Wired/Wireless network setup for home use

[Gordylll]

I had my house built last year in October and the forthought to have them wire everything inside the walls. My plan was 1 ethernet port upstairs, 1 downstairs, and one in the basement. Came out great with the exception that everything runs to my control box in the basement. Now that my kids are getting computers and I need my main floor to have hotspot access I am running into issues. Mainly my Linksys which is running in G can not reach my middle floor (heck it cant get out of the back room in the basement where its located). So I was thinking of upgrading to N for the basement, putting a secondary router upstairs for the 3rd floor and hoping it has enough signal to reach my middle floor. You think this is the smartest way to go about it? My other idea was buying the signal amplifiers you put in the wall and makes your signal run along the electrical outlets. I have not done this before so suggestions are wanted and would be appreciated

 

[CntdwnToExtn]

Why not just use an access point or wireless router in the middle level. Use N connection there and then turn off the wireless on your Linksys in the basement.
If G can barley get out of your back room, N might not have much better success since it sounds like something's the blocking the signal.
N would be able to cover the whole house (assuming you don't have a 10K sq/foot house heh) from the middle floor.

 

[Gordylll]

That was the other option I was thinking of late last night. So basically basement would be modem ------ > Linksys <wireless off> and routing connection through hard wired lines. Middle floor hard connection --------> access point <N>. Can I run a second access point upstairs as well or will the network only recognize 1? Also the access point is just a repeater correct? Like its not going to try to assign IP's or anything? The only wireless I have dealt with is on a large scale OSPF/BGP/SAT routing which I am actually really good at!!! Unfortunately my home network is attrocious because I think I nuke it everytime I try to fix it. Also thanks for the reply

 

[ET/IT]

ValetPlus M20 Home Hotspot - Wireless Made Easy - Cisco Home Products Store

Move to the middle floor.

This should cover your entire house easily.

Also, a couple of these: http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Ad...productId97657085VVcatId551965VVviewprod.htm, or these: Linksys AE1000 - Wireless Connector - Cisco Home Products Store (cheaper) will do it all easily.

The Valet+ I've heard a great deal about. It's a bit on the expensive side, however, I've heard many great things.

The AE1000s go pretty cheap. I use one myself. It'll get the job done for any spots you're missing in your house that the VALET+ doesn't touch.

And BTW, unless your house is, in fact a mansion, there's no chance the VALET+ couldn't cover the whole house, unless it's made out of severely dense materials.

 

[overlord20]

I am a fan of the Linksys WRT54G. It covers my two story house well from the basement and it covered our old 3 story house great from the top floor. I would move everything to the middle floor though, as it would provide even signal throughout the house.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

What you will want, is to configure your routers such that whichever one is connected directly to the internet handles DHCP (provides IP addresses to the computers). From here, each other router would only act as a switch or a wireless access point. Having more than 1 DHCP device on a network wouldn't be fun. (been there done that).

BEFORE you go out and buch a bunch of new stuff, place the wireless router you already have on the main floor. Use one of the Wireless computers (hopefully a laptop) to test out reception in places where you would expect it to be used. If you have any weakspots, then you know that you can invest in an N router, and eliminate the dead zones with just the N, or even both the N, and the G routers. (you won't need an internet connection to test, just fire up the computer, connect to the wireless router, and access the config panel of the router.)

 

[ET/IT]

What you will want, is to configure your routers such that whichever one is connected directly to the internet handles DHCP (provides IP addresses to the computers). From here, each other router would only act as a switch or a wireless access point. Having more than 1 DHCP device on a network wouldn't be fun. (been there done that).

BEFORE you go out and buch a bunch of new stuff, place the wireless router you already have on the main floor. Use one of the Wireless computers (hopefully a laptop) to test out reception in places where you would expect it to be used. If you have any weakspots, then you know that you can invest in an N router, and eliminate the dead zones with just the N, or even both the N, and the G routers. (you won't need an internet connection to test, just fire up the computer, connect to the wireless router, and access the config panel of the router.)

Just to expand on this, if your reception when you test that one computer isn't too good, an AE1000 can easily fix that. It can pick up the signal and boost it. (at least, my AE1000 boosts signal, don't know how though)