Just looking for some quick feedback on a Omada residential setup in Australia. I currently have a couple deco's and unmanaged network switch and am looking at moving to something for local control (off deco cloud) and a managed switch for better control and VLANs etc. I've been researching the Omada stuff which looks good but I'm unsure of a few things. I also have a few questions regrading access point placement in the house.

 

I don't have advanced knowledge in this stuff so any feedback is good.

 

First, equipment:

 

Router:

• TP-Link ER7212PC Omada 3-in-1 Gigabit VPN Router (Router + PoE Switch + Controller)
• I'm happy for something like the ER605 but would like an integrated controller instead of buying a separate one. I can only find this one for a more residential setup.
• I could run the controller in docker on my server, but was thinking I would just go for the hardware solution for lower maintenance etc.
• I would like the SFP port to connect to the switch
• Wireless1: $299

 

Switch:

• TP-Link TL-SG2218P JetStream 18-Port Gigabit Smart Switch with 16-Port PoE+
• I would like it to be rack-mountable and 18-ports should be enough. I would also like to use the SFP port to connect from the router.
• PoE is important for powering a few items and the access points. 150w PoE budget should be enough?
• I also found the TL-SG2428P which looks to be a beefier option, but I don't think I need it at this point
• Wireless1: $344

 

Access Points:

• TP-Link EAP680 AX6000 Ceiling Mount Wi-Fi 6 Access Point
• I was also looking at EAP670 but I can't find the v2 in Aus. The v1 looks to be too chunky and I would prefer the smaller size.
• Leaning towards 3. I may be able to find a 3-pack for cheaper.
• Wireless1: $219

 

$299 + $344 + ($219 x 3) = 1,300

 

Would these items work well together?

 

 

Second, AP placement:

 

I'm tossing up between 2 and 3 APs. I'm leaning more towards 3 for a few reasons, but not sure if overkill

• Cost wise not much difference between 2 and 3 APs.
• House has single brick internal walls so having 3 would mean there's only 1 brick wall between the device and AP.
• I can have these set up at 9 metres apart and cover the house and front-yard pretty well.
• 1 will be in the living room (lounge) which is an open space, and the other two will be in the hallway just next to the bedrooms (2 rooms each side).
• Backyard is small so coverage not important, living room AP will cover it. Frontyard coverage is more important (by the Porch) which is also covered by the living room AP.
• I'm hoping it would mean that when walking down the corridor there would be a hand-off from one AP to the other before entering the room.

 

Are there any downsides to having 3 APs with only 9 metres apart? If there weren't so many brick walls I'm sure 2 APs would work fine. My current set-up with the deco's is similar to the 2-AP set up, which is mostly working fine. However I'm interested in future-proofing for wifi 7, which I understand distance to the AP and avoiding internal walls is more important? I imagine the 3-AP setup would benefit me a lot more once I move to wifi 7 down the track.

 

In the below diagrams, the APs are the blue dots. Each orange line and the diameter of each green circle is 9 metres. Bed 4 is a planned new room which is why it stands out on these plans.

 

3 APs:

 

2 APs:

 

 

Third, additional questions:

 

1. The router has multiple ports on it. Are there any problems with connecting the switch to one port (which feeds into the patch panel and then to the APs and devices around the house) as well as using the other ports on the router to connect devices next to it (NAS, servers, etc.)? Not sure if this creates different subnets or anything like that.
2. Are there any problems connecting the router and switch with the SFP port? I'm not familiar with it but more just want to free up the RJ45 ports for other devices.
3. Is there enough PoE power from the individual ports to power the APs? Each AP uses about 20w so total is about 60w, well below the 150w PoE Budget, but I'm not sure how that works on an individual port level.
4. I have a couple smaller unmanaged switches by my TV etc. which connects to the main network switch. Do I need to swap these for omada compatible ones as well or how does that work with managing those devices?

 

Thanks in advance!