Team-BHP - On Wi-Fi & Routers

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Originally Posted by libranof1987 (Post 5063132)

They try that and prefer doing so. However, it is rarely successful because the concealed wiring pipes more often than not have construction debris.

Good. But, not so good is that I forgot that I hid the indoor end behind a work top which only just fits the width between tow walls and is stood on construction blocks. It was not easy to get it put there: it would be awful to remove and replace. So there goes plan A!

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Much to the chagrin of my parents (who were willing to get the walls dug and the wire concealed), I've run the optical fibre along the intersection of the roof and wall from the main duct -> door -> all the way to where the modem is placed.

The modem will be near a window. Existing cable run through a hole in the frame.

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And the modem? It is shit.

I don't mind. I will be using my own router.

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Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay (Post 5063146)

Yes, since you already have a cable that can be used to pull; this might work.

Cable being flat might make it hard. But plan A has been ditched as per above.

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Cable is flat (4 mm x 2.5 mm).

I wonder why flat? Does it contain more than one fibre, side by side?

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Cables is connected to ONT, a different optical cable connects ONT to modem.

Thanks!

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Just the terminology has changed. It is still a "modem".

But does it MODulate-DEModulate?

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Originally Posted by manim (Post 5063185)

Here are photos of my Jiofibre connection (to add to NetfreakBombay's post):

Thank you both, Now I know exactly what to expect

:thumbs up

I have almost zero knowledge with the nuances of networking, hence this question may seem dumb - please pardon me. I have yet to google this - asking here is merely my first step in finding an answer. I shall also be googling this anyway.

So, my home is an Apple ecosystem. I have the Airport Extreme Gigabit Ethernet wifi router; an iMac, a MacBook Pro, two iPhones and an iPad.

Currently everything is connected wirelessly to the Airport Extreme; however I also have a Brother laser multi-function device connected via Ethernet to the Airport Extreme - this helps me scan and print wirelessly from any device.

My qyestion is as follows: if I connect the iMac (which is the only device physically close to the router) to the router by Ethernet and also enable wifi connection to the same, will there be any conflicts or detriment?

If both are connected (Ethernet and Wifi on the same machine), will the Ethernet take precedence or will the Wifi?

Will there be any issues with DHCP?

The reason I wish to connect both is because I need the other devices to be on the same wifi network as the iMac. I need this because that is how I have been accessing the files on the iMac; and also do the "Continuity" and "Handoff" thing where I can star something on one device and seamlessly continue on any other device.

Now, I am not sure there is a hard requirement for all the devices to be on the same "Wifi" network or it is enough as long as they're on the same "network" irrespective of the method of connection. That is something the Apple folks here might be able to tell me; and I hope that googling might provide some info.

Now you might ask - "Why on Earth would you want to change anything around when things are working fine right now with the current set up?".

The answer to that is, everything is not working completely "fine", it is at best adequate and at worst inaccessible.

The reason for that is, my apartment is a Faraday cage. I get high wifi speeds at 5GHz only on the iMac which is in the same room as the Airport Extreme router.

In every other room, I either get only 2.4 GHz with relevent slowwwwwwww speeds or I get absolutely nothing at all. And my wife and I spend most of our time in the other rooms.

So, my idea was, to move the router to one of the other rooms, connect the Printer and the iMac by Ethernet (there's already a hole in the wall to help me route the cables); and thus get high speeds on the iMac (which by then will be in "another room" and I can prevent it getting onto the 2.4 GHz because of the cable); and the other devices will get 5GHz in all the other rooms which are basically line of sight then on.

So, is this a harebrained idea or will it work?

Thanks and cheers

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Originally Posted by tilt (Post 5063405)

if I connect the iMac (which is the only device physically close to the router) to the router by Ethernet and also enable wifi connection to the same, will there be any conflicts or detriment?

If both are connected (Ethernet and Wifi on the same machine), will the Ethernet take precedence or will the Wifi?

Will there be any issues with DHCP?

All operating systems are capable of handling this scenario seamlessly. Don't worry too much about it. They all manage just fine in all cases - when the interfaces are in the same subnet and when they are in different subnets. With DHCP or without DHCP.

What takes precedence is generally based on a set of common-sense rules that works fine out of the box. And if you want finer control, Unix-based (your Mac or Linux) will have the ip(8) tool installed that helps you tune things just the way you need.

Just for general information...

People tend to think of wifi and LAN as being different networks. They are not. One LAN is one Local Area Network.

Well, no doubt one could make them so, but that would take specific action (and maybe two routers?). If anyone has got into seperate or sub networks like this, they are surely going to know that they have done so and why. Not inconceivable that a very large extended family might want to subnet sub-families with shared resources... But they probably have a network Engineer in the family to set up and maintain that!

For almost everyone, every home (and small business) will be one network, whether it is wired, wifi or mixed.

