Reddit mentions of D-Link Ethernet Switch, 8 Port Easy Smart Managed Gigabit Network Internet Desktop (DGS-1100-08)

Modem

If your speeds are lower than 170 and will be lower than that for the years to come, then sure. Else I recommend the model up from that or the Cisco one.

 

Router

The ERL is what I run and what I recommend over any other device out there, unless it's for a fairly big business.

The PoE version just gives power over ethernet on those 3 ports, it's still gig speeds, no issues there. The advantage of having a PoE router or switch, is that you don't have to deploy those little PoE devices when you have a phone or AP.

In your case, since you will have at max 2 APs, I don't see a reason to spring for the more expensive version, especially because it's $75 more than the standard ERL.

Since you want Vlan capabilities, you will then want a managed switch. I tried out this model from D-Link and it has served me very well.

So for $10 less, you get 8 more ports (technically 7) that you can use for your devices. In this setup, the ERL now also has a free port for a different network or whatever you want to use it for, if anything at all.

This also removes a lot of the LAN traffic from the router, so that it only is asked to do things when they concern routing. Not that the ERL has any lack of muscle, but it's just good network design to separate router and switch functions.

 

AP

How to pick, easy: what do you need? From your description you don't really need much in terms of an AP. You want to be able to stream music and video on the wifi and that is very easy to do even with the base Unifi.

Even 1080p video requires at max 10 Mb/s of throughput, so the N150 Unifi can stream that to two devices and not hit its wireless cap. If you think you will need more speed, then go for the Pro version, which runs faster (450 on 2.4 and 300 on 5Ghz if I remember correctly). Yes, it's a lot more expensive, so think of what you really need.

I personally don't do much on wireless, I just have a tablet that I use for network stored video and twitch, and it plays both at 1080p just fine. For that reason I just got the base version. Even when friends are over with their devices, I never have any issues of stability, latency or throughput. The range on them is also pretty good.

 

Setup

modem -- router -- switch -- devices (including AP)

I have a few vlans set up so that both wireless guests and wired guests are possible and they do not touch my LAN. It was very easy to set up in the ERL: just create a sub interface with the desired vlan info and subnet on the physical port that connects to your switch, set up your Unifi to have an SSID on said vlan and set your switch to allow said vlan, and you are done.

Actually the switch was the most trouble out of them all, as I come from a Cisco background and they (cisco) have their own terminology, which is the same as other companies, but they mean different things.

Example: "a trunk" in Cisco language means a port that allows multiple vlans through, while everybody else calls port / link aggregation a "trunk". Another is how to actually set up these "trunks" (multi vlan links), where in Cisco you normally specify the link as a "trunk" and then tell it which vlans can go across it, most other manufacturers it's the base behavior if you do not specify a vlan.

It's just all pretty darn confusing when two things are called the same but are very different. If you ever get to that point, let me know, pm me or whatever, and I can give you a hand.

 

Let me know if you have more questions ;)

I use a little dlink 8 port. Works well for vlans and such. I run proxmox on a nuc with a single ethernet port and the vlan tagging on the dlink make it possible to run my firewall virtualized.

non-poe

https://www.amazon.com/D-Link-EasySmart-Gigabit-Ethernet-DGS-1100-08/dp/B008ABLU2I/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=dlink+dgs-1100-08&qid=1567984019&s=gateway&sr=8-2

poe version

https://www.amazon.com/D-Link-EasySmart-Gigabit-Ethernet-DGS-1100-08P/dp/B00CMXROIO/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=dlink+dgs-1100&qid=1567983830&s=electronics&sr=1-3

There are plenty of them.. I would stay away from the tplink ones, atleast the older models had no way to remove vlan 1
https://www.amazon.com/D-Link-EasySmart-Gigabit-Ethernet-DGS-1100-08/dp/B008ABLU2I
$39.99
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-8-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Managed/dp/B07PLFCQVK/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_147_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9BFKWNJS9X83S2G5PWYN
$32.99
I show the new gss108e over on amazon for $29.99 does vlans
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Gigabit-Managed-Lifetime-Protection/dp/B00R92CLJA

D-Link 8-Port EasySmart Gigabit Ethernet Switch (DGS-1100-08) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ABLU2I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_udRCCb28M1BW8