I am moving out on my own for the first time. I am a single person working from home. I use cloud services for modeling projects 8 hours a day (autodesk revit projects saved on the cloud). I also use streaming services on my TV for leisure time. I have zero experience with this topic. Do I need unlimited internet?

Edit: thanks for all the advice everyone! Obviously the answer is to do research about options

Home network doesn't work. Ran a tester, it's not connected straight through. Pattern reads out as 5-4-1-8-7-2-3-6 on tester.

So I just moved into a new build and have a Spectrum fiber.

I purchased MoCa Adapter and tried this.

Modem -> Router -> MoCa adapter -> Coax -> MoCa Adapter.

But Coax didn't light up and I tried every Coax in the house but none of them were connecting adapters.

So I realized that I have 7 cables hanging outside wall and did the DIY Coax installation and connected with MoCa compatible splitter and plugged them into all OUT ports. Nothing in IN port since I'm just connecting it from the modem. But still not connecting MoCa adapters.

Am I still missing a step or is there something else outside of my control that I need to call an electrician?

Newbie here when it comes to home internet and networking, and really need advice.

Living in the UK, new build house. Currently have BT Fibre to the house. 6 years ago I got a Linksys Velop MX4000 (2pk) from the Apple Store; plugged it in and that's been working fine until the last six months.

The main router is working fine, about six months ago the second node broke (physically) and the last weeks the main router has been playing up - cutting on/off, not best wifi signal at the backend of the house.

What should I replace it with? Just another home mesh network? - this is where it all goes over my head and need advice on.

Devices in the House

3 iPhones, 2 MacBooks, 1 iPad, 4 HomePods, 1 AppleTV, Hue Lighting systems (37 bulbs), Aqara devices (4 camera, multiple sensors), Tado Heating System (9 radiator valves).

Looking for a mesh wifi system. 3500sqft. Home. I have an old Google mesh system (1 router bridged from my isp router and one point put upstairs). The room at the front of the house only get at best 100mb download speed on a 1gb internet package. And often just drops and completely loses wifi. ( I have a m4 Mac mini and m1 macobook for reference.) my biggest issue is constantly losing internet connection.

There’s no Ethernet wiring in the upstairs of the home. And the router is hard wired to the living room (main floor back of home). Only spot it can be placed.

Looking for something that can carry close to the 1gb speed (at least 600+mb) to the “dead room”. Price range of 300-450CAD.

I’m thinking a wifi 6e triband system with 3 points? Need advice. :)

This is what I was thinking;
TP-Link Deco AXE5400 Tri-Band WiFi 6E Mesh System (Deco XE75) $379Cad.

But if there’s better options or alternatives i’m open to hearing.

I have this, anyone else who has this know what the best settings are?
Also I have comcast out here and the "boost a device" feature on their app doesn't seem to do anything. Doesn't help that it reads my PC as "Generic Brand Windows", so idk if that is a problem.

My broadband speed is fine, but a couple of rooms still get weak Wi-Fi and buffering.

For anyone who had the same issue, what helped more: moving the router, adding mesh Wi-Fi, or upgrading the plan?

Hi all,

New to the group and I’ve had a scan through, but can’t find a previous post that seems to be specific to my issue.

The story so far…

I’ve run a length of Cat6A from my router into the loft, then down into an upstairs cupboard and into a TP Link unmanaged switch. The uplink has been tested and works fine. I’ve then made and ran 6A patch cables that run out of the switch and into two RJ45 modular keystone wall panels, bedroom one and bedroom two. Cat6A run through the walls and terminated at a secondary RJ45 modular keystone panel in either room. Bedroom two is running fine, cable tester shows all wires and in tact and no breaks. However, bedroom one is missing signal from several wires.

My mystery is that all runs of Cat6A from switch to termination all test fine (network switch to keystone, keystone to keystone, patch cable for testing in the bedroom), so are the keystones the problem? I purchased Cat6 modular keystone sockets from Amazon, but I’m using 6A. Could there be an interference issue here with the keystones being ungrounded? I’m reluctant to purchase shielded keystones if this is unlikely to be the issue.

Thanks in advance.

Can anyone tell if this is Cat3 or Cat5?

