Networking your home

[KiwiDave]

Any of you lot retrofitted a wired network into your homes? GF takes possession of new place in a few weeks and I'm moving in with her. As well as me wanting to run NAS and other gubbins for my own amusement, I wanna be able to get TVs to read files from said NAS. She's after trying to turn the house as much into a 'smart home' as possible. (She works for a blind charity and is responsible for trialing some of the tech they give to blind people).

House has no roof space, just open to ceiling as an apex. Two floors so I'm assuming I have to run inside walls and start drilling etc.

So any of you done it? Tips? Pitfalls? Do's and dont's?

Cheers.

[DeskJockey]

Unless you really need it, I'd use the homeplug type kit. No drilling, no running wires. They just work and performance is good enough that it doesn't feel like a compromise in normal use.

[Jobbo]

I had homeplugs and found they occasionally needed resetting (just off and on again) - Google Wifi has been rock solid and faster. I have my NAS plugged into one of the nodes by a cable and all the devices in the house (e.g. the telly) can see it and play films etc.

[Maurice]

Truly a self-facilitating media node, Simon.

[Matty]

I was having an electrical re-wire so he ran Cat5e at the same time, double data points in each main room (bedrooms, living rooms, etc). However, I only had it done as he was smashing walls anyway, as mentioned unless there are cavities or suspended ceilings, it'll get messy quickly.

Homeplugs aren't quite as reliable (occasionally needing a reset as Si says) but far, far easier.

[Jobbo]

Truly a self-facilitating media node, Simon.

Keep it futile, yeah.

[Richard]

We’re moving towards a more and more wireless world, with the wireless tech improving all the time

I should think running networking cabling in a home (rather than an office with pretend ceilings and walls) will get messy and expensive, fast

Better to invest the same time and money and better wireless tech?

[mik]

I like to just wi, then fly.

Youngest miklet has his desktop machine linked via a homeplug.

[Simon]

I'm always of the opinion that if something is stationary, like my PC, TV, STB etc, then it should be hard-wired. If it's portable, like my laptop or even the printer (that gets moved around occasionally) then wireless is the way to go.

For hard-wired, homeplugs are ok (depending on your household wiring) but nothing beats Cat5E/6 if you have the opportunity during building work.

Keep the wireless airwaves free for portable devices.

/Thread.

[Jobbo]

I used to be the same - at my old house I had a couple of switches to hardwire all the boxes under the telly, and stuff grouped under the stairs like the NAS and secondary wireless access point.

Now the router is fixed in an inconvenient location, the only thing hard-wired is the first Google Wifi node and my PS4 (which is in the same room as the router). Doesn't seem to cause any problems at all.

[Mito Man]

Do you know if you’re getting super fast fibre any time soon? Reason being since I have gigabit internet I have needed to hardwire everything to get the benefits of it as I can’t get more than 200mbps on WiFi.

[GG.]

Homeplugs v v dependent on your wiring from my experience. Did nothing in my previous flat. Haven't bothered to try in my new place - just need to have cat 5 run up to the top bedroom which i'm going to have double up as an office.

[Jimexpl]

It is so dependent on the property. How close and densely built are neighbouring properties? How much steel work or foil backed board is in the walls killing signal?
In central London Wi-fi in a house can be pretty poor due to all of the adjacent properties competing for our limited channel range.
Cat 6 to an access point for roughly 500sqft of floor space in a residential property is great if you can get the wiring in.
If we have to use plug in mains extenders then we go for devolo, but if you can get data cable around then unify are great for the money.

[DeskJockey]

I had homeplugs and found they occasionally needed resetting (just off and on again) - Google Wifi has been rock solid and faster. I have my NAS plugged into one of the nodes by a cable and all the devices in the house (e.g. the telly) can see it and play films etc.

Interesting. I've never had to reset my Solwise ones (#RecommendedByBeany) in 3+ years. I've moved them around too and they've just picked up the network again.

[Jobbo]

Moving them around would have the effect of turning them off and on again; that’s what I mean by reset.

They would keep working but slow down. 1200mbps TP-Link ones.

Actually, if anyone does want them I have four of the TP-Link 1200mbps homeplugs, two with single ethernet ports and two with three ethernet ports which I’ve been meaning to stick on eBay. No more than a year old, haven’t been used for more than 9 months and one was t even plugged in ever.

[Ascender]

We put cat6 in a couple of years back and its well worth doing imho. I was put off home plugs by some of the reviews and wifi is never as reliable as it should be in terms of coverage, although some of the new mesh setups look really good.

[KiwiDave]

Do you know if you’re getting super fast fibre any time soon? Reason being since I have gigabit internet I have needed to hardwire everything to get the benefits of it as I can’t get more than 200mbps on WiFi.

NZ is quite far ahead in this regard and it's piss easy to get fast fibre into most homes. Certainly high on my list of things to get done once I'm in (currently VDSL). For those of you using the home plugs, how dependent have you found it to be on the state of the actual wiring in the house?

[Jobbo]

While I have only used homeplugs in this house, I am suspicious that it’s the house wiring which was to blame for my issues.

Built in 1966 and extended in the early 80s, I don’t think there’s been much done to the wiring since then other than a new consumer unit more recently. So it’s not new and pristine wiring.

[DeskJockey]

My house was completely rewired a decade ago, so that probably explains it.

[unzippy]

I ran homeplugs in the UK in a damp Edwardian basement flat, wiring was shocking. Various parts had to be redone in teh 4 years we were there, mostly due to damp creeping up the wires and into the sockets.

Homeplugs never missed a beat. Even the ones on the end of extension leads when I wanted wired network in the garden.

Only downside is the tendency for them to fail a couple of months near the warranty date. Once I was lucky and one failed inside the warranty date, all the rest were on the wrong side of 3 years.

I even use the UK ones over here plugged into Aus mains adaptors - no bother.