

Posted: 10/12/2016 10:51:15 AM EDT
Internet comes into the house in the basement, into a structured wire panel. The panel then has all the individual feeds to throughout the house, something like 12 of them. If I want internet to different rooms is it as simple as running a switch at the panel then out to each room? Is that a secure way to wire up internet access throughout the house?
FWIW I'm not setting up private servers to run the State Dept, just wondering about internet security without any kind of firewall, other than what's on the device hard wired to the internet, i.e., desktop, TV, router etc. Update, finally got the AP and switch delivered, installed, and configured. So far I think it's working. I'll know for sure if this cures what ails me when I get out in the garage and out in the yard. |
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do you have a router in that areas?
a switch will create an in home network you will need a router to connect the internet the router can be the firewall |
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I do have a router for wi-fi. The problem I'm trying to fix is poor wi-fi signal around the house / yard. If I use the router in the basement it's surrounded on two sides by concrete and it's a BIG house so signal is piss poor. I'll move the router to the top floor to hopefully improve signal strength. The desktop and TV are hard wired via ethernet back to the panel where I want to add the switch. Hence my question about security and whether or not it's even a legit concern.
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Router needs to be where the switch is, turn off wifi on the router, get Unifi AP put it upstairs.
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So you have ethernet cable and jacks in every room of the house already or your cable feed comes through the basement and runs to 12 rooms in the house?
I have cable to every room. I put my cable modem by my entertainment center and hardwire those devices to the modem. The rest of the house is covered by the wifi signal... |
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Quoted:
I do have a router for wi-fi. The problem I'm trying to fix is poor wi-fi signal around the house / yard. If I use the router in the basement it's surrounded on two sides by concrete and it's a BIG house so signal is piss poor. I'll move the router to the top floor to hopefully improve signal strength. The desktop and TV are hard wired via ethernet back to the panel where I want to add the switch. Hence my question about security and whether or not it's even a legit concern. View Quote I work for a security hardware manufacturer. It is a very big concern. You would be amazed at how much crap is actually out there and how much is not detected by the AntiVirus on you PC. If you are on residential service you probably only get one IP. If you plug a switch in directly, most likely only one of the devices will get that IP. This is solved by a device supporting NAT. All firewalls and residential routers support NAT. |
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Quoted:
So you have ethernet cable and jacks in every room of the house already or your cable feed comes through the basement and runs to 12 rooms in the house? I have cable to every room. I put my cable modem by my entertainment center and hardwire those devices to the modem. The rest of the house is covered by the wifi signal... View Quote Yes the whole house is pre-wired with cat5e jacks to every room. They all run to the panel in the basement. I use wifi for portability but some of the static devices are hard wired. |
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Router needs to be where the switch is, turn off wifi on the router, get Unifi AP put it upstairs. View Quote Hmm, if I put the router by the panel in the basement and turn off the wifi does it do the same thing as a switch? Could I add an old router upstairs and just use it as an access point? The Unifi stuff looks promising, especially concerning range, on my list. Thanks. |
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Hmm, if I put the router by the panel in the basement and turn off the wifi does it do the same thing as a switch? Could I add an old router upstairs and just use it as an access point? The Unifi stuff looks promising, especially concerning range, on my list. Thanks. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Router needs to be where the switch is, turn off wifi on the router, get Unifi AP put it upstairs. Hmm, if I put the router by the panel in the basement and turn off the wifi does it do the same thing as a switch? Could I add an old router upstairs and just use it as an access point? The Unifi stuff looks promising, especially concerning range, on my list. Thanks. Router w/Wi-Fi turned off in the basement, switch wired to router, room drops and upstairs WAP wired into the switch. |
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If you router has multiple Ethernet ports on the back then it contains a switch and will do the same thing.
If you can't change the location of the router due to where your WAN (outside/internet) connection is coming from, then you can run a wire from it to your central point of cat5 to another switch. One thing i've run into with putting the access point upstairs is the radiant barrier in between the floors degraded the wifi signal. You can have multiple APs on your network (upstairs, downstairs, outside, etc.) even with the same name/password and just let your device connect to the strongest one. |
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Hmm, if I put the router by the panel in the basement and turn off the wifi does it do the same thing as a switch? Could I add an old router upstairs and just use it as an access point? The Unifi stuff looks promising, especially concerning range, on my list. Thanks. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Router needs to be where the switch is, turn off wifi on the router, get Unifi AP put it upstairs. Hmm, if I put the router by the panel in the basement and turn off the wifi does it do the same thing as a switch? Could I add an old router upstairs and just use it as an access point? The Unifi stuff looks promising, especially concerning range, on my list. Thanks. Unless your router has 12 switch ports, no. It simply provides DHCP/NAT/Firewall for your edge, the switch would be uplinked to the router, and the remaining cable runs would be patched into the switch. You're thinking that the switch replaces the router, it does not, both are needed. The 5 or so ports on your router ARE a switch, it is a built in switch on the router. You can connect a switch to another switch for additional switch ports. If you want said switch ports to be "secure" that's a whole different ball games and requires enterprise switches that support 802.1X port based access control infrastructure and a NAP\radius\NPS server and NICs that support PBAC. |
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Quoted: If you router has multiple Ethernet ports on the back then it contains a switch and will do the same thing. If you can't change the location of the router due to where your WAN (outside/internet) connection is coming from, then you can run a wire from it to your central point of cat5 to another switch. One thing i've run into with putting the access point upstairs is the radiant barrier in between the floors degraded the wifi signal. You can have multiple APs on your network (upstairs, downstairs, outside, etc.) even with the same name/password and just let your device connect to the strongest one. View Quote see http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wifihomenetworking/qt/wifichannel.htm
If you use Ubiquity APs, the controller software can have them do an RF survey and assign channels properly, but you're getting out of the 'plug it in and it works' area of home networking at this point.... |
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Thanks all for the info. Looks like my dumb question is more complex than I anticipated.
