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Help with Home Network Design

Help with Home Network Design

Help with Home Network Design
Help with Home Network Design
2023-11-25 19:53:41

Hello!

 

I recently moved into a 4000 sq ft, 2 floor home. We'll be getting 2 gig fiber for the house soon and I want to setup a network to support the full bandwidth as much as possible. I prefer wired connections, and will have cat6 cables run into a few rooms/areas of the house when the tech installs the 2 gig fiber. The house will have a bunch of devices that also connect wirelessly (smart devices, phones, laptops, etc), so I'd like to have solid, fast WiFi coverage for the entire house and the garage.

 

Here's what I think I need and the TP Link products I'm considering:

 

- Multi-gig router with a 2.5GbE WAN port and at least 1 2.5GbE LAN port. I am considering the TP-Link Archer BE550 because it has 2.5G WAN and 4 2.5G LANs; 2G fiber into the 2.5G WAN, and then the 4 2.5G ports would supply the 2G internet connection to the wired ports in the other rooms of the house. Or would it be better to get a more affordable router that has 1 2.5G WAN and 1 2.5G LAN, then connect the 2.5G LAN into a 2.5G switch? I had trouble finding a suitable 2.5G switch. Any recommendations? Also, using  the BE550 with the WiFi 7 disabled feels bad.

- I would like to setup a wireless Mesh network with a wired backhaul and am considering a Deco setup of either a 2 or 3 pack of X75 pros or a 3 pack of X55 pros. What I like about the X55 Pro is that it has a 2.5G WAN port and a 2.5G LAN port, while the X75 pro has a 2.5G WAN port but 1G LAN ports. But the advantage of the X75 Pro is that it is WiFi 6E. I am thinking of setting up each Mesh node at the locations where wired cat6 is available. And this is where a question comes up: if I go with the X75 Pros, can I add a 2.5G switch before them to get 2G LAN in the room(s) where the cat6 ports are? Does the wired backhaul work if the X75 Pro node is connected to the network via a switch? I was hoping I would be able to rely on each mesh node to act as a router/switch with 2.5G connectivity. I am aware of the BE95, and that would give me the desired ports, but they're expensive right now and I don't currently need 10G or WiFi 7 yet (although not sure how far off full support is for those specs with all consumer devices?).

 

Heh, I just saw the link to the Deco BE16000 at Costco in these forums, which might work well. And then searched the TP-Link site and found the newly available BE63, which seems to be what I'm looking for. Is there a difference between the BE16000 and the BE63? Thoughts on how they'd fit my use case?

 

Thanks much!

 

 

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#1
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8 Reply
Re:Help with Home Network Design
2023-11-27 22:47:30

Hey @tigger13,

The thought and effort that you are putting into your network will automatically make your network better than most.

 

For a Multi-Gig Router Solution, I think you are down the right path with the BE550 as it creates the simplest experience and eliminates any potential bottlenecks. While you may not immediately use the Wi-Fi tech, the other advancments that come with it will help boost your network speeds. However, your requirement for a whole home mesh may make the setup complicated beyond the router so you would likely want to look towards an entirely Deco based network.

 

The equivalent of the Archer BE550 on the Deco side is the BE16000 or BE63 - the main difference being the 6Ghz networks and the BE16000 having a possible dedicated backhaul. Since Wi-Fi 7 is so new, you may consider a baseline multi-gig deco network and then upgrading your main node with Wi-Fi 7 once the prices begin to come down. 

 

A Few Helpful tips for Deco 

 - All Decos work together, but one powerful deco for your main and then slightly lesser nodes for your satellite is optimal.

 - Satellite Decos operate as Clients of the Network, meaning their backhauls may be passed through a switch, as long as the switch is placed after the main node. 

 - If the switch is managed you may need to pass VLAN tags to include the Guest Network in the backhaul, but it will otherwise be plug and play.

 - You could even place switches at the drop for each ethernet cable or after the satellite nodes are connected, making the setup extremely flexible.

 - The extra ethernet ports on the satellite nodes will also work as LAN connections for devices.

