Directly connected
Roku
Back of House(my gaming PC) referenced as BOH.
All speeds are estimates because I did multiple speed tests, speed tests on roku were performed from an amazon kindle connected by wireless with me standing by the Roku.All wireless tests were on the 5ghz network.
OLD PC showed about 280mbps after the switch
Roku 36mbps
BOH 25mbps
I decided my Router was slowing things down so I replaced it with a TP LINK AC2600
OLD PC 380-400mbps
Roku 76mbps
BOH 46mbps
1) Why does the direct connect get nowhere near the 850mbps the tech was claiming? Can an old NIC be an issue? That pc is probably 8 years old.
2) Is there a way to get better wireless speeds without switching to AX? Does the router processor effect speed?
those aren't terrible speeds for what you have. You are dealing with a few things to keep in mind. What's your line in. if max is around 850 you won't hit that very often because most things you are going to connect to won't give you that much back. Second, your devices may be limited on their end, i think most roku can only get up to 100.
for video streaming anything > 20 is probably going to be OK.
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
Thanks for responding, I really appreciate it. I did networking for a living but stopped in 2007. Tech has changed sooooo much. I do mostly gaming, Vermintide 2, some left 4 dead 2, I really haven't had an issue with the wireless, It's more of a "GRRR go FASTER!" My wife streams a ton and my kids are on Youtube constantly.
So on that note:
1) Is wifi 6 worth it yet? I'd have to get a new nic for my BOH I assume, and the Roku would still use AC.
2) I have never fooled with the dual band. If I go Dual Band on my BOH are there any issues I need to know about? I know nothing about it. Is it doing it already? Do I need a special dual band wireless nic?
I prefer Netgear myself but I don't think TPLink gear has bad radios. It could also be a distance issue. Can you more centrally locate your wifi gateway?
Example: we were getting bad coverage at the other end of our house so I spent an afternoon (and a long ethernet cable) moving the gateway to different spots. It now sits on my fridge; which is central to the main floor (I got to have some fun running ethernet a few places - no I really did enjoy it).
All dual band means is that it has a 2.4GHz and 5 GHz radio, which it needs to be able to support 802.11 in all its myriad flavors. (I mentioned previously that my router is a triband model, which means it has an additional 5GHz radio.) What you want to do is to check what protocols your router and computer support - you noted that you're using 802.11ac, which is designed for streaming and other high bandwidth applications.
***Evidently, I can't***** I read an article that I misunderstood that you could increase bandwidth by connecting to both but in fact it was talking about something entirely different. Mea culpa***
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
My BOH speeds jumped from around 46 to around 200. Evidently the wnda4100 supports N but not AC? Anyway much better speeds whether from the antenna or the AC I don't know.
Because of this I checked my kindle fire. It's old and when I googled the spec sheet I think it only supports N as well. I wonder if I get a new kindle that supports AC if I will have the same results.
Now I'm wondering what my old roku supports....hmmmmm
Maybe I need all new hardware so I can buy all new hardware when I go to AX. :-)
I have everything in the below graphic except the circled portion. Do I need to add that piece to keep from frying computer/laptop NICs downstream of the POE passthrough Switch?
Unless the device is rated for PoE, yes. Most network gear isn't designed to receive actual power over an Ethernet cable.
My intent is to use the PoE injector to power the switch so I don't have to add a receptacle in my attic.
If it's passive PoE (i.e. - always on power), then you run the risk of frying the ethernet port (at the very least) on your computer.
If it's standard PoE, then you're fine. PoE switches don't provide power on their ports unless the device plugged into it requests it (like a camera or access point).
The good news is in the short term I only need 2 unpowered ports; which is what the switch has.
So we bought a house (yay!) it is a little side of a duplex and we are about to get all up in there with our shit. We have an internet provider with gigabit internet, and I would like to avoid buying the shitty combo router, but I'm a little paralyzed with options because I haven't done this in a while.
When signing up for service, they give you this message,
oh no! scary!
DOCSIS 3.1 seems to be generally available, so I'm just wondering what is the best out there thats compatible and wont break the budget.
some FACTS:
- House is about 950square ft, and we will potentially want to extent coverage to the garage and finish it.
- Both of us game (shooters), currently both of the computers are hardwired, but one PC might end up having to use wifi if we dont want to run a wire to the dining room that will be an office.
- We're at 3 PCs and a laptop so we are sometimes stressing the fuck out of the internet with all our shit.
Other things that I dont know if they are factors:
- I'd like to eventually set up smart devices through one of the open source smart home projects.
- We'll eventually be setting up security through something like simply safe
Costco has the Nighthawk AX6 6-Stream router and the CM1190 Modem both for 149.99, but I'm willing to hop on amazon and pay more if we need something better.
Oh also, I'm trying to get this all set up with no PC actually being over there. I have a Mac book, with no Ethernet port, will I still be able to get in there and mess with the settings?
Looking it up, Suddenlink charges $10/mo for their modem. You're better off buying your own if you stay there for more than a year (Arris SB8200 seems like a decent bet, but check their compatibility list to be sure). Then yes, you'll want a router downstream from that - I like the Unifi stuff a lot, but there's plenty of options in that area.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
2500 SQ ft
Desktop (Ethernet)
About 6 laptops
3 phones
Smart TV
Roku
3 iPads
Kids do remote school on Weds and my wife works from home.
We haven't had any issues with slowdowns or network congestion, even on days when I'm teleworking the same time my wife and kids are working at home.
And honestly, I'm not really using Gigabit to its full extent. I could scale back to about 300-500 Mbps and be fine.
Some questions/thoughts:
And any other feedback on them would be welcome!