(But a device with two interfaces would be seen to other things as two devices. Curious to know how the print programs on phones etc handle this. Do they ask which one to use? I can't do the experiment to find out as my printer is wired-network only. )

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5063199)

I wonder why flat? Does it contain more than one fibre, side by side?

This is due to regulations. Unlike yellow cable, this cable has to be flame-retardant and has to meet building regulations in terms of rigidity, bend-tolerance etc.

It does have multiple fibers.

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5063199)

But does it MODulate-DEModulate?

Yes it modulates / demodulates ethernet frames into optical signal. Older tech used only on-off states of optical, now-a-days it is similar to audio modem (multiple frequencies multiplexed over same cable, each frequency carries independent connection(s))

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5063683)

Airtel LAN <--> WAN Asus

Thanks!

I want to try out all combinations on my Jiofiber connection as soon as I get my hands on a new router. Unfortunately due to this damn virus and lockdown, neither Amazon delivers nor my local hardware guys have stocks.

I'm getting obsessed with this thing now, even my dreams are about setting up routers!

I'll also study about how to setup a Linux desktop as a router (instead of Raspberry Pi as NetfreakBombay suggested) I'm a Linux user for decades (the last Windoze version I used was the 3.1 version decades back).

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Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay (Post 5063700)

This is due to regulations. ...

Yes it modulates / demodulates ethernet frames into optical signal. ...

Wow, thanks for that. Such technology!

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Originally Posted by manim (Post 5063707)

I want to try out all combinations on my Jiofiber connection as soon as I get my hands on a new router. ... ... ... I'm getting obsessed with this thing now, even my dreams are about setting up routers!

LOL! Do it for your own technical satisfaction and or to have an elegant setup. I doubt it makes much practical difference. My network of a handful of devices is set up much as my work system of a hundred devices was. Except I don't have to bother with inter-office VPNs, an email server, a proper dedicated firewall and stuff. And we had nothing wireless then.

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I'll also study about how to setup a Linux desktop as a router (instead of Raspberry Pi as NetfreakBombay suggested) I'm a Linux user for decades (the last Windoze version I used was the 3.1 version decades back).

Wow. I had WinXP for a long time before going linux about ten years ago. Windows became slightly less horibble around W98. OK, a lot less horrible, but it was and always will be windows,

Unless you want to complicated things, I don't see the point in setting up a desktop as a router. That it has to do wifi --- probably dedicated boxes do it better cheaper. And a Rasberry pi is a real computer, just tiny and cheap.

There's always Asus-wrt Merlin as an option if one wants to get a bit more configuration control over compatible Asus routers.

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Originally Posted by tilt (Post 5063405)

My qyestion is as follows: if I connect the iMac (which is the only device physically close to the router) to the router by Ethernet and also enable wifi connection to the same, will there be any conflicts or detriment?

Multiple interface on same subnet will work perfectly fine. Data tranfer will take interface which gets the DNS resolution first.

I would suggest you to upgrade your routers with Mesh support, wherein you can wirelessly add additional router to home network and get coverage at blind spots.

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Originally Posted by manim (Post 5063707)

I'll also study about how to setup a Linux desktop as a router

This is what I'm doing (CentOS 7 with Roaring Penguin PPPoE client). Benefits are many:

1. I get this sort of speeds on a 100 Mbps connection: https://www.speedtest.net/result/c/f...6-65eccba2f79e

2. I get very fine control on who gets access on my network for what purposes.

3. Centralised ad blocking via DNS blocklists.

4. OpenVPN server so that I can connect from outside home too. No IP-based geolocation.

I bought an ECS Liva mini PC for this.

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Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay (Post 5063901)

Install OpenWRT

I've done it! I copied the download to a usb-drive and booted the desktop (without disturbing my regular Ubuntu install). Connected by cable from my Laptop (again Ubuntu) for the 'hello world' type first-step (screen attached).

Now to keep taking small steps whenever I get the time to finally attain router nirvana!

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Originally Posted by binand (Post 5063924)

This is what I'm doing (CentOS 7 with Roaring Penguin PPPoE client)

CentOS looks interesting, I'll try it out sometime. I've also used Fedora and Redhat earlier. Slackware was my first during the early nineties when my cousin had brought a CD of this distribution to me from USA.

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5063717)

Do it for your own technical satisfaction and or to have an elegant setup

well, I need to do something new and exciting to keep myself from NOT going crazy during this lockdown!

Hi, Can I get some advice on improving the wifi coverage in the below situation ?

I have an Airtel 200 MBPS Fiber connection. The router they supplied is in our living room when naturally I get good bandwidth / coverage. However, when I use laptop in one of our bedroom , I get very less bandwidth , less than 20 MBPS. I have used Tplink extender as well and that has not improved the coverage or internet speed. In the bedroom, there is a provision for ethernet port , so think I could move the router from living room to bedroom. But that will cause issues with streaming on the TV in the living room because of the way bedroom is located.

Is there any alternative to this ? Can I add one more wireless router to this setup ?

thanks !