First of all, I consider myself a tech savy person but after reading these forums I realize my networking skills need much improvement ! My current setup is somewhat a pile of gear that doesn’t always work well together (most likely poor config from my part…) Also, for some reason I have a lot of D-Link stuff, for some odd reason I thought it would all get along well together… call me a noob ;p
Here`s my setup :
All the wired portion of the LAN is gigabit Ethernet with Cat 6 cables (I know, overkill but it cost me next to nothing to wire the house when I built it as I had about 1000 feet of leftovers from my old office building)
Internet Connection : Cable modem in basement goes up a wire trough a few walls up to 2nd floor living room / office area where all my stuff and computers are (I call it my “hub” room).
It`s not possible to add another wire in that wall to go back down to the basement… (I know, poor insight when I built the house)
Also, it`s not feasible to get new wires from this “hub” room or from any wall plugs (1 or 2 in each room on 2nd floor) back into a wall and down in the basement (wired the 2nd floor of the house before doing the gypsum walls and the way the house is built, it would be a nightmare to run a wire in the space between the 2nd floor floor and 1st floor ceiling)
The area is pretty crowded with wifi signals, most of my gear is not working on the 5ghz band unfortunately. That’s mostly why I have wires in all the rooms… I use Panasonic 6ghz cordless phones at home with a signal repeater on 2nd floor to have good covereage so i dont think it impacts my wifi.
Behind my TV I have the WAN wire coming from the wall mount plug into a D-Link DIR-825 wireless router.
Here`s the devices that are linked into that router (Ethernet Cat 6) :
Dlink NAS (DNS-323) (Purpose : Media streaming : .avi and .mp3 mostly)
D-Link Media Player (DSM-750)
D-Link DGS-1008G (8 port Gigabit switch)
Desktop PC computer through wall mount plugs
I will also have a WD My Book Elite 2TB USB drive plugged into the router via the DIR—825 USB port. (haven’t tried yet as I have to rework my home network) Purpose : Backup unit for the laptop and desktop computers. (tips on a reliable incremental backup software would be welcome)
In the 8 port gigabit switch I have the following :
Another D-Link Gigabit 5 port switch (all links to wall plugs on 2nd floor)
A Canon MF-4200 multifunction printer/fax (scanner mode is not used as I have a stand alone HP scanner with a feeder)
A Sony Blue Ray drive
X-Box
More wall plugs… (all are on the house 2nd floor)… makes you wonder why I bother with Wi-Fi at all
My wi-fi gear (pretty much all “g” mode stuff, “N” will be for future gear / expansion) :
Dell XPS M1710 laptop (don’t think it works in wifi “N” mode)
Apple Ipod Touch (2nd gen) with Ipeng installed on it (see Squeezebox below)
Google Nexus One Android phone (Got WiFi Analyser on it to monitor my signals and Squeeze Control installed but i havent managed to have it work so far)
A Squeezebox Radio (will probably upgrade / add some other squeezebox devices to get coverage in all parts of the house and in the backyard). Squeezeserver running on the PC when its running...
A Linksys WVC80N wi-fi internet camera (will add up a few of these in the upcoming months to get a good security setup) Might also consider using a more advanced video surveillance setup with PTZ and server backup.
a WiFi 23 DB omnidirectional 360 horizontal and 30 degree vertical radius antenna with a 1m wire (currently in the DIR-825) – cant use it on the wrt54g as the antennas are clip-ons and not screw-on.
