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Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
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$7k is kinda spendy. I quoted an installation for a friend, at his cabin and poll barn up north, about $1k for: LTE modem with external antenna, 3 APs, two small switches, a 5GHz backhaul (between barn and cabin), and 1000 ft. of Cat6 cable + connectors. Of course, he was going to supply the grunt labor and I would do the tech bits gratis.

It would've been NetGear (LTE modem & switches), Ubiquiti (backhauls), and EnGenius (APs) hardware.

It would've given him seamless WiFi coverage throughout the cabin and barn areas, and for a good bit outside them. Several thousand sqft. total.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I know, not cheap but that was the best of 3 bids that I received. San Francisco prices.

Keep in mind that those Aruba APs retail for over $750 a pop.

The technicians also moved/set-up my home theater (including my new 82" TV), wired it with Cat-6 for streaming to my Apple TV and my son's Xbox etc., hung and wired my rear channel speakers etc. for "no-charge" so I guess that was rolled into the total cost.
 
Posts: 2267 | Location: San Francisco, CA | Registered: February 16, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
goodheart
Picture of sjtill
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I solved my Wi-Fi problem at home (single story, 2500 sq ft + garage) with an Eero mesh network system from Amazon for about $400. One “Eero Pro” router and two “Beacons”. Very easy to set up. Would definitely go that way again. The little “pie” symbol always “full”. You can see I’m not a pro. Doesn’t matter, it basically installed and configured itself.


_________________________
“ What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.”— Lord Melbourne
 
Posts: 18017 | Location: One hop from Paradise | Registered: July 27, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Optimistic Cynic
Picture of architect
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quote:
Originally posted by chongosuerte:
By “phone” you guys mean like a VIOP setup?
It is abbreviated VoIP (Voice over IP), and that is not what we mean. Back in the mid-20th century, AT&T wired their phones to a standard plan that used RJ-11 "modular" jacks, the squarish plug that had the little retention tab on one side. RJ-11 has four conductors so as to support two phone lines ("two pairs"). The connector was so ubiquitous that when ethernet started getting rolled out to homes, the engineers came up with 10baseT (to replace/augment 10base2 and 10base5, earlier coax standards that were a serious pain to install and maintain). 10baseT was designed to run on the wiring that was already installed in million of homes and offices and thereby to encourage its acceptance. It did so, very well indeed, but 10 mbs (megabits per second) proved to be "too slow" for multi-media and the other Internet features that were driving acceptance so the engineers came out with 100baseT, and later GigE, and even later 10GigE retaining more or less backward compatibility with each generation. But in doing so they discarded the "runs on telephone wire" requirement, instead requiring the use of an 8-conductor cable, and wider jacks and plugs (RJ-45). You can plug an RJ-11 plug into an RJ-45 jack, but not vice versa. Bottom line is that old-style telephone wiring does not support modern network distribution technologies, nor can modern devices "fall-back" to the older 10baseT standard.

The above is an intentional over-simplification, and there are many many additional details that might be relevant to specific situations.

quote:
Is there a way for me to test the quality of the wireless connection in different points in the house? Short of trying to watch YouTube in the corners?
Walking around with your cell phone or tablet will give you this information with teh fewest complications and expense, look for the number of "bars" in the WiFi icon. Pause in the various locations where you are testing long enough for the signal to "settle." Monitoring videos or other high bandwidth content is not the worst way to do this. Using a purpose-built, expensive WiFi testing device is far more painful and uncertain (when the meter shows that you are getting "good signal" but your videos do nothing but buffer, what do you do?)
 
Posts: 6400 | Location: NoVA | Registered: July 22, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
The Unmanned Writer
Picture of LS1 GTO
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quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:

Download "WifiAnalyzer" app from whatever app store you are using.

You can measure relative signal strength by walking with your phone to various parts of the house.

It will also show how crowded each channel is by showing all the different WiFi networks sitting in each channel.



Thank you sir!!

I see there are multiple sources (the first which want to sell my info to third parties). Is there a recommended one?







Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



Only in an insane world are the sane considered insane.


The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime


 
Posts: 14020 | Location: It was Lat: 33.xxxx Lon: 44.xxxx now it's CA :( | Registered: March 22, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
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This'd is the one I used to use when I was on Android: https://play.google.com/store/...arproc.wifi.analyzer



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
eh-TEE-oh-clez
Picture of Aeteocles
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quote:
Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:

Download "WifiAnalyzer" app from whatever app store you are using.

