new home network setup suggestions please

[jmema]

Hello,
New to SNB and new to network structures (if that is such a term). In the past internet needs have been really simple - ISP router in bridge with router behind that supplies WiFi to laptop and that's it. Files and Music are currently housed on USB drives. I work from home and use a VPN at the laptop level except for banking as I have connection problem with my bank when using the VPN.

New home and now a new household dynamic.

The new system will need to support a smart TV plus a second TV with a Amazon stick, cell phones (qty 2 on WiFi when at home), XBox and 2 laptops. Will add a NAS box at some point (plan is to hard wire the NAS and be the primary data (files and music) depot with the USB drives to be the secondary backup)

1) best way to layout connections? Thinking I'd want to isolate the smart TV and the Amazon stick away from everything else - would a VPN be a good consideration as well and where would I put the VPN? at router level? or at device level?
2) I could put the laptops on their own WiFi with the cell phones.
3) If the VPN is at router level but if I continue having bank connection issues maybe a separate WiFi for banking only?
4) where to put the NAS box?

Suggestions or comments on where to start, any additional hardware, software.

Thank you..

 

[degrub]

you might get more response posting in the General Wireless forum.

what cables do have - CAT5E,, CAT6, RG59 (coax), RG6 (coax) throughout the house ?
and what is the layout of the cables - central location concentrated and cables to each room ?
What does the house floor plan look like - sketch showing location of all cable wall terminations, please., one for each floor if multi-story.
What is your internet provider connection type (coax, fiber, phone DSL) and up/down rate to the house and where is it located on the floor plan ?
Do you have cable TV one the same coax as internet ?

 

[jmema]

Hello,
ISP feed is to basement (60 year old home) bungalow - COAX 200D/15U, ISP router centrally located in service room (basement)
Previous owner has finished the basement and added CAT5 running to family room (basement) and office space (main floor) I currently have my "old" router in the family room connected via CAT5 to the ISP router (set in bridge).
TV's are not cable TV - streaming only using WiFi.

Thank you,

 

[degrub]

CAT5 , not 5E, correct ?
Do you have any coax going to rooms in the house ? if so, is it RG59 or RG6 ?

What is your current router ?

Do you have any wireless weak spots / dead areas that you need to improve ?

Isolation of different users is easily done with use of VLANs.

 

[Tech9]

best way to layout connections?

Any attempt to help you will be just guessing. No one knows your expectations, your unique Wi-Fi environment and your house better than you. If you ask me - I wouldn't bother with home routers. Expandable and upgradeable system with router/firewall and native VLANs support, multi-port core switch with PoE, access points with PoE and VLANs, you may want cameras with PoE down the road, proper NAS box for your files, etc. It depends on the budget, skills and how often you want to fiddle with it. On this forum you'll get mostly Asus home routers suggestions.

 

[degrub]

if you have unused coax between the two rooms, you can use MOCA to make the second connection.

 

[jmema]

Degrub,
No COAX, I found some "exposed" runs of the CAT 5 and it says enhanced CAT 5 so I will assume that is CAT5E.
No weak spots.. and my current router is a ASUS AC68U.

Tech9 - fiddling I'm OK with and I'm not afraid of asking questions - budget is unknown as I'm not sure what your suggesting and the cost associated with your suggestions to make an educated evaluation. My hope or expectations would be to "protect" my files but mainly to learn what would be the best or suggested manner of approaching a home LAN with a mix of devices. Down the road I can foresee cameras added plus the aforementioned NAS box.
My ears are open.. fire away

 

[degrub]

one good way to protect your files is to have at least 2 offline copies that are updated routinely in a rotation of multiple external disks. USB3.x works fine for this purpose.
If the NAS will be used to host the video recording for the cameras, you have a choice to make - allow access to the video stream outside of your lan across the internet or keep everything only within your lan and no remote access across the internet.

Same for any access of files on the NAS - allow across internet or only from local

Those choices will help define the approach to consider.

There are numerous discussions of how to do either option in the NAS General as well as Synology and QNAP subforums.

 

[Tech9]

My ears are open.. fire away

So far I know you have moved to a new house, the ISP line is 200Mbps and you currently use less than 10 devices. I know nothing about the house, your future plans, how many devices and users will be on the network and what is expected from this network to do. Your RT-AC68U router may be all you need at the moment. Or 2x access points attached to it. You may want coverage to your back yard, for example. We have to start somewhere before we go to equipment recommendations. Do you own the new place first? Because if you rent that changes the conversation completely.