Hello this old phone patch panel is in my condo. I am trying to decide and research what it would take to convert this to Ethernet drop.

Hey everyone,

I've been wanting to get into homelabbing and setting up my own home network for a while now. I work in IT, so I already have some experience, but I'd love to mess around with stuff at home too.

The problem is, I don't really have a use case for it yet. I just think it's interesting and want to learn more.

What would you recommend starting with? And how did you guys find actual uses for your homelabs?

Would love to hear what you're running at home!

As the title says I'm looking for suggestions for a large and pretty old brick farm house. It's my grandparents place, theyre finally getting wired with internet and want my help. Problem is, I've only ever lived in small apartments so I've never had to worry about signal and therefore I just get the cheapest router with high speeds.

I've tried doing a bunch of research but I'm not very tech savvy, and the jargon just confuses me lol.

Looking for something that is able to handle streaming, and when the family visits for holidays maybe have 2-4 people on it at once (otherwise typically just 1 device at a time).

House in question is around 2800 sq ft.

Access point where comcast will be running the wire is in the far corner of the first floor.

I'm looking for something easy to set up- but most importantly it needs to be stable. I will be the one who has to go fix it when their internet goes down lol

Unfortunately hardwired is not an option.

Thanks in advance for your help!

is there reliable way how to transfer images or stream video from security camera over Wi-Fi (or any other wireless technology/network) between 2 points 150m away with mostly direct view? There is only one big tree between both points. But it is in the city where are hundreds wifi networks...

thank you

I've been trying to find the cheapest possible router that allows VLAN/VAP, Ad/malware blocking, Encrypted DNS and tools to help with bufferbloat while gaming (wired) in a 1300sq ft apartment (need wifi for phones as i get no signal in my apartment due to it having a metal roof). That can handle a 500/25mbps connection that will be upgraded to a 500/500mbps connection at some point in the future. I also didn't want to use OpenWRT, so thought my only real option was the Express 7 for $200+ or the Dream Router 7 for $300+. I'm no network expert, but can someone tell me if my thinking here (and Gemini) is correct when it comes to something like the new MikroTik hAP be lite. Since it supports opensource adblock/malware lists that means it has better adblocking and malware blocking than the Dream Router 7 for $80 only? It also supports CAKE, while the Express 7 and Dream Router 7 have a 300mbps limit on smart queueing. CAKE should have no issues Smart Shaping on a 500/25 or 500/500 connection to help with bufferbloat? I was also looking at the hAP be³ Media which is another new MikroTik router that supports running containers on it. I was originally going to buy this as i thought i needed something like AdGuard Home to get proper adblocking/malware blocking and encrypted DNS, but now that RouterOS supports the adblock/malware lists this would be a huge waste of $180 for me? Does AdGuard Home really use the same blocking lists that you can just add to RouterOS now? Can someone who has a better understand of all this confirm that my thinking/gemini is correct and the HAP Be Lite would be the perfect router for my apartment while saving me $100-200+?

Hi guys/girls

This has been answered somewhat before but I’ve been given conflicting advice by my installer which is why I thought I’d rather check with the trust Reddit community first.

I have a rather small 95sqm 2 bedroom apartment but with very thick concrete walls. As a result, the wifi will literally not pass through the walls from one room to another.

I have the main router (TP Link AX1500) set up in my gaming room and would like to run two ethernet cables to different rooms in the apartment to set up TP Link Deco x10 units.

My questions is whether - with this set up - I will have a single network with seamless wifi or two separate network/wifi, i.e. my main router WiFi and then deco mesh WiFi.

My installer says I would have to buy a 3 pack deco set and replace my router altogether to have seamless WiFi but I’ve just purchased this router not too long ago and would hate to replace it.

TLDR - can I get seamless WiFi across an apartment with thick walls using a TP Link ax1500 router and 2-3 TP link deco ax10 units (with Ethernet connections).

Thanks in advance!