 

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#2
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Re:Help with Home Network Design
2023-11-28 21:25:53

@Riley_S thanks so much for your reply; I appreciate the kind words and insightful info! I'm leaning towards thhe BE16000 but will need to do a closer comparison with the BE63.

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#3
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Re:Help with Home Network Design
2023-12-01 17:20:48 - last edited 2023-12-01 17:33:30

  @tigger13 You seem to have an idea about what setup you're leaning towards. I just want to add some answers for your questions: "Does the wired backhaul work if the XE75 Pro node is connected to the network via a switch?". It only works if you wire them up correctly:

ONT cable > Main Deco XE75 > Switch > Other satellite Deco units (but this will have bottle neck at a 1Gbps LAN port from the XE75 pro to the 2.5Gbps switch anw, so maybe won't meet your need)

 

If you do it like this, it won't work: ONT > 2.5Gbps switches > All Deco units.

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#4
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Re:Help with Home Network Design
2023-12-01 18:12:11

  @Espress0-0 thanks, that makes sense. I read about the switch setup in one of the FAQ pages, quite helpful. I think it was this one:

 

https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/1794/

 

My questiion was about the satellite decos behind a switch at each wired port in the house. Something like this:

 

ONT cable -> Main Deco BE16000/BE63/BE75 Pro -> 2.5G switch -> ethernet ports in various rooms -> 2.5G switch -> Satellite Deco(s)

 

From what I gathered from Riley_S's post, that should work. Is my understanding correct; will that configuration work?

 

Cheers!

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#5
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Re:Help with Home Network Design
2023-12-01 18:22:46 - last edited 2023-12-01 18:23:39

  @tigger13 That should work, I have some similar setup. As long you have your router running in front of the switch, router can take care of routing traffic in/out to the outside world. Switch to take care of LAN traffic (we're talking about L2 switch here, L3 switch is another topic).

 

Here is my setup:

ONT > Main Deco > 2.5 Switch > Ethernet to my office and living room wall ports > Satellite Deco units.

 

I don't put any switch in each room cause I can wire devices directly to the satellite Deco's extra ports and I don't want anyone to just randomly plug in a cable to my switch. One thing though, you should stick with Tplink switch brand for backhaul wiring, they are sometimes finicky about other brands.

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#6
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Re:Help with Home Network Design
2023-12-01 19:18:21

  @tigger13 @Espress0-0,

Just to confirm, yes, this is a compatible setup and is exactly what I would recommend. 

 

With the order as: Main Switch > Room Switch > Deco - the traffic from the wired devices connected to the switch will be able to travel all the way back to the main node, without having to make a pitstop with each Deco and potentially minimizing the effect on the bandwidth of other the other devices connected to that Deco node.

 

As for the mention about Switches - from what I can gather it is more important to simply use higher quality switches. Some of the cheaper switches out there have been seen to cause a few odd behaviors with odd devices - almost as if they operate as an ethernet hub rather than a switch. I do know for a fact that we test our Decos using our switches, however they are ideally compatible with any switch that follows networking protocols.

 

A few weeks ago a user found a/the feature that you would want to look for when looking at switches, so I will see if I can dig that thread up for you.

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#7
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Re:Help with Home Network Design
2023-12-01 19:30:34

Awesome, thank you both for the info and help! 

 

I have not yet pulled the trigger on a Deco system yet. I read a littel more about the BE16000 and am now considering the BE85/95 again. I am not in a rush to purchase the router setup yet because my 2G internet install has been delayed; there's a facilities issue and no one is able to give me a status or a timeline.

 

I did purchase a TP-Link switch while it was on sale; the TL-SG105-M2. That'll be the main switch after the main Deco router. Will that work well?

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#8
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Re:Help with Home Network Design
2024-01-05 01:40:43

  @Riley_S 

 

I have already purchased the Deco 75 Pro and want to know how to get 2.5 to satellite. I have 2G internet and I have 2.5 gig Netgear switch. It sure sounds to me like there is no benefit in having a 2.5g port on satellite.

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#9
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