I don't read a lot of tech forums, and this one has one of the highest signal-to-noise ratios of all the forums I do read, so I figure I'll ask here.

 

I just moved into a new home, and wiring for ethernet is going to require lots of holes in lots of walls.

 

I am looking at the 802.11ac standard to upgrade from the n network I am running now.  But tech sites are saying the standard isn't "standard" just yet, and that in 2014 there will be more finalized plans and more equipment.

 

I don't need a faster network *thisverysecond* but I do need it soon.  Wondering if any of you good folks are keeping up on the wireless angle, and if there are new products on the horizon that I should be waiting for.  I'm looking at Ubiquiti's 802.11ac AP, along with some adapters from various companies for my most bandwidth hungry systems at home.

 

Comments welcome.

So,not sure if this counts as signal or noise:

WiFI 'speed' is the Bandwidth of the WiFI's portion of the signal.

Honestly, you're likely to find that the real constraint to overall speed is the broadband into your house. Its sort of like worrying about the speed of the off-ramp from a rutted dirt 'freeway'.

 

If you have the whole house wired with wireless devices, TV's, connected tune players, a smart refrigerator , a wi-fi cell phone in every room (and each one in use!), then you *might* have a need for BillionGigABIT wi-fi.  But, if you total up the number of signals that are likely to be 'ON' at anyone time (how many users of HDTV, etc.), you're likely to find your REAL required throughput is a lot lower than the advertisers would have you believe.

 

Now, there are some new features, and some antennae technology, etc., that might make 11ac useful, so I'd never say, "no". But I'd not worry about it. You won't need it. And in several years, by the time you do need it, the price will be a LOT lower, and your old router (that you're about to install) will be due for a replacement anyway.

 

[me=DaleWilliams]looks around for the 2cent sign [/me]

802.11ac is not finalized just like n was called "draft n" for years. Just like most of the draft n products,  any further changes to the standard will very likely only require firmware upgrades at this point, not hardware upgrades.

 

I've running the 802.11ac AirPort Extreme since it was released and it's been great. I got better range even on my n devices. 1.3Gbps over wireless now on ac devices it pretty sweet.

ah...I forgot about 'distance'.

mrow makes a good point.

If you have great distance needs, then there might be something to think about.

There are wi-fi repeaters that are cheap and easy. (careful about them with FIOS, though.)

And yes, the Airport is great.

 

My primary desktop workstation connects to several servers in my equipment closet; i need bandwidth between these systems that is as fast as possible.  So I'm looking at adding an 802.11ac Ubiquiti AP to my existing 802.11n Ubiquiti AP.  I know the ac can do both ac and n, but I'd like to dedicate the ac AP to a handful of workstations, and run everything else on n.

 

With an iPad and a laptop streaming content from the unraid server, my n network begins to choke.  As you said, add a few cell phones or Kindles watching youtube, or the family PC being used to copy a large file to the server, and we begin to have issues.

 

I'd like to get all laptops and wireless devices on the n network, and all workstations and HTPCs on the ac network.

 

Internet bandwidth is irrelevant, as I will never use the speed I currently have to its fullest potential. 

ah...I forgot about 'distance'.

mrow makes a good point.

If you have great distance needs, then there might be something to think about.

There are wi-fi repeaters that are cheap and easy. (careful about them with FIOS, though.)

And yes, the Airport is great.

 

 

If you want to use your own router with FiOS you can call Verizon and have them change the port on your ONT to Ethernet from coax then change the setting on your FiOS router to use Ethernet WAN and just plug your FiOS routers WAN port in to a port on your own router/switch.

Current ac adapters work well and give you far better bandwidth than N adapters.  I wouldn't wait for further evolution of the standard.

 

However, as I'm sure you know, one cardinal rule of networking is that "wired is always better than wireless" -- more reliable, no notable distance issues (within reason), and faster.    So if you have specific runs that you want maximum reliability for, I'd wire them.  (for example, I'd wire the servers directly to a router; and if possible hard-wire any additional access points to the router.

 

If you can't hard-wire between your access points, a good alternative is one of the newer 500Mb powerline adapters -- these work very well and give consistent high-speed connections between the connected devices.  e.g. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122464

 

You may also want to check with an electrician r.e. wiring the infrastructure -- you'd be surprised how well they can "hide" the wiring in attics, basements, etc. and pull it through to switchplates, etc.  I had an older home completely wired and it all looks like it was designed into the original home.  [it DID cost a fair amount, however ... but as time goes on the Gb network benefits quickly make the cost fade away  ]

 

If you can't hard-wire between your access points, a good alternative is one of the newer 500Mb powerline adapters -- these work very well and give consistent high-speed connections between the connected devices.  e.g. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122464

I use these to get 'wire' from the 2nd floor to the opposite basement corner. Works fine...

If you want to use your own router with FiOS you can call Verizon and have them change the port on your ONT to Ethernet from coax then change the setting on your FiOS router to use Ethernet WAN and just plug your FiOS routers WAN port in to a port on your own router/switch.

I didn't know that!  Thanks for the tip.

What I do with my FiOS is to disable the wifi on the Frontier router and added an AP with it's own DHCP disabled. I use a fixed IP on the AP but that's not a requirement, just makes it easier to configure if you know it's IP address.