Hi all
I live in a house on a long block. Its single story, double brick, and the Optus cable modem/router I'm currently using barely reaches to the ends of the house, and where it does the connection is flakey and slow. My original plan years ago, back in the days when wireless N was the hot thing, was to wire up the house with cat6 for ultimate speed and future proofing. Now I'm older, and have found my ambition exceeds my time and money, not to mention skill, and the thought of pulling 300 meters of cord through a dusty cramped roof doesn't carry the same appeal it once did. Not to mention the great strides in data throughput of wireless technologies, exceeding gigabit? I wouldn't have believed it was possible then but a lot of things have changed I guess.
The question is, do I continue with this idea of setting up a wired network, or do I go full on wireless? And if I'm going wireless, do I get multiple access points of last years tech, possible second hand, or go for a cheap AC router. I know the numbers look great, but it seems to me like all they're doing is doubling down on existing technology, adding more antennas and consuming more of the bandwidth. It may work super fast if your standing next to the router, but I have my doubts about the difference it makes when theres 10 meters and 1m of brick between it and you :P
I'm not the big datahog I used to be. I mostly stream stuff now, same as the 3 other users in the house, but I would like to setup a security camera grid in the future, which could generate some intense traffic.
Opinions? For anyone whose upgraded to AC, did it make that big a difference for you over long distances, and how quickly does the throughput fall off over those long distances.
This Lifehacker article basically answers most of your questions. https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/06/how-to-build-a-wi-fi-n…
This point is very important.
This means that even if you bought a kickass Wifi router with amazing gigabit wireless AC, it may not still be enough to cover your entire floorplan (a large 2 storey house, for e.g)
Wifi AC standard gives you faster speeds, but at a great disadvantage of lesser penetrating range. The higher the radio frequencies, the less it can penetrate through a wall. In most cases, you will find yourself defaulting to good-old Wireless N for devices on the fringes of your network, while devices in line-of-sight can use Wireless AC at full strength.
Follow this article to read about mesh networks.