I’m designing 2 villas that are each 11,000 sq’. They are 4 story, concrete construction. Of course they will be Z-Wave/Vera equipped, Elk M1 Gold security, whole house A/V & 6 IP cams for each villa, which I already have figured out.
Question is, any of you have/seen/used this stuff? Does it preform as advertised?
I will have everything installed in a server room, hardwired and home run. Please chime in with your experiences or suggestions to get solid wifi coverage.
If you are building new … then Wire the Access points …
A couple High Def cameras can already start to saturate an access point … It you Wifi Mesh/Daisy chain these … they will reduce your Wifi throughput.
Two at 11,000 square feet each? That’s pretty big!
Mesh networking will reduce throughput by slightly more than half for each hop/relay. It is not a good solution. As @RichardTSchaefer said, new construction should have wired access points. Such a high-end home should also have wired ethernet ports all over it.
The linked Open Mesh brand access points, claiming 300Mbps throughput when not used in a mesh, are like any other 802.11n access points. Many advertise 300Mbps, however this is a theoretical max aggregate number that will never be seen in the real word. True real world unidirectional throughput for 802.11n will max out at between 90 and 120Mbps. This is the case for all 802.11n devices.
Off topic - 6 IP cams sounds interestingly inadequate for 11,000 square feet.
I plan to wire all the AP’s. Otherwise these devices function as repeaters.
The WiFi usage will be for a small family, not intensive streaming or DL’ing. However I will have IPTV box directly connected to my switcher.
This stuff seems good, and I like the Cloud Trax management setup.
I’d tend to agree with what these folks are saying. Set aside a spot in your basement for your network, and think on it as a utility space. Then run Cat5e / Cat6 to a number of locations. Not only do you get much greater speeds than WiFi on hard lines, but you can then get APs at those end points to extend your WiFi coverage.
The thing with using WiFi repeaters in a pure wireless fashion, is you are already halving the bandwidth available to you. Half of the speed of the connection is for your client (laptops, tablets etc), whereas half the bandwidth goes to sending the wireless signal through to the next wireless AP. It’s not a very good way to do this. WiFi APs are best located strategically to maximize wireless range, but then home run with Ethernet cables to the main router somewhere in the basement.
Go get yourself some bottom end Asus routers. Plug into the back of each one with a computer. Program the wireless to be identical to the main router. WPA2 Personal, same SSID, same password. ----Different channel-----. Then flip the switch at the back of these Asus units to “AP” mode. It will turn off NAT and DHCP, turning it into a glorified Ethernet Switch with WiFI AP built in. Each of the APs you intend, make it the same security, SSID and password, on a different channel. Home wire them to the main router. Then, the network is seamless. Your WiFi clients will seamlessly switch channels as you move through the house, without losing signal. You also get good quality throughput to the internet. This can be done much cheaper than these 75 dollar units you are suggesting.
Unless I am missing something, you can do this far better, for far cheaper. Just have the place pre-wired with a few Ethernet lines.
Oh and on a side topic, Mesh based Z-Wave works great. Just be sure to strategically locate the repeating nodes such that each one has great signal strength to one or two others. You can string them along to great distances, with a single VeraLite.
Edit: Apologies. I misread and didn’t note that you indicated you WERE going to hard wire the APs. Still, you don’t need devices this pricey to do what you’re suggesting IMO.
They’ve got Single band N, Dual band N, ranging to Dual band AC models.
If as you say you are expecting basic usage needs, such as web access, email, light streaming, go with the cheap stuff. Just buy a few of them to handle the floor space and run Cat5e lines accordingly.
Look at the RT-N10P or the RT-N12/D1 or something. 150MBps or 300MBps wireless models. They have router mode, AP mode, or repeater mode.
Another thought, is if you want a truly structured set up, consider Ubiquity. You can get routers that can be used as APs, that are powered via Power Over Ethernet. With a PoE switch near your main router, and lines run from there, you can get a low maintenance set up in that you don’t need a power adapter connected to a power outlet anywhere. Just run those lines inside the walls, and hang them near the ceilings out of the way or something.
If you are looking to configure your wireless back-haul connection want to concern in with some company sparkyindustries they offer you Technical wireless mesh, and WiMax backhaul networks technical support and services.
I have a 3 floor house and I’m using 2 (two) Asus RT-N16 wich are single band 2.4Ghz 802.11n routers, loaded with opensource router code called TOMATO, which is one of the most stable and complete today, in my opinion…
I’m running a mesh environment using WDS between both and they runs acceptable for most of the usage…
Now, If you want to stream in Full HD or add several IP cams… you shoud consider 802.11ac with GbE WiFi, such a brand new asus…
RT-N16 are roughly 90 bucks at amazon… and 802.11ac can be obtained for much more (around 180+ bucks).
I’m a network pro (data centers, businesses, etc). Listen to what Z-Waver and Richard have stated. I’m rebuilding my tiny 1500 sq ft house and I had the electricians run CAT6 everywhere since the walls were open. If there was a room, I ran it. Two drops minimum in every room. You don’t want to rely on wireless. Wireless is for folks who didn’t think ahead, or for the last hop for client access (tablets, laptops, phones, etc). You need a strong, fast, reliable backbone that you won’t outgrow anytime soon. That’s wired CAT6, period.
TC1 said it well, wifi is for mobile devices like phones and laptops and anything else for which a cord would be a nuisance. For things that don’t move around much, wired is much better. Wifi bandwidth is a scarce resource, it makes no sense to spend it on devices that can be wired.
I moved into a house last year that had a rat’s nest of cat-5 spilling out of a hole in a garage wall, and while wifi was the first thing I set up, I still spend a lot of hours identifying the wires for all of the fixed devices - PCs, TVs, xbox, etc. I’m adding IP cameras next so I’m already planning where I’ll run the network cables to connect them.
I certainly plan to use wired everywhere possible. I already have a lot of FP wiring going in, not just Cat6. Also 18/2, 22/4 as well. The AP suggestions using routers is a good idea and I will go that direction.
Thank you all for your help.
Best Home Automation shopping experience. Shop at Ezlo!