Expanding home network.

[deejayburnout]

Evening Peeps

I am looking to expand my home network from the 4 lan ports on my router to a bit more as I am thinking of running a port to each bedroom in the house.

Problem is my router is maxed out with
1st lan for my PC
2nd lan for sky box
3rd lan for smart TV
4th for PS4 Pro.

Trying to move away from wireless as I now have another 2 PS4s in the house from kids Christmas and my wives PC in bedroom. All currently on WiFi and signal and speeds are horrible.

Is it as simple as buying a network patch panel and plugging 1 from my router into it to feed the additional lan ports?

[peterb]

Depends if you want all ports in the other rooms simultaneously. If you are looking to do that, you need a network switch - plug one port from the router into a port on the switch and all the other ports have access to the router.

As an example, if you want to run everything you have listed simultaneously you nee a 5 port switch. The ports connect to the bedroom PC and the two PS4s. One connects to your PC. The 5th connects to the port on the router where you unplugged the PC.

[rich835]

I would look at sorting out your wifi problems firstly, then see if you still feel you need to go hardwired.

My Virgin Media router was pants. The wifi was truly awful and I was regularly restarting it. I ended up turning it into modem mode, and buying a decent Asus router to handle the networking. I get solid wifi throughout the house now. The only things I run off the LAN ports are my gaming PC/Server and my Philips Hue hub (only because it doesn't have wifi capability).

My wifi is heavily used, lots of streaming services and devices running off it, no issues at all.

[deejayburnout]

Peterb thanks. That what I though but wasn’t really sure.

Rich.

I do have a good router but my Vodafone bundled router is horrible and cannot go into modem mode.

I did consider getting new modem/router that can replace the vodafone one but i have always preferred wired. We also have about 10 things in the house all using the wifi on 2.4g as the 5g signal on the Vodafone router is about 2 meters. (It’s really bad. ) the 2.4g band is saturated and is compounding then issue.

My work laptops refused to connect to the WiFi if the kids are on the PS4 and my wife’s pc is on.

[eltel]

I had the same issue as you using the Vodafone supplied router so I have ended up piggybacking an Asus RT-AC88U of the back which has the benefit of adding extra 2.4 and 5g bandwidth and 8 ports but not a cheap way of doing things

[deejayburnout]

I had the same issue as you using the Vodafone supplied router so I have ended up piggybacking an Asus RT-AC88U of the back which has the benefit of adding extra 2.4 and 5g bandwidth and 8 ports but not a cheap way of doing things

I would be interested in doing this myself as it would fix a couple of my issues. How did you manage to do this? i thought it had to be in modem mode to use a 3rd party wifi router

[peterb]

I would be interested in doing this myself as it would fix a couple of my issues. How did you manage to do this? i thought it had to be in modem mode to use a 3rd party wifi router

No, just plugs into a port on your router.

There are many Wireless access points available - personally I like Draytek or Ubiquiti - not the cheapest but the Ubiquiti in particular give very good coverage and are used commercially.

[Biscuit]

Home routers are essentially hybrid devices:
Modems + Firewall + Router + Switch + Wireless Access Point

Switching them into "modem mode" I'm guessing, will disable all the other elements meaning the device you connect into it will handle the firewall/routing/switching/wifi. The routing element of that will do something called a NAT (Network Address Translation) to bridge between the ISP network (dynamic public IP Address) and the devices in your internal network (something like 192.168.1.xxx). It will also have something called a DHCP server, which will automatically serve the internal devices with IP addresses when they connect to the network, and remember them to make sure that you don't have duplicates.

If you cannot switch the device into modem mode, then you leave the original device to handle the NAT (and firewall), but then you need to make a decision as to how you want things to be handled internally. My recommendation would probably be to set the new device up as a switch and wireless access point only, residing on the same IP address range as your old router. That way all devices connected to either devices switch ports can still communicate with each other if needed. Many extenders, routers and access points have an "Access Point" or "AP" mode which will do exactly that, however if you go for a "router" make sure only one device is set up as a DHCP server.

[Biscuit]

In addition, have a look at the channels that your wireless is using.
There is a number of free apps on android/iOS which will allow you to see all the wireless routers in your area and what channel they're on. Perhaps just changing your channel to a less congested one will help things along.

[deejayburnout]

Done all that already. Move to a free channel. Surprisingly most of the other WiFi signals around me are sky and all on the same channel.

I think all our wireless devices at home are not helping it. Need to ban the kids on the PS4.

[Biscuit]

Done all that already. Move to a free channel. Surprisingly most of the other WiFi signals around me are sky and all on the same channel.

I think all our wireless devices at home are not helping it. Need to ban the kids on the PS4.

Careful not to use "overlapping" channels:

https://www.metageek.com/training/re...ls-1-6-11.html

[RaTTuS]

use network switches ,
you may get better use round the house if you use homeplugs [1000mbps if you can though 600mbps would be fine ifnore 200mbps IMO]
if you need to wire long network runs your best bet for home bodge is flat cat6 cable [down stairs , or out of windows] and nicely placed 5port switches in cupboards , under stairs etc ....

[peterb]

flat cat6 cable

If its flat, it isn't cat6.

Tbh, in domestic situations where the length of the run is likely to be short (unless you live in a mansion ) cat 5e is more than good enough, and smaller in diameter and easier to conceal than cat6.

However I agree that wired connection is the most trouble free if you have a number of simultaneous high bandwidth connections.

[Biscuit]

If its flat, it isn't cat6.

Tbh, in domestic situations wher the length of the run is likely to be short (unless you live in a mansion ) cat 5e is more than good enough, and smaller in diameter and easier to conceal than cat6.

However I agree that wired connection is the most trouble free if you have a number of simultaneous high bandwidth connections.

and if they claim it is CAT5/6, then all bets are off as to what the cores are really made from. Avoid Cu clad Al cores at all cost.

[spacein_vader]

If its flat, it isn't cat6.

Tbh, in domestic situations wher the length of the run is likely to be short (unless you live in a mansion ) cat 5e is more than good enough, and smaller in diameter and easier to conceal than cat6.

However I agree that wired connection is the most trouble free if you have a number of simultaneous high bandwidth connections.

Cat5e is also easier to run as it allows a much tighter bend radius than cat6. I'd agree about going wired where possible though. In my house I have a simple rule: If it doesn't move (so TVs, set top boxes, desktop PCs, Playstations, Xboxs etc.) it gets wired in. That leaves my wireless free to handle tablets, phones, laptops, portable consoles like the switch,) etc. I don't have all of the items in those examples by the way, not made of money!

People say wiring is a pain, but depending on the house it can be relatively straightforward. If it's a detached or semi detached that you own (so can drill holes in,) then a drum of outdoor rated cat5e, a termination kit and some cable clips can do the job as you can get to most rooms in most houses relatively easily by putting the cables on the outside walls. They can often be hidden and if not can generally be made to look tidy (mine had to be signed off by my good lady as aesthetically pleasing,) as long as you plan ahead too.

Appreciate that in terraces it's harder to do that and in rented homes you're pretty much limited to free running cables, home plugs or wifi sadly.

[peterb]

If you have to surface run, then this is available in a range of colours, sizes and profiles (half round, quarter round)

http://www.d-line-it.com

You can get it from www.screwfix.com or TLC https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Manufacturers/D-Line/ - who stock a much larger range than Screwfix.

Its also good for hiding speaker cable, or - well any cables that need concealing!