I'll crack this nut even if I have to hire a guy to help me navigate all the options. Thanks again. |
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Thanks all for the info. Looks like my dumb question is more complex than I anticipated. I'll crack this nut even if I have to hire a guy to help me navigate all the options. Thanks again. View Quote Your over thinking it. Enigma is too smart for his own good and used his IT Gypsy magic to scare you. The cables from the patch panel connect to a switch then one cable goes from the switch to the router (that enables you to get internet access) then you simply turn off WiFi on the router and use Ubiquity AP upstairs for WiFi. Problem solved problem staying solved. |
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You basically have two issues. Lets tackle the simple one first.
Box from your internet provider -- WAN port on router LAN port on router -- switch Switch -- each drop in your panel that you want active Boom. You now have wired ethernet and internet to each room you connected to the switch. Now Wifi - typically the more complex one. The simplest answer - disable Wifi on your router, put an AP (Access Point) in one of the rooms you connected above. Best homeowner grade answer - Figure out where you need/want internet connections. Is your house one or two floors? Identify two spots (with data drops from step one) as far apart as possible but in the places you want coverage as best as possible. - Parts required (in addition to the switch in step one) -- Ubiquity Cloud Key -- microUSB power source for Cloud Key -- Uniquity Unifi AC Lite or Unifi AC LR (or even Unifi AC Pro if you want to mount one outside) -- a second Unifi like the one you chose above - you may mix and match models - Put the cloud key on an open port of your switch and plug in the power - each AP will have its own power injector - run a short ethernet cable from each LAN port back to the switch - run another short cable from each POE port to the patch panel connection where an AP will live - Put an AP in place at the other end of each run you've plugged into the power injectors, mount as appropriate - read the cloud key instructions and setup your new, super duper wireless. |
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You basically have two issues. Lets tackle the simple one first. Box from your internet provider -- WAN port on router LAN port on router -- switch Switch -- each drop in your panel that you want active Boom. You now have wired ethernet and internet to each room you connected to the switch. Now Wifi - typically the more complex one. The simplest answer - disable Wifi on your router, put an AP (Access Point) in one of the rooms you connected above. Best homeowner grade answer - Figure out where you need/want internet connections. Is your house one or two floors? Identify two spots (with data drops from step one) as far apart as possible but in the places you want coverage as best as possible. - Parts required (in addition to the switch in step one) -- Ubiquity Cloud Key -- microUSB power source for Cloud Key -- Uniquity Unifi AC Lite or Unifi AC LR (or even Unifi AC Pro if you want to mount one outside) -- a second Unifi like the one you chose above - you may mix and match models - Put the cloud key on an open port of your switch and plug in the power - each AP will have its own power injector - run a short ethernet cable from each LAN port back to the switch - run another short cable from each POE port to the patch panel connection where an AP will live - Put an AP in place at the other end of each run you've plugged into the power injectors, mount as appropriate - read the cloud key instructions and setup your new, super duper wireless. View Quote you don't need a cloud key if you set up the unifi AP's with the software on a computer. The software don't even need to be on all the time to use it as a basic AP. just for the initial set up. BUT if you do want to have the features of the Unify controllers software running all the time get a cloud key, or install the Unify controller software on an alway on machine, raspberry Pi, or Nas that has docker. I would suggest giving the AP's a static IP also. |
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True - you don't need the cloud key, but Ubiquiti APs turn in to complete pains in the posterior when you try to admin them from another computer or your main computer needs to be reloaded / reset / replaced.
If you're going far enough to get decent Ubiquiti gear, you might as well do it right. (and from the perspective of an average homeowner, its simpler) |
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I do pretty much what you are thinking about. I have my wired/wireless in a corner of my basement, and from there I run a few ethernet lines up to a couple of rooms where I have number of computers. In each room I have a small mini-switch to support the multiple devices. I also run a line to the other side of the basement where I have an additional access point that rebroadcasts my wireless signal. The SSID and password is the same as the one for the wireless router, and I can move from one side of the house to another and it seamlessly reconnects. I have to do that since there is a massive brick wall in my basement for my fireplace and that blocks the signal. The switches are just your basic $15 mini-switch. The access point is a dlink dap-1522. |
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Yup. Modem > Router > Switch > Wires to house > Wireless The router can have wireless shut off. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Router needs to be where the switch is, turn off wifi on the router, get Unifi AP put it upstairs. Modem > Router > Switch > Wires to house > Wireless The router can have wireless shut off. This is how I set mine up. I also used Power Over Ethernet (POE) switches and Cisco WAP121 access points. (All for cheap, eBay) Wherever I need wireless all I have to do is run an an Ethernet cable. (Which u already have in every room) |
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Router needs to be where the switch is, turn off wifi on the router, get Unifi AP put it upstairs. View Quote The router goes between the switch and the internet(no idea what the OP has for net). The physical location of the router does not have to be where the switch is. We don't know enough about the OPs enviroment to give that answer. |
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A quick bump to say thanks for the expertise. I think I have it all working the way it's suppose to. Fingers crossed.
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