Greetings, I’m sure this has been asked and solved but I wasn’t able to find something that pertained to my exact situation. I’m looking for something advice on extending my WiFi to my shop(metal building). I previously had Starlink at my house and set up a mesh node in my shop, and with the roll up doors open I could get about 20-30mbps download speed which I was fine with. I have recently got fiber installed so I dropped the star link, the router I have now won’t reach reliably out to the shop (about 75 feet from the house) and I’m looking at getting some kind of WiFi adapter/extender/bridge. I’ve done a little research on the topic but can’t really find what the best solution would be. I’d like to be able to use the WiFi in the shop with the doors closed ideally. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

I’ve been using a Ruijie Reyee EW300 as a wireless repeater connected to my main Huawei router. The extender works fine most of the time, but it has a history of getting stuck and refusing to reconnect, especially after power cuts or when the main router has been offline for a long time.

To fix the daily disconnects I started keeping the EW300 powered on 24/7 using a DC to AC converter, which helped a lot. Now the situation has changed: At the end of each month when there is 2 or 3 days left for the month to end we turn the main Huawei router completely off for about 12–13 hours every day (from morning to night) to save the remaining data on our package.

My question is: when the main router is off for many hours, is it better to leave the Ruijie EW300 powered on the whole time so it can connect as soon as the main router comes back, or should I turn the EW300 off as well and only power it on after the main router is already up?

I’ve noticed that if the EW300 stays on while the main router is offline for a long time, it sometimes gets stuck and needs a reboot or even a reset to connect again. Has anyone faced this with Ruijie/Reyee extenders or similar budget repeaters? What do you recommend?

EDIT: Correction: The mode I'm using for repeating is WISP not wireless repeater ( I don't know much about networking but I think these are separate so just wanted to include this info)

The wired connection between my mesh router and satellite went out so I went into my crawl space to investigate. I found this damage right where the cable enters the basement from the crawl space. I live in the woods and there are a lot of mice around so it seems likely that they chewed the cable. But the dark coloring around the damage looks like maybe a short circuit and burning/melting? I’m not use PoE so I thought that would be unlikely with a basic data only cat6 cable.

Anyway what is the best way to fix this and make sure it doesn’t happen again? Should I use conduit for all cable in the crawl space? Can I splice in a length of cable here (there are slack loops on the other side) or should I replace the whole cable? Thanks!

Hi all, first time posting here, would like to seek advice regarding my intended Wifi setup for my new place with 4 rooms in a high-rise flat. I have been informed of potential (highly likely) “dead zones” in similar flat layouts, and would like to not suffer from any angst as a result of it, if possible.

Adopting the access point (ceiling-mounted) method instead of relying on mesh nodes.

I’m totally not a technical person :’)

The broadband plan:
- Gonna recontract soon & also relocate to a new place at the same time. My ISP is giving a free Amazon eero Pro 7 10 Gbps Router for 10Gbps plan. From their website, it shows that the router has 2 10Gbps ports, a USB-C power slot and a reset button. (WAN is auto-sensing, ok to connect to any port)

Inside the DB box (have not bought the hardware yet):

- Patch panel & Fiber Termination Point wall box already installed by network infrastructure provider.
- TP-Link TL-SX105 5-Port 10G Desktop Switch
- TP-Link Omada POE380S 10G 90W PoE++ Injector
- Amazon eero Pro 7 10 Gbps Router and modem (from ISP)
- External USB fan for ventilation
- 4-way or 5-way power strip extension cord

Mounted on the ceiling:

- TP-Link EAP787 BE15000 Ceiling Mount Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Access Point
- A cat6 cable will extend from the DB box to the false ceiling (somewhere in the middle of the hallway) and connect to the ceiling-mounted Access Point (does not require a power point as an external PoE injector will “power” it)

Is the setup ok? Some of my fam work from home and do light gaming. We don’t have a smart TV or surveillance cams yet. Thanks for reading!

Hey everyone!
Just wanted to share my DIY home networking setup that I’m pretty proud of! I’m definitely no IT professional, but I decided to tackle this project myself and learned a ton along the way. I still have some cable management and cleanup to do, but everything is up and running!

A little background:

My property is a triplex with two rental apartments in the main house and my owner-occupied apartment above the garage. My goal was to provide reliable, high-speed internet to all three units while keeping everyone’s networks private and separate.

