Moving, new house, networking advice please

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Milehigh

Limp Gawd
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Jul 18, 2004
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Moving to a ranch home, 2600 sq ft on main level, same in basement. I have an existing ASUS RT-AC3200, maybe a bit dated, but connection to the internet will be in the center of the basement. There are 3 ethernet ports on the upper level and I want wifi connectivity inside and out, the lot is not big (tract housing). A mesh network seems to be the thing these days and can I use the ASUS for a router in the basement unless an upgrade is recommended for newer standards. Eero and ASUS Zen seems popular but are they good options? Do they still require a router? I'm a bit rusty on networking options these days but want something good for the long haul.

I'm open to any recommendations but want something as future proof as possible, thanks for any advice :)
 
I use unifi, router in basement and hardwire ethernet lines out to access points in a few spots in the house. Other than my garage i have access everywhere, even when mowing the lawn which is a bit of a distance. My stuff is a bit older about 4-5years now i think. Thought about upgrading but it just works without any tinkering so i kind of just leave it be. My access points were all bought used off ebay, easy to get that stuff as people upgrade small offices and then try to get rid of the stuff. I dont have wifi6 or anything but haven't needed it. Nice thing is, if i want, i can just get an access point and add that to the network without changing the router.
 
Let me just say, AiMesh is garbage, you're better off using routers in AP mode than that. Other mesh systems might be worthwhile, but all of them will be better if you can use wired backhaul. If those three ethernet ports are in good locations, you're in a good spot.

Also, check the phone wiring, it's often possible to repurpose that for ethernet. Best case, it's cat5 four pair, all home runs to a convenient location; chop the ends off and reterminate with rj45 and you're golden. Worst case it's super old red/green/yellow/black cable run from jack to jack with some branches here and there; that might be able to run at 100base if you put rj45 ends on correctly; at each jack, put a rj45 port in each direction the wiring goes; put short jumpers in rooms that now have two ports but no ethernet devices; put a switch in rooms with devices. If you've got that topology but with cat3 or cat5 four pair, you can probably still get gigabit; gigE works over short cat3 runs even though it's not to spec.
 
It really depends on what equipment you like and how robust you want the setup to be. Robust and bulletproof? Ruckus APs and an enterprise router. Close second is the unifi stuff although their china backdoor keeps that off the table for me, and then there is the consumer stuff which can work fine but may need some fine tuning. Pick your poison. :D
 
Milehigh said:
Moving to a ranch home, 2600 sq ft on main level, same in basement. I have an existing ASUS RT-AC3200, maybe a bit dated, but connection to the internet will be in the center of the basement. There are 3 ethernet ports on the upper level and I want wifi connectivity inside and out, the lot is not big (tract housing). A mesh network seems to be the thing these days and can I use the ASUS for a router in the basement unless an upgrade is recommended for newer standards. Eero and ASUS Zen seems popular but are they good options? Do they still require a router? I'm a bit rusty on networking options these days but want something good for the long haul.

I'm open to any recommendations but want something as future proof as possible, thanks for any advice :)
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Thanks guys, I appreciate the advice... I have a Ruckus switch in my current house but can't take it :(
 
Milehigh said:
Can't take it, it has to stay with the house.
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Unless it's in the contract, you can take it and the APs that the builder installed. But it may be time for an upgrade anyway depending on how old they are.
 
SamirD said:
I bet if you swapped it with a cheapee used linksys no one would even notice. Hell, even used Cisco catalysts are cheap these days.
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Ohhh...That would be unethical ^_^ . I don't know but isn't Ruckus supposed to be more for enterprises. I mean it should be more professional than your typical home devices, right? Sorry but I felt the need to ask.
 
sram said:
Ohhh...That would be unethical ^_^ . I don't know but isn't Ruckus supposed to be more for enterprises. I mean it should be more professional than your typical home devices, right? Sorry but I felt the need to ask.
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Depends on what the contract says. I remember moving into our apartment in the chicago area that was brand new. All the rooms were wired with 2x cat5e ports terminated 568b. And in the demarc, they put a phone punch down block. I thought surely this was a shady move by the electrical contractor to shortchange the apt complex, but nope, it stated in the contract that the cables just had to be terminated. How ethical--all that yummy wiring for ethernet and no proper termination. I swapped mine for a leviton ethernet block and then swapped it back before we left. They didn't care at all.

