Boy, Ubiquiti sure doesn't make it easy for the average home user/consumer to get a grasp on their products and offerings. I fumbled my way into a similar situation as yourself, perhaps bits of my ramblings will be helpful for you. I started off with a trusty little ER-X, fully planning to outgrow that little device within a matter of months. That did NOT happen, as it's quite a capable router for the $49 I invested in it. It even handled load-balancing dual WAN connections without breaking a sweat. And there's a PoE passthrough for pairing the router with a wireless access point. After being so thrilled with the ER-X, I decided it was time to bring our wireless capabilities into the 21st century and ended up going with a UAP-AC-LR, which has continued to serve us well over the past ~18+ months, or so. I was getting consistent remarks on just how great the WiFi was all of a sudden after deploying that lovely little UFO shaped device. Do yourself a favor and avoid the CloudKey, unless you have a very specific use-case / need for it. There's dozens of ways to run a UniFi Controller that are both cheaper (free?) and better, IMO. If you just have the single access point (I only have the one) you could potentially even stand it up simply by using the UniFi mobile app to set it and forget it. It only needs to run when you want to make modifications, or changes to your setup, but the options are immense. You can even run the software on your desktop PC, pretty much whatever you have on hand will suffice.

In an effort to give a somewhat complete run-down of your options, there's another line of products, where many folks prefer to go with a pure UniFi setup. The USG is on par with the ER-X, but it's twice the cost with less power and less features. The only added bonus is that you get to manage it from the same menu/interface as your access point(s), so your metrics and charts will fill out more and look a bit prettier, but how often do you really sit around and look at how much data your network devices are pulling? I still prefer the EdgeMAX dashboard over the UniFi Controller interface, especially considering the fact that I'm not wholly convinced the values are particularly accurate, so it may be of little value if that's something you actually need for your use-case, rather than just a pretty toy to view. Hope some of this helps, if you have further questions, please ask away! Below I'll list the absolute bare-bones, budget-conscious way to get into an incredibly stable home network setup, from my experiences. I only recently upgraded my Edgerouter-X with an Edgerouter 12 from the Early Release store, and today is the day my upgraded fiber package gets flipped on. Goodbye 100Mbps, hello Gbps! Sadly, not symmetrical... but that's for another time and place. Best of luck with your decision(s). I swear by my little "hybrid" network with the Edgerouter at the core and the UniFi access point (i've since added a mish-mash of switches, but unless you have a large need for ethernet connected devices, the ER-X should be plenty to get you going. This TP-Link was the absolute cheapest "managed" (smart) switch I could find in my research. I'm not quite sold on the UniFi switches, but I often wish I owned an Edgeswitch Lite, but someday I'll learn more than just the basics of the used Cisco SG300-20 i picked up to be the "core" switch of my network. Both the ER-X and ER12 have the added bonus of built in switching chips, so you get the best of both worlds which gives you quite a bit of flexibility in a home/lab environment.

TL;DR -- Edgerouter-X paired with UAP-AC-Lite with the UniFi Controller software running on pretty much whatever you have on hand (RPi, Google Cloud Compute, AWS, any old PC, etc.) and you will have a rock-solid network core with dreamy WiFi that'll get you compliments for weeks, if not months from your significant other and/or housemate(s).

It's not stupid - what you're proposing would work, but give Ubiquiti a look before you commit to buying WRT54GLs.

You can get a 3-pack of Ubiquiti Unifi APs for just a little more than what the old Linksys units are going to cost, but the extra cost is very well worth it.

Edit:
Expanding on the above:

That little Linksys box was phenomenal for its time, and the independent/community firmwares do give you a lot of performance and stability that wasn't present in the stock firmware, but the design is old and using the internet in general requires a lot more bandwidth now than was available back when the WRT54G series came out.

The Ubiquiti hardware is superior and better featured. The radios are 802.11n, so you'll get better throughput than 802.11g with similar coverage, and with the controller you get things like different VLANs for different SSIDs and smart client roaming between APs, both features missing from the Linksys. ( While you could give the Linksys APs the same SSID, most clients aren't smart enough to roam to a stronger AP when it's available until the old connection is dropped. iOS devices will roam, for example, but Android doesn't without 3rd-party apps, and whether Windows clients do or not depends on the drivers. )

The price of a UniFi setup is comparable to your consumer Linksys stuff. Amazon sells single WRT54GLs for $50/each. Those aren't ready for use out of the box - you need to reflash with your preferred OS and load your config on each unit individually. A 3-pack of Ubiquiti Unifis can be had for $180, or $60/each. Your controller will update firmwares and configs for you. (If your preferred consumer unit is more expensive than the WRT54GL, you'll probably save money upfront.)

Installation is super easy. Pick a box you can install Java on where port 8080 isn't already used (Linux or Windows). Install the Unifi Controller software (~40MB java stuff). Create a DNS A record and point it at the IP of the box you just installed your controller on. Log on to controllerbox:8080 and manage your APs. Even if you have no other monitoring in place, the controller will email you alerts when APs go offline/come online. (If you have no other monitoring in place, fix that!) The lack of centralized management on the WRT based firmwares becomes a liability once you're dealing with larger installations. You're only talking about 6 APs now, but you may find a need to change that in the future.

I've been down the WRT54GL route before, back in 2009, and it worked okay. Some of those APs are still in place now, and they work as well as they ever did, even if they are showing their age. If you do go down that route, I can share the settings that have worked well in that environment:

OS: DD-WRT build 14929

Setup > Basic setup:

• Set the WAN connection type to disabled.
  
• Check assign the WAN port to the switch.
  
• Enable NTP client and use pool.ntp.org or time.nist.gov.
  
• Make sure the Router IP section is correct for your environment. (Easy way to tell: power cycle it and check whether the Time shown in the top corner is correct.)
  
  Wireless > Security:
  
  
• RADIUS if you've got it, otherwise use WPA2 with AES.
  
  Wireless > Advanced Settings:
  
  
• Max associated clients to 32. (This solved a lot of lock-ups for me, but I didn't need to support a lot of simultaneous users.)
  
• Transmit power to 120. (This gives a little better coverage than the default and worked fine for my laptops - if your intended devices are mobiles or other things with tiny antennas, leave this at the default.)
  
  Services:
  
  
• Disable everything except SSHd if you plan to use it for monitoring.
  
  Security:
  
  
• Disable everything. (This is just an AP, not a router, right?)
  
  Administration > Keep Alive:
  
  
• Schedule reboot for 00:00 Sunday. (This is why you set up NTP earlier. Reboot takes less than a minute and keeps you from having to troubleshoot mystery issues.)
  
  
  Whichever route you choose, once you have your devices in place, walk around and check your coverage, and make adjustments if necessary. The easiest way I've found to do this is use inSSIDer on Android - it lets you visualize where you've got signal and where you don't. Or, better, HowtoGeek has some good reading on this here: http://www.howtogeek.com/165614/how-to-create-a-wi-fi-heatmap-for-network-analysis-better-coverage-and-geek-cred-galore/
  
  There's some conflicting information in other comments about which channels to use. I suggest using 1, 6, and 11 to control your overlaps and minimize your interference - again, HowtoGeek has some useful reading here: http://www.howtogeek.com/129231/do-limited-wi-fi-channels-restrict-network-availability/

Alright, here we go:

PLANNING

You mainly need to figure out how many cables you need and where you'll run them to. Obviously you'll need one to each location of an AP or camera, so you need to figure out how many you'll run to jacks for connecting Ethernet devices. The bare minimum is one to each TV location and desk location, in this case you'll connect a switch to the jack if you need to connect more than one device. The ideal number is five to your main entertainment center, and two to every other TV location and desk location. This hopefully eliminates the need for secondary switches. In addition, you should run one Coaxial cable to each TV location including your main entertainment center. Add up all the Ethernet cables you'll be running, and keep this number in mind.

As for the network hub location, the best place for it is the basement, preferably an unfinished part of it near the entry point of your internet service. If you don't have a basement, use a utility room. Just make sure it has some sort of ventilation, you don't want stuff getting too hot.

EQUIPMENT

For the actual Ethernet cable, you'll want to get a 1000 foot bulk spool. Get pure copper rather than copper clad aluminum (CCA) and solid conductors rather than stranded. It needs to be riser rated (pretty much any will be) but plenum rating is pointless unless you'll be running it through air ducts. Your big choice here is the category rating: Cat5e or Cat6. Cat5e is good for gigabit, Cat6 will future-proof you for 10 gigabit. Cat6 is more expensive, thicker, and trickier to terminate as the spec only allows a quarter inch of untwisting rather than Cat5e's half an inch.

Keeping in mind the number of wires you plan on running, you'll need a punch-down patch panel with at least that many ports that matches the category rating of your cable. You'll also need punch-down keystone jacks, these also need to match the category rating of your cable. You won't need them for cables going to cameras or APs, you'll just need one for each other cable. For each location where you'll be installing jacks, you'll need a single gang old work low voltage bracket (or a surface-mount box), and a keystone wallplate. Six ports for the main entertainment center, three for each other TV location, two for each desk location. You'll also want a keystone coaxial coupler for each TV location including the main entertainment center.

You have another big choice to make for the main switch, a managed PoE switch or a dumb unmanaged switch. The managed PoE switch will simplify things a lot as it'll power your cameras and APs, while with an unmanaged switch you'll need to use PoE injectors. A managed PoE switch will, predictably, be much more expensive. Either way, you'll ideally want one with at least as many ports as the total number of Ethernet cables you'll planning to install, plus one for the router. You can get one with fewer ports, but then you won't be able to connect all your cables to it at once, you'll need to just connect the ones you're currently using. If you'll be going with a managed PoE switch, get one of these UniFi switches: 8-port with 4 PoE, 8-port with all PoE, 16-port, 24-port, or 48-port. If you'll be getting an unmanaged switch, any is fine. Just make sure it's gigabit. I used this one in my previous house, for example.

For the router, you'll want the UniFi Security Gateway.

You've got another big choice to make for the APs: Lite or Pro. The main difference is that the Lite has two 5 GHz streams, while the Pro has three. Only high-end devices like Macbook Pros have 3-stream Wi-Fi hardware, so if you don't have any devices with this, the Pro won't give you any benefit. Also, since the Lite is cheaper you can get more of them for the money, as more APs rather than better ones is the best thing you can do to improve your Wi-Fi. Both of these are available in single-packs and 5-packs, the single packs include PoE injectors but the 5-packs don't. If you're getting a PoE switch, consider getting a 5-pack of Lites.

You'll need something to run the UniFi controller. This is the software that you use to manage all the UniFi gear in one place. The easiest thing to do is install it on an Ethernet-connected PC and just run it when you need to make changes or update firmware. If you want a dedicated device for running it all the time, you can use a Raspberry Pi or Cloud Key. The Cloud Key is PoE-powered, so it's particularly convenient if you have a PoE switch.

You'll also need a few RJ45 plugs for the AP and camera cables, a crimping tool for them, a 110 impact punch down tool for doing your jack and patch panel terminations, and something to strip the cable jacket. Normally this will be built into the crimper.

Lastly, you'll need a lot of pre-made Ethernet patch cables to connect everything in your network hub. Get ones that are as short as possible, 1-3 feet. You'll need one to connect each cable you've installed from the patch panel to the switch, one for connecting the switch to the router, and another for connecting the router to the modem/ONT (this one may need to be longer). If you'll be using any PoE injectors, you'll need an additional cable for each one. You could make all these yourself, but this is very tedious and time-consuming, and hard to get right. The wires need to be in the right order and all 8 need to be connected for gigabit to work. Lastly, you'll need one for each actual Ethernet device you currently have, these should be 6 feet or longer if necessary.

INSTALLATION AND SETUP

The first thing to do is run all the cables. Camera and AP lines go to the device's location and get an RJ45 plug, all the others go to a keystone jack box/bracket/faceplate. Whenever possible, leave a foot of slack at both ends in case you need to re-do terminations. I like to terminate each cable after I run it, as it makes things easier to keep track of. For all the jacks, note the port number of the cable at the patch panel, and write that same number on the faceplate next to the jack. When you do the terminations, make sure to untwist the wire as little as possible, particularly if you're using Cat6.

For the APs, install the ceiling mount bracket using the included hardware, connect the cable to the AP, and then just put the AP on the bracket and twist it to lock it in place.

At the network hub, first hook up any PoE injectors you'll be using. Connect the patch panel port for the AP/camera cable to the injector's PoE port, and connect the injector's LAN port to the switch. Plug the injector into an outlet. Now connect the rest of the patch panel's ports to the switch, or if you have a smaller switch just connect the ones you're currently using. Connect the USG's LAN port to the switch, and its WAN port to your modem/ONT. Make sure your APs are getting power, their ring light will be white if they are.

Now, open the UniFi Controller (wherever you have it set up) and go to the Devices page. Adopt everything, and update everything's firmware. Go through it and set up everything the way you like. All the UniFi devices will light up blue once adopted and configured.

Not OP, but we've deployed Ubiquiti products in a few of our enterprise customers and it is running great. I am not sure how much you already know about networking, but I'll explain for anyone else reading.

First, some background to fully understand what it is you are trying to do. The thing that most consumers call "routers" are really three things: a router, a switch, and an access point. TLDR the router portion is the thing that actually moves traffic between machines, the switch extends how many physical ethernet ports you have, and the access point gives you wifi.

The Ubiquiti Access Points (UAP) are just access points. You will still need a router to route traffic, and your consumer one will work just fine for most people. If you are looking to get something more SOHO, Ubiquiti also makes their own router/firewall (check out USG, or ideally EdgeRouter). For all intents and purposes, it is a pretty good idea to separate the roles of your network (physical appliances for the router, firewall, wireless, etc...), and you can have as many UAP's as you'd like for wireless. The UAP's run off of Ubiquiti's 24V Power-over-Ethernet (POE), which can be provided via a POE injector or with a Ubiquiti Switch (either Unifi or EdgeMax). So for a basic network, you'll disable the wireless functionality on your consumer router, and plug a UAP into a port (obviously you'll need to pass it through the POE injector first). Rinse and repeat for however many UAP's you want, maybe another one on the other side of the house for example.

The UAP is pretty useless on its own, though. It needs a piece of software called the Unifi Controller. The software is free, and you can run it on Windows, Linux, or with Ubiquiti's appliance called the Cloud Key. Within Unifi Controller, you'll setup the UAP's; e.g. setting the visible wifi name (SSID), security, channels, etc... It isn't too complicated, the interface is really intutive and anyone who is even slightly technical could figure it out. The controller also serves another really important feature, which is zero-handoff. As long as the controller is running, your device will connect to the access point with the best signal. This is the seamless switching you asked about.

Ubiquiti also is focused on mesh networking, although we are generally pretty against that for businesses for reliability reasons. Of course, the exception to that is Cisco Meraki, which is a hybrid that will self-heal. If you lie and say you are an IT professional, you can get a free Meraki with a 3 year license. Just make sure that you follow the rules.

As a note, I would stick to the UAP AC's. They are the newer version and run great. For consumers, the UAP-AC-LITE is going to work fine. Obviously there is more to networking and wireless solutions than what I went over here, but this is the general gist of it.

Don't get a combo router/modem; it unnecessarily limits your options and it's annoying when your device ends up half-broken or half-obsolete, but the whole thing has to be replaced at once.

modem:

Check the approved device list for your tier of service and buy whatever's cheapest (except that if the list still contains DOCSIS 2.0 devices for some reason, ignore those and get a modem that is at least DOCSIS 3.0). If you shop around for cable modems you'll notice that they're labeled as "MxN": M is the number of downstream channels and N is the number of upstream channels, which determines the maximum connection speed the modem supports. IMO 8x4 (which corresponds to 343 Mbps download) is the current value-for-money sweet spot; unless you plan to switch to a faster service than that within the next couple of years it's not worth paying extra for future-proofing.

The Arris/Motorola SB6141 ($40 on Amazon) is a popular choice.

router:

If all you care about is Internet access speed (i.e., the thing that's limited by your 70 Mbps connection) then even an old 802.11N router would be good enough, let alone an AC one. If you care about transferring files and/or streaming between computers within the house, then having gigabit ethernet and 802.11 AC (and dual-band/MIMO/other buzzwords/etc.) starts to become more important.

Don't pay extra for fancy software features (security, antivirus, parental controls, etc). Instead, pick a router that is supported by open-source third-party firmware such as LEDE, which can turn even a basic router into a pseudo-"enterprise"-level device with every fancy feature you could possibly imagine. (Subject to hardware limitations, of course!) (If you decide to care about third-party firmware support, pay close attention to exactly what hardware you're getting, including the revision number. Sometimes hardware changes in ways that break compatibility without any way to tell just from reading the outside of the package.)

Also pay attention to the physical form-factor of the device (this goes for the cable modem too, by the way). If you want it to lay flat on a surface instead of standing up on its edge (or vice-versa), make sure it actually supports being used that way. For example, this piece of shit would have been a great device, except that some dipshit designed it such that it can't sit flat or hang on a wall. It's asinine!

I concur with /u/JustBeefTaco in recommending the TP-Link Archer C7. In addition to the reasons he said, it's also good because it's supported by LEDE. My own home network runs on an Archer C7 (running LEDE 17.01)

That said, if you wanted to "do it right" using one access point per floor, then you'd put a non-wi-fi router such as this Mikrotik in the basement next to the cable modem, and then connect it using gigabit ethernet to ceiling-mounted access points on each floor. (Disclaimer: I haven't researched this kind of setup, so I don't know if these are the best devices to choose.) Note that the devices I listed support PoE (Power over Ethernet), which IMO would be important for that kind of more permanently-installed setup.

Hello! Thank you for your quick and detailed answer!

From what I've learned here and also in another (german) forum I posted this, it seems like Powerline "does the trick" but is far from being optimal. So I'll try to avoid that. MoCA seems to be a very good alternative but I cant find a way to buy it here in Austria(Germany would also work) and it also seems to be pretty expensive (lets say 3 adapters each 99$/80€ + an AP for each one).

However, the AP you posted seems to be very strong. I've read a few of the comments/reviews on Amazon and there where quiet a lot of people saying how strong the signal is and how well it works.

Some background to my "situation": The basement is where my father will live and he is not very demanding in terms of WiFi speed. Its important for him to have access but his needs are very simple (no online gaming or HD-Movie-Streaming). Ground and top floor are "my area" this is where I need very good connection. I also though about the layout of the house and appearently my dads "office" and his bedroom are right underneath my living room.

Lets for a moment overthrow all of the setup mentioned in the OP and try a different and much simpler thing:

As far as I know the Modem on the top floor gets its "Internet" (sorry if I sound dumb) from an Coax Plug. So it should be possible to just move the whole thing to a different plug on the base floor. (Is it that simple?).

If that would work I could just try to buy one of the Ubiquiti AP-AC-LITE you mentioned, connect it to the modem and place it in a relatively central position.

Since the signal output of the AP seems to be very good it might actually work well enough for my dad in the basement, while providing excellent speed for the base and top floor.

So given that it is that easy to move the modem, would that be an option? Or am I overseeing something here? Because that would be WAY cheaper and take way less effort.

