A few questions regarding WiFi/UFB.

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8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2014934 12-May-2018 20:45

Linux: The best solution is Ethernet

John

I know that, but I can't get ethernet where I'm situated in the house. I could look at drilling a hole in the floor and traipsing a long ethernet cable up into my room.

Scott3

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#2014978 12-May-2018 23:55

Jorgen:
I know that, but I can't get ethernet where I'm situated in the house. I could look at drilling a hole in the floor and traipsing a long ethernet cable up into my room.

Running cables is a pain, but given you are gaming is worth the effort money to get your gaming pc hardwired.

If you have a crawl space under your house, use it.

chevrolux

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#2014981 13-May-2018 00:21

Linux:
Jorgen:
What about those power-to-Ethernet devices? Are they any good?

No

John

Powerline works extremely well in lots of situations.

OP - Powerline would be your next best option in lieu of a network cable.

Jase2985

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#2014994 13-May-2018 06:51

chevrolux:

Powerline works extremely well in lots of situations.

OP - Powerline would be your next best option in lieu of a network cable.

dont know that thats the case these days.

sparkz25

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#2015008 13-May-2018 08:58

Scott3:
Jorgen:

I know that, but I can't get ethernet where I'm situated in the house. I could look at drilling a hole in the floor and traipsing a long ethernet cable up into my room.

Running cables is a pain, but given you are gaming is worth the effort money to get your gaming pc hardwired.

If you have a crawl space under your house, use it.

running cables is easy, if you stop to think about it and how you are going to run it it wont take long at all!

always steer clear of wireless extenders and powerline extenders, Run a cable, it solves alot of problems in the long run!

for wifi i use and recommend the Ubiquiti UniFi Range, i have 3 at my house. there is one at either end of the house and one in the shed, and that pretty much covers the entire property.

I have just done a new install for a friend in his new house where we also installed 2 in his house, one in the main living area which is close to all the bedrooms and then one in the shed which is close to the office and kitchen and he has no issues at all, cables were run in the celing and pulled down the wall next to the ont which we also relocated as it was installed in the stupidest place so that got relocated to the garage.

1024kb

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#2015026 13-May-2018 10:00

Ahh, the issue that is far more prevalent than people realise. There you are with your free-with-contract router - the cheapest unit that your ISP felt they could get away with supplying, & every few months a bigger/better/faster device gets added to your network & drains the already meagre resource even further.

From what you've said, I recommend going mesh network - they're so easy for everyday people doing everyday things to use. From personal experience supplying solutions rather than pieces of hardware, Google WiFi is delightfully pretty & works, Ubiquiti Amplifi is a bit ugly but works, & probably performs a bit better than the Google product. Consider the form factors & make your choice - they're both $600 as 3-piece kits. You know you've delivered when the support phone calls stop, that's what these two mesh WiFi products have done for me every time.

If you've got some aptitude towards trading off some set-up & maintenance requirement in exchange for a more powerful network with more functions, I'd recommend Ubiquiti Unifi. John is right, ethernet is better - if you can possibly do it, 2 x Ubiquiti Unifi AP's using PoE will deliver massive capability, solving your WiFi issues for the foreseeable future.

If you prefer to not have to wrap your head around the technical requirements of Unifi, then Amplifi or Google WiFi will do the trick. When you eventually exhaust the carrying capability of the initial 3-point mesh, adding another node is too simple.

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

chevrolux

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#2015329 13-May-2018 19:59

Jase2985:
chevrolux:

Powerline works extremely well in lots of situations.

OP - Powerline would be your next best option in lieu of a network cable.

dont know that thats the case these days.

I would rate Powerline of ANY of the expensive wireless "mesh" options any day.

They are cheap, and work well in most situations. They only get let down when there are things like separate power phases and all that involved - unlikely in the majority of homes.

Plus it takes 30 seconds to install... Not half a day of crawling under the house, drilling holes blah blah blah - something lots of people can't do if they rent.

