Network Help

sep8001

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Hi

Looking for some help/suggestions with my setup please.

I am on Vm200 and am using unifi ac pro for wifi.

When I bought the house in 2004 I should have cabled the house, but did not as at that time there was no one to advise that it would be good option to get it all run:(.

So now a few years later and having Vm and not being able to get the max all over the house I am thinking of retro fitting ethernet.

My machine is hard wired to the router, all other device are wireless, however I am at present using homeplugs near the tv as that is wired into the homeplug, and a second homeplug that has the second ac pro connected.

I have attached a plan of the house, the VM router is on the first floor box room, this is also where the first unifi ac pro sits, wifi in the room and landing upstairs is near the 200mbps speed, however downstairs where I have the second AP the max I can get is 60-70mbps due to the homeplugs.

An ideal solution would be to move the router under the stairs and run some ethernet around the house, but that is not an option without I presume chasing into the walls or removing the flooring as I would prefer to have the cables hidden.

The other option I presume would be to purchase a Unifi Poe, and have three outputs, one for the first unifi ap to sit in the top landing, second one to run to the back of the house for the second ap and another one to run to the TV at the front of the house.

All 3 cables would have to go out of the box room wall, up into the loft and from there run to the closest point where they could be run down on the outside wall to the point were they would go back into the house.

Or would it be better to run one cable into the loft, have the poe switch in the loft and run the cables from there to the points where they would come back into the house, with this I presume I can have multiple drops/wires run to the locations.

Are there any other suggestion or should I just stick with the wifi I have in the back or move to a mesh system, also any idea on cost to get the wiring run based on me being in NW London.

Thank you in advance for your help and sorry about the long post.

Regards
 

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Have been looking at various threads and I think at this stage the best option would be to get a unifi 8 port lite switch with the POE place in the attic, run one cable from the router in the box room to the outside wall, and up into the attic and from there run the cable to the the necessary points.

So I can have two going down the outside at the front into the sitting room and one or may be two to the back of the house to connect the AP.

Is there a better option, and what cat 6 cable should I be looking for, I think external grade should be a better option as that would cover the cable on the outside and the runs in the attic.

Any other suggestion greatly appreciated.

Thank you
 
Functionally it'll make practically no difference. Adding an extra switch in your loft is additional capital expense and you need to supply power up there. Loft's are not the best places for active equipment - cold in the winter and host and humid the summer. It doesn't mean it won't "work" but it may shorten it's lifetime a bit.

Other ways to "hide" UTP could be replacing the skirting boards with ones that have a channel in the back (or cut them yourself) but removing and replacing the skirts will be messy. Cable trunking is available for surface mounting, but whilst it's neater than "bare" cables clipped to things, they are certainly not invisible. A lot of the smaller section trunking has a self adhesive foam backing so you don't even need to get the drill - just stick them on.
 
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Functionally it'll make practically no difference. Adding an extra switch in your loft is additional capital expense and you need to supply power up there. Loft's are not the best places for active equipment - cold in the winter and host and humid the summer. It doesn't mean it won't "work" but it may shorten it's lifetime a bit.

Other ways to "hide" UTP could be replacing the skirting boards with once that have a channel in the back (or cut them yourself) but removing and replacing the skirts will be messy. Cable trunking is available for surface mounting, but whilst it's neater than "bare" cables clipped to things, they are certainly not invisible. A lot of the smaller section trunking has a self adhesive foam backing so you don't even need to get the drill - just stick them on.
Thank you @mickevh ,

I don't really want to pull out the skirting to chase the wire or run the cable along the skirting all the way down. The OH will not be happy with that option hence the run from the outside.
 
@mushii

Sorry in advance for tagging you.

Need your help please.

Need suggestions on what external cat 6 cable and rj45 connectors to get please.

Already have a crimping tool, so just want to connect two ends run a cable down to the access point and test that I get the max at the ap.

If it works then the plan is to pull a cable to the back of the house for one ap, another to the middle of the top landing and two to the front to the sitting room which would be connected to a ethernet faceplate.

Thank you
 
External grade Cat6 is not ideal for terminating into RJ45 plugs, you really want to terminate into sockets.

kenable External CAT6 Outdoor Use COPPER Ethernet Network Cable Reel UTP 50m Black [50 metres] Amazon product ASIN B01HVTVMDQ
should be fine cable wise if you only need a short length of cable.
 
External grade Cat6 is not ideal for terminating into RJ45 plugs, you really want to terminate into sockets.

kenable External CAT6 Outdoor Use COPPER Ethernet Network Cable Reel UTP 50m Black [50 metres] Amazon product ASIN B01HVTVMDQ
should be fine cable wise if you only need a short length of cable.
Thank you for the information.

I was thinking of getting a 100m reel so have enough to run to all the necessary point.

In terms of the cable and the RJ45 connectors would it be better to just get the outdoor use ones as opposed to external cat6?

And I presume if I go external cat 6 they need to terminate into an ethernet faceplace with keystone connector?

How would cat 6 connect to a switch?

Sorry for all the noob questions.

Thank you
 
Bulk cable is usually designed to terminate on standard IDC "punch down" blocks as availed in "normal" faceplates, patch panels and so on.

"Keystone" is a particular range of modular faceplate and connectors such that various modules of different types of plugs and connectors can be "snapped" into a common faceplate design. (There are various variations on this theme from many manufacturers.)

Whilst you can use Keystone with IDC for cable termination, it's by no means mandatory. There are plenty of connection options available that are "just" IDC (which might be a bit cheaper and physically more robust.) I'd be inclined to price up both alternatives.

Others here are (much) better qualified than I to comment on how to dress off external cables and ensure the penetration into the building is weatherproof and so on.
 
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Bulk cable is usually designed to terminate on standard IDC "punch down" blocks as availed in "normal" faceplates, patch panels and so on.

"Keystone" is a particular range of modular faceplate and connectors such that various modules of different types of plugs and connectors can be "snapped" into a common faceplate design. (There are various variations on this theme from many manufacturers.)

Whilst you can use Keystone with IDC for cable termination, it's by no means mandatory. There are plenty of connection options available that are "just" IDC (which might be a bit cheaper and physically more robust.) I'd be inclined to price up both alternatives.

Others here are (much) better qualified than I to comment on how to dress off external cables and ensure the penetration into the building is weatherproof and so on.
Thank you for replying. Might go with your first suggestion and get the cable linked above, just run it down to the AP and see what coverage and speed I get before deciding on spending more and getting all the other wires run and the switch.
 
@mushii @mickevh

Thank you both for the help and suggestions.

Ordered the cable in the link direct from the supplier with the RJ45 connectors, connect one end to the router, the other to the AP downstairs and the downstairs AP was not at full speed of 200mbps.

So now just need to wait for a good day and try and run the cable round the house.🤞🏽

Thank you
 
Was about to order all the bits, and the found this thread:


So may have to go back to the drawing board, as I think having a unifi poe switch in the attaic may be a big no.
:facepalm:
 

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