>EDIT: oh, and turn off the Wi-Fi on the comcast box so it doesn't conflict.

Hey /u/Archvile7, thanks again for the prompt and in depth response. I gave you a well deserved upvote. You clearly have a lot of experience and a lot of insight into the field. I received the floor plan from the owner and I just purchased the Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-AC-LR-US based on your recommendation and the rave reviews it has received. I just needed that little push from someone who has some skin in the game. You make some really good points in regards to troubleshooting down the road. Ultimately, I think that I wanted to do it for experience and they want to have me try it. As the saying goes, it's good to know someone in IT... well that's not really a saying, but you get what I mean.

Thanks for sharing your personal experience with network setups. This shop does in fact run a large dryer used to dry screen printed clothing, so I will avoid those areas due to high temperatures. I have a location already in mind to securely install the AP to a joist. As stated before, the Ethernet cables are already run throughout from the previous tenants, so I theoretically would only have to terminate a few cables.

I may start with the single AP and see how that performs for them. I was considering a guest VLAN for them, but let's keep that on the back burner for now. From what I've been reading on Amazon, users have installed the Ubiquiti software controller on a Raspberry Pi. Again, I may or may not go down that road, but it could be an inexpensive way of getting more control remotely. I will most definitely set up the SSID and password the same to ensure easy handoff. They don't have wireless printers or any of that. Very simple network layout so far. I plugged three of their computers to an Ethernet that is plugged into a 5-port switch.

This may be optimistic thinking, but I am hoping that the Ubiquiti AP will offer strong enough coverage so that I can turn off the WiFi on the Xfinity gateway like you said. The Xfinity gateway is located near their office, which they probably would continue to want WiFi. This was the 'bridge mode' question that I had. If the signal isn't quite strong enough coming from the AP in the warehouse, I may leave the Xfinity gateway running WiFi, or I will simply have them purchase a second AP for the office area.

Again, I really appreciate the deep analysis and sharing your personal experiences with me. I will continue to update this thread for future researchers. I think that this will come in handy for many who are genuinely interested in getting their hands dirty.

Everyone is telling you to get a gigabit switch and put all your routers into AP mode. They're forgetting one important thing. You still need a router/firewall on your incoming connection. I recommend the following:

1. pfSense firewall/router. You have many options when it comes to pfSense. You can build a device out of an older computer. The requirements are an x64 processor that has AES-NI (just Google your CPU brand, model and AES-NI. You must have that for future versions of pfSense. Also, it'd be best to have an Intel NIC. Not RealTek or Broadcom. Intel is well supported in pfSense. Or, you could buy a new device. You could buy a new computer and build it yourself or you could buy directly from Netgate. If you don't have anyone that's good with computers you should buy from Netgate (and even if you do have someone who's "good with computers"). Try this model: https://store.netgate.com/SG-3100.aspx
   
   
   
2. Gigabit managed switch. The reason I say managed is that you never know if you'll need to create VLANs for a guest network. You can get a nice switch from eBay. Or if you get a specific Netgate device (SG-3100) it has a switch built in. If you get support on the device (which is extra, but I recommend it) you'll get assistance setting up the appliance with guest VLAN. If you just want a cheaper pfSense device you will still need a switch. Dell, HP or (my preference) Cisco. PoE is nice, but not needed.
   
   
3. Access points. There's no other way to say this. You guys are using the wrong hardware. You should be using prosumer/enterprise level equipment. What's nice is that you don't have to spend enterprise level prices to get this equipment. I'd recommend Ubiquiti AP AC Pro access points:
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512
   
   When you purchase individual APs from that link above, the PoE injector comes with it. The 5 pack does not have injectors so you'd need to buy those separately. Now depending on the size of each floor, you might need more than one AP one the floor. In WiFi, you never want to max out the transmit power. This seems like an odd thing to say. But think about it, if you're in a lecture hall, you can hear the professor easily because he's using a mic and speakers. However, if you have a question you have to speak very loudly (since you sit at the back of the room). It's possible you can't speak loudly enough for him to hear you. This is the same for wireless devices. Just because you blast your AP, doesn't mean that long distance devices have the power to talk back. This wastes your battery. This is the reason for multiple APs.
   
   This isn't really that bad, price wise. These devices will allow the frat to have good signal strength throughout the house. If you have more questions or would like assistance with the config, I'd be happy to help.
   
   

One thing I'm going to tell you, you're in the "danger zone" you know enough to get access to settings but have very, very little idea as to what each setting does. You know enough to be dangerous. Reading something like this would probably be useful to you - https://www.homenethowto.com/ - no insult intended, we've all been there at various points in life, it's part of learning.



DHCP usually does a "good enough" job at handing out IPs for home use. It also does a "good enough" job for corporate use that you'd expect 99% of IPs handed out in a corporation to be DHCP based.



Setting a static IP will do absolutely nothing for you. The only real benefit occurs in instances where you're swapping out hardware and where you as a user are making direct references to a piece of equipment. You aren't.




Changes are you need to look into some combination of:

1. getting a better AP/wire-less router
   
2. getting a better wireless bridge (which it sounds like your "extender is in"
   
3. hard-wiring.
   
   
   Some free things you could look into include:
   
   
4. ensuring you have proper channel selection (number of channels + choosing ones which don't overlap with neighbors)
   
5. positioning wireless access points/wireless-routers well (if your mother is hard-wired you might need to get a switch - at the very least MAKE SURE IT ISN'T IN A CORNER WITH STUFF OVER IT)
   
   
   As an FYI, wifi is, all else equal, usually BETTER in rural environments - there are fewer neighbors congesting the air waves.
   
   
   In an ideal world - everything is hard-wired. In a less ideal world, everything which is wireless runs on 5Ghz and wireless-AC (faster, better, more reliable than wireless-N) AND each client is within ~30ft of an AP without too many walls/floors in the way. APs can be purchased stand-alone and often do wonders, especially if you have an older router which doesn't support wireless AC (which wasn't really around until 2013ish)
   https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-EAP225-V3-Wireless-Supports/dp/B0781YXFBT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525739126&sr=8-1&keywords=eap225

Here are your options for home wifi networking:

1. Buy a super strong wifi router and you're good to go even in a large home - as long as you don't live in a repurposed bomb shelter. An example of a "super strong" router: here
   
2. Buy a normal router or your current one and add access points. An example of a "normal" router: here . An access point (AP) is not a wifi extender. You must run a cable (CAT 5E/ CAT 6) from your router to the location where you need improved wifi signal, there you plug in the AP and attach the Ethernet cable from the router. The AP simply turns a wired connection into a wireless one and broadcasts the same network as that coming from your router. An example of an AP: here .
   
3. Buy a normal router or your current router and use a wifi extender(s). I wifi extender receives packets from your wireless router, ups the signal strength, and then forwards them to a nearby host. If you are having poor signal at point B and the router is at point A then put the extender directly in the middle of the 2; I have seen so many people make the mistake of putting the extender at point B, which defeats the whole purpose because it is just your host device's antenna vs the extender's.
   
4. An extender/AP all in one device. An example: here
   
5. A mesh wifi system. It can be difficult to distinguish a multi-AP/ multi-extender setup from a mesh system, but the main differences are that the mesh will be easier to setup and more "polished" in general. A mesh system will automatically detect the SSID (network name) from the wifi router and extend it. Want to add a signal booster? With mesh you can buy another matching unit and use WPS for a one button setup. The mesh is also smart in identifying when you move from one area to another ans switching to the closer device to server you your packets. Now, this is seen in some higher end APs and extenders such as here , but its not as seamless and usually more expensive in the long run. An example of a mesh system: here
   
   APs are generally more stable (UBIQUITI makes great ones) due to the wired connection. I like using APs because I can buy as I need more and set some up on different VLANs and hide SSIDs, but those are more advanced options. For most people who do not want to run cable or go with more of a permanent networking setup, the easiest and most effective solution is generally a mesh system. The TP-Link one is great as well as Google WiFi.
   
   EDITED: Because the bot thought I was using affiliate links...

Your router is simply the point where your local network is translated out to other networks (in this case the internet). Since you want to be on the same local network as everything else in the house, what you're looking for is NOT a second router. I believe you are falling prey to incorrect terminology here. What you want (assuming you want a wireless connection) is to have a WAP (Wireless Access Point) to provide a wifi signal where you need it. Here's how that works. From your router, you use one of your spare ports to run a cable to the area you want a better wireless signal, you then plug said cable into a wireless access point and it will provide wireless connectivity in that area depending on the range and specifications of the WAP.

Now, there ARE ways to extend wifi range and use a second, or third WAP without running a cable to it as some of the other gentlemen mentioned. This can be done if your router (the one going to your provider/ISP) ALSO has wireless capabilities. In that case, a remote WAP could do something called bridging the connection. Basically you could use the second WAP to receive the wireless signal of the router, and extend it as a second hop. This does bring problems though since without the WAP being hard wired, you're relying on the wireless signal from the router to the WAP, and from the WAP to your PC. There's a lot more that goes into doing wireless bridging than if you simply cabled the WAP instead. For example, you need to carefully place the WAP so it's close enough to the router to receive a strong-ish signal, but you ALSO need the WAP to be close enough to the low signal area to provide you with a better signal.

As you can see, the better of the two options is simply to run a cable from your router to the WAP where you need your wireless signal. WAPs can be pretty cheap, easily under 100 bucks. I personally use a UniFi AC Pro AP for my wireless access point since my router doesn't have WiFi, however for your case I think a longer range solution like the UniFi AC LR AP would be better. https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UAP-AC-LR-Networks-Enterprise-System/dp/B015PRCBBI There are other brands out there too, but this one is nice because it has free software you can use to see who is connected to the WAP, what the signal strength for them is, and how much (if any) noise there is on the frequencies that the WiFi signal is going over. Since you life on a farm house, there should be little to no RF(Radio frequency) noise, so the signal should be nice and strong.

Hope this helps!

I'll try, if you have any questions or if I wasn't really clear on something, ask away and I'll try to explain it better.

A normal home network is quite simple, in order starting from your ISP's line coming into your house, you usually have a modem, a router, a switch and an access point. Most consumer routers are actually a combo router-switch-access point all in one. They provide you a few ports for wired connection and the wifi in a single convenient unit. What you can also do is split up this combo unit to be able to place each device in a better location. If you have your modem in the basement, putting the router next to it makes sense, but putting the access point there often means it will be completely unusable on the second floor. Don't be afraid, separate unit aren't really more complex, you just need to wire them together. I'll recommend a few unit throughout, but feel free to ask for a second opinion!

Personally, after witnessing the extreme difference in quality between home all-in-one routers and dedicated separate unit, I will strongly recommend you go with a separate unit setup. Ubiquiti makes super great hardware that won't cost you much more than a combo but will give you much more performance. Here are the recommended devices, I'll explain the setup right after :

• Router : Ubiquiti Edgerouter X
  
• Switch : TP-Link Gigabit switch (8 port / 16 port / 24 port)
  
• Access point : Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC Lite
  
  So, your provider will supply you with a modem (or you will buy your own) and plug that directly in the DSL/Cable/Fiber line that comes from outside. Then, you will plug the router in the modem. The router will allow all the devices in your home to communicate with the internet. In the router, you will plug the switch. In the switch, you can plug all the lines that are going through your house. You can also plug several switches in the router, or a switch in another switch (example : a switch in the office plugged into a line that goes to the second floor, a switch on the second floor, that will work). Also plugged in the switch : the access point. You can plug it (or them if you buy more than one) directly in the switch, or at the end of a long line that goes where you want the access point to be. For a two stories house, you might get good result by having a central AP on the first floor, or an AP on each floor, depending on construction, materials and interference.
  
  So now, we have the classic modem > router > switch > AP, using separate devices for greater flexibility and performance. Once it's all plugged in, time to set it up. For the router, simple, follow the wizard. For the switch, these switches are plug and play, no config needed. For the AP (or APs), install the software on your PC, follow the wizard, done! The controller software is used to configure the APs, but is not needed for the APs to work. The APs, once they get their config from the software, are completely standalone and independent, you can turn the PC off without issues.
  
  Hope this answers your questions, as I said, ask anything that wasn't answered and I'll try to explain it.

One fairly simple way to secure your network would be to buy a managed switch like this one and setting up VLANs to separate your network.

In a nutshell, VLANs are a way to partition your switch into different segments or "Broadcast Domains". It's like breaking your switch up into smaller switches that are not connected to each other.

Why would you want to do this?

By virtually separating your LAN, if an attacker somehow gained access to one of your devices (say the Raspberry Pi), they wouldn't be able to access your WD MyCloud or your Camera because they would be on a completely separate LAN.

Based on your network, I would create at least 6 different VLANs. Something like this:

VLAN 2 - Servers (The WD MyClouds and the Dell Tower)

VLAN 3 - Cameras

VLAN 4 - Wireless LAN

VLAN 5 - LAN (Ethernet connected PCs, Laptops, etc.)

VLAN 6 - IoT devices (The thermostat, sprinkler controller, RPis, etc)

VLAN 7 - Guest / Unsecured Wireless

VLAN 8 - Management

The Management VLAN is used to allow access to management functions of your devices like the switch.

How do the different VLANs talk to each other?

For example, how do your PCs talk to your WD MyCloud if they're on a different VLAN? Through the use of a VLAN-Aware Router!

It looks like your WRT1200AC is supported by DD-WRT and OpenWRT. It also appears that it does support VLANs. The stock Linksys firmware will not support VLANs so you would need to flash it with either OpenWRT or DD-WRT in order to use that functionality.

If you don't like the idea of flashing your WRT1200AC I would recommend replacing it with a VLAN-Capable access point like the Ubiquiti Unifi-AC-Pro (which is not bad looking either). You'll also need a VLAN-Capable Router/Firewall. You can use any Linux box with a decent Gigabit Ethernet NIC (e.g. Intel) for this task, or you can go with a purpose-built router like the Mikrotik RouterBoard hEX which has been tested to route at nearly gigabit speed.

This is a lot of info to process, if you have questions I would be happy to help! :)

first off, don't rent a router from your ISP. you will need to use a modem or gateway depending on the type of internet you are getting. if you are using cable or dsl i would also suggest to buy your own modem as well. it's a modern version of renting a rotary phone from the company and a racket.

you can get a router and wifi combo that is new and good for about $150 or more for faster or more advanced features.

as far as game plan for your home here is my suggestions
to start you off since you just moved in and are already renting it for now just use the provided router from to fiber provider so you can get connected and plan the rest of this build out.

depending on the layout and size of your home (cinder block construction is terrible for wifi and other rf signals) you may need multiple access points. my suggestion is to look into a brand of networking equipment called ubiquity.

they are relatively new to the market and have really shaken up the price and feature packs. set up is mainly through a web and mobile app and is very easy for a relatively new person to IT. there is also a huge community here on reddit and youtube showing off features and giving how to's.

here is my goto suggestion if you are willing to invest in an infrastructure more than a single router.

the fiber will come into your property and go through a modem and gateway provided by the isp you would then plug it into a router:
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Security-Gateway-USG/dp/B00LV8YZLK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526552321&sr=8-2&keywords=unifi

This is a smaller model that is a router and firewall combo by ubiquity, its about 110 at amazon

Then you plug the router into a switch:
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Managed-Gigabit-US-8-150W/dp/B01DKXT4CI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1526552321&sr=8-3&keywords=unifi

This is a sort of backbone device that you would use to send the internet to other devices and for other devices to comunicate with each other. this one is a poe switch which means it can send power to some devices like access points over the one cat 5 cable. this one has 8 ports so that means 7 outboard devices can be connected to the network because one is needed for the router. they make larger ones with more ports for more devices. this model is currently 194 on amazon

you will then need access points:
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1526552321&sr=8-5&keywords=unifi

these are radios that broadcast wifi to your wireless devises these connect to the switch with cat 5 cables and are best placed near where you are going to use wifi devises the average home would benefit from two or three of these one to cover the living room kitchen great room area and one to cover the bedroom hallway are and possibly one for the backyard pool area (that might be important because of your external walls). this model is currently 80 on amazon.

if you deploy this list you will also need a cloud key:
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Cloud-Key-Control/dp/B017T2QB22/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526553343&sr=8-1&keywords=cloud+key

this is a devise that manages the network and stores configuration files locally. it's like a mini server. this is about 78 on amazon.

you will also need cat 5/6/7 cables of various lengths and a power strip for about 500 you can get a really great network that can cover your whole house and that can easily be upgraded incrementally as technology improves. My suggestion would be to get all this mounted in a closet somewhere and get cat5/6/7 run to all the things that you can and place the access point in the house so you get the best coverage possible for the IOT devises in your house. as your network grows and you need more wired ports you can add a switch or replace the one with a 24 or 46 port one. when wifi tech improves past ag you can just replace the access points without affecting the rest of the network.another big thing is to run cable to anything you can this will help with keeping your wifi fast since there are less devices on the wifi.

Edit:
If there are two main points they would be:

1. wire everything you can so that way the devises that need to be wireless can be faster
   
2. Don't rent non-proprietary equipment from your ISP

>Plus it all seems inefficient since I already have the LAN throughout the house.

If you already have Ethernet pulled to places all over the house, then wired Access Points is the obvious and correct answer.

Ubiquiti is the king of reliable Access Points. But switching to Ubiquiti requires a bit more knowledge than your typical wireless router / repeater system, so if you choose this, you'll have to do a bit of learning too.

For 900 sqft on two floors, you can likely get away with just one Access Point mounted on the First Floor in the Center. That would easily cover the floor, plus very likely cover the floors above and below it too. A Ubiquiti nanoHD is my go-to recommendation lately, but if you are trying to save some money, an AC-LITE is fine.

nanoHD:

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Internal-1733Mbit-Ethernet/dp/B07FFNTLJD/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=nanohd&qid=1574904222&s=electronics&sr=1-4

AC-PRO:

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=nanohd&qid=1574903775&s=electronics&sr=1-5

AC Lite:

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/ref=sxin_2_ac_d_rm?ac_md=0-0-YWMgbGl0ZQ%3D%3D-ac_d_rm&keywords=ac+lite&pd_rd_i=B015PR20GY&pd_rd_r=382f4fce-b8fd-41f5-9d83-2ce30c7d4867&pd_rd_w=2JjVi&pd_rd_wg=IV1TH&pf_rd_p=e2f20af2-9651-42af-9a45-89425d5bae34&pf_rd_r=BRFTH2F9ZHRVN6T7YH6B&psc=1&qid=1574903705

Since you already have Ethernet presumably at ground level, you can also consider the Ubiquiti In-Wall units as well. These units provide you Wireless Access Points PLUS they give you two Ethernet ports at ground level. If you can get your gamer and game machines plugged into Ethernet instead of wireless, you'll have the ideal setup (streaming and other things are fine on wireless).

So maybe 1 ceiling mounted AP in the middle of the first floor, one in wall where the gamer is (for Ethernet ports as well as supplemental WiFi on the second floor), and maybe one In-Wall in the basement if needed (good chance it won't be).

