Networking the new flat

Tute

Tute

Tute

Soldato
Joined
24 Jul 2004
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Location
Devon, UK
Hi all, been thinking about this recently as BT are due to install ADSL this Thursday and i'm wondering how i'm going to connect everything up.

Basically we have the following:

- 2x Laptops, wireless
- PS3, wireless
- 2xPCs, TBC

The router we have is a Netgear DGN2000.

I'm wondering how to connect the PCs up in particular. The laptops and PS3 are fine being connected wirelessly as they're just used for browsing, but the PCs are used for occasional gaming.

The options i've come up with are:

- Connect PCs to router with RJ45 cable. The problems I can see with this is that the PCs are a floor above the master phone socket, so it would involve a large operation to run the cable down the skirting board on the stairs. Plus there's the problem of getting the cable into the office, which would mean drilling through a wall in a rented property. :o

- Connect PCs to router with powerline adaptors. This saves massive cabling but wall sockets are at a premium at both ends and i'm not even sure how good the wiring is in the flat and how it would affect this kind of connection. It would also need homeplugs with either 2xLAN ports or an additional switch in the office.

- Connect PCs wirelessly. Easily the least faff, but a quick scan reveals a good dozen or so wireless networks, so would interference be a problem? Also i'm wondering about any possible latency problems going this route.

Any thoughts are welcome. Sorry about the long read.
 
I don't see any issues with connecting up the PC's with a USB Wireless N Adaptor to be honest if you can't cable them.

This would be my choice over powerline
 
I second that. If you feel that interference might be an issue, get a router and adapters capable of utilizing the 5GHz band. This is much less crowded and also provides better performance and stability. Range usually suffers ever so slightly however, barely noticeable in my case.
 
In a flat, use powerline, it's a no brainer.

There will only be one ring, and assuming it's fairly new, you'll get close to the quoted throughput.

WiFi is far too spiky and laggy for anything other than something to use on a device that has to be mobile.

For example, should you want to stream anything to your PS3 via DLNA, you simply won't be able to without it stuttering and being horrible, using powerline, there won't be a problem.

just need to think a little about your placement, so the router will probably go in the "boiler" cupboard, as that is where the master socket is in most new flats, so you'll need an adaptor in there, ideally with its own socket (this makes a big difference), then wherever else you use an adaptor, try and give it its own socket too, and similarly where you have two devices going into 1, use a cheap switch before it.

In terms of devices to use, any will do as long as you keep to the same standard. I suggest using ones that stick to the official Homeplug AV 2.0 standard (200Mbit ones), such as the twin pack TP-Link available on this site. No need to spend a fortune tbh, aside from the casing, the chipsets are identical inside and tbh many of the better brands such as netgear insist on using non standards compliant chipsets, whereas anything that is proper Homeplug AV compliant will inter-operate.

Obv if its an older flat or an unusual flat (i.e. one in a converted old building) then it might not be as clear cut, but if its relatively new and self contained then homeplug for any fixed location device, with the option for decent WiFi for the rest is the best solution imo.
 
I'd run the cable and just drill a few holes. You can't beat wired for stability.

You can get really cheap CAT5/6 cable these days. I wired the kifds' Xbox360 up with Cat5e for less than £3 this week. I ran the cable through two walls, along skirting, ceiling and stairs. Took me about an hour. I did consider homeplug for £40+ but in the end I decided I would save £37 and do it myself.

If you are concerned about leaving holes then just grab a tube of ready mixed filler and shove it in the hole when you move out. Surely landlords expect you to do a little drilling? If not then I'm in trouble as I've drilled loads of holes, mounted shelves and TVs on walls. Filler on standby.
 
Last edited:
Well finally, 18 days after the original agreed date, we have phone and internet!

I'm still undecided on how to network the flat - having tried the wireless using my 802.11g dongle i'm leaning away from that idea as there seems to be a noticeable pause when requesting a page which goes away when using a wire.

I think i'll go price up both powerline and ethernet and decide from that.

On a side note, are these good line stats? Taken from the router:

Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 8192kbps 448kbps
Attenuation 5.0dB 3.5dB
Noise Margin 17.5dB 29.0dB

I'm on a profile of 2048KBit as well which I assume will go up in time?

Thanks in advance.
 
Tealc said:
You can get really cheap CAT5/6 cable these days. I wired the kifds' Xbox360 up with Cat5e for less than £3 this week. I ran the cable through two walls, along skirting, ceiling and stairs.
Click to expand...

Was this a ready-made cable length with connectors, or did you use raw cable and terminate it yourself ?
 
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