Additional WiFi / Ethernet points

[Teebs]

Morning all,

As part of an extension, I've had my electrician put Cat5 cable into a new home office and a new garage room.

I need both better WiFi and cabled connection in both rooms and I'm trying to understand what equipment I will need to buy. Both connections will be wired up to a Virgin Router (mk 3 model).

Will something like ;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-C50-Wireless-Supp...

Work ok (one in each room)?.

Primary concern is a strong WiFi signal in the garage and good cabled connection for the home office

Anything else to consider?

Thanks

[NorthDave]

Normally you would put an access point on the end of each cable and one in the house too. Something like Unifi as this would give one network throughout and allow good roaming etc. If you need to hardwire equipment in the office too then install a small switch to give you more connections.

You'll probably get lots of options from others about how they do exactly the same with cheaper equipment but the above is the best way to do it. I do this stuff professionally so evaluate kit all the time.

[Teebs]

NorthDave said:

Normally you would put an access point on the end of each cable and one in the house too. Something like Unifi as this would give one network throughout and allow good roaming etc. If you need to hardwire equipment in the office too then install a small switch to give you more connections.

You'll probably get lots of options from others about how they do exactly the same with cheaper equipment but the above is the best way to do it. I do this stuff professionally so evaluate kit all the time.

Thanks, appreciate the reply - could you point me in the right direction in terms of equipment required?

[buggalugs]

Yeah you don’t want another router, I don’t speak Unifi but a tp link eap225 would do the job. There’s management software to run them also.

[Piersman2]

Hi OP, you've got a few options but what you've described sounds like what I did a couple of months back.

I ran cat6 cabling to 3 relatively distant points from the main router location (was Virgin 3 box at that time). I plugged the cat 6 cables directly into the VM3 hub and used simple Lan switch to manage the other various items previously directly connect to the hub (NAS's, printer, CCTV, etc...)

Then I decided to upgrade everything as the WIFI signal from the VM hub was still so weak across the remote areas of the house.

So I upgraded to VM4 1GB broadband. The VM4 hub was shockingly awful. After struggling with it for a few days I cracked and decide to splash out a few more quid and bought a Ubiquiti router and a DECO mesh set of 3 AP. The VM4 was switched to modem only, the Ubiquiti router then took over the router functionality and the 3 DECO mesh points were dsitributed around the house and hard wired into the CAT6 cabling I had run previously.

Perfect strong WIFI (about 300mb) all around the house on the 1 LAN name, and the Ubiquiti router gives a lot more control over the network, albeit it is a bit 'techy' in its interface compared to the VM Hubs.

ETA: Oh, and the end of each CAT6 cables has a small 4/5 port LAN hub so my lads can plug in whatever they need in their rooms along with the DECO mesh points to give them maximum xfer rates for their PCs and PS5s, etc...

Edited by Piersman2 on Wednesday 30th December 11:02

[megaphone]

OP, the TP link unit you have linked to will work, it has an 'Access Point' (AP) setting, this will bypass the routing. You can set it up with he same SSID as the Virgin SH3, then your devices 'should' roam to the strongest signal. There are various settings, like choosing different WiFi channels on each AP, which help roaming. However this will not be as good as having a dedicated wifi AP/mesh system.

It's not 100% clear if the LAN ports/switch will still work in AP mode, you will need these for your ethernet wired connections.

As others have said, you don't want another router on the network. You need Access Points (APs).

Really depends on your budget, a proper Unifi or TP link managed system will cost you £100s.

[Teebs]

Thanks all, the TP Link Deco & Ubiquiti router looks like a really solid plan. I don't mind spending the ££ too much as I work from home full time.

Which Ubiquiti router is the one to go for?

Thanks

[megaphone]

I wouldn't go for a Ubiquiti router, unless you want all the techy set-up. Just stick your Virgin Hub in modem mode and use the Deco router.

If you do want to go down the Ubiquiti Unifi route then get a Dream Machine and some AC APs, you'll need to look at a £500 budget.

Note Wifi 6 is the latest WiFi standard, not a lot of kit about yet but worth considering. With that said, AC kit will do you fine.

Edited by megaphone on Wednesday 30th December 18:34

[Teebs]

megaphone said:

I wouldn't go for a Ubiquiti router, unless you want all the techy set-up. Just stick your Virgin Hub in modem mode and use the Deco router.

If you do want to go down the Ubiquiti Unifi route then get a Dream Machine and some AC APs, you'll need to look at a £500 budget.

Note Wifi 6 is the latest WiFi standard, not a lot of kit about yet but worth considering. With that said, AC kit will do you fine.

Edited by megaphone on Wednesday 30th December 18:34

Sounds good, so just the twin pack of the M5 plus should work for the office and garage (plugged into the Ethernet socket)?

[Piersman2]

Teebs said:

Thanks all, the TP Link Deco & Ubiquiti router looks like a really solid plan. I don't mind spending the ££ too much as I work from home full time.

Which Ubiquiti router is the one to go for?

Thanks

I went for an Edgerouter ERX (IIRC), about £50 worth as I only needed the 5 ports, The mesh was DECO S3 I think, just be careful to check they are the GB version ones , not the 100mb version ones I bought the first time and had to send back.

I had tried an old router that my son had lying around, a netgear one, but it had issues , seemed to keep overheating and dropping out randomly hence the switch to Ubiquiti and Deco mesh , been perfect without a single drop out or issue since setting up about 2 months ago now. And that's with 3 of us hammering it whilst all WFH.

[spanky3]

Wife bought a 3 pack of TP-Link Deco S4's on Black Friday to fix our Virgin Superhub in a 4 bed detached. We have one downstairs, one upstairs and are in a wifi world of joy. The third is still in the box unneeded but might go in the shed to cover the garden. Very easy set-up, recommended.

[Scabutz]

I have my standard router and a few TP Link decos. Can get 250mb on WiFi over 5ghz. Its in mesh mode so auto switches between frequencies and nodes. Cat 6 to each deco. Works fine. 2.4/5ghz are combined on one SSID so the deco also broadcasts a 2.4 only guest SSID for the home automation gizmos

[Teebs]

Just to close this off, purchased 3 x TP-Link Deco M5s from Amazon and got them working in about 5 minutes. Great WiFi coverage everywhere. Thanks for the help!