AC-In-Wall:

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-UAP-AC-Iw-Wireless-Access/dp/B06XZLP8Q6/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1YA0NR13TWSGZ&keywords=ubiquiti+in+wall&qid=1574903832&s=electronics&sprefix=ubiquiti+in+w%2Celectronics%2C199&sr=1-2

If you do get 2-3 Ubiquiti APs, you'll probably want a PoE switch to power them all. This is another expense, unfortunately, but makes installation much cleaner.

>Based on what I've read (and experienced before) one kungfu wireless router isn't likely to provide adequate coverage throughout the house.

If you didn't want to go the Ubiquiti route, your house is actually a pretty good candidate for an Asus or Netgear, since it's 900sf stacked on top of each other. These consumer routers are pretty good these days. Unless your house is all brick and metal, I don't see why it wouldn't cover it.

The best thing to do is separate everything out so you can future proof your setup. What if down the line you want to extend your wifi or need more wired ports? When you separate everything out (security gateway/firewall, switch and wifi access points) its much easier to upgrade and troubleshoot. Your typical consumer grade all in one routers have all three of those things in one package and none of them are particularly great.

Ubiquiti is the current leader at this for the home user. They have SOHO grade equipment (small office home office) which is basically enterprise grade equipment but at consumer grade prices.

If I were you, here's what I'd do:
Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) - this will be the brains of your system and allow port forwarding, QoS, deep packet inspection, etc.

Ubiquiti Networks 8-Port UniFi Switch, Managed PoE+ Gigabit Switch with SFP, 150W (US-8-150W) - this gives you 8 ports, all of which can be enabled for power over ethernet which can easily power your security cameras and access points. If you don't need this then you can get the cheaper non-PoE switch Ubiquiti US-8 Unifi Switch

Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point (UAP-AC-PRO-US) - This is a great access point to give you fast wifi at a great range. This plugs directly into your switch via ethernet cable. If you need to extend you wifi then you can get a second one and plug it in. These can be powered by PoE which is really nice.

Total cost: $461

I guarantee you would end up spending more upgrading an all in one router over the next few years. This will easily last you 10+ years if not more and be enterprise grade equipment.

Not all-inclusive, still need some physical cables and such, but hopefully this is a starting point:

16-port gig switch: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00GG1AC7I/ Probably overkill but a few more ports doesn't cost all THAT much more and this leaves you plenty of room for expansion. Also managed so can setup VLANs, QoS, whatever.

Router: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00HXT8EKE/ These are solid for home and small business use. Config can be a little tricky if you are using any of the advanced features but plenty of throughput (1 million pps). Also supports VLANs if you want to spin up a guest wifi later.

Wireless AP: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B015PRO512/ This supports multiple SSIDs on different VLANs and offers really solid performance for not a ton of money. From the physical space you listed below I'm thinking one should me more than enough.

Cable modem: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B016PE1X5K/ I know you said this wasn't finalized but thought I would toss it in anyway. Don't skimp here, a low-end modem will really limit throughput and can crash under heavy-load. Whatever you go with make sure it's on your ISPs compatibility list! They may not support it if not.

That should put a total around $512 USD or so JUST FOR HARDWARE. Keep in mind this is a pretty basic setup but should serve as a starting point. You'll still need the physical cabling and someone able to set it all up. As mentioned earlier also this is only MY BEST GUESS as to what you will need. Please don't take this as your bible or anything like that. :)

I know I mentioned it before but I really don't mind helping set things up if needed. I'm not going to be your "call at 3AM tech guy" but if you need a bit here and there I can try to assist. :) Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts on the build. Cheers!

EDIT: Something else to keep in mind that's not really network related is backups. YOU NEED THIS. Even if you go with a cloud service like carbonite or whatever, you need to make sure the PCs have regular backups. You WILL have a hard drive die and need to pull a backup from somewhere.

At this moment, WPA3 shouldn't be the primary concern. It was only certified back in June of this year.

In order for WPA3 to work in any environment, your broadcasting device (wireless router, wireless access point, etc) AND your client device (phone, tablet, laptop, etc) must both support it.

So, if you have current devices that only support WPA2, getting a WPA3 wireless router will have no benefit at current. If you do get a WPA3 wireless router, you'll be set for the time when you do replace your existing wireless devices with WPA3 compliant devices.

----

In regards to improving your wireless experience (leaving WPA3 out of the topic for the moment), it'd be better to focus on a few other details.

1. How many people within what approximate square footage space?
   
   
2. How many people per room?
   
   
3. How many rooms require wireless coverage? (saying ALL is not helpful, detailing the total number of rooms is)
   
   
4. Does every device support 5GHz?
   
   ----
   
   My basic recommendation is as such.
   
   Determine which devices DO and DO NOT support 5GHz. Determine how many rooms are critical for wireless coverage. Purchase a wireless access point (or multiple - depending on square footage coverage requirements) that are DFS compliant.
   
   If you cannot find specifics on your device, whether is supports 2.4GHz or 5GHz - you can adjust/alter your current wireless settings. Most wireless broadcasting devices should allow you to name your 2.4GHz and your 5GHz networks (SSID) separately. Do so. As example, name your 2.4GHz network something like 'Home - Legacy' and your 5GHz network 'Home'.
   
   Then have each device 'search/look' for the available wireless networks. If they can only see 'Home - Legacy' and NOT 'Home' - then you are holding a device that can only use 2.4GHz.
   
   Document what each device CAN and CANNOT see.
   
   If every device supports 5GHz, great! You can and should disable 2.4GHz - and never use it! In order to determine if & how many wireless access points you'll need, you will need to do some research and intelligent planning.
   
   Use the same device for this test.
   
   Go to the room where your wireless router is. Check how many bars of signal you have. Document it. Go to the next room and repeat this process for each room.
   
   Most devices will show 4 or 5 bars in regards to signal. If they do not, then it is likely a percentage. 2 of 4 bars is the minimum you want (50%), and 3 of 5 bars is the minimum you want (60%).
   
   That will give you your baseline per your current coverage area. Based upon that, you will begin to formulate a plan for how many additional wireless broadcasting devices you will need.
   
   I tend to go with Ubiquiti wireless access points. The AC Lite is a good entry level device. You'll want to leverage the DFS channels too, as it will help you get better wireless speed.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PR20GY/ref=psdc_1194486_t3_B015PRCBBI
   
   Give that a shot. If you have any questions, please ask.

If you own the land nearer to the road, there is a remote option. I have done tomething similar to this before at work and for a friend. At this remote point, you will house the cable modem, cable demarc point, and possible a few other items. You really dont need a lot of space, but it needs to be protected from the elements especially heat, extreme cold, and moisture.

First, find a place closer to the utility poles that you can create a demarcation point. Preferably, an enclosed shed works best. But in a pinch, a single pole can work.

Second, determine if you can get conduit or cable back to the home. You could trench this cheaply yourself by renting a trenching tool if the ground isn't too rocky. You could also run it along an existing fence or set overhead poles. Also take note of how you get power to your home. Is it running underground already or are there poles on your property that string it up to the house. In some cases, you may be able to get permission to attach to these poles.

Third, determine if there is good radio line of sight from the remote location to the house. This should be viewed from 8' or higher at each h location.

Fourth, how do you power the equipment. The overall power needs will be small, the cable modem and some networking equipment. Power can be run over this distance, but you must increase the gauge of the wire. For a 15amp 120v circuit at 750', you would be looking at #1 or so which would be very pricey and may or may not be up to your local codes. It would be possible to run a smaller cable from the house as long as the overall amps drawn stays low at 1 or 2 amps. At two amps, you could run a #8 or #10 cord over 700 feet and still be under the 3% voltage drop.

Solar is always an option because the power needed should be only a few watts. However, it can be un reliable during gloomy periods if there isn't enough storage so have a backup plan to re charge the battery of needed.

You can have a new, separate service run from the utility pole straight to a pole you set at the remote site. This will require hiring an electrician to set a new meter box, breaker panel, cable to the pole, and outdoor receptacle.

Fifth, determine how to get the signal back to the house. If you laid conduit for power, I would go with fiber or cat5e/cat6a. Cat5/6 is easy and will does 100M to 750'. However, you can also run fiber just as easily with less possibly of interference over the distance. All that is needed are some basic media converters and SFP fiber modules. This also helps future proof you for speed upgrades. The other option is to use wireless bridges. Basically two directional wifi devices are mounted on poles at the remote site and the house facing each other. This wifi is meant for point to point only. Ubiquit has some nice devices for this. But at 750' you could use some cheaper TPLink directional devices like the CPE210 to CPE510. At 30-50 each, you aren't out much to try. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P4JKQGK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4BuSDb0V8YRW8

Another option is Engenius like this:
EnGenius Technologies EnStation5-AC 5 GHz Outdoor 11ac Wave 2 Pt. Wireless Bridge https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073H5KSSJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_iEuSDbBABK6DZ

TL/DR: Find a spot closer to the road that you can get cable and power run then back haul the ethernet using wireless,fiber, or Cat6a.

Ideally, there would be a strong directional antenna at your parent's home, aimed at your window. These are not expensive. If their router has external antennas using a standard antenna mount, you can exchange one of them for a directional antenna like this one. Even through walls, it should improve the signal considerably, but you have to carefully aim it, since it'll only deliver a very narrow signal. The example I linked to is for 2.5 and 5GHz WiFi - if you only have a 2.5GHz router, you can get a cheaper model.

At your end, you may want to place a repeater with a high-gain antenna, at a window that looks at your parent's house, which would be the spot you'd aim at with the high gain antenna. Just pick a model with good reviews. You can also get a directional antenna for this device as well in order to further improve the signal, if necessary. Most repeaters have the same standard antenna mount as routers.

In any case, this will require a lot of fiddling, running back and forth (or getting one of your relatives on a phone and coordinating them to aim an antenna for you). Expect a good afternoon of tweaking until it works. I can not make any promises regarding bandwidth, since this is highly dependent on local conditions. The method listed above is the easiest option, just a few simple antennas and a repeater.

Alternatively, you could also get more specialized, stronger directional antennas, mounted outside on the walls of their house and where you are living, but that's a bigger effort. It's not that these are expensive though, even the cheapest model has a potential range measured in miles. Installing two of them wouldn't cost much more than getting a repeater and two directional antennas, but the results would be significantly better.

In my experience in cases with bad or unreliable signal, more APs will give you better signal levels at shorter ranges, so you'll likely have both better throughput and less chance for interference due to the closer proximity. This is especially true for the 5GHz band, which is more sensitive to obstructions like walls, floors and ceilings.

Many people aren't afforded the option of hard-wiring 2+ APs together, but if you have that available to you, that's the way to go. You're correct in that it would be beneficial to keep your 'beefiest' router (in terms of processor, memory and features) as your WAN connection, and designate the 'cheaper' routers as APs. Let the workhorse handle all of the services and routing.

You may want to consider making sure the link between them isn't a bottleneck. For example, you could potentially bottleneck the throughput if the line you run is less than the wireless speed, ie a 1,300 Mbps AC1750 running over a 1Gbps line or 300Mbps 802.11n running over a 100Mbps line. It's just something to keep in mind if you're bent on achieving full-speed throughput between devices on either end.

The main downside I see to the R6300v2 is lack of upgradable external antennas, which can be a huge benefit for signal direction, strength and stability in certain cases, especially when dealing with long distances, walls or other obstructions. You'll likely be better off with something like an ASUS RT-AC66U, which is comparatively priced.

Lastly, depending on the stock firmware's capabilities of the device, you may want to flash DD-WRT to set it into AP mode if it's not already supported. This disables routing and will stop you from having more than one network segment, which keeps all of your devices on the same network so they can see each other without additional configuration. It's generally advisable to keep a small network "flat" unless you have a reason not to. And remember to disable unnecessarily redundant services, particularly DHCP.

Edit: You might want to consider something like this or these as they allow for a nice, clean install and power over ethernet, so you won't have to plug them in to a wall outlet. I'm not sure what most floats your boat, but it's an option that a lot of homeowners don't seem to know about but is quite well-received.

Just my two cents.

/u/OfensiveBias gives a lot of good details, so pay attention to that info.

My main suggestion is that Ubiquiti is a different architecture than traditional WAP's on the market. They require a "controller" which is really a PC, laptop, or (apparently) a smart phone running an app, in order to do any setup, configuration, or changes to the operation of the device. This is known as "SDN", which offloads the heavy part of the software on to a dedicated controller. Traditional devices have a web portal (or telnet/ssh/cli) built in. In these devices you browse to the IP address, configure the changes, and the device keeps the configuration on it.

Each style has it's pros and cons:

• SDN allows the controller software to be really advanced because it's running on a server. It also allows many devices to be easily managed from a central location, rather than having to logon to each and every device individually. If you have an office with 20 AP's this can be a huge advantage.
  
  
• Traditional (built-in portal) is simpler and more self contained. If you configure the WAP, and then a year from now somebody else wants to make a change, they can walk in with there own laptop, logon and make changes. Similarly the AP can be moved to another location without the need to do more than just logon to it and make the necessary changes.
  
  Given the following assumptions:
  
  
• you have a beginner level of network knowledge.
  
  
• the setup appears to be relatively small scale (not a lot of WAPs).
  
  I would heavily lean toward the traditional style of WAPs. Ubiquiti will work, and they are very respected because they generally perform well and offer nice features, but the advantage of SDN doesn't seem to apply in your case, and in fact would be a slight negative (IMHO).
  
  There are a few options you could go with:
  
  
• If you get a dedicated AP (for example: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N0XZ1TU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) you can logon, configure the IP address to be on your network, configure the SSID as has been described elsewhere in this thread, etc. This device would connect to a port on your switch.
  
  
• As a side note, the AP does need power, which is possible using a traditional power outlet if the device supports it. The Ubiquity AP you linked only operates using "POE" (power over ethernet). This is when the network jack supplies voltage over the network cable from which the AP gets power. It's super convenient in some cases because you can run a single cable to a location like the middle of the ceiling and it will not require a nearby power outlet. BUT, it requires that you have a switch with POE ports, or you need a standalone device called a POE injector, which is inserted in the path and adds power to the line for use by the AP. The Netgear 5 port switch you linked does not provide POE, so if you use the Ubiquity, you will need a different switch, or you will need a POE injector.
  
  
• A cheap and dirty option is to use a router as an AP. Some allow you to configure as a stand-alone AP, but if not, just use the "inside" LAN ports, and leave the WAN port disconnected. It will act as a bridge between the wireless devices and the wired network (that presumably goes out to your internet connection).
  
  Last point, I was really glad to hear you had a wired connection available. Avoid repeaters/extenders unless going wired is a huge obstacle. Repeaters/extenders will boost the signal, but the connection to the main network will be poor because that signal is already weak, and that same signal is presumably shared by others already. Wired as far as possible before going wireless is the best option.
  
  Good luck.

If you can run a cat5 cable to where the other box is, I’d say to turn off google WiFi and buy 2 (or more) of these Ubiquiti access points:

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/ref=asc_df_B015PR20GY/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198138936631&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11706054629834333903&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009674&hvtargid=pla-381252494348&psc=1

You’ll still need the firewall/NAT/routing that the google network box provides, but if you run your own WiFi, you can have as many access points as you like and put them all over your house. The Ubiquiti access points allow you to broadcast a single SSID (WiFi name) that your phone/Roku/whatever will pick the strongest one and use that.

If you can’t physically run cat5 Ethernet wires to the location you want the WiFi transmitters, you can accomplish the same thing if you get a few of those “mesh” WiFi access points. I use Ubiquiti gear (wired), but I’be heard good things about Eero’s mesh networking equipment. Basically instead of wires, they wirelessly figure out the uplink back to the router (where you have one of the mesh devices plugged into Ethernet). I find the wired solution to be better for my setup (more reliable), but I’ve heard the mesh networking is pretty good as well.

Mind helping me out?

My household is wireless only as the Ethernet's connection is downstairs in a spare bedroom and the house isn't hard wired. So we've been using CenturyLink's modem and their router. We also tried a different router as well. Lately our 1gb internet has been in and out with our many devices. The tv and our phones might have internet access, but our desktops or tablets won't. Maybe check back an hour later and they might switch, or they both might work. We've restarted router/modem, and have had CenturyLink replace the modem.

Tempted to purchase our own higher end router and test the network and see if it would be a solution to our internet pains here. I'm not too experienced with access points, but from basic Googling it sounds like my setup could be CenturyLinks modem -> Ubiquiti Unifi -> Wireless signal for household devices. Correct? I was reading up the basic differences between an access point and a wireless router. Would this Unifi product simply replace a wireless router and be better than normal consumer grade products? I really just want to know if the device I linked below is a good buy and would replace a Wireless Router that supports gigabyte internet.

Here is the Unifi device I found on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Any help would be greatly appreciated. My parent's house I believe has an Asus AC5300 which works awesome and fixed the Netflix buffering constantly while I was gaming on my computer. I'm just looking for a faster wireless device that doesn't belong to CenturyLink to see if its their shitty equipment causing the issue. Plus it doesn't hurt to purchase an even better device than theirs and run with it.

First of all, thank you so much for the video. This was honestly the most helpful response from any Redditor I've received, and I've gotten a lot of very good responses and answers from several users. Including the other great replies on this post.

Okay, I suppose I was confused in thinking that a second router would act only as an access point, with a router behind it. I thought you might be able to create an access point only, and even a range extender (which I'm not really currently needing) from a second router. Regardless, please excuse my ignorance, as I'm still very novice at networking. I'm trying to learn at least, and you're a very good educator.

That said, now my main question is, with a new Wireless Access Point connected to an existing WiFi router, would one still possibly be able to "see" the router's interface while connected? Or if it's just an Access Point only, would it then be isolated from the router?

Basically what I'm trying to ask is, if guest with computer B, that unbeknownst has malware, connects to an access point you have connected to your router, in theory could it still access the router's web interface since everything's connected?

For example: I know if computer B is connected even to the guest network (as stated earlier I have a guest network feature on my router), goes to routerlogin.net (this is what I've used to access my router's settings), if the password was broken, then in theory your router could be hacked, and any number of things could be changed if access was had on the interface.

So, could one even go to routerlogin.net, or whatever IP was used to log into that router from just an Access Point, to access the router's web interface? Would an access point also isolate connected devices from each other, better than just the guest network access?

You've definitely confirmed in your video that this could happen if a router was connected to another router, offering no apparent security advantages.

Honestly though, I'm just a bit paranoid. I don't have a lot of money. Not necessarily wanting to mess around with different firmware, and settings I may not understand either.

I do have a strong password though to log into my router's web interface. I update the firmware as well, when new versions are available. Again, my router also has a guest network access feature that I have sep up for both of its 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies. Although I don't really know how secure this really is. So now I'm contemplating getting this access point, since I already have a Netgear router:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01LFSDZCU/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1498775218&sr=8-8&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=access+point&dpPl=1&dpID=31VEBr8HqfL&ref=plSrch

If not needed or recommend though, I'll probably save myself from further anxiety.

Again my current router is a Netgear AC1600 WiFi VDSL/ADSL 802.11ac Modem Router combo, model no. D6400.

I haven't turned off WPS, but will try if and since recommend. Not to start another long discussion, although I believe I have UPnP on. Should I turn this off too? Or leave it on, since I do play games?

Anyway, as long as I'm doing all of the right basics, and as long as any would be hackers won't hack my router.

