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MWelman

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Hey everyone, I am installing FTTH 100/100 through Vumatel at my home. I am looking for installers to install a home network. Someone who can also possibly advise as to how to achieve the best speeds and who also has experience in setting up a media system :-)

Below is what I need ....
1.The network must provide coverage between the main house and office which is separate and away from the main house.
2. We make videos and do a lot of uploading and downloading of large size files - so office needs really great speed and capacity to upload/download (that's why the 100/100 line)
3. We do a lot of streaming - movies, series, music etc. inside the house from multiple devices (laptops, tablets and phones)
5. House is not very big and quite compact
4. We are not gamers just big on media usage
5. I am ok with wired and wireless combination and was thinking that wired to office would possibly be best and wifi inside home for all to use
6. Would like to use a netbook (no LAN only WiFi and Bluetooth) as media server and also run Kodi on it - maybe have multiple devices connect to netbook? (not sure if that will work)

I have a TP-Link Archer D9 Dual Band router which can be incorporated into the set-up along with other hardware needed.

Is there anyone out there that could maybe assist with set-up and installation or any recommendations?
Would really appreciate your input.
Thank you very much!
 
Depending on how far away the office is from the main house, you may want to get Vumatel to install the Fibre drop in the office, rather than in the house itself.

I say this because you indicate that your highest bandwidth requirements will be in the office for video uploads and downloads, while the household usage will be rather more limited. For the video uploads and downloads, you will want a wired connection to the router, while for streaming and general surfing, etc, wireless will probably be acceptable. If you have the CPE installed in the house, you may then need to run a "wired" connection to the office, which can get complicated.

The "correct" way to link two separate buildings networks is to use fibre, as this avoids any electrical issues that can end up destroying your equipment, such as surges due to lightning, ground loops, etc. An ethernet cable run between the two buildings would be susceptible to these things, whether run aboveground or underground. An alternative is to use a wireless repeater, or possibly a Ethernet over Powerline kit, depending on your mains wiring.
 
RoganDawes said:
Your existing Archer is not likely to be of much use, I'm afraid, unless you are prepared to flash OpenWRT on it, and use it as a repeater in the house, perhaps.

https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/archer-d9
Click to expand...

Interested to know why you say this. In my limited network experience I see no reason why the Archer D9 can't be used as a integral part in a home network like this. It's a very decent router, has AC wifi and gigabit Ethernet.

OP mentions the house is quite compact, for one, the Archer might be able to take care of wifi coverage in the entire house all on its own.
Run CAT6 cable from the house to the office and buy another router for the office, TP-Link Archer C5, 7 or 9 and you are sorted with AC wifi and gigabit in the office as well.
With these 2 routers you have space for wired devices in both home and office and the fiber connection can be pyped in from one or the other. For more wired connections add gigabit switches wired with CAT6.
 
bigboy529 said:
Interested to know why you say this. In my limited network experience I see no reason why the Archer D9 can't be used as a integral part in a home network like this. It's a very decent router, has AC wifi and gigabit Ethernet.

OP mentions the house is quite compact, for one, the Archer might be able to take care of wifi coverage in the entire house all on its own.
Run CAT6 cable from the house to the office and buy another router for the office, TP-Link Archer C5, 7 or 9 and you are sorted with AC wifi and gigabit in the office as well.
With these 2 routers you have space for wired devices in both home and office and the fiber connection can be pyped in from one or the other. For more wired connections add gigabit switches wired with CAT6.
Click to expand...

Well, you could probably use it as is, just disabling the DHCP server, but one issue is that it does not have a "WAN" port (only ADSL). So you are limited in the number of devices that you can hard wire to it. What I was really getting into with the suggestion to use OpenWRT is that you could use it as a WiFi repeater, which is unlikely to be possible with the standard firmware.

The other thing you are suggesting is running a CAT6 cable between two buildings, but this is a terrible idea, as any lightning will induce a current in the ethernet, and fry the devices attached to it. If you have to hard wire a connection between the two buildings, you want fibre, not copper.
 
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RoganDawes said:
Well, you could probably use it as is, just disabling the DHCP server, but one issue is that it does not have a "WAN" port (only ADSL). So you are limited in the number of devices that you can hard wire to it. What I was really getting into with the suggestion to use OpenWRT is that you could use it as a WiFi repeater, which is unlikely to be possible with the standard firmware.

The other thing you are suggesting is running a CAT6 cable between two buildings, but this is a terrible idea, as any lightning will induce a current in the ethernet, and fry the devices attached to it. If you have to hard wire a connection between the two buildings, you want fibre, not copper.
Click to expand...



