On Tue, May 28, 2024 at 12:43:14PM +1000, George at Clug wrote: > > > On Tuesday, 28-05-2024 at 12:05 Paul M Foster wrote: > > On Mon, May 27, 2024 at 05:09:02PM -0400, Paul M Foster wrote: > > > > > Folks: > > > > > > At some point this year, I'm moving into a new house, and it is not wired > > > for internet (WHY aren't new houses wired with Cat5/6/7?). The local > > > internet provider will likely provide a wireless router, as they all do. > > > My > > > idea is to put a device which receives wireless signal from the > > > router/modem, and has an RJ45 jack in it in each room. So each room would > > > have one of these, and the devices in it would be hooked to that device > > > via > > > cat 5e. I hope that's clear. > > > > > > I'd like to shop for such a device, but I don't know what it's called. Can > > > anyone provide advice, and possibly preferred brand names? I'd appreciate > > > it. > > > > > > > I did some more research, and it looks like I must have misstated the > > problem. > > > > Let's assume I can't get in the attic and wire the place. Let's assume that > > I've got a wireless router/modem in, say, the garage. Let's say I have > > three rooms with devices I want to connect (one way or another) to my > > router/modem. > > > > It appears there are two solutions. One is wifi extenders, and one is a > > mesh network. In both cases, the device sits in the room and communicates > > via wifi to the modem/router. The devices in the room connect to the device > > via ethernet cable. > > > > How does that sound? Any dissenting opinions? Any brand recommendations? > > > > > Paul, >
> My sister's house has a raked roof (i.e. no cavity), and sits on a > concrete slab. Without removing sheets of iron from the roof there was no > simple answer for running a Ethernet cable. > > One suggestion given to us was to run Ethernet cable in conduit on the > outside of house. Not an elegant solution. > > How many rooms you want to have computers in? The more rooms you have > could increase complexity of your solution. > > What we ended up using was Mesh system. As a proof of concept I used two > FRITZ!Box 7490 as I own two of these devices, and very much like them. > One FRITZ!Box 7490 was used as the router/modem, the other as the > repeater (this modem has dual features). This worked quite well. > Fortunately my sister does not play first person shooter games as I > believe Mesh systems slightly increase network latency. > https://avm.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Global/Produkte/FRITZBox/7490/Special_en/7490_special_en.html > > We found that walls are too good at soaking up Wifi signals. The > distances between modems and computers was the main challenge. > > If you had the money, I would get a cable installer to do a proper job of > running cables. I used to be an Electrician, hence I am familiar with > running wires, so in my own home I ran Ethernet cable where ever needed > (and we have a cavity ceiling). I am guessing this option is not possible > for your situation. Coincidentally, I used to be an electrician too, but we almost never ran low voltage except for doorbells. The house in question appears to have a generous attic, but they've blown in two feet of insulation I'd rather not disturb. And that much insulation makes the headers of walls very hard to find. Also, I'm not in my 20s anymore, and crawling around in attics is difficult. In the house I'm living in now, I did go into the attic years ago with cat 5e and wired up the living room. FWIW, in the house we're buying, I need internet (wired) in the living room, bedroom 2 and bedroom 4. Also, it's concrete block construction (outer walls). Paul -- Paul M. Foster Personal Blog: http://noferblatz.com Company Site: http://quillandmouse.com Software Projects: https://gitlab.com/paulmfoster
