New House. Help me set up the best WiFi.

Closing on our dream home next week. Both of us WFH full time, need to have solid WiFi through-out. I will likely hardwire my laptop but wife wanders while she works. Red squares are where we need the signal to be strongest, Green circles are where I've considered placing the routers. I liked the idea of using the Google Nest stuff since it seemed easy to set up and from what I have read the Nest Wifi is pretty solid but if there are dissenting opinions I am all ears. House is 2 story, 4000 square feet.

 

Can’t help with internet at all but wanted to say congrats on the dream home. Nice place!

 

Congrats on the house!

 

i have had great success with Google mesh, which i keep on our VPN. my house is about 3k sq ft but i have the bases setup to cover the property, about an acre. don't have any numbers to give you but i have "excellent" (according to the Mesh app) coverage everywhere in and immediately around the house, and "good" coverage to the perimeter all around. the features and expandability were a selling point for me. I've had it maybe 2 years or a bit longer, and i would give it a solid 4/5 at least.

 

No issues with dropping WiFi or losing coverage as you move from point to point? Wife will get fussy if she is on a video call and loses connectivity going from upstairs to down etc.

 

whatever you do dont get the shaw gateway pods. trash. My asus router has better coverage than three pods scattered around a house.

 

https://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-EA7500/

+

https://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-RE9000/


I have older (2 years) versions of these in my house. 1880s Victorian at .75 the size of your house on a half acre with two out buildings.

Digital life was miserable before going w this set up. No range on laptop, forget about Sonos in the outbuildings. Streaming was almost impossible to watch.

Now, I couldn’t be happier. Two people WFH. Streaming is excellent. Sonos works all over the property as do cell phone/laptop wifi.

The extender has 4 ethernet ports which show up as hardwired on my network. Router and extender share dedicated, high speed connectivity so respective performance is equal.

First gen Nest horror stories from my HVAC friend shut me off of all Nest products.

Good luck

 

If you are a little tech savvy, which is sounds like you are, go with Unifi stuff from Ubiquiti and never look back. Its 100% the best thing I've done in my house tech related. I have several friends who have seen how well it works and are considering doing the same or wishing they had.

 

it's literally never happened. well maybe once or twice if one of our kids knocks one of the bases out of the plug. as far as the system performance it has been basically perfect. and we use the crap out of it, often 3-4 devices streaming through the VPN simultaneously. i wouldn't say that if it wasn't true, I've been impressed with it.

some may like to geek out more on mesh performance systems, not sure what's available, but the features & expandability make it nearly no maintenance required. self-updates, full or partial network/mesh tests, etc. you can add another base plug & play, etc.

 

I've looked at that, if it's not too much trouble could you send me the models you recommend. I may put to together a shopping list.

 

btw i have one main router unit wired to the FiOS router, and the other bases, 3 (oops i said two by mistake) in my case, are wireless. but you can do ethernet wired connections from the wireless units. e.g. one of the wireless bases is ethernet wired to the TV.

 

Is the Dreammachine the way to go?

 

I can't comment on the DreamMachine as it was not available when I did my setup. I will say that the Unifi stuff is super flexible and you can do as much or as little as you want. All you really need at minimum is one of their access points and the Unifi software installed on a PC on your network. Ideally it will be an always on PC. I originally had it on a raspberry pi, but have since moved it to the same server the runs my Plex server.

I'd recommend just starting with a couple AP's as you think you'll need - maybe 1 per floor. Then you can add other stuff if you want to go deeper into it - like the gateway or outdoor APs, switches, etc.

 

10-4 thanks!

 

No problem. Just to clarify on the flexibility - when I said at minimum, you just need an AP - that is assuming you are using something else as your router to access the internet. For example, I do not use a Unifi router, but I do have Unifi APs and a couple switches. Unifi does offer routers (gateways) and all sorts of other stuff if you want to go all in.

 

I understand. I don't currently have a router, just a modem that will provided by Spectrum. So I figured I would get the Dream Machine for a router.

 

No nothing about answering this but congratulations man. Sweet pad

 

@Shellshock
He recommended eero to me. It’s fantastic.
Amazon eero mesh WiFi system - 2 pack

CC Hardbundle

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08B2M8LKG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fab_JYGHFbMSVZW29

 

I'd go with a Ubiquiti Unifi system.

You get a basic modem from your ISP, with no router. Then signal goes into a dedicated router with no wifi radio, which handles IP addressing and security. From there into a powered network switch. Then you run hard wire access points in strategic places.

I usually place the APs on hallway ceilings where they won't be noticed as much. I would also run one out by the pool so you have strong, full speed signal out there as well. Wifi having to travel through several walls can slow speed.

That same powered switch will also power cameras. Just a single network cable to every camera. The more devices you can hardwire, the better your wifi will be for wireless devices. Wifi traffic can experience congestion, and that can also slow speeds. If you start adding up all of the wifi capable devices in a modern home, it's pretty surprising.

 

So this Dream Machine and some APs (as needed) should be what I need to get started right?

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/unifi-dream-machine