New to UPC

Mark.87

So I recently got UPC installed into my house. I have 2 things I hope you may be able to help me with!!!

1) Where the Cisco wireless router / modem is located doesn't give great coverage all around the house. What is the best way to improve this? I have used range extenders in the past but don't like that you have to connect to a different connection and that you also loose some speed with them. The house is Cat5e cabled so I am wondering if something like an access point over the other side of the house would be best. If so is there any particular models that work best with the Cisco UPC router. Also does it have to be an access point or could I just use an old wi/fi router I have and re-configure it?

2) I do a bit of work from home and am wondering if I need to get a dedicated hardware firewall. Does the Cisco UPC modem have a good built-in firewall? I don't have a need for a VPN quite yet as I normally just bring my laptop home and work from it locally and most of my files are on cloud storage. Basically it would just be for additional security if necessary.

Thanks in advance for the info!!!

white_westie

1) Where the Cisco wireless router / modem is located doesn't give great coverage all around the house. What is the best way to improve this? I have used range extenders in the past but don't like that you have to connect to a different connection and that you also loose some speed with them. The house is Cat5e cabled so I am wondering if something like an access point over the other side of the house would be best. If so is there any particular models that work best with the Cisco UPC router. Also does it have to be an access point or could I just use an old wi/fi router I have and re-configure it?

Yes you can use an old wifi router, do it myself with cat6 cable linking the 2 front to back of house.
Generally what you do is switch off dhcp on it and give it a static ip address that's in the same subnet as given out by your upc router, but outside its dhcp range. You can then choose whatever channel, ssid, as well as what encryption (if any) you want to use.

bk

Detailed instructions here on how to use an old wifi router to extend the range of your wifi in your house:

http://www.labnol.org/software/add-router-to-wireless-network/19716/

As to needing a hardware firewall, it certainly wouldn't hurt, but I don't think it would be necessary.

I work from home myself a few days a week and I don't bother with one. To be honest if you use the usual security precautions you should be fine.

Namely up to date antivirus, software firewall, operating system software automatically updated. If you are using Windows then Microsofts free Windows Defender software which includes AV software and firewall are perfectly fine.

Mark.87

Thanks for the info guys

p.s. bk, nice find on the blog, its got some great stuff in there