Best setup for wifi gigabit

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Wag

[H]ard|Gawd
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I posted this on another forum and wasn't getting responses so I thought it was more appropriate to post here:

I just moved and unfortunately it's not practical to wire up my whole apartment for Cat6. I want to get FIOS gigabit- I'm trying to at least wire to my PC.

Right now I have two routers- A Linksys wrt3200acm and a wrt1200ac. Because most of my primary equipment is line of sight (in a really large living room) I might get another wrt3200acm and have them set up in 160MHz bridge mode. Basically it's my PC, a NAS/Media server (closet?) and a 4K TV way at the other end of the room.

Also, my new place is in a 100+ yr old school converted to condos, it's pretty much a fortress. I have trouble getting cell reception as I walk inward away from the walls towards the bedroom. Not too concerned about getting perfect reception in the bedroom but eventually I'd like to put a 4k TV in there as well.

Would two wrt3200acm's be enough for now or is there a better/faster solution? If I can't wire up my PC would an Asus PCE-AC88 wireless PCI-e card do the trick?
 
By the sounds of the construction of this place, WiFi is going to be a real bugger too. Even in most perfect scenarios getting 1Gbit is not an easy feat for home equipment and users.

I would look into getting a Ubiquiti Unifi Solution so you can have a central controller for your APs.
 
Fios comes up through the entrance way closet. There's no power in the closet and they want to drill a hole through the wall to plug in the ONT. I'm not really big on that, they usually do a crappy job. I'm going to see if I can get a handyman to wire an outlet in the closet (on the opposite side of one on the adjacent wall).

I might have them drill a hole anyways- if I do that I can run some Cat6 through the hole and put the router on a shelf outside the closet, maybe the NAS inside the closet). Yes, it's going to be a PITA. To wire up my PC I'm going to have to run the cable out the closet and over the door frame.

But as I said- wouldn't another wrt3200acm do the job? They're just on both sides of the room. I could then just do another bridge from the 2nd 3200, through the bedroom wall to the 1200ac.

Yes, it's starting to get complicated. lol

How fast is a Unify HD?
 
You could try higher-end powerline networking. Lots of factors can throw it off, but if it works, you can get an access point further away without clouding spectrum.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
You could try higher-end powerline networking. Lots of factors can throw it off, but if it works, you can get an access point further away without clouding spectrum.
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As I said it's a very old building, I'm not sure how good the wiring is. I just found out the intercom is broken and they have no intention of fixing it because the cost is prohibitive.

What are some of the better higher-end powerline networking brands?
 
IdiotInCharge said:
You could try higher-end powerline networking. Lots of factors can throw it off, but if it works, you can get an access point further away without clouding spectrum.
Click to expand...

For this, I'd rather just run one POE CAT6 rather than do Powerline just to get out to another AP. Powerline is a solution, but it's not necessarily much better than WiFi, and certainly not as good as an actual hardline.

I would recommend Powerline more as an outright replacement for WiFi, but it has significant issues if your trying to get to rooms that aren't on the same branch circuit and it has to go back through the circuit breaker.

I agree with a Ubiquiti solution - that's probably your best bet. MOCA is a good suggestion as well.
 
First I need to get an electrician in to see if I can even get power into the closet where the ONT is to be installed.

I really don't want to run Cat6 around the inside of my front door frame, but I will if I have to.

If I put a shelf outside the closet where my ONT is I can put my router there. What kind of bandwidth would I get from a wrt3200ac to an Asus PCE-AC88 in my PC only around 6ft away? Yes I know it's only 6ft direct line of sight, but wiring is a PITA.

Then I still have to get the wifi to my Nvidia Shield to stream 4k from my NAS in the closet. Same room.

There are at least 10 wifi networks in the building so I wonder how well two wrt3200acms in 160MHz bridge mode would work?

Yes, I know, easier and cheaper to let FIOS wire (and fuck up) my new condo with Cat6. I'd let them do it if they didn't do such a shitty job.
 
If you had new wiring and a dedicated circuit box you could def get away with wireless extenders with POE plugs and use a short Ethernet cable and allow them to be "wired" access points. I did that with my moms last year because she complained of dropped zones and my sister, b-inlaw and her two kids were living there because they were supposed to move into their new house but the construction had fallen behind so they lived there for six month. So lots of activity with all the laptops, iPad, streaming HD and such. I had a Linksys WRT1200AC and two Linksys RE6700 extenders that were sitting in my closet at home because I recently upgraded to a newer setup since I have FIOS where I live. I took back the old comcast all in one modem/wireless device, upgraded her internet service to 150mb and got her a surfboard modem and then plugged in the WRT off the surfboard and purchased three POE plugs and plugged the RE6700's into those on both the second floor and basement. Worked like a charm for five people streaming everything.
 
The Cobra said:
If you had new wiring and a dedicated circuit box you could def get away with wireless extenders with POE plugs and use a short Ethernet cable and allow them to be "wired" access points. I did that with my moms last year because she complained of dropped zones and my sister, b-inlaw and her two kids were living there because they were supposed to move into their new house but the construction had fallen behind so they lived there for six month. So lots of activity with all the laptops, iPad, streaming HD and such. I had a Linksys WRT1200AC and two Linksys RE6700 extenders that were sitting in my closet at home because I recently upgraded to a newer setup since I have FIOS where I live. I took back the old comcast all in one modem/wireless device, upgraded her internet service to 150mb and got her a surfboard modem and then plugged in the WRT off the surfboard and purchased three POE plugs and plugged the RE6700's into those on both the second floor and basement. Worked like a charm for five people streaming everything.
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As I said, there's nothing new about this building. Everything here is from '86.

So I have a few options. At 6ft line of sight I should get close to 1Gbps, especially if I get a Asus PCE-AC88 and a 4x4 router. Or I could just let them wire everything.

How fast do the Ubiquity AC pros get at short distances?

Also, if I wanted to put my NAS/media server in the closet with the ONT and the router on a shelf on the other side what kind of wall plates do I need? Just 2 plates on both sides with 2 Cat 6 Jack's?
 
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