Thanks again for all of the advice. Sorry for the length of my post/comment reply. I sincerely don't wish to be at all bothering you. Best regards, and thanks a bunch!

List:

• ZTE F609 - GPON ONT from ISP, bridge mode and connected to pfsense.
  
  
• Mikrotik CSS326-24G-2S+RM - Super budget 24 ports switch with basic features and 2 SFP+ ports for only $139 brand new, you just can't beat that price.
  
  
• Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC Lite - To handle wireless devices in my house, to be honest I was very disappointed with the temp, it runs very hot and it's the reason why I didn't mount it on the ceiling. If I knew all Unifi AP runs this hot, I would've go with other brand. Many people have told me that it's fine, but mine reaches 70 degrees on idle (I live in place where it can reach almost 40 degrees) and if I mount it on the ceiling without proper ventilation, it probably can go up to 80-85 degrees and I've seen couple post on Ubqt forum that their AP melted due to the temperature.
  
  
• Plugable 7 port USB hub - I have an unused spare. It's kinda expensive if you compare it to other cheap chinese crap but it doesn't backfeed power and super reliable, the other one is currently used to power my Pi2 24/7 for almost 2 years without single issue.
  
  
• Deepcool cooler - Super old notebook cooler I found on my garage, currently use this to blow the hot air from Unifi AP until I finish my mod to mount 120mm fan on the ceiling so I can put my AP.
  
  
• PC - Spec is G4400, Asrock H110M-HDV, PNY SSD CS1311 80GB, 2 WD hard drive 2TB, 8GB RAM, and 2x single NIC Intel PT Pro. This thing run Windows 10 and pfsense under Hyper-V (not a good idea I know). Also act as my media and storage server. I'm very surprised that this thing pulls less than 20w on idle!
  
  
• Others - Old monitor I found in my garage, probably from Intel dual core era, some cheap landline phone, a bluetooth keyboard, and bluetooth mouse.
  
  All these only pull about 40w, my next upgrade is probably to invest in a decent rack so I can have a better cable management.

I'm listening! And now that I have looked at what cell modems do, I can't believe we didn't think of this.

The physical location is doable, but I'm not sure I have enough expertise to know how to make those elements work together.

My limited understanding is that I would put the cell modem on the hill, hook it to a wifi router with a beefy antenna pointing down at the camp. The camp end would have another wifi router with an antenna feeding the broadband "input."

The ultimate goal is to be able to access the Internet and place voice calls, which could be VOIP. It would be really nice to be able to do video calls like Skype, FaceTime, or WhatsApp, too.

So, hypothetically, would something like this work:

1. 4G cell modem: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQRHQYT/ref=psdc_284715_t1_B00KTLAEQ0
   
   
2. Two wifi routers. Maybe something like this: https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wi-Fi-Gigabit-Router-WNDR4300/dp/B008HO9DK4/ref=zg_bs_300189_12?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=M9QF325AYXRX9Q47AE9D
   
   
3. The point-to-point antennae. Would these work? Link: https://www.amazon.com/EZ-Bridge-Lite-EZBR-0214-Outdoor-Wireless-System/dp/B002K683V0
   
   
4. Appropriate power supply for each element. Most likely 12V solar batteries with whatever capacity of inverter is needed.
   
   
5. Possibly add the optional 3G/4G antennae to the cell modem for a better connection with the cell tower.
   
   The end result is an Internet connection that all of our wifi devices at camp could use, but they would be sharing whatever data plan the SIM in the cell modem has.
   
   Does that seem workable to you?
   
   Thank you very much for the suggestion, falcon5nz! You have already given me better help than two months of trying to talk to industry people!
   
   Edit: The wifi router on the hill would be redundant, wouldn't it? The cell modem could just connect directly to the point-to-point antenna, maybe?

Here's a question - do you have absolutely no requirement for wired connectivity to any devices other than the APs? In another comment I suggested just getting the ERLite model - it's around $100 and will serve the purpose you need.

From there you can break out with either their PoE switch, or another vendor's switch (if you go this route - be warned - the non-pro APs are not standards-compliant with their PoE implementation and probably will not work), PoE or otherwise. Since the APs come with power injectors you don't NEED to have PoE, but it eliminates a point of failure when doing troubleshooting.

For the APs, 2 will definitely not be enough. I would suggest either...

• Buy a 3 pack for the AP Pros, you'll save some money - http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-UAP-PRO-Enterprise-System/dp/B00DJERLFG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1393768952&sr=1-1&keywords=ap+pro+3+pack
  
  
• Since budget appears it could be a factor, buy multiple 3 packs of the standard APs, as they're about $200 a pop. Better average signal strength + offloading users to more APs will result in better performance than just 2 or 3 Pro APs. - http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-UniFi-Enterprise-System/dp/B005EORRBW/ref=pd_sim_pc_11?ie=UTF8&refRID=1TCR66J9YV6TWD4DQ6TW - these still support 802.11n up to 300 Mbps in 2.4 Ghz, which is probably what you will want if this is an older house. You will need to be cognizant of channel distribution however, and will likely need to stagger the design.
  
  For example, an ideal layout in the 2.4 GHz spectrum might be...
  
  Floor 4: AP - Channel 1 - AP - Channel 6 - AP - Channel 11
  Floor 3: AP - Channel 11 - AP Channel 1 - AP Channel 6
  Floor 2: AP - Channel 6 - AP Channel 11 - AP Channel 1
  Floor 1: AP - Channel 1 - AP Channel 6 - AP Channel 11
  
  If you cut it down to two APs per floor, obviously you can be a little more creative...
  
  Floor 4: - AP Channel 1 - AP Channel 6
  Floor 3: - AP Channel 11 - AP Channel 1
  Floor 2: - AP Channel 6 - AP Channel 11
  Floor 1: - AP Channel 1 - AP Channel 6
  
  You can leave them all to auto and it might work okay, but control over the selection would be best practice.

> I mostly need the speeds for my production business to send files to my editor quickly.

Sysadmin here.

Sounds like you don't need wifi, but a network cable to your computer.

Seriously, with an apartment that big (205m^2) and walls in between, you're better off with more than one wifi device. You can buy a Unifi AC accesspoint for $82, which is a business-grade Access Point.

It's excellent quality, allows for neat, extra features like guest access, Power-over-Ethernet (meaning only one network cable goes to the AP itself, making it easy to hang on a wall or ceiling), but most importantly: it's made to cooperate with multiple units.

So, hang one up in one side of the house, connect it (via the included PoE injector) to the existing router (an AP doesn't include a router, so you need one for the "routing" part, but that can be a simple, cheap router, as long as it can handle gigabit), and hang one up on the other end of the place, and if you find the need for another, just get a third one (total $246 for 3 devices) and then the three will work together.

The experience is like an office that is too big for 1 wifi device, so an office will have multiple wifi devices that work together, letting your phone/laptop transparently jump ("roam") from one AP to another. Now, you can do that too!

You won't generally find an office that, when it turns out that one, normal router is not powerful enough, will just get one bigger router, with more black, pointy, plastic spikes. :P

tl;dr Ubiquiti Unifi (with their "disruptive pricing") is fucking awesome!

Honestly repeaters are pretty hit and miss. The better solution is generally a better wireless access point with greater range. If possible wire in a second AP and create a seamless network.

Great value AP (can use more than 1 together if you have a line ran): https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B015PR20GY/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524511125&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=unifi+apac+lite&dpPl=1&dpID=31-u-5bgo0L&ref=plSrch

If you have to use a repeater I've had good results with this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01CGZPQVE/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1524511268&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=tp+link+ac1200&dpPl=1&dpID=31QkJ757pTL&ref=plSrch

I've setup 10+ sites with the unifi AP's they work great and are very reliable. Better to make the jump to enterprise equipment then mess around with home grade junk.

A lot of the "ooh" and "aah" factor of a home is in the kitchen and bathrooms. That's also where you get the most money back at resale.

So if you're deciding where to spend money, that's where to spend it.

You've probably been advised to run ethernet network wiring. I'd also plan to hide wireless access points like these in the attic or other hidden areas. You will be amazed how much you enjoy stable, fast wifi access throughout the house for your various devices. Wired ethernet is better, but most devices these days have wifi built in and don't need gigabit transfer speeds. Just use it.

Where will your broadband modem go? Now's the time to plan for distribution of TV/network/etc. and designate an "IT closet."

Decide now where you might want wall-mounted TVs and plan for it with power and other connections. A nice recessed outlet with cable management can make that whole process much simpler.

In the garage, at the least, wire for 20A outlets. You never know if a future tool or device will need a lot of power, and it's not fun to retrofit. Is there a possibility that you'll ever have an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid? If so, wire one 240v/90A circuit for each potential EV. That'll max out a new Tesla, even if it has the high-amperage charger upgrade.

I adore having a separate beverage/wine fridge and separate under-counter ice maker. They're expensive, but they make hosting a party much easier. Another must-have is a built-in warming drawer. It's super convenient and I can't believe how often we use ours to keep something warm while the rest of dinner is finishing up or because someone was late getting home and didn't get to eat with the family.

There are plenty of solutions, it just depends on how much money you want to spend. Like this is probably overkill but Mikrotek makes a product called the wireless wire.

I would recommend buying an actual quality access point that is connected to their router via ethernet. A long range unifi access point is my recommendation, but I have a preference for unifi gear.

Or get a router that support wireless bridging as that is also a good solution. But all these solution rely on getting a good signal between the buildings. The wireless wire is the best solution as it works on the near empty 60ghz spectrum and is meant to make a 1gbit/s link. Especially if you have windows with direct line of sight between the buildings.

If you are on TWC, what modem are you using currently? Or is it a gateway provided by TWC?

I basically always recommend the SB61XX- series of modems. Not their fancy gateway versions.

the SB6121 is End of Life now, so you have either the SB6141, SB6183 or the SB6190, if you are buying new. If you have one of these or another passable modem, you can continue to use that. The difference between them is the upper limit of service speed. They are all basically the same product besides this difference.

For a router, I typically go with a Mikrotik RB3011, but that is going to require some networking know-how. Since you are here asking questions, it's definitely not your speed.

I would suggest the Ubiquiti Security Gateway, for you. I have personally never used one, since I know my way around Mikrotik, but I hear good things, and I have like any other hardware they make.

For your Wireless, I suggest the Ubiquiti Unifi AC Pro APs. You can have as few as one, but can scale it later if you want.

Also, if you own the home and plan on sticking around for any amount of time, you might consider actually building a network shelf by the Cable/telco demarc (usually by the power panel in the basement by most modern building codes)

Something like so.

Then you can mount your networking equipment out of the way, in the ideal location to put the modem. This sort of setup, combined with structured wiring would be the ideal home network setup.

So it looks like there are two active coax connections from the corner where the modem is to the open space in the living room (and the other rooms as well. One is for TV and one for telephone, they tell me. Can you recommend some good MoCA adapters considering price to quality ratio and then what some decent options for APs might be? Are both of the cables in the wall usable with the MoCA adapters? Thanks for the suggestion.

Edit: I saw it mentioned here yesterday and am looking at Ubiquiti Networks UAP-AC-LITE WLAN access point right now. Seems commercial grade and maybe a bit of overkill but it's not prohibitively expensive. I won't be able to ceiling mount it though so I am not sure if something like this is the best option. Would another configurable router along the lines of the AC68U be good to make an access point with?

The MoCA adapters seem to be surprisingly expensive though ...

Edit2: So it looks like what might be my cheapest viable option to start is buying a pair of MoCA adapters and then use my AC68U as a wired access point set up in the living room (main open space) using my ISP modem/router as the gateway. It seems I could either leave the wireless access from the ISP modem on or turn it off. From what I am reading, having the second access point with redundant SSID and password information should allow for hand-off from one device to another?

It really depends on the size of the house and what the walls are made out of. My parents house isn't that big but it's old and the walls are plaster and have chicken wire in between them. I needed 3 APs to cover the house and networks speeds were iffy on the remote APs compared to the main one. This was a 802.11n network though.

I don't know where the bottleneck is on your network exactly so I'd troubleshoot starting with the least expensive options first to determine where it is before you go and spend lots of money.

1. $15 If it's an option, buy a cheap switch and move the NAS to room B as I mentioned above and see if that improves performance.
   
   
2. $35 Buy a Chromecast and see if it performs any better than the Roku Stick.
   
   
3. $80-200 Buy a Roku 3/4 or Nvidia Shield TV. Regular settop box might get better receptions than a streaming stick.
   
   
4. $200 Buy 2x Ubiquit UAC-AC-LR Wireless Access Points. These are considered the best APs on the market and these are the long range versions. I personally love these things
   
   
5. $370 Buy THIS MONSTROSITY and pray the signal reaches all corners of your home.

Alright.. hear me out on this.. maybe you need something a little more extreme... Here's Linus explaining this a little better than i can.

this is a three pack of Ubiquiti UniFi commercial wireless AC access points for $182.00 They are newer models, but essentially the same ones Linus reviewed.

These aren't Wireless routers, they are just access points. They don't provide the addresses to your devices or any kind of management beyond actual WiFi stuff. These are designed to allow seamless transitioning however, so for example if you have a phone that allows WiFi calling, you should be able to walk from your basement to your 2nd floor without the call dropping.

The actual management like firewall and DHCP could be done through your existing Airport Extreme, just disable the WiFi radio. You could also get a PoE capable switch, which will remove the need for power injectors.

These are powered remotely with something called PoE or 'power over ethernet' meaning that you can use the included power injectors to feed them power from where the Airport extreme is, or you could get a new switch like this one that supplies PoE. PoE can also be used with some other devices like IP phones and security cameras.

Ether way, your going to have to configure the Access Points to be the same and enable seamless mode.

This setup should be more than enough to supply your devices with bandwidth and provide more than enough signal to help prevent battery drain on battery powered devices.

Now, I live in a single story 2 bed 1 bath apartment. So as much as I want the setup above, it's overkill. I have this one, It has pretty great range and might do the job. The only things to remember, is that with a single router your device has to transmit with more power to respond to the router. This means that your phone may hear the AP just fine, but it has to "scream" at your router for it to respond. This means that your battery operated devices like your cell phone will deplete faster the further you are from the AP.

My only complaints are: sometimes it "forgets" to turn the guest WiFi on, there aren't many smart apps, the Android app is really slow and might as well just connect to the much faster web page, The speed seems to drop to G speeds at times requiring a reboot, reboot time is very slow up to two minutes, the installation of Twonky media server is incompatible with the Twonky media app for Roku.

I'd take a different approach, depending on your level of comfort with networking.

Purchase a USG, and then add an access point (or two, or three, or more, depending on the size of your abode). Ubiquiti UAP-AC-'s (I have the UAP-AC-Lite) are pretty popular 'round these parts, and my UAP-AC-Lite is working perfectly, so far (I've only had it a few months now). Best part of this approach is that it'll be simple to replace the access point down the road, when some new whiz-bang WiFi technology sprouts up, and you won't have to waste cash replacing an otherwise perfectly working / capable router.

The nice thing with the products I linked is that they're all configured from a single interface (the UniFi Controller). No need to fumble about in multiple UIs to configure the devices, as you'd have to do if you take the advice others will likely provide -- instead of the USG, they'll suggest an Edgerouter + UAP-AC-, which while less expensive than what I suggested, use different configuration interfaces / methods.

insert crack about 'not breaking the bank', then listing out three routers that are ~$200 or more :P

• edit : I wasn't disappointed -- while typing my reply, someone indeed posted just what I thought they would... lol

You're right. I've never actually used an adapter, as I've always just had PoE switches available. It's nice working for a company with good available resources and funding for dev/prod upgrades often. Makes more sense to put the injector on the switch side. Still, makes no sense to use them over a PoE switch, though.

Why are you assuming I'm using Ubiquiti throughout the whole network? I have an ER-X, that's my only Ubiquiti product at home. I see tons of people recommend other brands, for instance like a TP-Link AC1750 as a decent cheaper alternative to Ubiquiti APs. And look, it doesn't ship with a PoE adapter!! Dang! https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Supports-Technology-EAP245/dp/B01N0XZ1TU/ Only ~$80, instead of ~$130 for a UAP-AC-PRO (Which on Amazon it says it doesn't come with a PoE adapter either! https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-UAP-AC-PRO-Access-Included/dp/B079DSW6XX/ ). So here's an one adapter for $20 https://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-PoE150S-Injector-Adapter-compliant/dp/B001PS9E5I/ but wait, it can only push 15W! My Aruba APs can draw up to 25W. So less flexible, gotta get adapters for every AP, gotta power them near the switch, what a hassle.

It'd almost be awesome if there are affordable PoE switches available! Oh, look at this 8-port Gigabit PoE Managed switch for only ~$65! https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Gigabit-Lifetime-compliant-TL-SG108PE/dp/B01BW0AD1W/ whereas a Unifi Switch 8 PoE is ~$110 https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UniFi-Switch-60W-US-8-60W/dp/B01MU3WUX1/ Plus, you'll probably need the cloudkey if you're gonna use UAPs, so there's another $80. And might as well throw in a USG while you're at it for another $120, since OP needs a router anyways.

So, we could do your Ubiquiti stack:

• UAP-AC-PRO - $130
  
• PoE Injector - $20
  
• USG - $130
  
• Cloudkey - $80
  
• Still will likely need some switch, unless OP has one already. USG doesn't have enough ports. Could get a good ole' Netgear GS108 for $50, only $15 cheaper than the TP-Link PoE version above, which if you're paying $20 to get an injector (and more if you need multiple injectors) that doesn't make much sense does it?
  
  And we'd see that setting up your Ubiquiti network will cost somewhere around $400.
  
  If we do the other brands:
  
  
• TP-Link 1750 - $80
  
• TP-Link SG108PE - $65
  
• We can use an ER-X as our gateway since it's relatively cheap - $60
  
  Wow, look how much simpler that is! And it only cost around $205!
  
  So, remind me again in which section it's cheaper to use the PoE injectors? OP (likely) needs a switch anyways. PoE switch is $15 more expensive than non. But you're paying $20 for one injector anyways (PoE switch is like getting (Edit: 4, not 8) injectors for only $15). Did I miss anything here?

I got you fam.

Time to build a lab.

A stackable managed 48 port switch with sfp uplinks.

Managed router with good security options and support for multiple VLANS

Some Access Points

Set you back about 500-700 USD, but this is as close to enterprise as you can get in your home. Do your best to use the CLI to configure the switch, GUI is fine for this firewall/router.

The APs can be managed with UniFi just like an enterprise system.

There's also a pretty good market for old cisco gear. Hunt down 3560, or 3750 which are old, but good enough to learn stuff with. They run for around 80-200 USD for a 48 port switch.

That link is NOT the UAP-AC-Pro. It's the older UAP-Pro, which is an 802.11n only product. You do NOT want that one.

You want this one: https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512/

That's the new UAP-AC-Pro. It's $130ish. It supports 802.11ac (3x3 antennas) and true 802.3af PoE.

The UAP-AC-Lite is around $80ish as I recall. It also supports 802.11ac but with only 2x2 antennas, and it uses special 24v passive PoE so you have to use the Ubiquiti injector or a special Ubiquiti switch.

