Building a Home - Best Solution To Set Up Wifi Network?

[adamwb81]

So we're building a home and I want to do this right as far as wifi goes. I'm not a super technical guy, but I can set up a modem + router pretty easily (as I'm sure anyone can).

The problem is, the home we're building is a 6500-7000sq ft, 6 bedroom home, so the Airport Extreme I have right now won't cut it. It barely covers all areas in the 3000sq ft home we're renting. I want to do this right while there's no sheetrock up. The builders are putting sheetrock / drywall in next week and I meet with the electrician tomorrow to discuss in-wall speaker wiring and where to put all the electrical outlets, ethernet outlets etc. So it's do-or-die time to figure out how to do this.

If you network / wireless guru's were building a home, and had the option to do this right before the walls went up - in my position how would you set this up for optimal use?

I've got a LOT of wireless devices. 4 kids, each with their own cell phone, 5-6 iPads, tablets, a ps3, ps4, xbox 360, xbox one, 3 iMacs, Macbook pro, wife's laptop, multiple smart TV's, directTV, etc. They are also installing a smart home / security system that I'm sure will need to utilize it. Basically a lot of stupid high tech stuff that needs to be connected. I also work from home, and my income relies on internet stuff to a degree, so there's that reason as well.

I am having the electrician put an ethernet cable into every room, just in case. I don't necessarily want to break the bank on this stuff if I don't need to. If a couple Airport extremes will work just as good as an army of them - then I'll do that. I don't even know enough about this stuff to know if that would even work, but I want my wifi to be great and future proof.

Any advice?

 

[master_shake_]

just install a keystone in every room and when the wifi cuts out install an ap in that room.

seems simple.

 

[nsafreak]

Well part of a wifi setup is how many floors you're looking at. With up to 7000 sqft I'm guessing you're looking at a 2 story house with a basement? If not that's going to be one really large single story house. I would recommend using access points from Ubiquiti, probably something along the lines of the UAP-AC-LR should cover each floor, each one being centrally located. I would hardline as much as possible though since I see no reason not to run hardlines for the game consoles and the iMacs.

 

[John Connor]

If you're building a home, now is the perfect opportunity to install Ethernet cabling. I wired up the house here with Ethernet and use WIFI for devices and the laptop only. I would never want to use WIFI to game and such. There's too much overhead and problems.

If you do just want WIFI, make sure you use a decent password with at least one symbol, upper and lower case letters and a number or two. Use WPA2 + AES DO NOT USE TKIP.

Your full phone number with round brackets, hyphens and a letter or two would suffice. Like: (555)-123-4567Aa

 

[JoeMcJoe]

Run Ethernet to the ceiling of every single room, might as well.

Ubiquiti Unifi.

 

[boomerang]

If you can afford a home that large you should be able to afford to bring in a local expert for advice. If it was my place, that's what I'd do. The problem here is that you've left it to the last minute. I hope you take that as constructive criticism.

BTW, you're not going to get a consensus here which has already become apparent. All you're going to get is general advice because we can't see your blueprints and how you intend to use your space.

 

[kevnich2]

My suggestion would be to run a network drop to the ceiling of every room and have it terminated with a keystone jack. Then have each of these run to a central patch panel where the rest of your room's network jacks go for your communications. Then you will need to strategically install AP's at various points.

The best way is in the central part of the home but in your case, your best served by dividing the house into either 3 or 4 zones and install an AP in each zone. This also depends on how many floors you have. One way to figure out where to place each of these is to buy a set first, plug them in at various rooms and test your wifi coverage. Once you have placement correct, then relocate those AP's to the ceiling.

I would avoid the LR units of unifi, unless you go with the new unifi AC LR but considering your house, you may best best served by a pack of the Unifi AC Pro units instead as their 3x3 on both 2.4 and 5ghz. It's a myth to use an AP with a strong power output as most mobile devices don't have strong radios so you're actually just introducing alot of noise and the devices can't effectively transmit back to the AP because of it's weak radio.

There is no "rule" per say with setting up wifi as each environment is different when it comes to RF, so a site survey is pretty much a given if you want the best placement.

 

[boomhower]

I'm a huge fan of Ubiquiti. I would use the AC LR models but make for certain you get the new model, old ones were crap. One per floor centrally located should get the job done but without knowing size, building material etc. it is hard to say for sure.

Personally I would plan for both scenerios. Have one centrally located and to a third way in from each longest side. Do this for each floor of the house. So if the central into doesn't get the job done you can move it to the side and add a second on each floor.

Runs lots and lots of Ethernet. More than you think you will need. It's cheap to do it now, much harder down the road.

Have and equipment closet somewhere to have all the Ethernet terminated too. I'd have it away from the living areas and make sure it has really good cooling. Get some nice switches and a good router to go along with the APs and you will have a nice network. Ubiquiti is good in those areas as well.

Also now is the time to run your security samara Ethernet lines as well.

 

[joutlaw]

Highly recommend not using TechShield for roofing or wall panels. It is literally a tech shield that will kill your WiFi signal.

http://lpcorp.com/products/panels/lp-techshield-radiant-barrier-sheathing/

 

[Red Squirrel]

Setup plenty of ethernet drops everywhere, and also install a couple drops in ceilings for APs. I personally like Unifi. I have a single Unifi in my basement and it covers my whole house, which is about 1100sqft rectangle, it's at the farther end of the rectangle. The signal is a bit weak at the other end so I might add another AP there but I could also just raise the first AP higher.

Only use wireless for mobile devices, everything else should be wired. I also advise setting up the wifi on a separate vlan and then only allow the stuff you want to access through wifi. If your wifi gets hacked there is less stuff they can access that way. Of course, use proper security like WPA2 with strong password and the odds of getting hacked are probably slim to none to begin with.