Home network help in large house

[leamspaceman]

A friend of a friend wants me to help set-up a home network for them. I've not seen the house but I've been told it's huge and has outbuildings that need to be networked. From what I believe we are talking 'mansion' size...maybe bigger!

Apparently they have wireless routers but these dont seem to be working properly or that well.

I've been thinking of going over there and trying out some homeplugs. I use these myself and have put them into a few peoples homes and they work really well. The thing is with the house in question, the outbuildings are supposedly on a different ring main? Dont know enough about that myself but I've heard that homeplugs will only work on the same ring main?

I'm also wondering about something that has never crossed my mind before? If I used homeplugs, is there any way that I can plug a homeplug into a socket thats being fed the network signal, and then somehow make this network outlet wireless? The homeplug idea is great but how do I then facilitate wireless access from the homeplug network point?

I'd like to be able to set this network up for this person but need a bit of guidance.

 

[xPositor]

Disregarding the budget issues...

I live in an old stone house where the wireless signal doesn't penetrate the walls that well.

I use Linksys wireless routers, and have a combination of these cabled and as repeaters. I've also added in better aerials (not sure that's the word, but you will hopefully know what I mean) to get better range where its needed. These just work and I never have to reboot them.

All this hangs together off the same network, and everything manages to talk to each other.

All of my wireless routers transmit using the same SSID, and have the same keys defined, so wireless kit can move around without having to worry about being reconfigured all the time.

Also, some of the new wireless N kit has a longer range than previous (a/b/g) standards, so you might achieve something there.

One consideration is that you want everything centrally to hang off a switch, not a router. To get your homeplugs to then talk to other devices you could get away with mini-hubs - or directly connect via ethernet cable the router to the homeplug (make sure you use the correct cable - straight through or cross-over depending upon what the boxes requirements are - if they are auto-sensing you won't need to worry about that though).

Best recommendation though is to plan it all. Use something like Visio (or equivalent) to draw up the topology that you want to deploy. Name things sensibly, so that SNMP makes sense later in the day (BARN-WIRELESS-1 makes much more sense than a generic LINKSYSWRG41 when you're polling your devices, for example).

HTH.

 

[nburg01]

First rule of networking, keep it simple. Yes, homeplugs will work even if different rings exist within the house. To get wireless, just connect a wireless router to one of the homeplugs with a regular Cat5/Cat5e cable, and that's your wireless sorted.

 

[echrada]

If you go up to the N standard instead of g your wireless signal will travel at least double what it is doing now. Try it you won't be disappointed. I use a Belkin N1 wireless modem router and I have never looked back.

 

[makaio]

Regarding the Wireless N route - you may want to try and stick to all the same manufacturer kit, as there have been issues with compatibility.

Also - rather than using wireless routers plugged into the homeplugs, just go with a wireless access point (I'm assuming here that they'll be significantly cheaper, but they'll also cause less of a problem for you).

 

[Stuart Wright]

Yes, homeplugs will work even if different rings exist within the house.

mmm I don't think so.
Our house is two semis knocked through so the wiring is a bit wierd.
The wife's office upstairs is connected to the main hub in my office downstairs using a Zyxel homeplug pair and it works very well.

I don't think I'm hijacking this thread because I think my problem is identical to the original poster.
I want to put an IP security camera on the carport roof, connected via the homeplug to the hub in my office and I tested the homeplug connection using the wife's laptop and Zyxel plugged into a socket on the carport wall outside the kitchen. It didn't connect to the internet. Plugged in back upstairs it worked perfectly. I can only conclude that because the kitchen/carport sockets are on a different ring main (born out by the configuration of trips in the fusebox), the homeplugs don't work.

I also need a way to solve this problem but without the use of wireless which suffers from interference from the microwave, Wii and 360 remotes and video senders. And the wireless router interferes with the video senders, which is the main reason I don't like them.

The only solution i can think of at the moment is to hardwire with cat5 from my office round the house to the car port (incidentally along the same path as the Sky dish cable), but this is obviously not as neat or convenient solution as using a couple of homeplugs.

Is there anything I can do?
Thanks.

 

[nburg01]

If the rings are on different fuse boxes then this will cause a problem for homeplugs. You're only option is Cat5e.

 

[xPositor]

What we could do with is somebody to design a fuseboard that's got homeplug built-in, and which also acts as a switch. The switch would then have an uplink in to the rest of your network.

Of course, depending upon your wiring capability, you could add in plug sockets on to each ring next to your fusebox, and plug-in homeplug units there, each connected in to a normal switch.

This way, it wouldn't matter which ring you were attempting to connect from, everything would be routed for you.

 

[leamspaceman]

Thanks for all your input guys...much appreciated.

There doesn't seem to be agreement though on whether homeplugs will work on different ring mains? From what I understand, in the situation I'll be working in, there are different ring mains but only one fusebox. Will they work? What if there is more than one fusebox?

I also need clarification on wireless. Will I need to plug routers into the homeplugs or will wireless extenders do the job?

Thanks again guys.

 

[nburg01]

If there is only one fusebox then homeplugs should work fine.

As for wireless, if you don't want to share internet access amongst the client PCs then go for a wireless extender. I originally suggested a router as I assumed you'd be sharing the broadband amongst all PCs.

 

[Stuart Wright]

Our ringmains are connected to the same fusebox and do not work.

 

[FaxFan2002]

Could you ID two plugs near each other on different ring mains and uplink them with cat5? i.e. create a bridge between the two ring mains ? Just a thought.

Then you'd only have 1 run of cat5, but would require 2 homeplugs - not sure if that would be cost effective or not.

 

[atr1981]

I'm not sure if I would go with the wireless route really. Certainly not the N route anyway, it is not ratified and if/when it does the standard may have changed completely and you will be stuck with propreitry kit.

The home plug system does indeed sound your best bet. I do like the idea of them.

What sort of files are going to be transferred ? Is it purely internet browsing ?

 

[beerhunter]

Could you ID two plugs near each other on different ring mains and uplink them with cat5? i.e. create a bridge between the two ring mains ? Just a thought.

Homeplugs will work between ring mains unless the ring mains are in different phases or something unnatural has been done at the fusebox(es). If two Ring Mains are on different phases then it would be EXTREMELY dangerous to have two sockets near each other.

 

[whitters366]

To Stuart Wright

Stuart,

In your first post on the thread, you mentioned that the house you live in used to be two semi's. Is this correct? If so, then this may explain your problem, as normally, neighbouring houses are supplied using different phases (of the three that make up 480V), and HomePlugs can not work across phases. If the two houses have had their incoming mains put through to the same fusebox, then some of your ring mains may be on one phase, and some may be on another....

To The OP

You may find that you have the same issues as Stuart does, depending on how the mains has been set up. I would suggest using HomePlugs, and if you have some already, maybe testing them on the various outbuildings would be the way to go, before purchasing any new kit.

When it comes down to it, I would always suggest proper, hard-wired Cat5 installations (or even fibre?), there is NO substitute!

That was my two-pence-worth, I hope it helps!

 

[FaxFan2002]

Homeplugs will work between ring mains unless the ring mains are in different phases or something unnatural has been done at the fusebox(es). If two Ring Mains are on different phases then it would be EXTREMELY dangerous to have two sockets near each other.

Eeek! But could you put a single run of CAT5 in linking the two over a distance - surely better than running lots of CAT5 around or is there something more going on over the CAT5 that cause something to go bang?