The difference between real PoE and passive PoE is that real 802.3af PoE has a handshake sequence for safety. When you plug an 802.3af device into a compatible switch, the device signals that it needs PoE power and then the power flow is turned on. This prevents damage to non-PoE devices.

Passive PoE just means that power is sent down the line without consideration for what's on the other end. If you plug a non-PoE device into a Passive PoE port, that non-PoE device will receive PoE and will usually be damaged or destroyed as a result.

Please note that the injectors included with either device are passive. IE, the UAP-AC-Pro's included injector is JUST an injector, no handshake.

The best way to do things is to get a real PoE switch like a Ubiquiti US-8-150W or a Netgear GS110TP, and the Ubiquiti UAP-AC-Pro.

However if this is the only PoE device that you have or will have, then you're fine to just buy the Lite and use the power injector... just be careful which port goes where :)

Access point 140.35$ each, less in bulk, * 31 = 4350.85$ (3863,35$ using bulk discount).
Controller: correct me if I am wrong but I don't think there is one needed, or at least I couldn't find it on the Ubiquiti website. And if it is needed certainly it's not going to cost 35k$.

What are your toughts on that?
I'm currently studying networking among other things at school and my (educated but without much experience) opinion is that Cisco stuff is waaaay overpriced (pfSense is free and is very good imo), and lacks in the gui departement. Yes, console access is also a requirement, but if a product lacks a nice gui for me it's a show stopper, for me products have to work good but also be good to work with.

>The regular UAP was a lot crappier, but still way better than any consumer AP and neck-and-neck with some of our Meraki APs.

That's good to hear. We run Meraki stuff at work and I love it. I'm rocking a couple old Netgear's and an Asus at home right now running DD-WRT. The hope was to deploy the Unifi to replace my hodge-podge of APs now. I like that I can get a 3-pack for $200 and just stick the server piece on a random Linux box. Thanks for the info!!

Also I found the 3-pack on Amazon for $200 plus shipping.

TP-Link has a line of software controlled access points that are about $50 less than Ubiquiti. AC1200 and AC1750. I have one arriving tomorrow, I'll update with how it goes.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0XZ1TU/ref

Edit: Got it and installed it today. The web interface is super simple and very robust. Every setting you want is there. For 1 or 2 APs controller software is absolutely unnecessary. It seems like it even supports multiple APs without adding a separate controller. Signal strength seems to be as good or better than the TP-Link C7 router. So far it seems like a very strong buy vs Ubiquiti.

Looking at the spec sheet for the router, it support 802.11b/g/n in both , just not ac (as you noted). Is it a Titanium 24 or 48? If it's the 48, it also supports dual-band operation. In this case, a dual-band booster/extender may help, but remember that it'd be using your current wireless network to send its data. These devices are good for extending coverage to uncovered or poorly covered areas, not increasing wireless performance in an already covered area.

Anyways, the company is right in that getting a dual-band 802.11ac wireless access point would indeed improve your wireless performance. The one they recommended isn't a bad pick. It's not just an access point (which is all you need), but also a router and switch. For about the same cost, you could get a dedicated access point that will probably perform better than the Archer C7. The community around here is generally fans of Ubiquiti equipment like this $80 USD access point. Keep in mind it will probably require a bit more work and research than the Archer to set up.

Yes, a pair of NanoBeams work great for this. Even without mounting them outside, I would expect a decent connection through a pair of walls (out through one and in through another) assuming they are typical drywall and framing, not brick or concrete. It would be better pointed through a glass window than a wall. I would honestly recommend mounting them outside because I don't see a reason to sacrifice connectivity for aesthetics (and the NanoBeams are pretty clean and are not noticeable except to wireless geeks like me), but I recognize this is probably a rental property so there are aesthetic concerns that could affect your revenue.

To be clear, to get WiFI in HomeB from the HomeA across the street, you will run an ethernet cable from your HomeA Router to one of the NanoBeams in AP mode, placed as close to the exterior of the HomeA as possible, pointing at HomeB.

At HomeB, you will set up the other NanoBeam in Station/Client mode, placed as as close to the exterior of the HomeB as possible, pointing at HomeA's AP. This will need to be connected to a new Wifi AP, and you will probably need a Switch to connect those together in HomeB.

Ubiquiti is a great brand that produces "enterprise-grade" hardware and software at a "prosumer" price. Unless you already have a Switch and AP (such as an unused WiFi router that can be put into Bridge mode), the Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC Lite is great, and can be paired with one of the Ubiquiti switches, or any other, really.


Edit: Given the short distance, an alternative to the NanoBeams is Ubiquiti's NanoStation/Locos. Same concept, a pair of antennas in AP/client setup, just these are not as strong and have a different mount. https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-NanoStation-locoM2-2-4GHz-Outdoor/dp/B00DCNRTAG/ YMMV with mounting these inside and pointing through walls though.

I have one of these access points and it covers my 2000sqft house. My suggestion would be to keep your router, but don't use the wifi from it, use the ubiquiti for your wireless. If you can place it centrally in the apartment that would be best, or as close to where the wireless devices will mainly be as you can get. You'll have to run an ethernet cable to it from your router, so that's something to keep in mind. It has dual band, but the 5GHz may not go through walls very well, and 2.4GHz is going to be shit in an apartment as well, so that's where u/washu_k may have a better option with the nanostations.

Ideally, if you can figure out a way to run cables from your router (or a switch) to the PC's, that would be the best for gaming. I know you said you can't run it down the hall on the floor, but what about mounting it to the walls or drilling holes? They're easy to patch up when you leave, and the staples leave such tiny holes they're barely noticeable. When I lived in an apartment years ago, I ran a cable across my entire apartment, and if your walls are white and you use a white cable and white staples it's not annoying to see.

First, don't go by the antenna bars, they aren't 100% accurate. Download a speed test app, and test the speed strength when you're in your room compared to being next to the router.

I can't imagine losing that much signal strength from being down the hall. You can try moving your router closer to the middle part of your place.

Your current router isn't the latest and greatest, but it is dual band, so I would definitely setup the 5ghz network as well. 5ghz is stronger and usually has less traffic on the frequency, but it doesn't do well with distance. If you have newer phones (iPhone 5 and better), they should have an antenna for 5ghz and might improve your speed. You can easily google if your devices are compatible. Most should now be.

If that doesn't work you can look into getting a MoCa or a Powerline adapter. Don't get a wifi extender, those are crap. Also, I wouldn't bother with any new "mesh network".

If you really need to strengthen your wifi signal, it's always the best bet to run an ethernet cable and setup an Access Point (AP). This is usually the least preferred option for most people because they don't want a cable running down their hallway, or don't want to deal with the hassle of running it through the walls.

WiFi range extenders are not an optimal solution for high bandwidth uses like streaming, or for use in gaming since they can add some latency to the connection.

A floor plan of the house would help to see what you are dealing with here. And how many Square feet? Without this info, everything below is a guess.

I would do the following. You may not want to make such an investment.

• Remove the range extenders
  
• Shut down all WiFi from your cable modems
  
• Don't install, but place a Ubiquity Access Point in a central part of the home as a test.
  
  Did the network performance improve everywhere and is working how you want it? Can you wire it in that location? Paying an electrician a $100 might be great if needed. The install will be for a single CAT5e or CAT6 cable. The power for the AP is sent from what is called a power injector that comes with the AP through the network cable. This is how I did it in my home.
  
  If it did not work well, and assuming you live in a 2 story ranch style/wide house, I would do the following:
  
  
• Install the Ubiquity AP in one corner of the house on the first floor.
  
• Run a cable for a second Ubiquity to the second floor, opposite side.
  
• Run the Ubiquity controller on your PC. This will allow you to use the same SSID (WiFi network ID) for both APs. As you roam throughout the house your devices will seamlessly jump from one AP to the other without changing networks. This is what large offices that are well setup do. And Ubiquity allows a homeowner to do the same for a lot less $$$.
  
  Good luck!

This! Sort of...

For one, you will need a cable modem:

• $45 NETGEAR CM400-1AZNAS Cable Modem 8x4 Bonded Channels
  
• $90 NETEAR CM600-100NAS Cable Model 24x8 Bonded Channels
  
• $100 NETEAR CM700 Cable Modem 32x8 Bonded Channels
  
  Why multiple options and price-points?
  
  In a nutshell, download and upload bonded channels supports how much up and down bandwidth your cable modem would have. 8 (8 download) x4 (4 upload) theoretically supports 340 Mbps download and whatever upload speed. My current 2x2 supports 125+ Mbps download.
  
  Why get something beefier? You will get slightly better performance if each bonded channel isn't operating near it's ceiling. With Comcast, they have 16 and 24 download channels in most markets so that will help with your overall connection. Also having 24 or 32 download channels will help you break through speed barriers if Comcast offers faster connection speeds in the future.
  
  Personal Note: I pay for 100/10 from Comcast and bought the $90 NETEAR CM600-100NAS Cable Model 24x8 Bonded Channels for my new home. While the theoretical download speed from the modem far out paces what I will get from Comcast, the new modem will take full advantage of the 24 bonded download channels in my area.
  
  Then you will need a router. With Ubiquiti, you can really go with one of two router options:
  
  
• ~$50 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
  
• ~$100 Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway 9USG
  
  There's a lot of YouTube videos that will explain the differences between each router. The short version is that they use the same hardware and have all of the same features available if enabled over command line but:
  
  
• The EdgeRouter X has more features available in it's existing UI, CAN be powered by POE and is less prone to crashing when making changes over CLI. The Edgerouter also has a built in switch (if you want) and POE passthrough so you can do: Cable Modem -> POE Power Injector -> EdgeRouter -> Ubiquiti Access Point (more on this shortly)
  
• The USG has fewer features in the UI than the Edgerotuer, CAN NOT be powered by POE and is more prone to crashing when making changes over CLI. What the USG does have is full integration into the Unifi family of products which means you can manage the router over the cloud along with any other Unifi product like your access points (APs... We'll get to them in a minute).
  
  Personal Note: I bought the EdgeRouter X because the price point is so good. This thing EASILY out performs my Linksys WRT 1900 AC or any other Linksys, Asus, etc. routers that I have ever owned. With that said, I will never fully leverage all of the controls in the UI and I wish I had gone with the USG as it integrates with the Unifi cloud stuff. I will eventually switch to a Unifi router.
  
  Then you will need an Access Point (AP) to create an access point for your devices:
  
  
• $75 Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-AC-Lite Lite
  
• $100 Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-AC-LR Long Range
  
• $130 Ubiquiti Unifi UPA-AC-Pro Pro
  
  If you get the EdgeRouter X, get a UAP-AC-Lite. They both operate off of 24v so you can do Cable Modem -> 24v POE power injector (comes with the UAP-AC-Lite) -> EdgeRouter X -> UAP-AC-Lite. This is what I have now.
  
  You can upgrade to the UAP-AC-LR which has the longest range of all of the Ubiquiti APs or the UAP-AC-LR because of it's 3x3 MIMO which gives it a higher input/output than the rest of the Ubiquiti 2x2 MIMO. The latter two devices use 48v POE injectors.
  
  Personal Note: I'm using two UAP-AC-Lites in my current two story home and will transition to four in my new three story home. Even at the cheapest price point, these far out perform the other routers and access points that I have ever owned.

I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015PRO512/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Which connects to one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MU3WUX1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The Switch connect to the FiOS Gateway. I wouldn't mind adding a second (or even 3rd) AP, but money is always an issue. The Switch and the other Gateway interaces have several other devices on it:

• 2 Desktops (One is the 'server' I mentioned)
  
• Home NAS
  
• Work Special Access Point
  
• 'Lab' Router
  
  The AP has a pass-through which connects to a no-name switch (that I need to replace) that provides connectivity to the entertainment center stuff (AppleTV, TiVo, game consoles, etc.)
  
  I'm pretty minimal by many people's standards. If I move I'd like to switch to using one of Ubiquiti's USG Firewall/routers and a dedicated controller so I can do wireless guest access better.

Uhm, none of the above? Yeah none of the above. It looks like you are looking to spend around $200-230 for your networking gear, which is fine, we can work with that!

• Router: Ubiquiti Edgerouter X normally $50 but appears to be $60 right now. Get fucked I guess.
  
• Switch: TP-Link switch $25
  
• Access Point: Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-AC-Pro $130
  
  Total is around $210
  
  Now here is the thing with this setup. You will mount your access point on the ceiling as close to the center of your home as you can. It will give you much better coverage than the netgear setups, as well as a far more mature and stable access point. If in the future you decide you need better coverage still you can just buy a second one and hook it up, make sure to wire it back into the switch as well. The access point comes with a PoE injector so you only need to run a single line to it.
  
  You are buying gear for your business, buy business grade gear :) Especially because it costs you the same anyway.
  
  

Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of Ubiquiti and have my whole network "Unify"ed. One thing I like are the low prices. A AP AC lite: https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY would be 80$, that is a really very good price for an enterprise AP.

A thing to keep in mind: you don't have a web interface on the AP itself, Unifi is a controller based wifi / networking system. The controller is a piece of software that can run on your computer, but best runs all the time so that you can get the advantages of that (e.g. statistics, a guest portal, etc.). Some features require a USG (their router), some need Unifi switches.

I highly recommend investing in a Unifi system, as you can get prosumer / soho features for consumer prices. Just have a look at https://demo.ubnt.com/ concerning their great "single pane of glass" interface. It doesn't matter if you have 1 or 100 APs, you simply can define you want a new SSID and the controller provisions it to the APs.

> I'm curious. What exactly is inferior in performance about having multiple Archer C7s?

To be fair, I specifically said:

> I'd definitely bet on a pack of UAPs over a single Archer C7.

Emphasis added in the quote.

With that said, though, let's answer your question: why would a pack of UAPs be superior to a pack of Archer C7s?

First off, I'm not sure exactly how well a pack of C7s would assist stubborn client devices with roaming (as the UAPs certainly do). Frankly that's a bit of a sticky topic as not all clients support AP-based roaming handoff protocols, and even a lot of the APs themselves don't bother with it and do proprietary management involving kicking stubborn clients from the BSSID of sub-optimal APs directly, forcing them to seek a different BSSID (and hopefully this time choosing a better one).

Moving on from what roaming assistance you might or might not get - or need, depending on your client, which very well might already be perfectly competent at figuring that sort of thing out for itself unassisted - UAPs aren't terribly expensive. An Archer C7 is about $90. A UAP-AC Lite is actually less money, at $80... and it supports PoE, comes with a PoE injector included in the cost, has vastly superior mounting options, has a unified controller interface, good god, I could go on and on.

The Archer C7 has somewhat better range than a UAP AC Lite, but not enough better to justify giving up all that and an extra $10 per unit. Hands down, if you're doing multiple APs, the UAP is a better option than a bunch of C7s.

One router should be able to handle your 20 total devices. But if you plan on growing your farm you should add an access point (I use this one for $22) and it handles 20 devices. My main router ($30) handles 10 devices running MLB.tv, Netflix, online gaming and a few beermoney apps. And all on 65 Mbps connection with very little slowdown.

Like I said, your router should be able to handle what you have. People have mentioned before, but try switching your WiFi channel by logging into your router.

I had a similar issue of huge slow downs but changing the channel fixed it. Download the android app WiFi Analyzer to see how many other networks are being used in your area and choose the one with the fewest congestion. Other forms of interference like baby monitors and other household appliances don't show up on that app so make sure to test all three non-overlapping channels (1,6,11) before going out and buying an access point or new router. I'm pretty sure my issue involved a baby monitor on channel 11 and switching to 1 solved all the lag.

Also, if your router is dual band, try moving as many devices over to the 5GHz WiFi as you can.

Lastly, if none of that works, your DNS might be slow which happens every once in a while when using an ISPs default DNS servers. You can use namebench to find the best DNS server then go into your router and change your DNS settings.

EDIT: And rebooting your modem's probably not a bad thing to try.

Honestly the AirPort ease of setup is the biggie. For most people it will automagically set most things.

I don't think routers are hard to set up via the webui but then again I do this stuff for a living. Something cheap like this honestly gets the job done in most cases where long range or AC isn't a requirement.

If you've gotta have AC you're probably looking at $150+ for a router. Honestly at that point I'd probably get a cheap router to act as a gateway and a nice stand-alone AP for wireless.

I almost never recommend running the "quick setup" disks that come with a lot of consumer routers; I've seen them do waaayyyyyy too many janky things to ever trust them. Some companies will have web-managed routers that do similar things to AirPorts but I'm just not super keen on having my inexpensive home router require a web account to configure/control.

That's all probably more than my 2 cents. More like 3.50.

You're better off buying your own router and access point (preferably two discrete devices). The combo devices (modem/router/AP) provided by ISPs are typically disposable low-quality junk that they can afford to buy by the hundreds of thousands, and toss in the trash when they break.

From a security standpoint, it is "best practice" to have your own router and relegate the ISP modem/router to "bridge mode" (where it is acting as only a modem, with the firewall functions disabled). The HH3000 is Bell's device, managed by Bell. By plugging things into it, Bell gets to see what your home LAN consists of. With everything connected to your own router/firewall device, Bell doesn't get to see all of the other devices that live in your home LAN.

Put your router somewhere where it's easily accessible (for inspection of lights, troubleshooting, resets, etc). Put the access point in a central location in the household, and run a cable to it. If coverage is inadequate, considering buying a second AP and placing it in the dead/weak signal zone.

Run cables to as many non-mobile devices as possible; TVs, streaming media boxes, game consoles, etc. Save your wifi bands for mobile devices that actually need wifi (ie. laptops, tablets, phones), and put them on the 5GHz (not 2.4GHz) band.

A pair of dedicated appliances like the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite and AP AC Lite will give you more flexibility and better coverage than any ISP combo device.

First, here's [the list of compatible modems](https://teksavvy.com/services/internet/hardware/?code=sCable25&itemId=3710
) for their cable plans. Anything in that list will work. I got this Hitron CDA-RES but it doesn't seem to be available anymore. This Hitron CDA3-20 seems to be the newer model. If you have time that's also the kind of thing you can find on kijiji - nearly any somewhat recent Shaw cable modem should work, since in Alberta TekSavvy uses Shaw's network.

Note that that's just the modem - a box that receives the ISP signal through a coaxial cable and gives internet access through a network cable. It's not a router - the router's job is to manage the various devices on your network. Technically a router isn't a wifi access point either although in most consumer devices the 2 products are combined to make a wireless router.

For the router and wireless portion, you can use anything you want. Personally I now use a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X as a router and a Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC Lite as a wireless access point. edit to add: if you want help deciding on what network equipment to get (router, wireless AP, wireless router, mesh setup, etc), check out /r/HomeNetworking - they're really good at helping not so tech savvy (lol) people setup a solid network.

Hope that helps!

With APs their transmission power is limited to 1W by the FCC. So they all essentially have the same range regardless of model or brand. There are some different propagation properties, but they don't make a huge difference. The enterprise style APs like those perform best when mounted to the ceiling. But work well on walls, or anywhere in a central location. They're omnidirectional.

