Are Wireless Access Points what I need?

[anonymous-user]

Hi all,

While my new house was being built, the electrician ran CAT6 cables to multiple areas around the house wherever he thought I would have a TV, or my home office, and so on. These cables all terminate in RJ45 sockets.

His reason was that the wifi signal from a single router in my boiler room would not reach all over the house and garden, and he was right. I have just had my BT line connected and a router plugged in, and the wifi is very weak when you move away from the boiler room where the BT socket and therefore router are.

He has ran all the CAT6 cables back to the boiler room, where the router is, and I have a network switch to plug them all into, and then into the router.

That is about the limit of my technical understanding...

My question is, what do I need to buy to turn all these RJ45 sockets into wifi all round my house? Is a Wireless Access Point what I need? If so, can anyone recommend any that are ok for home use?

Thanks

[buggalugs]

Yes, and I like the TP link EAP225’s as they’re cheap and good and I don’t have any problems with them.

[ecs]

Yes - the trouble is that your cable's been terminated into wall faceplates and you'd ideally ceiling mount a few access points around the house. You can get faceplate mounted access points (e.g. Ubiquiti UAP-AC-IW) which would do the job.

Or you can just move some of the cables around and get something ceiling mounted.

[xeny]

Classic answers are indeed TP-Link EAP 225s or various APs by Unifi, e.g. the 6 Lite or AC Lite.

The other option open to you is one of the mesh systems that supports a wired back haul to connect units together.

A very rough rule of thumb to decide how many units you need is that wifi "works" through two interior walls if somewhat perpendicular to them. If you've got loads of foil backed foam insulation or thick stone/structural brick walls then all bets are off though.

How fast is your broadband, and do you have things like a NAS you'd want fast access to from the WiFi?

[anonymous-user]

ecs said:

Yes - the trouble is that your cable's been terminated into wall faceplates and you'd ideally ceiling mount a few access points around the house. You can get faceplate mounted access points (e.g. Ubiquiti UAP-AC-IW) which would do the job.

Or you can just move some of the cables around and get something ceiling mounted.

Apparently one of the cables is in the ceiling above the upstairs hallway. There is no socket, but the cable is there. I can access it from the loft. I guess this would be ideal for a WAP upstairs?

The downstairs is more troublesome than the upstairs, as the house is larger downstairs, and all the walls are concrete block. Upstairs all the walls are wood and plaster, so I hope the one ceiling mounted WAP will be ok.

Thanks

[anonymous-user]

xeny said:

Classic answers are indeed TP-Link EAP 225s or various APs by Unifi, e.g. the 6 Lite or AC Lite.

The other option open to you is one of the mesh systems that supports a wired back haul to connect units together.

A very rough rule of thumb to decide how many units you need is that wifi "works" through two interior walls if somewhat perpendicular to them. If you've got loads of foil backed foam insulation or thick stone/structural brick walls then all bets are off though.

How fast is your broadband, and do you have things like a NAS you'd want fast access to from the WiFi?

Broadband is 55Mbps down and 12 up. Do not use NAS. Internet is mostly used for TV, browsing, work from home and Teams calls.

My downstairs walls are all concrete block, and this is where the issue is. Upstairs is all wood and plasterboard walls.

The external walls of the house are all foil backed foam insulation, but not too concerned with this as it just means limited signal outside?

[anonymous-user]

So, with WAP points installed, how does it work?

Do they all behave like a different wifi point and the device I'm using (such as my phone/ipad) will switch between them as I move around the house?

Do I have to have every WAP on my devices as separate wifi with separate passwords? Or does the device just see all the WAP as one network?

[ecs]

Lord Marylebone said:

Apparently one of the cables is in the ceiling above the upstairs hallway. There is no socket, but the cable is there. I can access it from the loft. I guess this would be ideal for a WAP upstairs?

The downstairs is more troublesome than the upstairs, as the house is larger downstairs, and all the walls are concrete block. Upstairs all the walls are wood and plaster, so I hope the one ceiling mounted WAP will be ok.

Thanks

That'd be ideal for upstairs, you may find that one access point will do the trick but you'll only know after some experimentation as insulation can sometimes be an issue. We had a stud wall filled with Kingspan and the room was always a deadspot for wifi, we replaced the wall with aerated concrete block during a renovation and the issue has gone.

If there's no cable downstairs then faceplate adaptors may be the way to go, unless you want to go chasing out your brand new walls!

I have Ubiquiti access points and they've 'just worked' for about 4 years, so would happily recommend their stuff.

[ecs]

Lord Marylebone said:

So, with WAP points installed, how does it work?

Do they all behave like a different wifi point and the device I'm using (such as my phone/ipad) will switch between them as I move around the house?

Do I have to have every WAP on my devices as separate wifi with separate passwords? Or does the device just see all the WAP as one network?