You can measure relative signal strength by walking with your phone to various parts of the house.

It will also show how crowded each channel is by showing all the different WiFi networks sitting in each channel.



Thank you sir!!

I see there are multiple sources (the first which want to sell my info to third parties). Is there a recommended one?


I use the 5 star rated "WiFi Analyzer' authored by Abdelrahman M. Sid. I operate under the impression that all apps collect data to some extent, even if its just to serve up ads. This particular one seemed to have good reviews over many numerous downloads.

Here's the link:

https://play.google.com/store/...hman.wifianalyzerpro
 
Posts: 13046 | Location: Orange County, California | Registered: May 19, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Do No Harm,
Do Know Harm
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So piddling with all this I realized that one of the booster thingys wasn't connected right.

And running the analyzer someone suggested I found that I really shouldn't be complaining. I've got pretty good to dang good coverage everywhere through the house, except the master where that booster was.

Fixed now...we'll see.




Knowing what one is talking about is widely admired but not strictly required here.

Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard.
-JALLEN

"All I need is a WAR ON DRUGS reference and I got myself a police thread BINGO." -jljones
 
Posts: 11446 | Location: NC | Registered: August 16, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Republican in training
Picture of DonDraper
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Step 1 lose the ATT wifi. Buy a few Asus routers and setup an AiMesh network. I only have two in my small house and I can get a fantastic connection from anywhere, all over the yard, and then some.


--------------------
I like Sigs and HK's, and maybe Glocks
 
Posts: 2263 | Location: SC | Registered: March 16, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of SR
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chongosuerte, do you TVs in any other room that are connected to the AT&T system? Each AT&T box has at least one port. If you happen to have a box in the room with the computer, you can connect by cord.




Speak softly and carry a big stick loaded Sig
 
Posts: 4887 | Location: Raleigh, North Carolina | Registered: September 27, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Network Janitor
Picture of mkueffer
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quote:
Originally posted by chongosuerte:
One of those pictures is the “Internet closet”. That’s my confusion, I’m very confident that there is cable ran from that panel to the office. Just trying to figure which one.


Sometimes if you can see the cable behind the jack or wall plate the installer may have a number or label on the wire drop.

Do you have a pic of your “structured” wiring box where the telephone input module is?

Typically the telco brings their legacy POTS (plain old telephone services) line to that location, connecting to the service jack, then you patch to the other areas where you need an analog line.




A few Sigs and some others
 
Posts: 2219 | Location: Waukesha, WI | Registered: February 04, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
אַרְיֵה
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What are you trying to accomplish?

Are you looking for better cell phone coverage, or is it for other devices?

If it's the former (cell phone signal), I can help with a karma. Contact me at the email address in my profile, if this is what you need.

I have an AT&T femtocell that I no longer need. This is a device that acts like a local cell tower in your house. I used it at the hangar because AT&T cell coverage at Our Little Airport is really spotty. I no longer need it because I now use the Verizon network and they have a tower that gives much better coverage at the airport.



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
 
Posts: 30545 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
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quote:
Originally posted by chongosuerte:
And running the analyzer someone suggested I found that I really shouldn't be complaining. I've got pretty good to dang good coverage everywhere through the house, ...

Adequate signal doesn't necessarily equate to good network performance--particularly where repeaters are involved. (See notes about mesh networks, below.)

In addition to signal checks to survey coverage you need to run bandwidth tests between the various nodes if you want to gauge actual network performance. (I use iperf3 for that. It's available for every platform, I believe.)

N.B.: Mesh networks, where mesh nodes aren't hard-wired, are just zero config wireless repeater networks--often with adaptive (variable) network topology. Plus many of them perform local adaptive filtering to improve performance by eliminating "unnecessary" WLAN traffic--sometimes breaking network discovery protocols in the process. (You guessed correctly: I am not a fan.)



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Chongo that is the residential version of ABF (AT&T Business Fiber) or as I call it at work, fiber dsl.

I had it put in over a year ago, fiber to the prem. Mine is 1Gb symmetrical.

