Boost your old house's Wi-Fi performance.
Boost your old house's Wi-Fi performance.
I live with my parents in our family home. It was rewired about 15 years ago but no eathernet was put in. Power line is extremely unreliable due to the length of cabling in the house. The house is approximately 10000 Sqft on two floors with stone walls as thick as 1m. This is a long term project that I will be pursuing over the next year to improve the reliability and coverage of the network in the house. I currently have a Linksys wrt 3600 running the entire network but it only covers the centre of the house leaving about half uncovered. I have ruled out a wireless solution, how should i approach a wired solution.
I recommend buying an Ubiquiti AP such as this one: https://www.ui.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-lr/. Placing the access point in the center of your home will provide excellent Wi-Fi coverage. Ubiquiti APs are really impressive. If you prefer running UTP cables inside walls, that's up to you, though it requires more effort.
A substantial area is available, using centralized controllers such as Ubiquiti likely offers the optimal solution. You should be able to span it with 4-5 nanoHD units or comparable, based on the configuration and your approach for moving through those walls. Be cautious with wide channels—dimensions like 160 MHz may only provide sufficient airspace for a single channel. I was anticipating more affordable 802.11ax options on the horizon, though they’re still emerging. With good cabling like Cat6a, you can upgrade to mGig later via a switch and AP without needing physical changes.
Thanks, I'm ready to consider it. Your input is really helpful and I'd appreciate staying in touch if you're available.
This setup sounds like it could be as secure as Fort Knox—depending on the wiring. A solid wired foundation makes things easier later, even if running Ethernet everywhere is tricky. Planning your layout ahead of time will help you place cables neatly and ensure reliable connections. I recommend drawing a floor plan for both floors so you can map out cable paths, termination points, and optimal access points for strong Wi-Fi coverage.