an old Linksys WRT54g router (I know there is a way to put an open source bios and supercharge it)
What id like to accomplish :
Get a new router in the basement next to the Cable modem and use the existing wall wire to uplink at the “hub” into the DIR-825. (I currently have an old Linksys WRT54G (10-100) that could do the job but I want my network to be all gigabyte). That new router in the basement will allow me to run some Cat6 wires to the 1st floor from the basement ceiling (before I finish it and put suspended tiles). Thinking of using a DIR-655 for that purpose (Any other recommendation ? I would like a gigabyte router, strong wi-fi signal and good firewall and will work well as a master to allocate the dhcp clients with all the stuff plugged into the other “slave” DIR-825 router upstairs) (id like to keep the 825 upstairs due to the usb backup drive I will use with it downstairs is not convenient for this drive as it’s a furnace/electrical room and has some dust/tools in it)
Have a reliable Wi-Fi coverage all over the house and in the backyard for web surfing and playing mp3`s over a Squeezebox outside of the house. It`s a 45x45 2 floor cottage with a 30x20 room over the garage section (that’s the office/”hub” room) I’m thinking 1 router in the west part of the basement (a new DIR-655) uplinked to the “hub” router on west side of 2nd floor (DIR-825) and somewhere on the east side of the 1st floor I could use the old Linksys WRT54g as an access point that would also get a good signal outside in the backyard. (tried the east side of 2nd floor but signal was crap all over 1st and backyard)
As a bonus, have the strongest protection over my wifi network (wpa2 and / or mac filter) without messing up everything…
Use the Squeezebox Radio reliably with Wi-Fi and play MP3`s stored on my NAS (Side issue : can i leave the NAS running and still listen to my .mp3 collection if my squeezeserver is not running on PC ?). My experience so far tells me that the device has either a very shirtty receiver or my signals are very poor for an unknown reason… I have an antenna in direct line of sight at about 25 feet down a floor and it barely picks a 10% signal… and drops the connection quite often.
Use my Media Player (DSM-750) to play .avi`s stored on my NAS. Bonus points if I can read them on the My Book Elite 2Tb backup drive that will be plugged via USB into my DIR-825 Router.
Use either the Backup drive or the NAS to record 48h of video feed from my Wireless camera (Linksys WVC80N) without having to keep my desktop running. I plan to expand the security system once my network is solid and well configured… I have managed to use my ipod to watch the feed which is pretty cool to look after the baby from anywhere in the house and even had my Android phone to watch feed when im away from the house (via Tiny DVR software)
Sorry for the long post, tells you how much a nutcase i am... Thanks for the replys
Here`s my setup :
All the wired portion of the LAN is gigabit Ethernet with Cat 6 cables (I know, overkill but it cost me next to nothing to wire the house when I built it as I had about 1000 feet of leftovers from my old office building)
Internet Connection : Cable modem in basement goes up a wire trough a few walls up to 2nd floor living room / office area where all my stuff and computers are (I call it my “hub” room).
It`s not possible to add another wire in that wall to go back down to the basement… (I know, poor insight when I built the house)
Also, it`s not feasible to get new wires from this “hub” room or from any wall plugs (1 or 2 in each room on 2nd floor) back into a wall and down in the basement (wired the 2nd floor of the house before doing the gypsum walls and the way the house is built, it would be a nightmare to run a wire in the space between the 2nd floor floor and 1st floor ceiling)
The area is pretty crowded with wifi signals, most of my gear is not working on the 5ghz band unfortunately. That’s mostly why I have wires in all the rooms… I use Panasonic 6ghz cordless phones at home with a signal repeater on 2nd floor to have good covereage so i dont think it impacts my wifi.
Behind my TV I have the WAN wire coming from the wall mount plug into a D-Link DIR-825 wireless router.
