Hello All,
Just got finished configuring my network in my home and thought I would share what I did, just in-case anyone is looking for some "out of the box" solutions. Couple of notes. I am a cord cutter so no cable or dish service. Only OTA antenna and Internet 100down/10up.
I started with a Linksys WRT1900AC router. flashed with the latest DD-WRT firmware. I choose this one because it works well with open source firmware. I have this router located in the basement central in the house. I choose this location because I will have a somewhat serious entertainment in the basement and I want to make sure all my equipment picks up the AC band from the router. I have one band set up for N only 2.4G wireless channel fixed on channel 6 for any older non-5G devices to connect to, and the other band set up for N/AC mixed 5G that I will use for my wireless bridge and 5G compatible devices, wireless channel fixed on channel 8. I used fix channels so that it keeps connections with my devices more consistent. Also I have the SSID the same for all bands in the house, that way my devices will "see" the same network no matter where in the house you are. This is very important....set up your security as WPA2 Personal and encription to AES on all radios. this router in the basement hits most of the house really well. Now my devices can seamlessly move to whatever band is the strongest.
One problem I ran into is I have a addition on the back of the house that sits on a slab and the wifi signal out there is a little weak. The solution was to re-purpose a older dual band router (Cisco E4200) and flashed it with DD-WRT Firmware. I set it up to act at a repeater / bridge. What this will do is connect to the 5G signal from the basement router and form a "high speed network bridge" that will extend the network into that part of the house. I can then plug all my family room devices into this router for hard wired internet access. The second band of this router is set up as a repeater (using N only 2.4G channel 6 like the main router).
Now I can use my phone / tablet out there and get full signal strength, getting 40-50mb download speeds. My hardwired devices out there (TV, Fire TV, Yamaha network receiver, bluray player) get even faster speeds utilizing the 5G bridged connection.
Whats really cool is that everything is really reliable, and it's very easy to add Ethernet ports around the house if you need it....using a old router flashed with DD-WRT or other open source.
On a side note I put a Clear stream 2v antenna on my roof along with a Fm trap, and old cable amp and I get 50+ local channels. That combined with Kodi, Direct TV now, HULU, and Netflix there is no shortage of stuff to watch. My total bill every month for internet and streaming services is $110. A lot better that the $225 I used to pay Uverse.
Just got finished configuring my network in my home and thought I would share what I did, just in-case anyone is looking for some "out of the box" solutions. Couple of notes. I am a cord cutter so no cable or dish service. Only OTA antenna and Internet 100down/10up.
I started with a Linksys WRT1900AC router. flashed with the latest DD-WRT firmware. I choose this one because it works well with open source firmware. I have this router located in the basement central in the house. I choose this location because I will have a somewhat serious entertainment in the basement and I want to make sure all my equipment picks up the AC band from the router. I have one band set up for N only 2.4G wireless channel fixed on channel 6 for any older non-5G devices to connect to, and the other band set up for N/AC mixed 5G that I will use for my wireless bridge and 5G compatible devices, wireless channel fixed on channel 8. I used fix channels so that it keeps connections with my devices more consistent. Also I have the SSID the same for all bands in the house, that way my devices will "see" the same network no matter where in the house you are. This is very important....set up your security as WPA2 Personal and encription to AES on all radios. this router in the basement hits most of the house really well. Now my devices can seamlessly move to whatever band is the strongest.
One problem I ran into is I have a addition on the back of the house that sits on a slab and the wifi signal out there is a little weak. The solution was to re-purpose a older dual band router (Cisco E4200) and flashed it with DD-WRT Firmware. I set it up to act at a repeater / bridge. What this will do is connect to the 5G signal from the basement router and form a "high speed network bridge" that will extend the network into that part of the house. I can then plug all my family room devices into this router for hard wired internet access. The second band of this router is set up as a repeater (using N only 2.4G channel 6 like the main router).
Now I can use my phone / tablet out there and get full signal strength, getting 40-50mb download speeds. My hardwired devices out there (TV, Fire TV, Yamaha network receiver, bluray player) get even faster speeds utilizing the 5G bridged connection.
Whats really cool is that everything is really reliable, and it's very easy to add Ethernet ports around the house if you need it....using a old router flashed with DD-WRT or other open source.
On a side note I put a Clear stream 2v antenna on my roof along with a Fm trap, and old cable amp and I get 50+ local channels. That combined with Kodi, Direct TV now, HULU, and Netflix there is no shortage of stuff to watch. My total bill every month for internet and streaming services is $110. A lot better that the $225 I used to pay Uverse.
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