Extending wifi range into attic and access points

[leejsamuel]

Hi,

Recently had fibre optic broadband installed, and due to access it was taken into the house in one of the corner rooms downstairs at front of house. It is a fairly large property and so the WiFi range is pretty abysmal upstairs and even across the ground floor (old solid brick walls...struggles to pass two walls). So looking at wired connections to further access points, by passing ethernet cable from the router and through the wall, up the external wall into the loft to an ethernet switch from which a few access points will be wired and dropped intona selection of upstairs rooms. Also looking to possibly run a cable to exterior rear wall to an outdoor access point for the garden. Just looking for some advice on this set up and hardware:

1) I assume an external ethernet cable is needed for the external wall runs? Will be hiding behind downpipes. Also, should this be cat6, cat6e or different? Any recommendations would be appreciated on supplies...heard a proper retailer is preferable?

2) any suggestions on switch? Looking at a PoE+ for simplicity to power the access points. It'll be in the loft and powered by mains, is fan or any other considerations needed? Probably need 8 to 10 ports - expecting three access points upstairs and the outdoor one downstairs, so 4. With the option of a few more for powering three or four security cameras.

3) access points? Looking at ubiquiti u6 lite for upstairs rooms, and the long range for rear garden. This a good choice or are there other options?

4) is the router from the broadband provider (vodafone) good enough?

Any advice, disadvantage suggestions, drawbacks on this set up would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Orcvader]

Might want to replace those links with the product names, OcUK sells switches too so it'll count as a competitor.

1) Depends on how long the run is but either will generally do fine. 6 and even 5e is enough if you're just aiming for gigabit, but both 6 and 6e will be fine if you ever plan to go higher.

2) TP-Link is fine, I'm using a 5 port (with 4 PoE+ ports) with my Unifi access points. Just bare in mind the SL-1311's PoE ports are only 100mb and all of SG1009P's ports are 100mb too, so you'll want the SG1210P to make better use of your access points as it's full gigabit.

3) U6 lite for indoor and LR for outdoor is fine. Haven't had experience with the LR but we use the lite model at work with no issues. I'm also personally using the Pro model at home but that's due to better 5GHz performance, again no issues with that either.

4) If you don't need any advanced settings then the Vodafone router should work fine.

 

[WJA96]

1. External runs need external grade cable or run the cable in trunking. For suppliers Kenable are fine (and cheap) and if you want a bit of brand security try Connectix/CCL from Cable Monkey. It doesn’t really matter what you buy, just buy everything the same so if you’re going CAT5e buy everything for CAT5e (cable, plugs, jacks, patch panel if you’re getting one).

2. Any 48V PoE switch is fine for the UniFi access points but if you have any view to implement a complete UniFi system in future (the clue is in the name) then buy a UniFi switch. Alternatively, depending on how many PoE ports you need, a UniFi Dream Machine Pro SE might do what you need and even be the basis of a video surveillance system as well.

And well done for doing it properly.

 

[leejsamuel]

Thanks both, very helpful advice. It really is a simple setup with some future proofing just to extend the WiFi reach around the house. Apart from some film and gaming streaming. So the consensus I'm getting from most is cat5e is suitable, especially considering 6 and above are more difficult to install and terminate apparently?

I was also informed punch down instead of crimping is advisable for the cable , any advice on that as not sure of the difference.

Do you have experience with the TP link omada range as they have also been recommended as good alternative to Unifi which are quite expensive in comparison .

Many thanks!

 

[WJA96]

Punching down in where you secure the cable into a socket as opposed to crimping it into a plug. In my opinion there are two main advantages to terminating the cable into a socket;

1. It’s significantly easier and less prone to errors
2. Terminating the cable into a fixed socket means less possibility of damaging the cable in future. You can also “shorten“ or “lengthen” the cable by adding any length patch cable between the socket and the connected device.

The big advantage of crimping is you only need an 8mm hole to pass the cable though whereas you need a 14mm hole to get a terminated patch cable though. That’s a big hole if you’re drilling through a thick exterior wall to fit a surveillance camera.

And while CAT5e is thin and flexible I would always install CAT6 just because it’s that little bit more “speed” in the future. As for being easier to work with, I find the chunky CAT6 conductors easier to lay out in sockets and insert into plugs because they’re stiffer. I find working with CAT6a unnecessarily more work because of the thicker outer but again, it’s just that little bit more guarantee of speed in the future.

If you’re doing it, you may as well go with the better one because there is only neglible cost difference in cable and connectors but the long-term saving in inconvenience and Labour not having to rip it all out and replace it later to get 10GbE is potentially huge.

As for Omada, TP-link have basically ripped off UniFi from several years ago and that’s no bad thing. It’s inexpensive in comparison to UniFi, it works very reliably and there is a vast range of components that work with the Omada controller. In a home environment, I don’t think you’d notice any difference in functionality and I have to be brutally honest as time goes on I don’t see UniFi getting better, quite the opposite. It gets flakier and flakier. And you can’t get the components for love nor money.