Archer D9 has a WAN port.
 
I'm basically looking for the same thing as the OP - I'll be moving into my new house at the end of the month, and looking to get someone to install some network points in the rooms. I already have the router, a switch and about 200 meters of Cat 5e.

Anyone have any suggestions for a company or private individual that wont cost me an arm and a leg? In the Cape Town area. THANKS!
 
RogerWilcoZA said:
I'm basically looking for the same thing as the OP - I'll be moving into my new house at the end of the month, and looking to get someone to install some network points in the rooms. I already have the router, a switch and about 200 meters of Cat 5e.

Anyone have any suggestions for a company or private individual that wont cost me an arm and a leg? In the Cape Town area. THANKS!
Click to expand...

Hi Roger
Drop me a mail and/or WhatsApp. I'll PM you my details.
 
Agree with RoganDawes. Seriously consider a fibre LAN solution. If one is prepared to go to the cost of a 100/100 ( fully symmetrical fibre) solution then why take short cuts on the "last inch" stuff? Install the fibre termination in the office area where the greatest usage is and extend into the home.

Install a decent fibre count cable between the home and the office. DON'T run fibre patch cords in a duct! (Compare prices but see if you can get hold of a 4 or 6 core SM cable. I used a 12 core off-cut that I got hold of for my fibre LAN. Never looked back.
Use Wi-Fi for access to mobile devices only.
 
I'm going to necro this thread because I have the same requirement. In Johannesburg, just moved house, gigabit line coming in but would like to finally let a pro do something about networking the house, rather than butcher it myself.

any pointers?
 
daelm said:
I'm going to necro this thread because I have the same requirement. In Johannesburg, just moved house, gigabit line coming in but would like to finally let a pro do something about networking the house, rather than butcher it myself.

any pointers?
Click to expand...
Yes, 10Gbit is pretty much pointless at this stage (Most consumer grade equipment doesn't really take advantage of it and I doubt you have a network that can make use of 10Gbit links). CAT6 is ok, you don't need CAT7A or what ever else anyone else is about to suggest. CAT6 can still do 10Gbit over 30M if need be. You are ok with normal CAT6 if you run it inside a house and not over a gap or over a roof. You really don't need fibre unless you are expecting some lightning attraction (see example of over a roof). Don't buy a a product solution that is Ubnt only (there are many brands out there), and stay away from Mikrotik unless you want to get someone to do all your network management as well. 1Gbit is fine now, but give a few years and 10Gbit is going to become more mainstream.
 
Genisys said:
Yes, 10Gbit is pretty much pointless at this stage (Most consumer grade equipment doesn't really take advantage of it and I doubt you have a network that can make use of 10Gbit links). CAT6 is ok, you don't need CAT7A or what ever else anyone else is about to suggest. CAT6 can still do 10Gbit over 30M if need be. You are ok with normal CAT6 if you run it inside a house and not over a gap or over a roof. You really don't need fibre unless you are expecting some lightning attraction (see example of over a roof). Don't buy a a product solution that is Ubnt only (there are many brands out there), and stay away from Mikrotik unless you want to get someone to do all your network management as well. 1Gbit is fine now, but give a few years and 10Gbit is going to become more mainstream.
Click to expand...
I honestly don't see 10Gbit becoming consumer grade technology for a good few years, except for exceptional requirements (e.g. 8k video editing/rendering to a NAS. And I'd not really class that as "consumer"!). Even streaming 8k video fits within 100Mbps, allowing 10 concurrent streams on a 1Gbit network.
 
daelm said:
I'm going to necro this thread because I have the same requirement. In Johannesburg, just moved house, gigabit line coming in but would like to finally let a pro do something about networking the house, rather than butcher it myself.

any pointers?
Click to expand...
If you are not doing 10G, Cat5e works just fine, just make sure that you are buying solid copper core cables.

Selection of AP is quite important in my opinion. It depends on the number if wireless devices you have and also the band (2.4GHz vs 5GHz) they support. I personally prefer UBNT products, but there are many equally brilliant products that would serve the same purpose.

I like separation of duties, so I got router, POE switch and APs in my home network setup, which has been super stable and fast. Wireless transferring speed (Wifi to Lan) average around 600MBPS in real environment when I'm relatively close to the AP, and faster when I have line-of-sight.
 
So my turn to Necro this thread, I am in two minds about just doing it myself or paying someone else to come and do all the work, so I am thinking of looking for someone in the PTA region, I will have all hardware, just need someone to do the cabling part of it and make it look neat so that my wife doesn't flip out
 
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