On Tue, May 28, 2024 at 04:43:38AM -0400, Michael Grant wrote: > When you say your provider wants to provide you a "wireless router", > are you implying that you do not have any physically wired > high-speed internet to this property. As in, the old copper either isn't > good enough for decent internet and no fibre yet, no cable modem either?
We've lived in this house for 20 years, and in that time, every internet provider we've had has provided us with a router and/or modem which has RJ45 jacks and a wifi signal. In this location, we've either had cable, fiber or satellite internet. From the router/modem, we have wired connections to the areas we have computers and cable boxes. Our phones use the wifi aspect of the modem/router. We're moving across the state, and from what I've seen, providers there will do something similar-- provide a router and/or modem which has wired and wireless capabilities. However, because the house is not prewired for internet, we must solve the problem of getting internet to the computers and devices in the house. I'm not a fan of wifi, versus hard-wired internet. It's not as reliable, and it's slower. Thus, I want cat 5/6 to my devices. I could possibly wire the house with cat 5/6 through the attic, but I'd rather not. Since the wifi signal will permeate the whole house, it seemed more reasonable to plant a device in each room which could pick up the wifi, and provide wired internet to that room. > > I read your original post thinking you might be thinking of > "extending" the reach of the "wifi" (which is probably isn't, it's > probably 4G or 5G in this case) to your rooms. That's not what you > do, you don't extend that signal. > > Some providers can provide now a box which has a SIM card in it and > talks to the provider over 4G/5G cellular. On the inside of the > house, they provide a wifi access, just like most other providers. > Also, most of these routers have an ethernet port on the back so you > can, if you like, plug in an ethernet switch or another wifi router > (netgear or TPlink or whatever). > > To be clear, the wifi is the part that is at your property. There are > some providers termed WISPs (wireless internet service providers) that > use wifi (not 4G/5G) to connect you to the internet. Just being clear > here that even if they do this, we're not talking about extending that > wifi signal. That signal (whether it's really wifi or 4G or 5G or > even adsl or fibre or cable), it gets terminated at or just before > your router in your house. So I'm not talking about that side of your > connection at all. I've heard of 5G internet providers, but I'd rather avoid them. There's only one of those in the area we're moving to. > > So if I understand properly, you have some devices around your home > that don't have built-in wifi and you are not going to string ethernet > to them. To the contrary, I *do* plan to string cat 5/6 to those devices, just not all the way to the modem/router, which will likely be in the garage. > In this case, what I would do would be to consider some > ethernet-over-powerline (e.g. https://www.tp-link.com/us/powerline/). > In this case, you'd plug the ethernet on the provided router, and then > you would put one (or more) of these devices around the house in the > other rooms and they basically function as an ethernet switch. > > Another solution is a wifi device that functions in "client mode" and > gives you an ethernet port. Essentially a device that functions as a > wifi router in reverse in that the wifi part (WAN) connects to your in > home wifi network and you plug devices into it on the ethernet ports > (LAN ports). Some wifi routers can be configured this way, especially > older ones. I have used the older ubiquiti eqiupment like this a lot. > The newer ubiquiti stuff though looks to be more geared towards > offices and hotels, probably way overkill for what you need. However, > I did find a TP-link product, the "TP-Link AC750 Dual Band Wi-Fi > Travel Router" which seems to do this out of the box along with many > other tricks. There are many other products out there. Many of these > devices can also act as wifi repeaters or extenders too. > > There are some other technical considerations like whether you care if > NAT is running on this little box or not, but for something like a > television in another room, you probably don't have to care. NAT > isn't a consideration with the ethernet over power, they thankfully > don't do that. > > Me personally, like others on this list, I'd try to find a way to get > an ethernet cable to the other rooms, but in some cases, this just > isn't practical. I have an ethernet cable up the wall outside my > house and over the top of the roof, not in a conduit! Been like that > for more than a decade. But it rarely freezes here. Your > mileage/kilometerage may vary! > > Michael Grant > -- Paul M. Foster Personal Blog: http://noferblatz.com Company Site: http://quillandmouse.com Software Projects: https://gitlab.com/paulmfoster
