Wired WiFi Mesh entire house

briaineo

Hi

Would anyone have any advice on a WiFi mesh for a new build; fully wired for 8 rooms?

I’m at the wiring stage of a new build.

Was planning to install and wired plug in connection to each room and also include a wired mesh in the ceiling.
Quite new to all this: running all wires back to a patch panel and switch.

Can I run the cable alongside electrical cable runs or will this cause interference.

I’ve to run the wires in the next week, I’ve purchased the Cat 6a cable and tester, crimper so far

Thanks

OU812

I had the opportunity to retro fit network cable when we had the floors up about five years ago, I put two double ports in two corners of each room downstairs (quad where the TV is) and one double in each room upstairs (Cat 5A).

Best advice I can give is to plan it out well as if you're not going to put in a mesh.

I also have a mesh system, max units (Google Wifi) is five.

gfaces

I did this in my house. Ran cat 6 cable to all the rooms. Like you I ran all wires back to a patch panel then onto a switch. I havent used mesh however. I instead used ubiquiti AC LR and AC lite access points together with a ubiquiti controller. The access points are ceiling mounted in a number of rooms. The ubiquiti controller is not needed is an added bonus if you want to manage the network remotely. Since I installed it I havent had any issues. It just works never a bother.

gfaces

I should note the access points are hard wired. So cable was ran from patch panel to the various access points in the ceiling. The access points are POE so you would need a POE enabled switch. I used a NETGEAR 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet PoE Network Switch (GS108PP). You then have the added bonus of being able to run other items from the POE switch (cameras etc.)

babelfish1990

briaineo wrote: »

Hi

Would anyone have any advice on a WiFi mesh for a new build; fully wired for 8 rooms?

I’m at the wiring stage of a new build.

Was planning to install and wired plug in connection to each room and also include a wired mesh in the ceiling.
Quite new to all this: running all wires back to a patch panel and switch.

Can I run the cable alongside electrical cable runs or will this cause interference.

I’ve to run the wires in the next week, I’ve purchased the Cat 6a cable and tester, crimper so far

Thanks

I would recommend using Ubiquiti Unifi Access Points, powered by a POE Ethernet switch at your hub. No need to use the Ubiquiti controller or router - just use your ISP router and switch off the WiFi in it. Ubiquiti is a mesh system although they dont hype this as it has traditionally been sold mainly to enterprise customers rather than domestic.

Remember to run additional cables to any locations where you might want security cameras. These can also be powered POE. Consider running a couple of extra cables
outdoors if you want full WiFi coverage in the garden. If your home is A-rated after refurb, dont expect the Wi-Fi coverage to reliably work through windows and external walls. Ubiquiti have an outfoor version of their AP for this.
Try to colocate your hub where your ISP enters the home, if possible. Not essential, but it allows you to install a small UPS to power your entire network in the event of a power cut.

gfaces

babelfish1990 wrote: »

I would recommend using Ubiquiti Unifi Access Points, powered by a POE Ethernet switch at your hub. No need to use the Ubiquiti controller or router - just use your ISP router and switch off the WiFi in it. Ubiquiti is a mesh system although they dont hype this as it has traditionally been sold mainly to enterprise customers rather than domestic.

Remember to run additional cables to any locations where you might want security cameras. These can also be powered POE. Consider running a couple of extra cables
outdoors if you want full WiFi coverage in the garden. If your home is A-rated after refurb, dont expect the Wi-Fi coverage to reliably work through windows and external walls. Ubiquiti have an outfoor version of their AP for this.
Try to colocate your hub where your ISP enters the home, if possible. Not essential, but it allows you to install a small UPS to power your entire network in the event of a power cut.

Have you used any of the in wall access points from ubiquiti. Thinking of adding one or two Ubiquiti UAP-AC-IW to replace existing rj45 ports in rooms.

babelfish1990

gfaces wrote: »

Have you used any of the in wall access points from ubiquiti. Thinking of adding one or two Ubiquiti UAP-AC-IW to replace existing rj45 ports in rooms.

No - I don't think that model was available when I was installing mine. It would have been ideal for me, as some of my APs were going onto existing wall boxes where there had been phone points! The circular profile didn't fit as neat - and I had to move one of them to avoid overlapping with an existing power socket.

niallb

gfaces wrote: »

Have you used any of the in wall access points from ubiquiti. Thinking of adding one or two Ubiquiti UAP-AC-IW to replace existing rj45 ports in rooms.

I have and I'm very happy with it. Easily installed and has holes to screw into several different kinds of wall boxes - it's a lot taller than the usual box, so if you're close to the floor or ceiling you may have issues.

It adds on to the unifi system I already had with a pair of the ceiling UAP-AC points and is managed in the same control panel.

gfaces

niallb wrote: »

I have and I'm very happy with it. Easily installed and has holes to screw into several different kinds of wall boxes - it's a lot taller than the usual box, so if you're close to the floor or ceiling you may have issues.

It adds on to the unifi system I already had with a pair of the ceiling UAP-AC points and is managed in the same control panel.

Interesting at first I was unsure of them. As you note they look kinda long. I think the previous model from ubiquiti was more like this one from tenda https://www.tendacn.com/en/product/w6-s.html . Thinking about it further
I think its cleaner to connect the ethernet from underneath. Most of my rj45 ports are singles so installing some of these would double the ports and have the added bonus that one port is POE out.



All the ubiquiti stuff syncs into the system nicely as you note. Did you turn

the power down on any of the IW AC's or did you just leave it on Auto.

niallb

I had to fine tune the 2.4GHz band by setting a minimum RSSI on it to prevent my daughter's google home mini connecting to it, but in general the auto settings are very good. It's easy to see what's going on from the control panel anyway, and you'll get a warning if any particular device is having issues so it's fairly easy to track down.

Our InWall is a long way from the switch through three attics and an external wall and no problems with power (POE). My father lives next door and has been writing a lot during lockdown, so decent internet was required in his office which is almost as far as it's possible to be from the main switch. My sister was living with him during the first lockdown. She's a musician and did a lot of live performance and recording over the link so we've tested the device to the limit!