Here`s the devices that are linked into that router (Ethernet Cat 6) :
Dlink NAS (DNS-323) (Purpose : Media streaming : .avi and .mp3 mostly)
D-Link Media Player (DSM-750)
D-Link DGS-1008G (8 port Gigabit switch)
Desktop PC computer through wall mount plugs
I will also have a WD My Book Elite 2TB USB drive plugged into the router via the DIR—825 USB port. (haven’t tried yet as I have to rework my home network) Purpose : Backup unit for the laptop and desktop computers. (tips on a reliable incremental backup software would be welcome)
In the 8 port gigabit switch I have the following :
Another D-Link Gigabit 5 port switch (all links to wall plugs on 2nd floor)
A Canon MF-4200 multifunction printer/fax (scanner mode is not used as I have a stand alone HP scanner with a feeder)
A Sony Blue Ray drive
X-Box
More wall plugs… (all are on the house 2nd floor)… makes you wonder why I bother with Wi-Fi at all
My wi-fi gear (pretty much all “g” mode stuff, “N” will be for future gear / expansion) :
Dell XPS M1710 laptop (don’t think it works in wifi “N” mode)
Apple Ipod Touch (2nd gen) with Ipeng installed on it (see Squeezebox below)
Google Nexus One Android phone (Got WiFi Analyser on it to monitor my signals and Squeeze Control installed but i havent managed to have it work so far)
A Squeezebox Radio (will probably upgrade / add some other squeezebox devices to get coverage in all parts of the house and in the backyard). Squeezeserver running on the PC when its running...
A Linksys WVC80N wi-fi internet camera (will add up a few of these in the upcoming months to get a good security setup) Might also consider using a more advanced video surveillance setup with PTZ and server backup.
a WiFi 23 DB omnidirectional 360 horizontal and 30 degree vertical radius antenna with a 1m wire (currently in the DIR-825) – cant use it on the wrt54g as the antennas are clip-ons and not screw-on.
an old Linksys WRT54g router (I know there is a way to put an open source bios and supercharge it)
What id like to accomplish :
Get a new router in the basement next to the Cable modem and use the existing wall wire to uplink at the “hub” into the DIR-825. (I currently have an old Linksys WRT54G (10-100) that could do the job but I want my network to be all gigabyte). That new router in the basement will allow me to run some Cat6 wires to the 1st floor from the basement ceiling (before I finish it and put suspended tiles). Thinking of using a DIR-655 for that purpose (Any other recommendation ? I would like a gigabyte router, strong wi-fi signal and good firewall and will work well as a master to allocate the dhcp clients with all the stuff plugged into the other “slave” DIR-825 router upstairs) (id like to keep the 825 upstairs due to the usb backup drive I will use with it downstairs is not convenient for this drive as it’s a furnace/electrical room and has some dust/tools in it)
Have a reliable Wi-Fi coverage all over the house and in the backyard for web surfing and playing mp3`s over a Squeezebox outside of the house. It`s a 45x45 2 floor cottage with a 30x20 room over the garage section (that’s the office/”hub” room) I’m thinking 1 router in the west part of the basement (a new DIR-655) uplinked to the “hub” router on west side of 2nd floor (DIR-825) and somewhere on the east side of the 1st floor I could use the old Linksys WRT54g as an access point that would also get a good signal outside in the backyard. (tried the east side of 2nd floor but signal was crap all over 1st and backyard)
As a bonus, have the strongest protection over my wifi network (wpa2 and / or mac filter) without messing up everything…
Use the Squeezebox Radio reliably with Wi-Fi and play MP3`s stored on my NAS (Side issue : can i leave the NAS running and still listen to my .mp3 collection if my squeezeserver is not running on PC ?). My experience so far tells me that the device has either a very shirtty receiver or my signals are very poor for an unknown reason… I have an antenna in direct line of sight at about 25 feet down a floor and it barely picks a 10% signal… and drops the connection quite often.
Use my Media Player (DSM-750) to play .avi`s stored on my NAS. Bonus points if I can read them on the My Book Elite 2Tb backup drive that will be plugged via USB into my DIR-825 Router.
Use either the Backup drive or the NAS to record 48h of video feed from my Wireless camera (Linksys WVC80N) without having to keep my desktop running. I plan to expand the security system once my network is solid and well configured… I have managed to use my ipod to watch the feed which is pretty cool to look after the baby from anywhere in the house and even had my Android phone to watch feed when im away from the house (via Tiny DVR software)
Sorry for the long post, tells you how much a nutcase i am... Thanks for the replys
