Wired backhaul and AP/mesh router

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TinTinSnowy

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Hi,

I want to run a CAT cable through walls across my home. Should I use a separate conduit pipe? Should I go for CAT6 or CAT7 wrt futureproofing? Does anybody know the cost per meter? I'm not looking to go beyond a 300 Mb/s plan right now and don't see the need for any lan operations beyond 2.5 Gb/s.

I also want to have a single SSID throughout the home. Therefore I'm considering a mesh solution with wired backhaul. Any suggestions? I'm looking at Deco M4 (3 pack) for now and upgrading to a better model when I have any wifi devices with faster support or I upgrade beyond 1Gb/s and higher. I'm also open to using a proper wifi router which supports MESH (AIMESH / EASYMESH) or any commercial APs. Openwrt support will be an added plus. But I want to fit everything within a 20K budget if possible.

Please drop in your suggestions. Also tagging @superczar as they have previously helped with my network queries. Thank you!
 
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1) Use a separate conduit for low interference
2) Cat 6a is more than enough for the next decade. If you want to futureproof go for fiber. Cat 7 or 8 is too expensive
If you dont plan to use LAN to setup servers or NAS then even cat 6 is more than enough depending on the length of cable but cat 6 isnt shielded. Hence, my suggestion is to get shielded cat6a pure copper
3) for ease of setup mesh nodes like deco is sufficient for regular usage. Dedicated routers with openwrt along access points are for tinkering and not for common folks
 
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Rayman said:
2) Cat 6a is more than enough for the next decade. If you want to futureproof go for fiber. Cat 7 or 8 is too expensive
If you dont plan to use LAN to setup servers or NAS then even cat 6 is more than enough depending on the length of cable but cat 6 isnt shielded. Hence, my suggestion is to get shielded cat6a pure copper
3) for ease of setup mesh nodes like deco is sufficient for regular usage. Dedicated routers with openwrt along access points are for tinkering and not for common folks
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Thanks! I'll get a CAT 6a 50m roll. It's costing me Rs. 1600 from this site. https://www.fedus.in/products/cat6a-shielded-sftp-ethernet-cable?variant=44321853604140 and will need to find some body who can clip it properly.

I'm considering between Deco M4 (6K for 3 pack) and Deco X50 PoE (22K for 3 pack). I'm only considering X50 because of PoE (will reduce the need to have 3 adapters). What do you think of PoE?

Edit: Should I also run the fiber cable through the same conduit as Cat 6a? Will add 50m fiber for futureproofing and does not seems to be costing more than 1K for the same.
 
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TinTinSnowy said:
Thanks! I'll get a CAT 6a 50m roll. It's costing me Rs. 1600 from this site. https://www.fedus.in/products/cat6a-shielded-sftp-ethernet-cable?variant=44321853604140 and will need to find some body who can clip it properly.

I'm considering between Deco M4 (6K for 3 pack) and Deco X50 PoE (22K for 3 pack). I'm only considering X50 because of PoE (will reduce the need to have 3 adapters). What do you think of PoE?

Edit: Should I also run the fiber cable through the same conduit as Cat 6a? Will add 50m fiber for futureproofing and does not seems to be costing more than 1K for the same.
Click to expand...
Either run fiber or cat cable. Why would you need both? Also fiber would need some additional tools for conversion. You can check with your local broadband guys if they can run fibre and terminate and stuff. Fibre doesn't require a separate conduit btw and run along with power line
You should not be picking X50 PoE edition just for PoE feature tbh. For PoE you need a switch or PoE injectors. Unless you cannot provide power separately or are a neat freak I wouldn't suggest splurging on this. PoE switches are either expensive or low speed. Gigabit PoE switch cost a lot over a normal switch.
 
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Rayman said:
Either run fiber or cat cable. Why would you need both? Also fiber would need some additional tools for conversion. You can check with your local broadband guys if they can run fibre and terminate and stuff. Fibre doesn't require a separate conduit btw and run along with power line
You should not be picking X50 PoE edition just for PoE feature tbh. For PoE you need a switch or PoE injectors. Unless you cannot provide power separately or are a neat freak I wouldn't suggest splurging on this. PoE switches are either expensive or low speed. Gigabit PoE switch cost a lot over a normal switch.
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It seems fiber cable might be fragile to run through. It seems I'll need these media converters everywhere to terminate. https://www.amazon.in/TP-Link-MC220L-Tp-Link-Fiber-Converter/dp/B001GQDRWK?th=1
 
TinTinSnowy said:
Hi,

I want to run a CAT cable through walls across my home. Should I use a separate conduit pipe? Should I go for CAT6 or CAT7 wrt futureproofing? Does anybody know the cost per meter? I'm not looking to go beyond a 300 Mb/s plan right now and don't see the need for any lan operations beyond 2.5 Gb/s.

I also want to have a single SSID throughout the home. Therefore I'm considering a mesh solution with wired backhaul. Any suggestions? I'm looking at Deco M4 (3 pack) for now and upgrading to a better model when I have any wifi devices with faster support or I upgrade beyond 1Gb/s and higher. I'm also open to using a proper wifi router which supports MESH (AIMESH / EASYMESH) or any commercial APs. Openwrt support will be an added plus. But I want to fit everything within a 20K budget if possible.

Please drop in your suggestions. Also tagging @superczar as they have previously helped with my network queries. Thank you!
Click to expand...
Is the house under construction/ refitting?
If yes, get a separate conduit added. Interference avoidance aside (debatable), it's a whole lot easier to pull new cables in /out in a uncrowded dedicated conduit even after several years.

Cat6 305ft rolls are typically under 5K and should be enough for the whole house
Normally one would use a star model with 2 or 1 wire per room coming in on to a central location for termination.

Also if you are doing it in ths manner, strongly recommend using a SDN mesh (ubuqiuiti/ omada) as against consumer mesh.
Omada in-wall APs are quite cheap (3-3.5K) , look nice and can be added to every room for perfecly seamless connectivity
They also come with 3 or 4 additional ethernet ports which can be used for wired devices as and where needed

Lastly dont get enamored by wifi 6/7 etc
i have a mix of wifi 5 and 6 APs (3x 5, 2 X6) and recently tried a 7
there is no practical real world difference in wireless speeds - file tfr speeds on 5 were around 600mbps vs 750-800 peak on wifi 6 and 7 (tested across multiple clients)
The averages on all will be around 500
 
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@superczar Thanks! It's under construction and will add a separate conduit for easy replacement.

Can't find pure copper cables online. Most are CCA, which aren't fire-resistant and can overheat with PoE. Even most shielded cables are unshielded in reality. I'll stick with CAT6. It's hard to terminate CAT 6A and higher, but no idea where to find pure copper cables. If any body know then please let me know.

I think you were referring to this model. https://fgtechstore.com/product/tp-link-eap235-wall/ and they look good and can be powered via PoE. Will I need to add a controller to operate these?

My initial plan was this:-

JioFiber Router -> Main Deco M4 (Living Room) -> Gigabit Switch -> 3 CAT6 cables running through a 1 inch conduit terminating in each bedroom -> 3x Deco M4

Are you suggesting this?

JioFiber Router -> TP-Link OC200 Controller -> Gigabit PoE Switch -> Main Omada EAP 235 (Living Room) -> 3 CAT6 cables running through a 1 inch conduit terminating in each bedroom -> 3x Omada EAP 235
 
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