The problem you have this hardware. The AT&T supplied modem/WiFi router, sucks for WiFi. It’s terrible. What you NEED to do, is bypass the modem’s WiFi and use your own WiFi router. There are videos on how to do it on YouTube. I’d suggest a good ASIS WiFi router.
I’ve got your same setup, with the repeaters or whatever AT&T calls them, and it still sucks ass. The layer 1 is great, it’s the WiFi that is terrible.

I’m a layer 1 SME (UVN, Sonet rings, all the way down to T1’s and DSL/Cable modem) but I’ve been putting this off for a year. Working in Telco/IT I loathe fucking with this shit at the house. But I am willing to help. I’ve got Spectrum Cable modem service as a backup internet solution. I had it turned on (installed myself) at the beginning of the Pandemic so I’d have a backup ISP as I’m working from home, like many, and am critical staff. The last thing I want to do right now is have to go in the office because of primary ISP failure, or miss work. The suits at work are all in a tizzy constantly and many of them don’t know what the fuck they are doing.

But I’m willing to help you but I’ve got to set up the bypass on mine first. I found the you tube videos on how to do it last month. I’ve just been procrastinating. I know 802.11 quite well and have tested my WiFi via WiFi calling around the house, porch, backyard etc, and it’s like this ATT modem WiFi drops out here and there. It’s not a strong signal. For now, I’d suggest changing channels on the WiFi as a start to make sure you aren’t combating a neighbor. I have an ASIS AC1900 that I will try to setup this weekend as it supports 2 ISP connections. Once I have the bypass figured out I can chime back in. When I first attempted it I believe it’s the default 192 addressing being the same on the ATT modem and my ASUS Router so I just need to change my subnets as it was causing an IP conflict.



What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone
 
Posts: 12569 | Location: Down South | Registered: January 16, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
eh-TEE-oh-clez
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Chongo,

I have an Asus RT-AC68u "AC1900" WiFi router that I've been meaning to sell if you are interested. My email is in my profile.

It's a fantastic router, but I doubled my house size a few months ago and was gifted a 4 node mesh system.
 
Posts: 13046 | Location: Orange County, California | Registered: May 19, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of fpuhan
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I have a relatively small living space: 1,500 sq. ft. on one floor. Wi-fi hasn't been my issue, but I have 26 devices on my network, most of them on 5GHz. My last addition was a server (don't ask...) that I am running via Ethernet, as are my IP security cameras.

Internet comes through my garage into my kitchen. I have a TRENDnet TEW 880MB AC1200 Dual Band Wireless Media Bridge that I use across the house to capture the wi-fi signal that lets me plug in my cameras (up to four Ethernet devices). In two rooms I have AV2000 1800 Mbps Powerline Pass-Thru 2-Port Gigabit Ethernet Adapters, which I simply plug into wall outlets in different rooms. They leverage the house's electric wiring rather than running cable all over the place.

This type of setup may not work for everyone; clean power, lack of structural barriers and myriad other conditions may not allow for the kind of setup I have. But what I didn't want to do was have a "wiring closet" and run Cat5/Cat6 cable through my walls.




You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.

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Posts: 2857 | Location: Peoples Republic of North Virginia | Registered: December 04, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I am running a TP-Link mesh system.

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link...System/dp/B06WVCB862

For $169. it can't be beat

The newer version is $269 and screams.

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link...m/dp/B085Z35GY6?th=1


One thing to look at is the wires that have been run in the walls.

That legend patch panel is punched down to RJ11 phone 4 pin jacks. Internet is RJ45 8 pin jacks.

In the past installer ran cat3 telephone cable with 2 pairs for phone and separate cat5 with 4 pairs for internet.

More recently people often ran cat 5/6 for everything and only punched down 4 wires when running phone lines and punched down 8 wires for internet.

Depending on when they were run, they could be cat3, cat5 or cat6.

If you open a wall jack you can look at the wire, you should be able to see the wire connected to the jack. If it has more than 4 wires you have internet wires in the wall.

You can switch out the jacks re-punch the wires and move things around all you want.

Either way I would use the TP-LINK mesh system, back hauled to the router for WiFi if the house is wired for internet. If they are cat3 in the walls, I would spring for the extra $100 and buy the more expensive TP-Link system for upgrade insurance.

Plug the base into the router and put the other units where you need the coverage the most.

If you have need more than 4000 sq ft coverage you can just add additional units.
 
Posts: 4743 | Registered: February 15, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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