New router/mesh thoughts...

I'm using the downtime to spend a bit of time shaking up the home network and I'm stuggling to make a decision.

I've previously had a Linksys EA9500 which i hated with a passion. The management software was really poor. Devices showing as connected when they were not and visa versa... spent an age naming all connected devices only to have the EA9500 shuffle them on a daily basis etc etc etc.

It then started giving me a few connection issues when I didn't really have time to resolve them properly so I swapped the old BT HH5 back in as a temporary measure and that was 6 months ago.

Given I didn't get on with the EA9500 I've decided to start from scratch.

THE REQUIREMENTS:
1: Coverage - Reasonably large 4 bed detached and I've not quite got full coverage for all of the house. So ideally would need some form of extension / mesh but could live without it and initially see how the new router goes. I do have a Linkysys extender (ethernet connected) downstairs in one room currently which can stay or go.

2: Current Kit and setup.
BT FTTC - the 57-73mbps option (whatever they call that product these days)
I've got 2-4 Cat6 ports in most rooms at the moment.
I've got a couple of old BT Huawei modems around if needed.
TPLink T1600G-TS52 switch
Synology NSA for backup and media storage (ethernet)
The network cab and the BT main socket are in largish a walk in wardrobe on the first floor and fairly central in the house and can not be moved.


3: Must haves...
1 very serious gamer in the family - he's hard wired in but will no doubt require some tinkering.

Lots of devices (30-40 i'd estimate) - Arlo cameras, Hue lighting etc etc, 4 x Sky Q boxes... mostly all this is hard wired to the CAt 6 where possible. Lots of 4K streaming going on as well.

I've got some online time sensitive business requirements which i tend to run from my laptop wirelessly so rock solid connection is important.

Needs to have good tool set around device control time of day etc - blocking kids connections is the only traction I have on getting homework done etc.

While money is always an issue it's going through the business so doesn't make that much difference.


So what to go for? Think any option needs to have the ability to mesh/extend via the Cat 6 network seamlessly. Guy at work trying to push me down the Ubiquity path but I'm not convinced... other thoughts welcome?

Why specifically are you unconvinced by Ubiquiti ?

I run three Ubiquiti access points to cover our 5 bed house, all works very well.

Admittedly I'm very lucky, neighbours are all +50 metres away, so I get to use the whole 2.4GHz spectrum, but I'd be interested to hear what has put you off of Ubiquiti.

Though I only use Ubiquiti (specifically Unifi) for my access points and cameras. When I was on FTTC I was using the BT supplied modems and pfSense on a low power PC.

Now I'm on Three mobile the routing is handled by the Mikrotik LTE router (with DHCP and DNS on the PC that used to run pfSense). One day I'll get round to getting bridge mode working on the Mikrotik and get pfSense back running.

I'm not put off as such just open to other options. Took me 30mins to get my head around which Ubiquiti products I may need and im still not convinced i've got it right! ... there's two guys at work gone down that route fully and while they are happy with it it's not the easiest to set up / configure from what he was saying (and he's a network engineer) -

I’ve used Fritzbox 7530 and a Fritzbox 4040 as Mesh network with the FB4040 hard wired back to the FB7530. FB7530’s are Zen’s choice of FTTC router and unused items often available on eBay.

You should listen to your network engineer colleague as he's giving you good advice with Unifi. It would seem from your requirements it's an excellent fit, actually.

As you say you have CAT6 already, mesh will be a poor substitute. For most houses, the minimum I'd recommend would be 1 AP per floor, but if you want amazing coverage, ensure a WiFi AP is within 2 internal stud walls from the client device, so 4-6 APs isn't outrageous. I'd recommend you consider the nanoHD or UAP-IW-HD to keep budget in check. More APs running at low power is generally better than few APs blasting at max power. If you need coverage for an AP that hasn't got CAT6 backhaul, these Unifi APs can 'mesh' over 1 hop, but they will need a PoE injector for power.

The TP-Link switch is fine, and has PoE ports to give juice to the Unifi APs, although a Unifi switch will allow you to manage both the APs and switches centrally.

It also looks like you will need a good router. Given your gamer, it's probably a key demand of his to use fq_codel to reduce lag from bufferbloat. For you, the use case of the Unifi Dream Machine (UDM) would be a rather good fit. This has the controller built-in, so you don't need to run a separate VM or docker on the Synology and also has the power to run fq_codel (called 'Smart Queues' in Unifi). The UDM is 3 Unifi devices in one: a CloudKey, a nanoHD and a USG. When planning, place it in a position where you need an AP. You can consider pfSense or an Ubiquiti EdgeRouter 4 as alternatives to the UDM, but as these are discrete routers, you'll need to figure out where to put the controller and/or another AP. You will also need to dust off the Huawei modem.

Finally, although this is just tinkering, you seem to have a lot of broadcasty devices that make a lot of noise (Hue, Sky Q, Smart TVs, Phones etc). These are best separated on their own VLAN and a separate WiFi SSID to the PCs, NAS and printers. Broadcasts on WiFi paralyzes all Radio communications momentarily at the lowest possible bandwidth meaning WiFi quality is reduced. Therefore reducing the scope of the 'broadcast domain' is a very good idea with IoT devices. All the above kit I've recommended will handle VLANs.

But like I said at the beginning, you're already being given sage advice from your colleague. If you're daunted, then I'm sure a beer bribe will get him to help set it all up!

Many thanks for taking the time to post the detailed response- ok i'm sold. He works for me so he can buy his own beer Not daunted as I'm also an IT professional but spend more time balancing budgets than with my sleeves rolled up these days. Not as much fun I'll grant you!

Thinking the best bet would be to get the UDM and see what the coverage is like and then add the APs one a time as needed. The TP Link Switch isnt PoE but I could always stick a 2nd 5 port PoE switch in the cabinet to run these. Or get some injectors. The UDM doesnt have PoE out does it from what i can see?

In reply to a post by Wonky:

The UDM doesnt have PoE out does it from what i can see?

No it's a normal switch.

Glad I could help. UDM will also be fine on gigabit so you'll be future-proofed for a while.

Edited by zzing123 (Wed 29-Apr-20 18:55:39)

Was struggling to find anyone who had them in but yay.com did. I Ordered it at 17:45 last night - shipping confirmation at 17:55 - just arrived. Never used them before but lighting efficiency with the shipping. Looks like a euro model as the had to stick a UK power lead in. Will post back how it goes.

Ok - it’s arrived. Scratching my head a little. Managed to get the old BT modem up
and running. UDM connected and connected to the internet ok after setting to PPPoE and it ran the speed checks ok .... set up Wi-fi but each time I try and connect a device to it over Wi-fi it hi-jacks the connection and just takes me to the unify launch Network and manage dream machine screen within a browser on my device. Tried a wired connection and it’s not letting me get to open internet from there either.

Obviously missing somethings- been through the Wi-fi connection options and flicked a few on and off but no joy.

Edited by deleted (Thu 30-Apr-20 17:20:37)