New home, new network setup

Networking Networking Hardware
1

Hello,
I have been lurking for a while, big fan of Wendell, finally decided to join the forums.

Background and issue description:

I have moved to a new flat and had to reuse an old wireless router, the Asus RT-N10, for the initial setup. I am running it in “n Only” mode as all our other devices are compatible. Lately we have been experiencing issues with the internet connection being droppped sometimes on the devices powered on and connected to Wi-fi as 3rd and 4th. A router restart fixes the issue and it then does not occur for a week or so.
I had tried to upgrade the firmware, without success. The file will not load onto the device, even after half an hour. All attempts resulted in a factory reset.
Setting the router to b/g also does not solve the issue.

Network setup of the 60m^2 flat:

Locked box (i suppose only I have the key to it) outside the flat, next to my door with WAN port and 3 ethernet ports connected to outlets in all 3 rooms. Also some, I assume, power cables without any connector - loose.
I have currently connected the WAN with a room port with a short cable and use the wireless router inhouse.

I think it is time to upgrade, as security is also probably a concern with my current setup. Please, share your opinion on two scenarios and if possible give me a recommendation for hardware.

Scenario 1. Replace router with a newer AC one and continue to use it inhouse, have wired connection only in 1 room. Connect PCs, phones to Wi-Fi (and in future TV and console).

Scenario 2. Invest in a seperate router, place it in the box outside of the apartment. Have wired connection in all rooms, with additional AP in one of the rooms.

I live in Poland and am looking to spend not more than 100 EUR for the upgrade.
Should I buy an additional firewall? Do i need enterprise gear to front my home network? Is PoE an option at this pricepoint?
I will be thankful for your responses.
And as a non-native speaker i must say sorry for bad english :stuck_out_tongue:

Kind regards,
Szyw

P.S. I forgot to mention:
Me and my fiance, we use 5 devices (2 Windows PCs and 3 smartphones) most of the time, and we use company mobile workstations while working from home if it is of any importance.

2

I like option 2. You could do a lot with that.

I have a ubiquiti access point in my house and coverage is good. It sits behind a edgerouter-x as well. Cost isn’t big (at least here) so maybe that’s an option for you to look at.

1 Like
3

I have searched for devices and started wondering - do i need AC Wi-fi?
I have 100Mb/s download and 50Mb/s upload speeds. I will probably not change my internet plan for the next 2 years. I also won’t add a NAS anytime soon.

For option 1. I could go with:

Linksys E2500-EE (802.11a/b/g/n 600Mb/s) DualBand for 35 EUR
or Linksys EA6100 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac 1200Mb/s) USB for 100 EUR

And my question here is - should i even consider cheaper brands like D-link and Netgear and get AC Wi-fi for half the price?

For option 2. the gear list would look like below and i could not afford AC Wi-fi.

Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X 5x10/100/1000Mb/s PoE for 50 EUR
Ubiquiti poweradapter POE 24V 12W 0,5A for 10 EUR
Ubiquiti airMAX airGateway PRO for 40 EUR

Or should I only get the router, poweradapter and a cheap-o AP from a random brand? Does the AP impact network performance in such small household?

4

If you get a ERX and a UAP (AC or whatnot) then the power adapter is in the box of the UAP and can be used to power both the UAP and ERX. Which is how I have mine set up now. I wouldn’t use cheap brands. You generally get for what you pay for. I have an older 802.11G UAP and it has regularly had uptime north of 3 mints before I even bother to do a firmware check or upgrade.

As for the wireless standard to go with, entirely your choice. I still rock G but do plan to upgrade to AC even though it may only be useful internally to personal servers

5

try this. I bought this to use as an access point. It’s not the most current gen but it has 2.4ghz and 5ghz and really easy to setup as an access point.
https://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-9_Archer-C50.html

6

I do not know why i thought that I could use PoE only “downstream”. Thank you for the enlightenment. That means i can place the Edgerouter in the box, not bother to cram in a poweradapter and power it through the ethernet port. Now I am more interested in the second option.
But, could I use i.e. TP-Link AP with PoE funcionnality? An AP from Ubiquiti would exceed my budget.
Would a TP-Link EAP115 (802.11b/g/n 300Mb/s) PoE work in such setup?

7

You can and you can’t. Because ubiquiti doesn’t use the 802.3af PoE standard on most of their products they require the little power adapter. With that said you could snag an ERX and an adapter. Which will let you then power it up without cramming much in there. Connect another in home port to the router for now. And have a cheap AP from another brand or what have you on the other end. And then later if you decide to upgrade you only need to replace one piece of the puzzle. This is what makes dedicated router and APs so nice is upgrades are simpler

8

I just came back from a local computer store and they were saying i will have no problem pairing TP-Link and Ubiquitit PoE devices, but then also he was trying to sell me the cheapest Asus wireless router he had ;x
I found some posts on other forums saying something about manually configuring PoE injectors, but i did not understand it.
I will try to find more information on the internet about the technology and will probably comeback with more questions :stuck_out_tongue:

9

If it will run on 24V passive PoE it’ll work fine. That’s why I recommended ubiquiti access point with the ERX. They both draw low amounts of power and can be ran off a single adapter. Which to me is quite wonderful. But you can PM even if you have questions and I’ll do my best to help you figure out a solution. Or even show you how I have it setup at my house.

10

There’s passive (load sensing) POE there’s active POE, 24V or 48V. Midspan/endspan (mode a/mode b).

In general, you just need to read the specs and/or ask here whether a thing works with the other thing and someone will know.

11

I have decided to buy the Edgerouter and keep my current device as AP, as long as it can cope with the load on wifi. I will explore PoE when I upgrade the AP.
Thank you for all replies, we can now close the topic.