3+ WDS Home Network advice

[Goobley]

Hey all,

I'm trying to sort out my parent's home network. The house is an old french building (18th century) with stone walls thicker than your arm is long. We have router provided by the internet provider that we have to use. This router has WiFi that currently covers half the house in quite a patchy manner. We managed to route a cable through one of the thickest walls in the house to allow us to install a second access point that covers the rest of the house. However the router is nowhere near where the phone line enters the house - it's in a room that we'd like to tidy and it's not exactly an elegant device.

Given the two connections between the router and where the phone enters the house we'd like to move it to the point of entry. There is no sensible way to run ethernet from here to the other access point, leaving as far as I can tell the only option being WDS (as I've found normal bridging to be downright dodgy in the past).

I don't really know much about wireless network configuration as I avoid it as much as possible, but it seems to be the only option here without resorting to surface mounted cables (my parents won't do that).

Currently the network consists of a Freebox V5 (provided by the internet provider, terrible useless interface, no idea what's inside it and strictly speaking we don't own it) and a TP-Link TL-WR2543ND. The Freebox doesn't support WDS but the TP link does.

My current idea is to place a WDS access point next to the Freebox (wire the two), disable the Freebox WiFi and then build a WDS network to cover the house, with each access point having a line of sight to another WRT to the 0.7m+ stone walls. This probably will require 3 access points total: the one next to the Freebox, an intermediary and the TP-Link.

Does this even make sense?

If(makes sense)
{
Do you think that devices like these would play alright with the TP-Link (and WDS)?
TP-Link TL-WA801ND
Netgear JWNR2000
Would you recommend either or another product?
}
else
{
Please suggest a sensible topology and set of hardware required.
}


Thanks for any suggestions, I'm a bit out of my depth when a network isn't cabled or just a single WiFi router.
Cheers,
Chris

[shaithis]

Ideally your going to want to place the Freebox into bridge mode (full bridge, not half)....a quick google about freebox v5 and bridge mode comes back with a lot of French hits.....a quick translate makes me think that it should be an option in the UI. Once in bridge mode you can only connect one device to it at a time and the admin interface will not be available unless you directly connect a PC to it.

Once you are in bridge mode with the TPLink connected to it I would look for cheap DD-WRT compatible routers. DD-WRT has a "Wifi client" option, as well as a "WDS AP" and "WDS Station" options. DD-WRT is very compatible with other devices and is being constantly updated, chances of compatibility issues are minimal IMO.

[Goobley]

Thanks for the reply. I'll look into DD-WRT routers. Unfortunately I can't put the Freebox into bridge mode as that would kill our phone (we use VOIP only that goes via the Freebox). However I can treat it as if it is and connect just one ethernet cable from the Freebox to the WAN port of the TP-Link and then configure a network used by all the DD-WRT routers (different subnet to the Freebox, which no longer needs DHCP etc.)

Thanks again.

If anyone has recommendations regarding cheap DD-WRT routers I'd like to hear them.

[DanceswithUnix]

Powerline HomePlug AV adapters are your friend. As long as the speed across the mains wiring is better than the broadband speed it should be OK, and gives you far better flexibility on where to mount your second access point with no more wall drilling.

[Goobley]

Do you have much experience with HomePlugs? I've certainly heard about them but don't know if they'll work for us as our wiring is spread across 3 phases. I can't find any documentation on using them in such scenarios either. (As in the UK most houses usually are just wired on one phase). I find conflicting answers online when I search for info on this, and I don't know anyone who has plugs that I can borrow to test.

[DanceswithUnix]

Across 3 phases? Blimey that is strange, and yes probably won't work from one phase to the other.

Ours is on one phase, the split at the consumer unit to 3 rings around the house drops performance going from ring to ring, but still faster I find than WiFi with my Homeplug AV 500 adapters. I have four of them around the house now.

Are you really sure you mean phases and not rings? Would have thought you could get some evil ground loops if you put all three phases in a domestic dwelling!

[Goobley]

Surprising, I know but our wiring actually enters the house as a full 3-phase supply, which is something I avoid fiddling with if possible (even though 300VDC in valve amps doesn't scare me). The 3 phase is need for an underfloor heating heat pump that pulls 80A+ at 380V on startup and defrost cycles.

I've heard about phase couplers for homeplugs, which sound like just X-class capacitors in the pF range that just couple the HF signal from one phase to another. I'll have to see if I can track down an electrician who knows.

[DanceswithUnix]

Surprising, I know but our wiring actually enters the house as a full 3-phase supply, which is something I avoid fiddling with if possible (even though 300VDC in valve amps doesn't scare me). The 3 phase is need for an underfloor heating heat pump that pulls 80A+ at 380V on startup and defrost cycles.

I've heard about phase couplers for homeplugs, which sound like just X-class capacitors in the pF range that just couple the HF signal from one phase to another. I'll have to see if I can track down an electrician who knows.

Blimey, that's impressive.

From a quick read around, it sounds like most wiring is leaky enough between phases at the 2-28MHz range that these things work at that you don't need a device to couple the phases. You get a slight attenuation, but it should still work.

For normal use, I think you are supposed to be able to have 200m of wiring between homeplug adapters.

ftp://ftp.aztech.com/support/PAKISTA...0Questions.pdf

I must admit I went into buying homeplugs with the assumption that they wouldn't be very good, so as a short term fix I bought the top of the range 500AV spec plugs. They have been good enough that I bought more, and kept the setup, but I would love to know if the 200AV cheaper plugs would work just as well. I think I get about 80Mbit/sec across the house.