Home Networking

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HOME NETWORKING ADVICE HERE, PLEASE 🙏🏾 (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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For some context, there are

4 pink cables. These are all CAT 5E cables, with RJ45 jacks. The four are named: DEMARC, Family Room, Room Room, & Master Bedroom.
4 white cables. These are all coaxial cables (with the copper wire protruding). The four are also named: DEMARC, Family Room, Game Room, & Master Bedroom.

Currently, the ‘DEMARC coaxial cable’ is connected to the ‘Family Room coaxial cable’ and the combo router (NETGEAR router + modem) in the Family Room is connected on the other end using another coaxial cable running from the wall to the combo router (which is on the first floor).

There is good internet connection on the first floor, but it utterly sucks on the second floor.

I got a WiFi extender and I put it half way between the first floor and second floor, but it’s useless. It doesn’t help at all. The speed on the first floor for the 5GHz WiFi is about 400 gbps, but by the time it gets to the stairs, it about 20gbps.

I plan to utilize the wired connection for max. network. What’s the best way to optimize this? I did some research on how a networking switch would help here, but I’m not sure where to put the combo router to optimize it - the aim is such that there’ll still be good network on the first floor for visitors and good network on the second floor as well (for gaming & WFH).

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Good reply! One detail I'd add:

If you give this Access Point the same WiFi SSID and password as your current Netgear, then devices can potentially "roam" between them when moving from one floor to another.

This is true, but some devices are very bad at giving up a negotiated link, so you might end up with bad performance because your device is trying to not to the AP that was the closest when you brought the network up, but you then walked to the other floor. So you may (depending on your devices) need to force your WiFi to reassociate (usually disconnecting and reconnecting to WiFi does this) if you're roaming from one AP to the other frequently.

There are fancier setups where you have multiple APs and a central controller; the advantage of these systems is the controller can decide that you're talking to the "wrong" AP and force you to disassociate. I don't personally know many people who have bothered with something this complex in their home, but it's quite common if you're trying to setup WiFi for a campus.