The one I linked is the lower end of Ubiquiti's APs, you can spend more for better forming ones, but that one is still an improvement over normal consumer models. I personally us the UAP-AC-LR. But to be honest in day-to-day usage you wouldn't notice a big difference. I can get ~400mbs in real world transfer speeds. I'm planning on upgrading to the NanoHD at some point.

Unifi devices work off a central controller for managing all your Unifi devices. Instead of an interface for every device, everything is controlled in one place through a web UI. There are a few ways to run it. You can use a Raspberry Pi, just run it on your OS, run it as a docker, or buy a cloud key. It doesn't need to be running all the time either, just to get everything set up and configured. Once everything is configured you just let it go.

Yay learning!

So the most common internet thing in a normal home is a wireless router. This combines three networking devices:

• Router / firewall - this handles traffic going in and out of the local network, assigning addresses, etc.
  
• Ethernet switch - this is what lets you plug multiple wired computers to the network.
  
• Wireless Access Point (WAP or AP) - this lets you connect wireless devices to the network.
  
  In your case, what you'll do is run a network connection from the router's ethernet switch to a stand-alone AP. This is basically another point where computers can make the transition from the the wireless "WiFi" to the wired network. You don't need the Router or ethernet switch part of it because your neighbor is handling the internet bit (with the router) and you're only plugging in one thing (the AP). If you want to plug in more than one wired thing, you could put an ethernet switch at your end and plug in things that way, too.
  
  As far as what AP to buy, there are about as many brands and styles as you can imagine. On the cheap end are models like this TP-Link Wireless N for $40 or so. It will work and for a few devices in an area where there isn't a lot of competition it will work okay.
  
  I would suggest spending a bit more. Around $90 will net you a Ubiquiti AP AC Lite which gives you much better data density and a nice easy control and configuration scheme. For $150 the Pro Version gets you a better top speed and ability to more reliably handle more users. Open-Mesh offers a similar series of access points at a similar price point.
  
  Spending more money now gets you a faster, more reliable connection and you can just unplug it and take it with you when you move or your situation changes. Access points don't expire and generally don't break, so it's worth it to throw down a little more money if you can.

I've had this problem, and have spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how to solve it.

My best advice would be to ensure that your PS4 is connected to the network via ethernet, not wifi, as there is a single shared antenna for wifi and bluetooth in the PS4^1. If your PS4 is too far away to allow for it to be connected via ethernet, consider purchasing an access point^2.

I also saw improvement by going into the settings of my Samsung Smart TV and disabling every single function that connected by TV to my wireless network. My reasoning was that the TV would periodically "phone home" to download updates to the firmware and streaming video applications supported by the TV, saturating the wireless network; this in turn would interfere with the bluetooth connection between the PS4 and its controller.

Good luck!

Ubiquiti ubifi aclr access point has a 600 ft radius. It should reach. I've used the amplifi hd mesh system to cover multiple houses and shops. One over 100 feet I know. It was across the road. I have used the bullets and nanostations before as well. I like the nanobeams for wireless bridges as they are ac and bulletproof. Use them a lot on camera systems, and have made some pretty impressive connections with then through trees and buildings. Have less trouble out of them than I do a wire.
I am installing one of the UAP-AC-M-US outdoor mesh antennas tomorrow. It looks solid and I have yet to see a ubiquiti product that is not. Their routers, switches, and wireless are all good products. I recommend them often for small and larger networks alike. About all of their products will get out there. I dont know of any that wont.
I would make sure I got ac though if you want anything close to gigabit. A gigabit port means very little on a 15o mbps wireless connection. I have 1 aclr and an edgerouter x in my setup. Access point is inside a pantry cabinet as well. I have full signal all over my yard, all my neighbors yards back and both sides, and inside my shop. I have to drive down the road to lose wifi. There is nothing close to ubiquiti in wireless. I have worked with it for years and it is by far the most resilient, but you got to have a little know how to get the most from them. They are not meant for standard every day users. The outdoor antennas are more straight forward as they dont require the controller.
Your options are abundant. There is no best in this situation, it is just whatever is easiest to install and which one you want to work with.
Here are some links to help you find some:
I would look at this one first:
Ubiquiti Networks UAP-AC-M-US UniFi AC Mesh Wide-Area In/Out Dual-Band Access Point (US Version) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076B4ZVF2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_68p.AbVZ5M0V1

Here is the unifi aclr:
Ubiquiti UniFi UAP AC Long Range UAP-AC-LR Single Unit U.S. Version https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01609AF22/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1pq.AbE41JW98

Here are the nanobeams I use:
Ubiquiti NanoBeam ac Gen2 High-Performance airMAX ac Bridge (NBE-5AC-Gen2-US) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713XMHH9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_FoFsCqHPWaTTJ

This router has great range for both 2.4 Ghz, the older type of WiFi, which is most commonly used and has great range for current gen 5 Ghz WiFi. It's not from a well known brand so getting something else might be a good idea.

Here is a refurb from a much more common brand that's going to have a little less performance.

Here is a great device that only does WiFi. It's from a very quality brand and will be supported for a long time. It's not going to be plug and play though; if you don't mind getting your hands dirty it's probably the best thing you can get.

Right, so you're looking at consumer 802.11n hardware. You're also looking like a 2x2 antenna setup at that so your max connection speed will be 150Mbps. With wireless overhead on consumer gear you can expect less than half of whatever your connection speed is for actual throughput. When connected to the wireless range extender you can expect half of the half, so less than 1/4 of your connection speed on actual throughput. Wireless also operates at half duplex, so once you start adding a lot of clients it will get exponentially worse.

If you want to do this yourself, I have a couple of recommendations:

1. Put in a consumer-prise system like Ubiquiti for wireless. It has a controller for easy-ish setup and you can get the latest 802.11ac speeds for not a lot of money. I would look at the UAP-AC-Pro specifically since it can be used with regular PoE. 3-4 of these should do well for you:
   
   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PRO512
   
   
2. Upgrade your switch to something with gigabit PoE, doesn't really matter the vendor. Make sure the switch is gigabit to take advantage of newer wireless speeds. Ubiquiti actually makes a cheap-ish one that can be used with their controller:
   
   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJZUQ24
   
   That will keep your cost under $1k and give you a decent experience. Don't skimp out on this stuff, it will dramatically change your overall experience. Also, run cable to all 3-4 APs back to the switch for max speeds and the most reliable operation. They will also get their power from the switch so you only have to run the network cable to where you need to mount the APs. Put them on the ceiling for the best signal strength.
   
   ps- I do this for a living for a large enterprise nationwide company. If you have a floor plan, PM and I'll help you determine the best location for the APs.

They're badass. I just setup a few of these AP's and they have fantastic coverage + easy to manage. Super simple as well. The Unifi controller software is a lot less rough around the edges than Edgerouter GUI is too. Couple these with my Edgerouter X and it's been hassle free and feature rich for the price.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've never heard of them before, but after a little reading up on them I'm pretty impressed. Do you have any experience with their access points? Most of the Amazon reviews seem pretty good, but the poor reviews seem to indicate some issues with AP's dying just out of warranty & other customer support issues with the company...

This TP Link model beats the Ubiquiti in testing:

>The first thing I noticed about the EAP-225 was how complete, functional, and usable its standalone web interface is. I'm most familiar with Ubiquiti's UAP line—and with those, you really need to set up their Unifi controller to access more than a tiny fraction of the functionality of the access points. Not so with the EAP-225. Logging into a single EAP's web UI presents you with everything from multiple SSIDs to VLANs (with rudimentary QoS!) to working captive portal—all with no controller required. All the functionality was well laid-out and easy to find, and the UI was quite responsive.

>The EAP-225 did a flawless job on 2.4 GHz. Spoiler alert, this is as good as it gets for this round-up; do not expect to find a better set of 2.4 GHz curves for any other kit.

> Its 5 GHz maximum throughput scores were middling, roughly on par with Ubiquiti's UAP-AC-Lite. Environments that expect to actively use the 2.4 GHz band as well as 5 GHz would have a tough time finding a better-suited AP.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/33191-2x2-ac-access-point-roundup-part-2?showall=&start=6

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LLAK1UG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=small0c-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B076FZ7VJ2&linkId=4e15b03c9269738c292fff3aed0565cf

Several AC lite versions on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UAP-AC-LITE-802-11ac-Gigabit-Dual-Radio/dp/B01DRM6MLI?crid=32ASJLA25JN0R&keywords=ubiquiti+access+point&qid=1540590671&s=Electronics&sprefix=ubiquiti+%2Celectronics%2C247&sr=1-5&ref=sr_1_5

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY?crid=32ASJLA25JN0R&keywords=ubiquiti+access+point&qid=1540590671&s=Electronics&sprefix=ubiquiti+%2Celectronics%2C247&sr=1-6&ref=sr_1_6

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Dual-Band-passive-UAP-AC-LITE/dp/B016K4GQVG?crid=32ASJLA25JN0R&keywords=ubiquiti+access+point&qid=1540590671&s=Electronics&sprefix=ubiquiti+%2Celectronics%2C247&sr=1-21&ref=sr_1_21

> Would this be a better option for POE?
>
> https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UniFi-Switch-Managed-US-24-250W/dp/B00OJZUQ24/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=unifi+24+port+poe+switch+250w&qid=1567047431&s=gateway&sprefix=unifi+24+&sr=8-3

Yes, that is a good option if you are going to have a few PoE cameras as well as APs.

> Is this what you mean for the router

> https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-4-Port-Gigabit-ER-4-US/dp/B078PGCGN2

Yes

> If I buy two of these and the router above would it give me full wifi now until I have the opportunity to run the wire.

> https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=AC-LITE&qid=1567047624&s=gateway&sr=8-2

At least one AP must be wired. You can run the APs in wireless uplink mode if you need coverage but that is very slow compared to wired and much slower than a good mesh system like Orbi. If you are going to wire soon it is ok but it is not a good long term option.

> Do I need a cloud key for the APs or just the Switch?

You don't need the cloud key for anything. The cloud key is just a option to run the controller software. You can run it for free on any PC, server or on many NAS appliances.

I planned do you what you are doing, but my friend bought a new house too far away, and I never used the equipment. I have 2 of these I could give you a good deal on.

Ubiquiti NanoStation loco M5 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EHSV4W/

If you want something else, I definitely recommend using the 5GHz range as 2.4GHz has lots of interference because of its popularity.

Thanks this worked but now I have more questions:

I currently have 1 router, and 2 more routers running in "bridge mode". I assume that means that they are running as access points. I have them all wired with ethernet from the main router so I assume they are getting the internet signal over the wired network and then rebroadcasting it as wi-fi. They are all Linksys EA4500 model routers. Each is currently brodcasting a 2.4ghz and 5ghz signal, so I previously had 6 SSIDs total. Once I scan my neighborhood:

1. I find all the channels everyone is using, and pick the least used channel on my device, right?
   
   
2. Do I set the same, least used channel on all 3 of my devices or do I need to find like 6 different least used channels across my neighborhood and set 2 for each device (1 for the 2.4ghz and 1 for the 5ghz)?
   
   
3. If I understand this concept correctly, my mobile and wifi devices are smart enough to 'latch onto' and 'release' wifi networks based on signal strength; the access points and routers don't need to communicate with each other to pick up and handoff devices, right?
   
   
4. so who needs a 'mesh network'? I was under the assumption that the mesh network was needed to pick up and handoff devices and distribute the network load and stuff. It seems, from my understanding, that if you have a weak signal somewhere in your house, all you need to do is get an access point or two, connect it to your network with an ethernet cable and have it rebroadcast your wifi signal and find a channel that isnt crowded in your neighborhood and use that. Am I missing something? Is the only benefit of a mesh network is for people who dont want to run ethernet between access points and so are buying devices with a dedicated wi-fi band that can handle the backhaul without contaminating the 'internet' bandwidth?
   
   
5. do you have a recommendation for access points I can stick around the house so I blanket my house with seamless wifi coverage? is this a good one for what I want: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-EAP225-V3-Wireless-Supports/dp/B0781YXFBT/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=wireless+access+point&qid=1573065820&sr=8-5
   
   thank you!

its this model,
The UAP?

I'm in the burbs, so I have very limited wifi traffic, as there are only a handful of houses in sight. I understand(I think) about the 2.4 GHz and interference, but I honestly don't think that is it, based on the environment I'm in.

If I understand you correctly, my Luxul router, should have an WAN ip that comcast gives me. Let's call it "174..**.. I then tell the luxul router what the LAN should be for my network?, which I have as 192...***." I then set up the UniFi AP as a static IP in my router, and configure the AP as such? It also allows you to have a DHCP server. Why would I want my AP to be my DHCP server? Isn't that what the router does?

Thank you for taking time to help me, I appreciate it!

One last question, if I may,
when I set the WAN up with my router, the first two sets on numbers on WAN IP and Gateway IP are the same, but the third set is different? I've always seen them the same.
For Instance, 123.456.789.012 and 123.456.789.022 is what I've seen, but in my case it's 123.456.789.012 and 123.456.799.011. I made those up, of course

Thanks again..

Edit:Formatting

You don't need a router to have wifi, there are stand alone wireless access points (APs), like the Ubiquiti Unifi ones and many others.

If the Desktop needs to have speed and reliability, ethernet is the only way you want to go. Wifi is very convenient, but slow and iffy, and making it better is a PITA.

Powerline Adapters can potentially be the cheapest solution to your issues, but you will have to test them out, as they rely on your home's wiring and how well they work depends on that and how much draw there is on the circuit. They could be great, they could be meh. Buy them from an easy place to return them just in case.

 

The alternative is to move the modem and router to your Desktop, and then get another AP for the rest of the house.

Here things get complicated, as there are many ways to go about this and they differ based on the size of your house and how it is laid out.

I'll go by increasing PITA to do:

 

1. You are at one end of the house and the house can be covered from your location with a tight 60 degree beam. If so, you are in luck, get a NanoStation Loco M2 or M5, point it the right way, and get wifi throughout the house.
   
   Basically the above devices (M2 = 2.4 Ghz, M5 = 5Ghz) are high power directional wireless emitters. Over the air and pointed at each other, they can go up to 15 Km (naturally distance degrades signal and weather and other stuff affects them a ton), so you should be able to cover your house and then some.
   
   I have the M2 version (2.4 Ghz goes through walls better than 5Ghz) and I could get a good enough signal to browse imgur on my phone at 100 meters ... through 2 large houses. Yup, AP --> House --> House --100m--> Me happily browsing imgur.
   
   So if you are at one end of the house, you can just move everything into the Desktop room. Remember that it is a 60 degree beam, so it might not be the best thing
   
   
    
   
   
2. Get a Unifi access point. Their range is good, but they are omni-directional, so they will only go so far. Thus you need to place the device in a more central location. The good news is that the device only needs an ethernet cable (power is provided over ethernet), but the bad news is that you will need a cable from your Desktop room to the AP.
   
    
   
   
3. A wireless repeater. I dislike these so much I will be brief. The advantages are that you don't need a cable between it and the main router, the disadvantages are that you are repeating a signal, thus interference, halving of bandwidth, and general signal problems could be had (ask if you want a more detailed description of why).
   
    
   
   
4. A better wireless card for your PC. Just don't, you have too much going on on that device for it to be a smart choice to run such intensive things over wifi twice (from PC to tablet or phone). It can be done, but it is not the best of ways to do it.

I don't have any specific product recommendations, but for the last 7 months I've been using the method I proposed with a surplus router as AP and it has been rock solid. I'd guess any decent wireless router with WPA2-PSK (AES!) WiFi should be secure enough, these are dirt cheap & function as pretty good AP's. Preferably with two or three antennas so you can point them in XYZ directions to maximize the WiFi range around the house. Also make sure to disable DHCP on the router you are using as AP. Idk if all the routers support working in AP mode, so before buying look it up in the manual. I have an ethernet cable running from a LAN port on my primary router to a LAN port on my AP converted router. If you want something more fancy, then you are looking at stuff like Ubiquiti UniFi, but I think these need a PoE injector/switch to power them.

hey. thanks for the reply.

​

Since I am not well versed in networking I am unsure how access points actually work.

For this Unifi AP AC LR this is what I've read on amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Enterprise-System-UAP-AC-LR/product-reviews/B015PRCBBI ):

​

"1. It isn't a router. This seems to catch many people, especially home users, off guard. But I've always used a separate router, so no problem there.2. It is powered over the Ethernet connection, which is great for commercial installation but an annoyance for home install.3. The controller software must be used during setup and is best kept running 24/7. Not a problem if you have a server computer (which I do). Once running it is reachable through a web browser on any of your computers (nice). "

​

1. I would need a router obviously and I had the idea that this AP can work as one
   
2. Now my question here: if I wanted to have a second AP would I need to get the ethernet wiring over there also (meaning it wouldn't work wirelessly as mesh networks do)? Powerline would work for me as well I just don't want to install another 50meter cable into the walls (although I might consider it if it's that good of an idea).
   
3. well this is worrying as I wouldn't want to keep a separate machine running just to keep the internet up
   
   ​
   
   Thanks in advance in any insight you can give in this matter!
   
   ​
   
   PS. additionally on paper the Orbi gives a 2200Mbps performance compared to the Unifi one which if I calculate correctly is 1300+Mbps. I currently have a 1Gbps (on paper, 350Mbps guaranteed) connection. That is quite the different in bandwith.

Nomachine is brilliant for this and "just works" in my experience and it's free. There are mac packages too. https://www.nomachine.com/ Although updates, configuration, rebooting, etc can all be done with ssh too.

Have you ever considered a pfSense router/firewall? I had an old celeron based pc sitting around unused so I installed pfsense on it, along with a $5 dual port gigabit NIC. It's served as a hardy, highly secure and configurable router for my house for the last 5 years with no issues. Then I bought a separate switch and also a separate Wifi access point. The huge advantage is I can swap out any single part and don't have to upgrade it all. For instance if I want wifi6 I can just swap out my current AP without having to touch anything else. Currently using the EAP245 5ghz AP from TPlink

$Free Pfsense BSD security router installed on any old pc https://www.pfsense.org/

$5 or $10 dual gigabyte NIC from eBay (usually pulled from server farm equipment so they're business class)

$27 Nice unmanaged switch https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Unmanaged-Shielded-Replacement-TL-SG108E/dp/B00K4DS5KU

$99 Business class Wifi AP https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Supports-Technology-EAP245/dp/B01N0XZ1TU or

$? Business class wifi6 Access point (might want to wait till 2020) https://www.linksys.com/us/c/business-wireless-access-points/ or https://www.engeniustech.com/engenius-products/802-11ax-4x4-managed-indoor-wireless-access-point/

Maybe add some wifi extenders to work with the AP if you need more coverage.

Going to copy/paste this from my history as its asked rather frequently on this sub.
--

Spectrum is fine, if you can get AT&T Fiber go that route. Check to see if you're able to get Fiber here;

https://www.att.com/internet/fiber.html

(Note, only their 1000/1000 speed is 'uncapped' -- the rest of their offerings, Fiber or DSL has a data cap)

For Spectrum, you're looking at:

200/10 (or) 400/20 (or) 940/35

The base tier is fine for the vast overwhelming majority of people. You'd probably know if you needed more speed than the base tier (Eg: Off site backups, serving up Plex to friends/family..etc) Spectrum also has no data caps on any of their speed tiers. You'll use a Spectrum modem (which they provide for free) but use your own router as they do charge a monthly fee for wifi. As far as what networking gear to get, that's easy.