If the contract simple states that there needs to be a poe switch for the cameras or that a camera system (or whatever system) needs to be there, then you can follow that to the letter of the law and you're fine. Now, if you showed off your really nice Ruckus setup and the buyer was like, 'yes!', then I believe it would be unethical even though it would not be illegal.
 
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toast0 said:
Let me just say, AiMesh is garbage, you're better off using routers in AP mode than that. Other mesh systems might be worthwhile, but all of them will be better if you can use wired backhaul. If those three ethernet ports are in good locations, you're in a good spot.
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What's wrong with AImesh? I've been using it for 5+ years and its been flawless (Once I got it set up correctly) and awesome.

I'd just buy a new, faster, stronger better base Asus router, make sure you can ethernet backhaul to your AC3200, put Merlin on both routers and AImesh em.
 
TheSlySyl said:
What's wrong with AImesh? I've been using it for 5+ years and its been flawless (Once I got it set up correctly) and awesome.
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At least on my hardware, in my house, it was really bad. Getting it running was a bit of a chore, but ignoring that, once it was running, it didn't make it a day before I reverted because devices didn't stay connected to wifi or if they did, couldn't actually communicate. Same devices set into AP mode is fine (not 100% great, I have some spots where devices like to oscillate between APs which gets frustrating). AiMesh runs all the clients on the same wifi channel which doesn't make a lot of sense to me either.
 
toast0 said:
At least on my hardware, in my house, it was really bad. Getting it running was a bit of a chore, but ignoring that, once it was running, it didn't make it a day before I reverted because devices didn't stay connected to wifi or if they did, couldn't actually communicate. Same devices set into AP mode is fine (not 100% great, I have some spots where devices like to oscillate between APs which gets frustrating). AiMesh runs all the clients on the same wifi channel which doesn't make a lot of sense to me either.
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...No it doesn't. I have 4 different wifi channels (2.4ghz, 5ghz-1 5ghz-2, 6ghz) and AImesh balances everything between them, and between units, perfectly fine. I have 64 devices connected currently and they all communicate with no issues. (Lots of IOT)
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This is typical for me, as the AXE16000 hits the vast majority of the house and my old AC5300 is mainly for the backyard, kitchen and garage (due to house layout).
(There's also a 32 port gigabit switch with 20+ ethernet devices connected to it, but those are mostly game consoles and streaming devices so they aren't always active.)

I think you may have reverted too quickly, a single day isn't enough time for the algorithms to do their thing and for everything to balance out.

How long ago did you use it?
 
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This was deep covid school at home, so probably 2 years ago. My APs are older (debranded TM-AC1900) and only do 2.4 and one 5 Ghz. But all the 2.4 is on the same channel which is my issue. With individual APs, I can use all the channels. (I live in the woods, so there's not many neighbors)

The family would have murdered me if I let it run any longer, it was that bad.
 
Note my thoughts are biased.

Unifi access points with a solid mikrotik router (rb5009 or above) and a cloud key (gen 2).

Get a decent PoE switch, mikrotik have them too.

Use the “u6 mesh” points at three wired locations.

Done
 
toast0 said:
This was deep covid school at home, so probably 2 years ago. My APs are older (debranded TM-AC1900) and only do 2.4 and one 5 Ghz. But all the 2.4 is on the same channel which is my issue. With individual APs, I can use all the channels. (I live in the woods, so there's not many neighbors)

The family would have murdered me if I let it run any longer, it was that bad.
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Yeah, ac-1900 weren't powerful enough for being a main AImesh router. They're nearly 10 years old now!
I did use one as a node for a long time with my AC-5300 though before I upgraded to the frankly ridiculous AXE-16000.
 
SamirD said:
I bet if you swapped it with a cheapee used linksys no one would even notice. Hell, even used Cisco catalysts are cheap these days.
Click to expand...

sram said:
Ohhh...That would be unethical ^_^ . I don't know but isn't Ruckus supposed to be more for enterprises. I mean it should be more professional than your typical home devices, right? Sorry but I felt the need to ask.
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The nice thing about having the Ruckus POE switch is it's also in Unleashed when you managed your APs. Not a big deal if it isn't in there but you'd need to make sure you have a replacement POE switch that can handle powering your APs.
 
sram said:
Ohhh...That would be unethical ^_^ . I don't know but isn't Ruckus supposed to be more for enterprises. I mean it should be more professional than your typical home devices, right? Sorry but I felt the need to ask.
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Yes, don't think it would be right to take it... and it does use Unleashed which is nice.
 
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