New house, new network, need direction

J

Joni Nitro

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Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Messages
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I have just bought my first house and I am wanting to setup of a solid network for all of my devices. My router and modem are located downstairs in my home theater/game room. What I am looking to do make my wireless portion of my network safe and as reliable as possible.

My first thought was to run cat5 or 6 everywhere, but I dont want to tear into sheetrock and fish lines all over.

Here is what I want to run from my network. I am looking for what hardware would be best. Should I consider an access point upstair to boost/maintain siganl strength? I need to be able to stream as high quality of media possible with wireless. I know 1080p might be out of the question. I do quite of bit of gaming on xbox live and will need to make sure that I can set it up as a priority over everyting else on the network.

Home theater: These will be hardwired
DirectTV HD DVR
Xbox
PS3
Workstation
Server

Son's Room:
WD Live Plus

Up stairs living room:
Wifi Bluray Player/Netflix/Pandora
Xbox 360 used for light gaming when company is over
DirectTV HD DVR

Up stairs office:
Laptop

Mobile devices:
2 ipads
2 cellphones

Finally, I would like to know what I can do for security at the network level. I am not too worried about my neighbor hacking into my network, but more like viruses and internet induced threats.

Thanks. Oh, btw, I have a 15mbps connection, but can upgrade to 30 if my bandwidth needs increase.
 
Untangle & 2-3 nic's inside, seperate the wireless from the wired etc etc.

It's what i used to do, ( just different appliance )

Do you have any of the equipment yet ?
 
The only thing I have right now is a Motorola Surfboard modem connected to my Belkin Wireless N+ router. I know, I know. Belkin is most definitely not my choice. So I am starting from scratch.

Are you saying run modem>to pc> one out to wireless router and one to wired?
 
Joni Nitro said:
The only thing I have right now is a Motorola Surfboard modem connected to my Belkin Wireless N+ router. I know, I know. Belkin is most definitely not my choice. So I am starting from scratch.

Are you saying run modem>to pc> one out to wireless router and one to wired?
Click to expand...

I'm saying build a Untangle firewall box depending on budget. Then buy / use your existing routers and use them as Wireless Ap's, You will need a 12-24 port switch too :)
 
What is the age of the house? Make sure to pop a phone jack off the wall and make sure you don't already have cat5 in the walls. And if you're lucky enough to, then see if it's a loop or all home runs to a central location, which will typically be the kitchen jack if there is no structured wiring panel.

Otherwise your options are an N router with a high gain antenna and/or repeater, or powerline adapter with switch or access point. If you go powerline, get a good one, especially if you're going to be pumping HD video through it; results on those will again be dependent on the age of the house and integrity of the electrical system.
 
The house was built in 93. So, its not ancient, but I didnt see and data lines with the phone.

I am going to go research the untangled box. I am not sure about having to get a 12 port switch. Seems like overkill, but I am sure its nice.

So, lets say I was just going to run a modem, router, and ap. What would be quality harware. Brand names aside, I want something that works. I dont mind do some tweaking and was looking into ddwrt capable routers. If I turn a N router into an AP and connect device to it via ethernet cable will it also extend or add reliabilty to any wifi devices around it?
 
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