Get yourself

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-Advanced-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B00YFJT29C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534877933&sr=8-1&keywords=ubiquiti+edgerouter + https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Long-Range/dp/B015PRCBBI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1534877954&sr=8-3&keywords=ubiquiti+access+point

and have worry free wifi. Don't bother with routers from Asus/Netgear/TpLink..etc. They're comparatively junk next to the ubiquiti equipment.

If you're going with Spectrum, use your own Wifi infrastructure. The Ubiquiti stuff linked above is a fantastic solution. The Spectrum provided modem will work fine, regardless of the tier you subscribe to

The 400/20 tier will probably get you an Arris TM1602 which is an absolute piece of trash as it uses the Puma 6 chipset. Read more about that here;

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consumers-file-class-action-lawsuit-against-arris-for-defective-cable-modems-300433510.html

If you do sub to the 400/20 tier, I then suggest picking up your own modem, specifically, the Netgear CM600 as it does not use the Puma 6 chipset, but rather, a Broadcom BCM3384 and is an 'approved' modem by Spectrum.

The base tier as well as the Gig tier with Spectrum will get you a satisfactory modem at no additional cost.

Milwaukee has been activated as a "Gig" market for Spectrum, and has been for 4 months or so.

This means a speed of 940/35 is now available for most--if not all of the area. The gig tier does require a $200 technician visit as well as a Spectrum provided modem. Customer owned modems are currently not being provisioned for the gig tier. The Spectrum modem is a Technicolor TC4400, but there is no monthly charge for using the Spectrum provided modem.

Okay so 150 feet isn't all that long for a able run. I have done many runs that are longer and have run faster speeds.

Did you run it parallel to ANY electrical cables? If so this is your problem.

When you say your not getting 25 MbPS what is the speed your getting? How did you determine that speed? Are you aware there is a difference between Megabits and Megabytes per second? (And huge difference) so your download speed on Chrome is not your Internet speed.

Since you have a cable ran and you are need good WiFi look into a Ubiquiti Wireless AP unit.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B015PR20GY/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500304812&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=ubiquiti+wireless+access+point&dpPl=1&dpID=31-u-5bgo0L&ref=plSrch

I install these at work in residential homes. They are amazing. I installed the Pro version in businesses normally. (As they have an extra port for add another POE devices.)

Feel free to ask any questions and good luck getting it solved.

Did you take a look at Ubiquiti UniFi access points? The 2.4 GHz 3 pack is $200 and has some great enterprise level features, not to mention they look pretty awesome once ceiling mounted.

They also have amazing range and the nicest part is that you could set up an off-site "central controller" which you could manage from wherever you are.

By gig blast I assume you mean fiber maybe? Here is the fiber version of the router. Ubiquiti Edgerouter X SFP - Router - Desktop - Black (ER-X-SFP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012X45WH6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-C7sDbRNTZ9DC

Access points: Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point (UAP-AC-PRO-US) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PRO512/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eE7sDbCT7FFQT

The access points will act purely as a bridge from wireless to wired (aka not a router, just wifi) with your home's size I'd recommend probably 3 or possibly 4 of them depending on how well you want the wifi to reach. This type of wifi will be mesh meaning you'll only have one ssid and your phone will connect to whichever AP is closer automatically. (Youd need to download a controller software to a PC)

Again, this is just the most optimal setup and required a little bit knowledge of the devices and general networking to setup.

If you're strictly looking for good but plug and play this would be the best route: AmpliFi HD WiFi System by Ubiquiti Labs, Seamless Whole Home Wireless Internet Coverage, HD WiFi Router, 2 Mesh Points, 4 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 WAN Port, Ethernet Cable, Replaces Router & WiFi Extenders https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L9O08PW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_oH7sDbKR37G0G

Hope this helps clear things up!

You don't mention what your existing equipment is, but if it is typical consumer-grade stuff, like LinkSys, D-Link, Netgear, etc. you should be able to replace all of it with 5 good APs.

5 x Ubiquiti Unify UAP-AC-LR

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PRCBBI?th=1

Ubiquiti AP's are also centrally controlled and managed from a free app. You can monitor traffic, see which device is using the most bandwidth, etc. Excellent gear for the money.

Not OP but I believe even just two cheap TP-Link CPE210 as you suggested should be easily able to reach 1km, given clear line of sight (including clear air in a cigar-shaped volume; that is, it widens slightly in the middle).

That is exactly the model I used, though I was using just one, as I only needed to bridge a couple hundred feet. So I could get away with using a regular short-range wireless adapter on the receiving end. It worked great.

The other two on that same amazon page are even higher power/more directional! 1 2

This is a great one, though you will need to run controller software somewhere. There is no master/slave stuff with APs, they just each offer a way for wireless clients to connect to the wired network. With Ubiquiti stuff, once you have the controller running, setup is very easy. And if you buy into the whole line (Unifi Security Gateway, and Unifi switch), you can do more advanced stuff like VLAN and guest networks super simple as the controller takes care of all the tricky stuff for you.

whatever you do, do not buy an extender. they cause more problems than they solve.

With that kind of square footage (how many floors?) I'd say you're better off getting multiple APs. A triband device is nice and all if you're streaming to a bunch of devices in a small area, but getting 2 WAPs will give you the same experience if you stack them on top of each other, and a better one if you separate them. You can get everyone's favorite UAP-AC-Pro for $130, or you can get a TP-Link 3x3 WAP for $70. Of course, these would require a router still, and the ability to run cables.

If you don't have that ability, I would still suggest a mesh system over one of those tri-band routers. It just doesn't make sense to confine all the bands to 1 area when you can spread them out over a larger area for a better experience.

so... You have to consider not what the wireless spectrum is like now, but what the wireless spectrum is like during the event.

There will be hundreds/thousands of people with cell phones, all beaconing looking for access points to connect to. They will have a significant impact on 2.4 and 5ghz spectrum.

If you want to do something like this at an event with that many people, I'd look for an ethernet point-to-point bridge pair using something like 900mhz or 60ghz.

This kit will do it at 60Ghz:

RBwAPG-60adkit

https://www.amazon.com/Mikrotik-Wireless-RBwAPG-60ad-wireless-duplex/dp/B077992GG3


This kit will do it at 900Mhz:

https://www.gnswireless.com/products/non-line-of-sight-rf-ethernet-bridge


60ghz is less expensive, has way more bandwidth, but has shorter range. Almost nothing in a stadium environment would be using 60ghz yet. 60 and 80ghz are both quite recently available.

900mhz is more expensive, has way less bandwidth, but has vastly superior range and wall penetration capabilities. 900mhz would also compete with old cordless phones though.

So you would probably want the EdgeRouter X - it's pretty basic, but for your use it should be more than enough. I have an EdgeRouter Lite, the two are similar, but the EdgeRouter X is PoE, a little slower, and has switched LAN ports (doesn't matter for your uses).

I don't know much about modems, but you want to get one that's basically "all modem", since your EdgeRouter is going to be doing all the routing for it. I went with this one but I'm sure there are better options.

You can then plug in the AP wherever you want on the internal network. Could be directly to the router, doesn't matter. You will need to use something called PoE - you can either pass that through the EdgeRouter X or use the included adapter directly in-line. It's not complicated, just take a sec to read the instructions. :) Basically you just need to make sure you plug the AP into the correct port, else you could damage things. It's pretty evident.

As far as which AP you buy... Well, it's up to you really. This would probably be fine, but they also have long-range and AC versions. I've tried the Long-Range version and it's not super impressive. Not tried the AC version yet because very few of my devices actually support it sadly.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Yes, that helps greatly.

First, being unable to acquire additional IPv4 address is unfortunate. The additional address would have greatly simplified the overall headache involved and allowed each residence to essentially have their own standalone internet connection with whatever portion of the fibre bandwidth you allocated to them. Without them you can still do it, you're just looking at NATing your single IP to all the devices which complicates things such as port forwarding, introduces the possibility of dual-NAT configurations, and increases the likely hood of that shared IP being abused and potentially blacklisted on a service because of the actions of one user affecting the rest of the users.

I would suggest a pfSense (or OPNsense) gateway hooked up to your modem or ONT, this will handle the NAT, VLANs, DHCP and traffic shaping. If you don't buy or build a pfSense box with at least 8 ports, hook this up to a managed switch. One line run from this to each of the wire-able units on your attached building plus one to the roof for a wireless AP.

Because the distance across the road is short and looks to be mostly clear LOS with sparse trees - you can approach the wireless AP a couple of ways. If you plan on only offering a 100Mbit/s or so to each "customer", you could get away with 3 Ubiquiti AirMax NanoStation Loco M5 units. One on your roof to act as the AP and broadcast the signal across the road and 2 on the other building across the road for each unit. Just easier to put up a receiving station at each unit that wants to join vs sharing a single one - I can get into the reasons why if you'd like.

If you're planning on providing more than a 100Mbit/s to each person than you can consider the same setup but substitue for the newer Ubiquiti NanoBeam AC units for a slightly increased cost.

It is also possible to do this all under the Unifi umbrella if you so choose. It is slightly more costly but is definitely more user-friendly and easier to manage under one interface. Here I would suggest you replace the broadcast AP with a Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-AC-M-Pro and each receiving station with a Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-AC-M. Note these are omni-directional antennas now, they lose the benefits that come from directional APs but at the distances we are looking at here that should be a negligible difference.

A real rough hierarchy layout here: https://i.imgur.com/QV0qfq6.png

Each individual unit is isolated from each other and you by being on their own VLAN, to which you will configure only gateway access on each VLAN with no cross VLAN routes.

When it comes to what is happening on each units internal network, you can do one of a few things. You could still allow them to use any ol' router they choose, hook up to the WAN port on said router and NAT their own internal network. This will work fine, albeit behind double NAT, it will take a good portion of the internal routing load off your pfSense box and only involve it when the client needs to get out to the net. Or you could handle all the internal routing and just have them use a switch and AP (if they want wifi in their unit) - you could get real fancy with this way but it adds a lot more potential for trouble on your part, the other option is likely the easier one.

Lastly, regarding authentication, you could take it one step further and utilize the PPPoE server on pfSense to give each unit their own PPPoE username and password they need to use to authenticate against your router. No username and password = no IP = no internet. Useful for revoking access to one user who doesn't pay their portion without having to physically go over and unplug them.

Sorry for the wall of text. These kind of setups are fun and I've dealt with a lot of similar setups for different applications.

You'd be better off segregating your devices. Use the modem for a modem, get a Ubiquiti Edge Router, and then get an Access point like a Ubiquiti AC Lite. Your current modem is fine; it's on their 2018 approved list. Also, pulling down 100Mb/s isn't very taxing. It's when you start pulling down 300+ that you need much more expensive gear.


If this set up is too complicated, I'd still recommend getting a separate router / access point combo. TP-Link is a great brand and many of their SOHO routers are compatible with 3rd party firmware, such as DD-WRT or OpenWRT.

You're sorta on the right track, but there is definitely room for some tweaks in your setup. First off, you dont need 3 actual routers. to achieve wifi like youre talking about, you need APs, or access points. These simply put out wifi, whereas a router has much more functionality. Secondly, dont buy powerline adapters that have passthough power as the more "noise" on the circuit the worse the performance will be. Id suggest something like the NETGEAR PL1000 In fact, you should avoid having anything else plugged into the wall outlet with the powerline. I did a lot of testing in a previous house where I was forced to use powerline adapters to get internet into my room.

As far as APs, check out the Ubiquiti AP-AC-LITE It's dual band, meaning newer devices will benefit from the 5ghz band, while any older devices you have will still have access to the 2.4ghz band.

You may only need 2 of these. Hang one in a central location on the first floor, and check wifi connection and do a speed test in every room. Depending on results, you could move the AP to the top floor and add a second in the basement. Hard to give perfect advise, as this kinda stuff is all very situational.


Onto the bad.. This setup is much less than ideal, especially if you intend to do any gaming on this setup. Powerline is very susceptible to interference, and sometimes an appliance turning on can cause a momentary connection drop. But not only that, you've now got the entire wifi network tied to this. A drop over the powerline will not disrupt your entire network.To avoid this whole mess, you could potentially use MoCa adapters, which is basically the same concept as powerline, but goes on the homes coax wiring instead of power wires. This of course requires coax already wired into the home to work. If you already have the coax in your house, id definitely use MoCa over powerline. You will be much more satisfied with the experience

I always recommend the Ubiquiti AC Pro. They are a little on the pricey side, but they are pretty much the indisputable leader in the enthusiast home sector.

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512

Also, this video guide has a pretty good overview of what you can expect and how simple the setup is.
https://youtu.be/470VUMjsC8g

There are likely many options for your setup and maybe you'll get a lot of suggestions. I can tell you that I have a similar setup as far as home and devices. I had the Linksys WRT AC1900 (with DD-WRT open source firmware). It worked just fine, but I wanted a bit more control and options. I went with the Ubiquiti EdgeRouterX and the Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC LR (long range) access point. This provided the ability to separate out devices by network (VLANs) as well as give the option to be able to easily add additional access points if I need it. Head over to the r/Ubiquiti subreddit for more info if you are interested. This setup hits pretty close to your budget, but does require a bit more tech know-how than setting up a single all-in-one router. The Ubiquiti line is sort of considered Pro-Sumer I think.

Most reliable would be a buried conduit like others have mentioned, but this would be easier. You can use this by itself like a super-router or in pairs for better signals.

TP-Link Long Range Outdoor Wifi Transmitter - 2.4GHz, 300Mbps, High Gain Mimo Antenna, 5km+ Point to Point Wireless Transmission, Poe Powered W/ Poe Adapter Included, Wisp Modes (CPE210) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P4JKQGK/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_7hCEDbVBHP2ZC

Does the office, camper, and tiny house all have line-of-sight to the neighbor's house? If so, you have a pretty easy wireless solution. If your map picture is accurate, you can easily hit all three of your buildings with a single dish from the neighbor's house.

​

You need 4 bridge units and 3 APs. The LiteBeam 5AC Gen2 are really great in my experience; fast, reliable and budget friendly at $60/ea. Mount one on the neighbor's house pointing at the middle of your buildings, and one on each of your 3 buildings pointing at the neighbor's dish. Then you will want an Access Point in each of your 3 buildings. Ubiquity has good ones like the Unifi AC Lite , but if you're trying to keep to a lower budget you would do just fine with just about any $25-30 router running in AP mode.

​

edit: just re-read and noticed you already bought 2 NanoBeams, those should be great too, just get two more for your other two buildings (assuming you don't want to run ethernet between your 3).

Might I suggest a more prosummer solution.

Look at ubiquiti gear. It’s what I run at my home and we deploy there access points and switches at over 200 customers. They are excellent for the price

Gateway/router
Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LV8YZLK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HE45BbH0YVZR8

8 port Poe switch
Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 8 60W (US-8-60W) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MU3WUX1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_hF45BbGNDVBBR

Access point
Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point (UAP-AC-PRO-US) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PRO512/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_XF45BbNXXZSJ2

These products will allow you to make sure your wireless network is on something with the least interference, you can also band steer clients to use the less congested 5ghz band all on the same wireless network. Instead of having to make a separate one 2.4 and 5. Which is what most all in one home devices do.

This will over all be a much more flexible system as well. Find an area that doesn’t have good WiFi coverage. Run a cable and add an AP there, or they can even mesh and do it with out a cable.

6120 is End of Life and is a bad choice for 200 Mbps. Get a SB6183 for sure. if you got budget get a CM600 or D3.1 modem but not really needed.

also, make sure Comcast has pushed correct BLAST PRO config file.

Always prefer separates. reasons below: http://pickmymodem.com/cable-modem-wi-fi-modem-router-combo-one-buy/

for modems, pretty much SB6183 or CM600 are fine. if you prefer Arris, go for 6183.
http://amzn.to/2q0wYG6 - 6183
http://amzn.to/2qtNyxZ - CM600

for Routers, few options:

AC1900 R7000. Netgear http://amzn.to/2q0ykk0

Archer C9 http://amzn.to/2pzu4q4

Have you thought about google or Orbi Mesh systems? it gives pretty good performance.
http://amzn.to/2q0NUMq - Orbi (this is from Netgear and this gives hell of WIFI performance)
http://amzn.to/2pzsyUW - google mesh
How about Modem + EdgeRouterLite + Ubiquiti APs. This is complex setup and bit expensive
http://amzn.to/2pzBgTe - Edgerouter lite http://amzn.to/2pJHsIG - ubiquiti AP
Let me know if you have other questions.

Thanks for this question!

I will be fixing up the wifi at a 24-hour coffee and pastry shop in the next few weeks. They are currently using the UAP you linked first, and probably 30-40 concurrent users maximum at any given time.

It is very problematic as it is. Likely has more to do with improper configuration by the previous IT person, but I will be going with two UAP-AC-LITE antennae due to budget constraints.

Good luck! Hope it works out nicely.

Could you turn off the wifi of your current router and get something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Enterprise-System-UAP-AC-LR/dp/B015PRCBBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459006172&sr=8-1&keywords=ubiquiti+lr it's an access point only but, it has power over ethernet so you aren't limited to being near a power outlet to use it. So if you could discretely run an ethernet cable from your router and mount it on a wall somewhere more central in your house you would get better coverage. Also as an access point is the main wifi hotspot. A repeater just well repeats that main hotspot to give more effective range. Just think of it like one of those baton races.

• Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway -- router/firewall. $105
  
• Ubiquiti Unifi AC-AP-PRO -- wireless access point. $134
  
• Ubiquiti Unifi CloudKey -- remote/local management server. $84
  
  If you need wired access, you can either use a non-managed 8-port switch (under $30) or pony up for Ubiquiti's managed POE switches. My recommendation is to stick with the UniFi line of products if you do end up getting another switch. They are insanely easy to configure and setup and provide you with the best of management, features, throughput, configuration, stability, uptime, etc.
  
  This product line works together very seamlessly and gives you great control over the network, how its used, by whom, and so on.
  
  Good luck.
  

Alright, best case scenario time.

For a heavy workload you want 15 or less clients per access point. You can do up to 30 per AP but performance drops off quickly.

At minimum you will need 5 AP's. 10 is going to be far more realistic.

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512

Even an entry level pro-consumer radio like the UAP-AC-PRO is $137 a piece. So almost $1400 already.

Beefy edge router and a switch will also be on the shopping list. Sticking with theme of Ubiquiti for this theoretical build:

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Edgerouter-Router-ERPro-8/dp/B00IA5J8M8

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Edgeswitch-Gigabit-ES-24-LITE/dp/B012GUVIY8

$530. Of course, this gear is so popular because that price is considered rock bottom if you ask anyone that works with Cisco gear.

Now, the real cost of this build is the client adapters. With 10 AP's you have 10 clients per AP and each AP has 3 streams available so your clients should have matching adapters. 1300Mbps is the theoretical maximum but you can't have that because wi-fi is half duplex, and then halve it again because you aren't testing in a Faraday cage. So 325mb/s is a reasonable expectation for a single client on an unloaded AP. With 10 clients joined you might get closer to 500mb/s total.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
Wireless Network Adapter | TP-Link Archer T9E PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter | $79.99 @ Best Buy
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $79.99
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-05 19:37 EDT-0400 |

Oh dear me. $8000 in wireless adapters. Plus that $1730 in networking gear. Add a thousand more for the time it will take to get the hardware installed.

