Home Network Upgrade Advice - 2.5Gbps Networking, WiFi and POE

Valo

Valo

Valo

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,824
Location
Livingston


I'm looking for advice about potentially investing in and deploying some Unifi network kit around my home. Just over tens years ago I purchased a bungalow and did some renovation works, one of the jobs that where done was I had CAT5-E cabling run around the house for networking.
I have a network rack cabinet in my garage (Red Square) which currently contains an HP ProCurve 24 port gigabit switch (unmanaged), Synology NAS DS1621+ and my Raspberry Pi (running Homebridge).

I have 19 CAT5 sockets wired around my house. The Blue Squares are double CAT5-E points which aren't currently in use, the Orange Squares are a mixture of double and quad CAT5 points which are all in use. The Black Square is where my Fibre ONT (YouFibre 1000) and router is currently located along with a single CAT5 point to connect my router onto my network.

What I'd like to do is utilise some of, if not all of the remaining CAT5-E points and use wall-mounted AP's (Unifi U7 Pro Wall - https://techspecs.ui.com/unifi/wifi/u7-pro-wall?subcategory=wifi-wall#datasheet). With regards got the switches, it would be great to look at something with 2.5g (assuming my CAT5e can use 2.5g?). I also have a solar panel inverter in my garage that I'd like to eventually hardwire network along with the possibility of an electric car charger at some point to. Which would bring my device count up to 23. I would also need some sort of Unifi router as well.

I also have long term plans to invest in up at least 2-3 POE cameras for use via Apple Home (HomeKit Secure Video). I don't know what would be potentially be cheaper 1x Switch (Large with POE) or 1x Main Switch then 1x Smaller dedicated POE switch.

Any suggestions and helpful pointers would be appreciated.
 
CAT-5e is fine for 2.5Gbps. I have a couple of CAT-5e cables running from the switch in my workroom upstairs to the dining room and the router in the hall and I see 2.5GGbps when I sync my laptop to my NAS.
 
That's good to know that my cabling should be ok for 2.5Gbps networking. I've asked in the Ubiquiti thread about my options regarding switches and access points but never got any replies :(

Can a one guide me as to my options with Ubiquiti? Am I right to look at the Pro Wall AP's, if so how many would I need to create a strong mesh network?

What should I be looking at regarding the network switches and router?
 
If you plan to get Unifi camera's in the future, the obvious choice of router would be the Cloud Gateway Fiber. I'm not sure why you would want to use mesh, if the AP's were hardwired? In any case, your house does not look big and i presume it's all partition walls inside. If so, a single in-wall unit at the blue drop point near the centre of your house, near the cupboard, would do a good job of covering the whole bungalow.
 
Last edited:
DIABLO said:
If you plan to get Unifi camera's in the future, the obvious choice of router would be the Cloud Gateway Fiber. I'm not sure why you would want to use mesh, if the AP's were hardwired? In any case, your house does not look big and i presume it's all partition walls inside. If so, a single in-wall unit at the blue drop point near the centre of your house, near the cupboard, would do a good job of covering the whole bungalow.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendation for a router, I'll look into the Cloud Gateway Fiber. Any recommendations what I should look at with regards to a suitable network switch or switches?

I'm currently using an HP ProCurve 24 port gigabit switch (unmanaged), to run my existing 19 CAT5-E points. In my cabinet I have my Synology NAS and Pi (running HomeBridge) which brings the switch to 21 used ports. In the future it would be great to use a hardwired connection for my solar panel inverter and potentially a EV Charger as well which would then bring the total used ports to 23.
Would I be better to look at one larger switch, 48 port with POE built in as well or would bit be cheaper to go with a 24 port switch for data and a separate 8-16port switch for POE devices?

I assumed from the start that I'd need more than one AP to provide coverage around my home, I thought that's classed as a mesh network with a wired backhaul, no?

You're right about the construction of my home, it's partition walls.
 
I honestly don't think you'd need more than one AP. But if it did turn out you need more than 1, you have so many network drops it wouldn't be an issue to buy another and re-jig your AP layout a bit.

I don't think anyone would describe Unifi AP's as mesh, they make standalone access points. The controller software has some mesh like features, but the access points don't seamlessly communicate with each other like a proper mesh system does.

Just pick a switch a Unifi switch that fits your needs, in number of ports, PoE and port speed.
 
To back up the meshing comment I find that sometimes my devices decide to connect to the garden access point then barely get any connection, solution is to reboot the garden device and hope that they will reconnect to the house unit. If something does go to the wrong point it won’t get passed to the one with much higher signal strength it just sits there
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom