Home networking design help.

[chriso_77]

Hello,

I would like to setup a network in my new house and would like some advice on how to best meet my needs.

I have the following requirements:

1. I want to share my ADSL2 internet connection with eight devices using wired connections.
2. I also want to be able to share my ADSL2 internet connection with a number of portable devices via WiFi.
3. Whilst one WiFi antenna can be collocated with my WiFi access point, I want a second antenna to be located in a remote part of the house and connected via an antenna extension cable, not using a wireless WiFi extender.
4. I want to be able to physically turn-off (using a button) the WiFi signal in my house when not in use.
5. I want to share access to a printer without needing to have any particular PC turned on.
6. I would like to share access to a storage device without needing to have any particular PC turned on.
7. I would like network transfer capacity to stream HD video from one device to another.

I was hoping I could find a single combined ADSL2 modem/router to satisfy these requirements but haven't been able to find one with 8 wired LAN ports, a WiFi on-off button and two or more antennas, at least one of which is removable (and support for USB printer/storage sharing.)

Can anyone suggest a single piece of hardware or a combination of hardware that would suit my requirements? Is there a good way to add more wired LAN ports to a 4-port router that would provide the connectivity performance of the existing ports for the added ports?

Thanks very much for considering this for me!

 

[eibgrad]

Frankly, relying on a single device in support of the modem, router, and switch is rarely a good idea. They're only sold this way as a convenience, but truth is, you're almost always better off w/ separate components for precisely the reasons you described. Most of these all-in-one solutions are a compromise (too few ports, non-Gigabit, can't be reused on different systems that require an exposed WAN port, etc.). So having to look elsewhere is no real loss imo.

In your case, you’d probably be better off to just treat the router as having a single LAN port and patch it to a 16-24 port Gigabit switch. IOW, everything is patched off the switch except for the router itself. In fact, (and here again we see the limitations of all-in-one solutions), it would be better if your wireless radio was patched off the switch too! Most wireless routers are not Gigabit, but 10/100Mbps. And if you’re lucky enough to get 100Mbps or better performance from your wireless radio, but it’s stuck behind the router’s 10/100Mbps switch, you’ll take a performance hit. That’s why businesses typically keep all these components separate. Now they can reconfigure them easily according to need.

As far as the particular router and its features, they do make routers w/ USB support, although some support only USB printers, some only USB storage, or sometimes both. Again, I would stay away from dependencies on the router in this regard. While they work, they are often compromised in terms of speed and features (e.g., a USB printer may only provide basic printing, not all-in-one features like scanning, faxing, etc.). Instead, buy a separate networked printer, a separate NAS, etc. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to make the router the swiss army knife of connectivity. You’ll simply find too many compromises will need to be made.

 

[hang-the-9]

This is a pretty complex design you are looking for.

First locate a central place you will have the DSL connection coming into with the modem. Setup a network patch panel there, run ethernet cables to the rooms in the house from that patch panel. Connect the patch panel to a switch, the switch will to to the router which will be the DHCP server and will share the internet to your devices. You can wire a WiFi extender to the ethernet jack in whichever room you want to run it to then, and have all of your wired devices running from the jacks.

To turn off WiFi, just go into the settings of the router and shut if off there. There is no button you can install to shut off WiFi outside of the router config.

For printer and storage, get a network printer and network attached storage, wire them to the jacks you have in the rooms, for storage you can probably keep it where the router/switch lives.

 

[Cableking]

I have a similar situation but have 3-4 locations that will require multiple connections (Xbox,apple tv, blueray) with only one Ethernet at each spot (liv, bed,family rm, theater) can I have a router that feeds a switch at each location?