Now go ahead and break down the cost of Cat6 cabling plus enough switch ports for your clients. Multiply it by .5 to account for how much faster and lower latency a wired network will be. CAD files are usually a bit large, I'm sure it will be noticed.

Yeah you've got the right Idea but a bridge will just passthrough any Internet and settings so it will be on the same subnet.

Check out Ubiquiti. I've been using their products for years in many different scenarios and have had good luck with them. I set up a LiteBeam AC bridge just a couple weeks ago that works wonderfully.

Edit: Link https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-LBE-5AC-GEN2-US-Litebeam-23dBi/dp/B06Y2JH7PV

An amazon reviewer says they have it working at 3km line of sight

As far as cheap stuff (see: residential) goes, Ubiquiti is pretty good. This might be overkill but this one has a second ethernet port that would function the way you want. Also looks like it comes with a PoE module.

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1484673176&sr=1-1&keywords=ubiquiti&refinements=p_72%3A1248879011

You might be able to save $30+ by going with a Netgear (they make access points as well) but my general philosophy is to buy good stuff off the bat and not have to worry later.

Unifi is the best what you can get in the professional range for a reasonable price. There is only one step up, which would be Cisco, but that stuff is unmanageable if you are not seriously familiar with their equipment.
Get a couple of Unifi AC Longrange Access Points (Unifi AP AC LR), they are simply awesome. They broadcast on both 2.4 and 5 GHz simultaneously, and the range is crazy. One of them is like 100$, and there are packs of 3, where you save a little. Connect them to your router/mode from your ISP, or get a switch from Unifi and connect them to it.


And yes, you wan't to keep both networks. It's actually not 2 networks, it's the same network broadcast over 2 different frequencies. But people might have older devices not supporting the newer 5 GHz standard, so you should keep it.

Like wolffstar said tho the wireless cards aren't super reliable you could go for a TP-Link Wireless N300 2T2R Access Point, 2.4Ghz 300Mbps, 802.11b/g/n https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UBU8IE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_joADybXQHG37
It's 25$ it only goes up to 100m but it's cheap and reliable I'm not positive if it supports vlan tagging I got my first AP with vlan support because I was interested in dividing up my network into clean sections but if you go the pfsense route I think you should get this pfsense has a lot of things to play with and configure so a AP that isn't super feature full might be ok because it does the minimum it needs to do connect wireless systems

Check out Ubiquiti Networks (UBNT) (https://www.ubnt.com/), I've used those a few times with great success. Implement RADIUS, point it to AD, and your set. They can be spread out throughout your building, they can run via PoE, and they also have directional antennas if you have to cover a large area (i.e. warehouse).

Edit: When I said that I've used those with great success I specifically meant this one (https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Enterprise-AP-Unifi/dp/B00HXT8R2O?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0)

Well the good news is it doesn't look like anything super hard to run spec wise (i.e. you aren't transferring large files back and forth, streaming blurays rips, etc).

2.4 vs 5 ghz are the two bands of WIFI. Dual band means it can accept either one. 2.4GHz is more common but devices are increasingly moving towards dual band capable (most modern laptops and streamers including your Fire Stick are dual band). Generally speaking, 2.4 GHz is not as fast (it's not slow either but I believe it maxes at 450 Mbps) but has longer range; it can be more congested as well if you are around others since it has longer range and is more common (both in WIFI devices and other home electronics). 5 GHz can be faster (up to 1300 Mbps for a single AC connection), is less common, and has shorter range; there is less interference due to the less congestion and shorter range. It would be best to use both (devices close to 5GHz use that, devices further away use 2.4ghz).

I mentioned the attic because while wiring your own home is a whole thing, you might be able to run one cable to an AP (Access Point, a WIFI only device) in the middle or most strategic location of the home. As an example, I did this in my parent's home. They had a 3000 SQFT long, single floor rectangular home. I used a Long Range Unifi N AP. It had a POE injector (power and data on one ethernet cable) and just had to run one cable to the middle of the house.

For example, you could install one of these in your living room either closer to the stairs or the eating room depending on where the majority of your devices will be.

Covering the backyard is probably going to be another AP; however, if you have crawl space, you could wire an outdoor AP same as the unifi (in fact, the model I linked is weather resistant).

If you can run Ethernet cable, then that is the best option. I've never had good luck with Powerline adapters.

That said, if the distance isn't really that bad, your best bet is to get a new Wireless Access point. Here is a good one if you don't want to spend too much:

https://smile.amazon.com/TP-Link-EAP225-V3-Wireless-Supports/dp/B0781YXFBT/

I would advise against getting another router. Two routers in a network can create issues unless you really know what you are doing. For a wireless access point though, you just run a network cable from your Verizon router to the access point, and then set it up with a new network name (say VerizonSucks) and password, etc. Then you connect your devices to it. For bonus points, if you know how, go into your Verizon router and turn off the wireless to reduce interference.

The only exception would be if you are Internet only (no TV or phone from Verizon). In that case, you should be able to ditch the Verizon router all together, and plug in your own router directly. If you have TV or phone though, you have to keep their router.

Thanks for the advice - seems like the best solution. Purchased one and will see how the range and performance is before I buy another. Also appreciate your use non-technical language and providing a simple overview (exactly what I need haha).

To be clear, I only need to buy the following: https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY

You could just connect an additional wifi access point to it ($80)

https://www.microcenter.com/product/466156/unifi-ac-lite-access-point

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Dual-Band-passive-UAP-AC-LITE/dp/B016K4GQVG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

This is a ubiquty wifi access point, you connect it with a wire to it's power supply, then connect the powersupply with a 2nd wire to your existing router. (the "power supply" is a "power over ethernet" injector, and it comes with the unit - this is a nice bonus as it lets you put the access point anywhere with only a single cable. I have a few on dressers, one is on a shelf in the basement - ideally you'd ceiling mount them, but I've had no desire to go up in the attic.

You'll use an app on your phone to configure the access point - you'll name the 5g network and may want to disable the 2.4 network since you already have one - be sure to set the channel width to 80mhz so you get the full 866 speed the quest is capable of.

(note the "lite" access point tops out at 866 - they have other models that will go faster, but the quest can't go faster than 866)

Don’t use that netgear garbage. Ubiquiti makes really nice enterprise class network equipment which is super simple to set up and manage. At a minimum, all you need is cat5-e (cat 6 fine too) distributed around the house and a couple access points connected to the hard lines:

Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point (UAP-AC-PRO-US) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PRO512/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gHiRDbHKHSSRR

(2 access points cover my 2500 sqft house and a third covers my detached garage and back yard)


You can optionally buy a PoE switch (power over Ethernet) to connect to the access points so that the power is transmitted through the network cable and you don’t have to plug them in to a wall outlet. This will work if you choose this route (you will have to configure this switch to turn on PoE on ports connected to access points).

Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 8 60W (US-8-60W) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MU3WUX1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_nNiRDbW2HP8HG


Any one of these progressive options is a valid stopping point, but I recommend buying the secure router/gateway and then the cloud key. These allow you to do advanced network management (main + guest Wi-Fi networks, custom qos throttling):

Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LV8YZLK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1RiRDbW5SEFNM


Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Key (UC-CK) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017T2QB22/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_vSiRDb8SMX7ZY


The guest network is worth the price of admission for added security. Put all your random wireless devices (i.e. the internet of things) on this network to isolate them from your major devices (PCs and phones). Reason being the IoT devices are frequently hacked and used to access your home network.

Thanks for all the comments! I think I'll be going with the LR.

To answer people's concerns:

1. I do have a full infrastructure already going in my homelab, with multiple VLANs each with existing DHCP servers and routers. So I actually do want "just an AP". (I also have a NAS so I definitely don't need the "readyShare" cheap NAS that Nighthawks have.)
   
   
2. The Pro is around $144 on eBay, but I can get an LR for $107.59 on Amazon with free Prime shipping. http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UAP-AC-LR-Networks-Enterprise-System/dp/B015PRCBBI?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_3&smid=A1B5ZP69N9WQBH
   
   It's looking like all three WAPs (Lite, LR and Pro) all have the same core feature set and their only differences are their maximum speed and range (and physical size). Once I get around to remodeling the rest of my house, I'll probably throw a Lite WAP on each floor and stick the LR against the back wall as I said before. (Long term remodeling will be to bring an Ethernet feed out to the garage, so then I could throw the LR in the garage for even better outdoor range.)
   
   I'll post on here once I get my WAP and let everyone know how it works for my setup, but given the cost and Amazon's return policy I can't see this going wrong.
   
   

Yep, the most preferred way is to use an Ethernet cable, if this isn't possible, you can get a dedicated connection for repeating, so you have 2 separate channels for communication. There are some routers which do this for you like the Netgear Orbi.

You can also setup your own using 2 extra routers/antennas if you want to save money, but I would only recommend that if you're willing to spend quite a bit of time on setting it up, and possibly having to use custom firmware.

This can also vary by case, can I ask how fast your Internet is? If it's 100+ Mbps then I would recommend buying 2 https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-LBE-5AC-GEN2-US-Litebeam-23dBi/dp/B06Y2JH7PV/ as a dedicated radio link for repeating. You will still need a Wi-Fi router on the receiving end.

First question, have you connected a computer directly through the Ethernet before? The WiFi can be forcing the authentication every time you connect but it could also be at the router level, meaning if the Ethernet jack is connected to the same router it is possible that it is configured to still prompt for sign in. If you know that's not the case and an Ethernet connection is directly connected with a live connection then you're good to go this route. If your internet is provided, you don't actually need a router. You simply need an access point. It has no routing capabilities and only broadcasts a WiFi network that runs back through the network. Here's a great inexpensive option for what you are looking for.

TP-Link Wireless N300 2T2R Access Point, 2.4Ghz 300Mbps, 802.11b/g/n, AP/Client/Bridge/Repeater, 2x 4dBi, Passive POE (TL-WA801ND) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UBU8IE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_TE-RBbJN4BZ41

Setting it up as an access point will assure you don't have to do any more advanced network configuration due to double NAT or relaying DHCP servers.

lol, gotta love a vague answer, lol.

So, if he wants just strong WiFi access, then a plain WiFi Access Point will be all he needs.

https://smile.amazon.com/TP-Link-EAP225-V3-Wireless-Supports/dp/B0781YXFBT/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=tp%2Blink%2Baccess%2Bpoint&qid=1566684082&s=gateway&sr=8-3&th=1

Here is hoping that he's done the needful when he had that long Ethernet cable run to the shop and ensured that its grounded properly.

Ubiquiti Edge Router X

It's not 'stupid-easy' to configure, but it has a wizard(update the firmware first, which is easy). There are a lot of videos on how to configure for a basic network. Also, it's $49(little higher now while stocks are low). Given how cheap it is, you can then get one of the Unifi Wifi APs for $81. Also easy to set up with a phone app.

Together, you have a pretty powerful combination, and when(not if) they upgrade the wifi standard, you only need to replace the AP, not the whole router. That router is rock solid and has never failed me.

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-Advanced-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B00YFJT29C

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY

Thanks both of you for the reply! Regarding the controller--that's a great idea--I didn't know I couldn't incorporate the EdgeRouter into my controller instance (I'm new to controllers though). It does look like the Unified Gateway is the way to go.

​

Also, after thinking on it--I guess I'll splurge for a 16 port POE+ switch just so I'm safe. So the hardware update would be;

​

Router

Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Security-Gateway-USG/dp/B00LV8YZLK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540404424&sr=8-1&keywords=unified+gateway

​

Switch

UniFi Network Switch US-16-150W Switch Managed PoE+ Gigabit Switch with SFP 150W

https://www.amazon.com/Network-Switch-US-16-150W-Managed-Gigabit/dp/B07G4HKV3N/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1540404535&sr=8-8&keywords=ubiquiti+switch+16

​

AP

Ubiquiti Unifi Ap-AC Long Range - Wireless Access Point - 802.11 B/A/G/n/AC (UAP-AC-LR-US)

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Long-Range/dp/B015PRCBBI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

​

​

Do I really need a Cloud Key?

​

Thank you for such a detailed reply. After your reply and checking out those links the other comments make much more sense to me.

i checked out the equipment you recommended, read more about them online to get a better understanding but its very expensive for me.

I thought I'd buy a cheaper router for example
archer c50. or archer C7. and get one of the UAP you mentioned but apparently getting equipment from different companies causes problems in switching connections automatically when you move around the house, so it'd be better to get ones from the same company.

Cause of that what do you think about one of those archer C50 or C7 with a TP link access point like AC1350.??

Yes regarding your last paragraph i got that sorted out yesterday. Asked Verizon to convert COAX to ethernet. Yes its through the MoCA adapter in case I decide to get TV services from verizon in the future.

Bufferbloat is actually a very complex issue but doesn't stem from wireless. It's mainly caused by routers having more and more memory as a "bandaid" for needing to deal with more clients and connections at higher speeds. With such a massive buffer on board, no back-off signal is sent and it just takes a long time to clear out the queue.

A new router may help, and I know you'll probably be ending up getting one for your faster internet speed. For now, you might consider trying out DD-WRT or OpenWRT and then setting up an AQM like fq_CoDel. I'm not running it at the moment, but it brought my latency from +100ms down to around 20ms under network load.

I believe fq_CoDel will be integrated into DOCIS 3.1 modems... which we're all still waiting for.

For the WiFi only slowdown, I really don't know what to say other than invest in a decent AP like Unifi lite, this might interest you as well.

If you're looking to get your hands dirty, here's what I'd recommend. Fair warning: this equipment is fairly setup-intensive, but would be able to handle basically anything you could throw at it. It also has the advantage of being able to place the access point wherever you'd like in order to optimize your wireless coverage, while leaving the other equipment out of the way:

Arris SB6141 $70

EdgeRouter Lite 3-port $90

Unifi AP AC Lite $80

TP-Link 5-port Gigabit Switch $18 ($8 with rebate)

Total: $258/$248 with rebate

Otherwise, I'd just get the Arris SB6141 and a good router/switch/AP combo, which there are plenty of recommendations for on this subreddit.

Okay thank you for the clarification. I found this on amazon which appears to have good reviews. It might be a decent option to pick up 2 as a low-budget way to get a start on boosting my network? Then I could see if it works better for what I need and if so, then I would be willing to maybe upgrade and get better AP's before I just dive right in and find myself in over my head.

>I've considered trying to run an Ethernet cable to their side and then adding a repeater (is that the right name?)

Repeaters are trash. Don't bother.

>Also, was thinking it might work to put the router in the center of the attic?

Location of the router doesn't matter, just the access point.

How to get decent wireless coverage on both sides of a double? Stop using consumer grade all=in-one garbage. Get a dedicated access point (AP) that you can mount on a wall or ceiling and your coverage will be much, much better. Personally I use the UniFi line of access points from Uniquiti. UniFi AC Pro for $150, UniFi AC Lite for $78. technically you need to install the controller software someplace to do initial configuration, but that software doesn't have to run 24x7 (unless you're a dick and want to do a captive portal to make your neighbors log in). The UniFi line is Power over Ethernet (PoE) as well (with an injector) so you only have to run one cable to the device. Additionally if you need you can add an additional access point and have handoff between the devices.

The AP doesn't have to be from UniFi. I just suggest them becasue the configuration is easy. The iPhone app makes pairing the AP to a controller stupid simple as well. I used an entry-level Cisco Meraki AP for three years before replacing it. You could get one for free by watching a webinar and got a three year license. UniFi doesn't have licensing.

You can use any COX approved cable modem and router with an external access point. If your router has an AP built in just turn that off.

Since you are looking to share with your neighbors you may want to look at the "unlimited" data package. that is an extra $50 USD month. If you have multiple TVs all streaming content it adds up fast. Between the neighbors and myself we average 3 TB a month. I can always tell when the COX CSR looks at data usage.

It's a waste of money spending $250 on a mesh setup with dedicated backhaul radios if you're not going to use it when a superior option of running MOCA backhaul exist.

You can get 3 AC Lite's or 4 EAP 225 for the same price as as the RBK40 setup.

Does all your houses coax cables converge into the basement? If so then all you need to do is get a simple wire only router like an Edgerouter X and connect an ethernet cable from the router to a MOCA adapter connected to the COAX splitter.

Then at the locations you want to have good wifi you'll need another moca adapter connected to the coax coming out of the wall and ethernet out into a wireless access point like the two mentioned above. In addition you can have say ethernet switches connected to the MOCA adapters. This way you can plug in devices like your PS4, desktops, etc in addition to a WAP at the same time. Doing this will reliably get you the 150 mbps you're paying for at each location.

thank you for your response!

So, in conclusion:


Modem (basement) -> ethernet to 1st floor -> AP like this one (not that model specifically.. just something that will provide solid stable fast WiFi; please advise a specific model if you can :D :D ) -> gigabit switch 1st floor as well that that AP connects to -> ethernet cable from the gigabit switch to 2nd floor rooms

Is that a logical setup?

also, is this ethernet cable considered a good quality cable?

are you getting comcasts phone or are you planing to use voice over IP?

If your getting comcasts phone your options are limited to modems that support it.

If voice over ip,then no restrictions really modem wise.

If your getting comcasts phone,then atleast new, I dont see any modems that can support 400 mbps and voice in your range

If your not getting comasts phone then

Something like

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-Advanced-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B00YFJT29C

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015PR20GY/ref=s9_dcacsd_dcoop_bw_c_x_6_w

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-download-960Mbps-XFINITY-CM600-1AZNAS/dp/B06XGZBCKP

plus some cabling should be right around $300

that gets you a cable modem that can support your 400 mbps,a router that can route that fast with 2 open lan ports and an access point for wifi.

You can do 400 mbps over Ethernet on this set up,400 over wifi I imagine would be possible in the very best of conditions.

Thanks for the quick reply!
So would something like this work?
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-300Mbps-Repeater-TL-WA801ND/dp/B004UBU8IE/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482532251&sr=1-2&keywords=wireless+bridge

And could I connect something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-5-Port-Ethernet-Desktop-TL-SF1005D/dp/B000N99BBC/ref=pd_sim_147_1?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=G72XDPPB55GJ66MCEQKC&th=1
So I have multiple ethernet ports?

Or is there a more efficient way to do this? Sorry again haha, total noob here.

We've had good luck with the G-Rack. From $17k to $37k for 48-144TB. It's pretty flexible as far as connections go. Make sure the server hits your switch over 10gig, preferably using an LACP bond. Your designers could hit it via gigabit. Laptop folks should be encouraged to use copper, but if you have good wifi they'll have enough connectivity for meeting rooms. Video clients should be connected over 10gig ethernet, but if you don't have the money to pull Cat6a wires everywhere NBaseT can get you 2.5Gbps or 5Gbps over existing Cat5e or Cat6 wires.

Edit: Just don't overlook backup. Amazon S3 or Backblaze B2 are great cloud solutions.