They allow 'roaming' which means that they all have the same SSID (network name) and you connect your device to the one network and it'll stay connected across the whole house.

[AC43]

Lord Marylebone said:

ecs said:

Yes - the trouble is that your cable's been terminated into wall faceplates and you'd ideally ceiling mount a few access points around the house. You can get faceplate mounted access points (e.g. Ubiquiti UAP-AC-IW) which would do the job.

Or you can just move some of the cables around and get something ceiling mounted.

Apparently one of the cables is in the ceiling above the upstairs hallway. There is no socket, but the cable is there. I can access it from the loft. I guess this would be ideal for a WAP upstairs?

The downstairs is more troublesome than the upstairs, as the house is larger downstairs, and all the walls are concrete block. Upstairs all the walls are wood and plaster, so I hope the one ceiling mounted WAP will be ok.

Thanks

I have 3 x ceiling-mounted Ubiquiti's. One is at the very front of the house, one is in the rear extension and one is on the 1st floor landing. All three floors are flooded with signal.

The walls a mix of brick & studwork. Roughly half and half.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks guys, I'm learning as we go.

Which means I may have identified another issue...

My network switch is a TP Link TL-SG116. A look at some of the suggested WAP options seems to suggest that they need to Power Over Ethernet to work, and my TP Link switch isn't POE.

Do I need to replace it with a switch that has POE?

Clearly if I'm just plugging things like a TV into my downstairs Ethernet wall sockets this won't be an issue, but I presume almost all WAP units need POE?

[AC43]

Lord Marylebone said:

Thanks guys, I'm learning as we go.

Which means I may have identified another issue...

My network switch is a TP Link TL-SG116. A look at some of the suggested WAP options seems to suggest that they need to Power Over Ethernet to work, and my TP Link switch isn't POE.

Do I need to replace it with a switch that has POE?

Clearly if I'm just plugging things like a TV into my downstairs Ethernet wall sockets this won't be an issue, but I presume almost all WAP units need POE?

Hmmmmm good question......yes, I believe my Ubiquities are poe. Presumably they get the power from my switching-cabinet thing. Will have a look to see if I can work out how the sparkie did it.

[xeny]

Lord Marylebone said:

Do I need to replace it with a switch that has POE?

You can get POE injectors, but depending on how many units you're dealing with it may be cheaper/neater to get a POE switch.

If you've got a good central upstairs location, I'd be tempted to put something decent there, and then look for dead spots and mop them up. WiFi will go through typically domestic floors/ceilings well enough, and coming from above you should sidestep the downstairs walls issue.

Obviously (well to me at least) I'd plan on hard wiring your office's connection just to remove any chance for glitches during calls.

[AC43]

Lord Marylebone said:

my TP Link switch isn't POE.

Do I need to replace it with a switch that has POE?

I had a look; my switch is powered.

[RizzoTheRat]

Lord Marylebone said:

Apparently one of the cables is in the ceiling above the upstairs hallway. There is no socket, but the cable is there. I can access it from the loft. I guess this would be ideal for a WAP upstairs?

The downstairs is more troublesome than the upstairs, as the house is larger downstairs, and all the walls are concrete block. Upstairs all the walls are wood and plaster, so I hope the one ceiling mounted WAP will be ok.

Thanks

Assuming your ceiling isn't reinforced concrete, the signal should penetrate it fine, so just place units where you want a good signal downstairs and you shouldn't need to put a unit upstairs at all.

[anonymous-user]

AC43 said:

Lord Marylebone said:

my TP Link switch isn't POE.

Do I need to replace it with a switch that has POE?

I had a look; my switch is powered.

Thanks. That answers my question!

I'll just replace the current switch with a POE item.

[Captain_Morgan]

Depending on what ap’s you get many come with poe injectors to power them

[anonymous-user]

Captain_Morgan said:

Depending on what ap’s you get many come with poe injectors to power them

I read that some AP's do come with a power adaptor, but being the fusspot I am, I will probably just change my switch because that then eliminates the need for any adaptors taking up sockets in my house, or trailing power cables. It just simplifies it.

It would also negate the need to find a power source for the AP that I will likely be putting in the ceiling in the upstairs hallway. The already present CAT6 cable will power it.

[buggalugs]

EAP225’s come with injectors but yes it’s much neater to get a poe switch

Edited by buggalugs on Monday 13th September 14:16

[xeny]

Lord Marylebone said:

I read that some AP's do come with a power adaptor, but being the fusspot I am, I will probably just change my switch because that then eliminates the need for any adaptors taking up sockets in my house, or trailing power cables. It just simplifies it.

It would also negate the need to find a power source for the AP that I will likely be putting in the ceiling in the upstairs hallway. The already present CAT6 cable will power it.

Just to say you typically put the injectors by the switch, not by the thing they're powering. The whole point is you only need to get network to a PoE device.