help me update and speed my home wireless network

[FFM]

With 4 teenagers using iPhones, iPads, laptops, gaming on computers etc, my home Wi-Fi needs an upgrade but I got overwhelmed by reading reviews and what I need. So please excuse the long explanation.

Currently I subscribe to Time Warner cable at 50 Mbps (fastest speed in my area).
The cable goes into a Motorola Surfboard SB6141 cable modem, then via a Cat5e cable to a Netgear ProSafe FVS318N wireless VPN Firewall (802.11b/g/n). This is located in an office in the basement with a first and second floor above it (around 7,000 square feet house).
From the Netgear Router/Frewall, network cables go to the main basement to other computers and an Apple 5th generation Airport Extreme (802n) that distributes the wireless signal in the basement (it is in bridge mode with another Airport Extreme 4th generation wireless router on first floor).
From the Netgear FVS318N Cat5e cables connect to a Network wall outlet (installed about 17 years ago during an expansion project - ? Cat5) that connects with wall network outlets on the first floor. from the outlets on the first floor, an Apple Airport Extreme wireless router (generation 4) distributes the main wireless signal to the rest of the house (first floor living area, kitchen, multimedia room etc. and second floor bedrooms).

SO how can I speed things up?
Is the Motorola modem the bottleneck?
Is the Netgear FVS318n the bottleneck? Are the new home wireless routers capable of providing the same hardware Firewall features of the Netgear FVS318n if I am to replace it.
The two Apple Airport Extreme are old and I suspect I need to change them.

My research led me to one of three top wired/wireless browsers.
1. ASUS RT-AC88V
2. Netgear Nighthawk X8 R850
3. Linksys WRT 1900ACS

Should I get one of those three routers and put in place of the FVS318n (if it gives the same Firewall protection), connect it via Cat5e or Cat6 cable to my network wall outlet in the basement to reach the first floor to connect to other devices and perhaps another wireless router for the first and second floor in bridge mode.
I am not an expert in networking. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

 

[JackMDS]

The FVS318N as a Router is probably OK.

The bottleneck is the General Wireless.

I would start bu replacing the Wirless APs with two good Wireless Router configured as APs.

This can be a Good choice. - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BUSDVBQ/ref=psdc_300189_t2_B00FB45SI4

Using Wireless Routers (or Modem/Wireless Router) as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Few of these might be even Better, but needs more work to install and configure.

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/

 

[XavierMace]

If the in-wall cabling is old Cat5 (not 5e) then that's going to be a bottleneck before most newer AP's.

And no, routers don't give the same protection/features as a standalone firewall.

 

[FFM]

The FVS318N as a Router is probably OK.

The bottleneck is the General Wireless.

I would start bu replacing the Wirless APs with two good Wireless Router configured as APs.

This can be a Good choice. - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BUSDVBQ/ref=psdc_300189_t2_B00FB45SI4

Using Wireless Routers (or Modem/Wireless Router) as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Few of these might be even Better, but needs more work to install and configure.

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/

Thanks. I'll start looking at wireless routers from those mentioned in my initial post and your suggestion. So I should keep the Netgear firewall. I wish they had an updated firewall that meets the AC standard.

 

[FFM]

If the in-wall cabling is old Cat5 (not 5e) then that's going to be a bottleneck before most newer AP's.

And no, routers don't give the same protection/features as a standalone firewall.

That is bad news. I did take down one network outlet and the cable was a blue Belden Data twist Category 5 E108998. I wonder how hard it is to pull them out and exchange them to Cat 6.

So to bypass the cat5 cables, I need to place a high speed wireless router in the basement connected to the Netgear Firewall and send the wireless output to another router on the first floor as a bridge?

 

[Ketchup]

Just thinking outside the box here, but do you really need gigabit? Better wireless, I agree. But as our kids get older and we stream more and more, we still haven't run into a situation where 10/100 didn't cut it, but better wifi sure has made a difference. The only thing that is measureably better is a weekly backup I do (which is overnight anyway).

 

[freeskier93]

If the in-wall cabling is old Cat5 (not 5e) then that's going to be a bottleneck before most newer AP's.

And no, routers don't give the same protection/features as a standalone firewall.

Cat5 is capable of gigabit, both cat5 and cat5e have the same 100 MHz bandwidth, the only difference between them is cat5e has stricter crosstalk requirements. That means cat5e will do gigabit more reliably over longer distance, but isn't a requirement for gigabit speeds.

 

[XavierMace]

Cat5 is capable of gigabit, both cat5 and cat5e have the same 100 MHz bandwidth, the only difference between them is cat5e has stricter crosstalk requirements. That means cat5e will do gigabit more reliably over longer distance, but isn't a requirement for gigabit speeds.

It's cabling going through walls in a 7k sq/ft house. I wouldn't count on getting gigabit in that scenario.

 

[FFM]

Is there a way to measure the speed of the installed Cat 5 cables? Like from one outlet to the other.

 

[freeskier93]

Is there a way to measure the speed of the installed Cat 5 cables? Like from one outlet to the other.

Cat5 spec is for 100 meters, even that large of a house you'd be hard pressed to have a run over 100 meters.

Is there a way to measure the speed of the installed Cat 5 cables? Like from one outlet to the other.

You can check the negotiated link speed by the light color on the Ethernet ports. Although even if it shows gigabit that no guarantee.

Regardless, wire is the last thing I'd worry about. Start with hardware then worry about wiring if you find you are still being bottlenecked.

 

[ylin0811]

It's best that you replace cat5 with cat5e. Cat5 will "work" with gigabit, but it's not guaranteed. I've seen auto negotiation fail at gigabit with cat5 cable where the speed had to be temporarily hard coded to 1000mbps until the cable was replaced at Equinix.

If your switch/router and airport extreme has an option to hard code the link speed to 1000mbps/full duplex, give that a try. If the link stays up AFTER you hard code the speed, you can run a tool called iperf to see if the cable can sustain 1000mbps consistently without losing the link. You might get lucky.

Edit: When you run iperf, you will need two laptops with 1000mbps Ethernet adapter that connect to both end of cat5.