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Jase2985

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#2015342 13-May-2018 20:25

how much crawling do you need to do with a mesh system? none. its wireless. maybe google how the netgear orbi or something similar works.

richms

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#2015355 13-May-2018 20:35

I would rate powerline devices as terrible. Every time I have tried them they have failed to live up to even a few % of their claimed rates

Richard rich.ms

Kiwifruta

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#2015358 13-May-2018 20:39

Jorgen:

Linux:
Jorgen:

What about those power-to-Ethernet devices? Are they any good?

No

John

I suppose I'll just look into the mesh WiFi devices. It seems like the best solution for me right now.

Save yourself some money and follow sbiddle's advice if you really want WiFi (not great for gaming due to latency) or run ethernet cable from the router to your devices.

Dial111

978 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2015360 13-May-2018 20:46

richms:

I would rate powerline devices as terrible. Every time I have tried them they have failed to live up to even a few % of their claimed rates

This.

Last one I tried made absolutely minimal to no difference at all, even though the claimed speeds were supposed to be 3-4 times over what I was getting.

Ended up running network cable to the upstairs part of house and using another router for a 2nd AP.

sparkz25

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#2015408 13-May-2018 22:15

chevrolux:
Jase2985:

chevrolux:

Powerline works extremely well in lots of situations.

OP - Powerline would be your next best option in lieu of a network cable.

dont know that thats the case these days.

I would rate Powerline of ANY of the expensive wireless "mesh" options any day.

They are cheap, and work well in most situations. They only get let down when there are things like separate power phases and all that involved - unlikely in the majority of homes.

Plus it takes 30 seconds to install... Not half a day of crawling under the house, drilling holes blah blah blah - something lots of people can't do if they rent.

power line adapters are for lazy people and cost more than cable.

if its going to take you half a day to crawl under the house to run one cable then you clearly shouldnt be doing it as you have no idea what you are doing, so it would probably work out easier to pay a profassional to do it for you and they probably would be able to run it in less than an hour!

if they rent there are ways around that, you just have to be crafty and think about it, when you think about it it will be no different from a sky installer butchering a hole through the floor and running a cable now would it

1024kb

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#2015448 13-May-2018 23:21

Heh, I do love a good geek argument.

Peeps who know & generally respect each other yet have never met, getting all snappy like crocodiles over an easily fixable problem at someone else's house.

A good, entertaining read - better than watching telly!

Who's next?

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

chevrolux

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#2015460 14-May-2018 06:16

sparkz25:
chevrolux:
Jase2985:

chevrolux:

Powerline works extremely well in lots of situations.

OP - Powerline would be your next best option in lieu of a network cable.

dont know that thats the case these days.

I would rate Powerline of ANY of the expensive wireless "mesh" options any day.

They are cheap, and work well in most situations. They only get let down when there are things like separate power phases and all that involved - unlikely in the majority of homes.

Plus it takes 30 seconds to install... Not half a day of crawling under the house, drilling holes blah blah blah - something lots of people can't do if they rent.

power line adapters are for lazy people and cost more than cable.

if its going to take you half a day to crawl under the house to run one cable then you clearly shouldnt be doing it as you have no idea what you are doing, so it would probably work out easier to pay a profassional to do it for you and they probably would be able to run it in less than an hour!

if they rent there are ways around that, you just have to be crafty and think about it, when you think about it it will be no different from a sky installer butchering a hole through the floor and running a cable now would it

That's the point though isn't it. People who ask these questions DON'T know what they are doing. And by the time they work out drilling a tidy hole and dragging the cable through it's half a day later.
And then paying a pro makes it FAR more expensive than buying $50 worth of powerline.
I would be pissed if a tenant drilled through floors in my house... it would be grounds of bond deduction at the very least.

Powerline Is cheap, easy, and works well in the majority of situations.

froob

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#2015462 14-May-2018 06:53

FWIW I’ve installed power line adapters for my parents and they seem to work reliably, albeit not as fast and low latency as cat5e/6. Their house is multi storey on a slab, with very little accessible ceiling space, so running cable basically means removing wall linings (and re-wallpapering). From their perspective, not at all worth it.

My house on the other hand is single storey with good subfloor access, and it has been relatively easy to install cabling more or less anywhere.

So, I would say that the best approach is going to depend a lot on the circumstances of the house.

Guide: Installing Network Cabling in New Zealand Homes

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