Garage / My Apartment:

Rogers Xfinity 1.5 Gbps internet connection, with the modem/router located inside the grey enclosure in the garage.
TP-Link 5-port Gigabit switch.
Four hardwired Cat6 connections for my security camera NVR, office printer, Xbox, and outdoor TV on the deck.
My apartment uses the Rogers Xfinity Wi-Fi for wireless devices.
A Cat6 connection runs from the garage switch to the mechanical room in the main house.

Main House / Two Rental Apartments:

The incoming Cat6 connection feeds a TP-Link ER605 router.
The ER605 connects to an 8-port PoE switch that distributes the network throughout the building.
Two TP-Link Omada EAP650 Wi-Fi 6 access points, one dedicated to each apartment.
One apartment also has two hardwired Ethernet ports for tenants to use however they like.
Each apartment has its own dedicated Wi-Fi network and IP subnet.

Network Configuration, VLANs & Firewall Security:

This was by far the most challenging and rewarding part of the project!
I configured the ER605 router with separate VLANs, IP subnets, and six IPv4 firewall rules to isolate the rental networks from each other and protect my personal network.
Here’s how I configured the firewall rules:
Main Floor - Basement: Blocked
Basement - Main Floor: Blocked
Main Floor - Management LAN: Blocked
Basement - Management LAN: Blocked
Main Floor - Rogers Private Network: Blocked
Basement - Rogers Private Network: Blocked
I also created a custom IP group (ROGERS_PRIVATE_GROUP) covering 10.0.0.0/24, which is the subnet my personal Rogers network uses.
This was important to me because I didn’t want either rental apartment to have access to my personal devices, security camera NVR, printer, or anything else connected to my Rogers network.
My apartment operates directly on the Rogers network, while both rental apartments connect through the ER605 with their own VLANs and firewall restrictions.
I performed connectivity tests after configuring the rules. Attempts to reach the Rogers gateway from a rental network timed out, consistent with the firewall blocking access. I still have some additional testing to do to fully verify the management-network restrictions and isolation between all devices.

Network Performance:

The results have been fantastic so far!
I’m getting approximately 820mbps and 19ping across all apartments consistently using the EAP650 access point.
All three apartments share my Rogers Xfinity 1.5 Gbps connection, which costs me just $80 a month in Canada.
This was my first time doing anything this advanced with networking. I handled the Cat6 wiring, terminations, switches, access points, VLAN configuration, IP addressing, and firewall setup myself.
There were definitely some frustrating moments trying to get everything communicating properly while also keeping the networks separated, but I learned a lot throughout the process.
I know my cable management could use some work, and I’m sure there are things I could improve, but I’m really happy with how everything turned out!
My goal was to create something reliable, secure, and expandable without having to hire a professional networking company.
Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations for improvements. Especially from those of you who work in networking professionally!

Hello. I am in the market for a singular access point for my “den” room in the back of my house. My house is L shaped and my rg is currently in a far corner bedroom. I’ve struggled with wifi in the back of the house for awhile and just recently pulled two cat6 cables back there with the intention of having a single access point to help with wifi in that room and my shop in the backyard. Shop is within ten feet of the back wall where the access point will be.

I’ve read good things about unifi but wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations first. Thank you all

Hello all,

I am planning on a big networking project for my home to install security cameras and ethernet drops to various rooms throughout the house. I plan to put my server in the laundry room. I am wondering if the amount of cameras, ethernet drops. if ap placement is adequte for my home and if my server gear is appropriate. Each ethernet wall jack will have 2 connections.

I am planning to use Cat6a S/FTP and routing most of the cables in the crawlspace underneath the house. There is some attic access above the bedrooms as well.

I am planning a camera at least on each corner of the house + 1 on the shed aiming toward the back entrance + 1 door bell.

Thanks

I have an ASUS ZenWifi XT12 as an upstairs mesh node. I noticed that both my PS5 Pro and PC will take up to 30 seconds establishing Ethernet connection to the 2.5Gb port. Is this a limitation of that port? I know the PS5 Pro has a 1gb port, but my pc is 2.5 and has the same issue.

Edit: The other 1gb LAN ports work fine. It’s only the 2.5Gb port I experience this.