Setup for new build

Faiche Ro

Hi All
im close enough to moving into a new build and im very average at the whole nets and comms side of things so im looking for some help.

What do i need to buy/install to be all setup for ordering broadband?

We have the house wiring complete and have Cat 6 cables going to multiple points around the house (including 4 wifi extender points). All the Cat6 cables are brought back to a central point in the utility. The ETU box is setup and there is ducting going from this to the nearest telephone pole (Im hoping to get FTTH).

So what equipment do i need to buy? A patch panel and simply connect the line from the ETU to the modem and then to the patch panel with all the cat 6 cables connected? Can anyone recommend a decent one?

Wifi extenders that can work on POE? again any recommendations?


Is there anything else i should be buying?

Thanks for any help

ECO_Mental

I am in a similar position to yourself and I think what you have done is right in setting up your house and this is what I am planning to do also.

As far as equipment what I am planning to do is go with Unifi gear and using the Dream Machine Pro https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/udm-pro as the main controller/router. I will then have a 24 port POE switch off this https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/usw-pro-24 to connect all my network points and where I will power all my wireless access points such as the NanoHD https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-access-points/products/unifi-nanohd

You could probably do it cheaper but using all Unifi gear it is very easy to mange and set up.

Faiche Ro

ECO_Mental wrote: »

I am in a similar position to yourself and I think what you have done is right in setting up your house and this is what I am planning to do also.

As far as equipment what I am planning to do is go with Unifi gear and using the Dream Machine Pro https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/udm-pro as the main controller/router. I will then have a 24 port POE switch off this https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/usw-pro-24 to connect all my network points and where I will power all my wireless access points such as the NanoHD https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-access-points/products/unifi-nanohd

You could probably do it cheaper but using all Unifi gear it is very easy to mange and set up.

Ok thanks so the main controller router you’ve linked above is instead of say the sky modem (Or whatever company)? Or is the modem connected into this?
Just wondering if you need one of these or can the modem go straight into the patch panel?

ECO_Mental

Faiche Ro wrote: »

Ok thanks so the main controller router you’ve linked above is instead of say the sky modem (Or whatever company)? Or is the modem connected into this?
Just wondering if you need one of these or can the modem go straight into the patch panel?

Well if you are going FTTH then yeah you can ditch the modem/router they give you and you plug straight into the dream machine (UDM Pro) from the ONT the samll box with the fiber going into it and it should have a Ethernet cable out straight to your patch panel. It should be very easy to do, just one or two settings (VLAN 10 I hear mentioned around here a lot...) , there are plenty of posts on here on how to do it.


The beauty with Unifi you can add cameras, extra access points, door bells etc and they are all integrated very easily. Now you are jumping on the Unifi ecosystem and it mightnt be cheap but I feel your home network has to be rock solid into the future with us all working from home more and video conferencing streaming 4k and its worth spending the few bucks and building a decent home network.

Faiche Ro

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Well if you are going FTTH then yeah you can ditch the modem/router they give you and you plug straight into the dream machine (UDM Pro) from the ONT the samll box with the fiber going into it and it should have a Ethernet cable out straight to your patch panel. It should be very easy to do, just one or two settings (VLAN 10 I hear mentioned around here a lot...) , there are plenty of posts on here on how to do it.


The beauty with Unifi you can add cameras, extra access points, door bells etc and they are all integrated very easily. Now you are jumping on the Unifi ecosystem and it mightnt be cheap but I feel your home network has to be rock solid into the future with us all working from home more and video conferencing streaming 4k and its worth spending the few bucks and building a decent home network.

thanks its starting to make sense now. As budget is limited at the moment i might go for something cheaper to start with
A switch panel like this shoud be all i need rigth?

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing-accessories/networking/network-routers-and-switches/network-switches/tp-link-tl-sg108pe-managed-network-switch-8-port-10174298-pdt.html

I would just need to make sure it has enough POE ports to go to all the wifi extender spots correct?

ECO_Mental

Faiche Ro wrote: »

thanks its starting to make sense now. As budget is limited at the moment i might go for something cheaper to start with
A switch panel like this shoud be all i need rigth?

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing-accessories/networking/network-routers-and-switches/network-switches/tp-link-tl-sg108pe-managed-network-switch-8-port-10174298-pdt.html

I would just need to make sure it has enough POE ports to go to all the wifi extender spots correct?

Yeah that will work no probs and to be honest I might be going for overkill, I got the Unifi AP to work off my sky router very easily you just set it up using a mobile app.

Faiche Ro

ECO_Mental wrote: »

I am in a similar position to yourself and I think what you have done is right in setting up your house and this is what I am planning to do also.

As far as equipment what I am planning to do is go with Unifi gear and using the Dream Machine Pro https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/udm-pro as the main controller/router. I will then have a 24 port POE switch off this https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/usw-pro-24 to connect all my network points and where I will power all my wireless access points such as the NanoHD https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-access-points/products/unifi-nanohd

You could probably do it cheaper but using all Unifi gear it is very easy to mange and set up.

Sorry one more question for you. What are the benefits of the dream getting the dream pro? Based on your post I’ve done a bit of research and I’d say I’ll get the unifi switch and a few APs but I’m trying figure out what will the dream pro give me?

If I plug the standard router provided by sky into the switch am I limiting myself somehow? i.e. speed etc?

I assume there’s no issue with any of the ISP’s routers working with the unifi gear?

ECO_Mental

Faiche Ro wrote: »

Sorry one more question for you. What are the benefits of the dream getting the dream pro? Based on your post I’ve done a bit of research and I’d say I’ll get the unifi switch and a few APs but I’m trying figure out what will the dream pro give me?

If I plug the standard router provided by sky into the switch am I limiting myself somehow? i.e. speed etc?

I assume there’s no issue with any of the ISP’s routers working with the unifi gear?

Yes you can do that as I said previously I am probably going for a bit if over kill and its a bit of a nerdy thing for me. Having the UDM it acts as a controller for all your networked stuff and you can set up loads of rules of how you manage your network. As I said its probably a bit of over kill for what I want and for 95% of people just using the supplied router and plugging into a switch will work grand.