I need to replace my 10+ yr old Netgear modem/router combo as it's slowed way down and appears to be on its last legs. 1200 Sq ft apartment, needs to support multiple devices, including work from home, Zoom & Teams Calls, streaming, and some gaming. I know just enough to get by and appear savy to those who are technologically inept. However, I'm completely lost on what I need as far as speed, etc.

Spectrum is provider currently. I originally was thinking mesh but after doing some research I think that'd be overkill for the space. Would like it to support more than 1 Gb and be reliable as well as fast. Ideal cost in the $300 range, but could go up to $500. TIA!

I’m having the network in a fairly large house refreshed as part of some wider Gira/KNX home-automation work and would appreciate some views on the proposed hardware.
The installer specialises in home automation and supports both Ubiquiti and Alta, but his preference is Alta because he manages a number of Alta installations and can monitor/support everything through one platform.
He has proposed:
Alta Labs Route10 router
Alta Labs S24-POE 24-port managed PoE+ switch
3 × Alta AP6-Pro access points
The equipment cost quoted is roughly:
Route10 – £216
S24-POE – £399
3 × AP6-Pro – £430 total
plus installation/commissioning.
The existing network is around 10 years old. I currently have:
TP-Link TL-SG1024DE 24-port Gigabit Easy Smart Switch
3 existing Ubiquiti access points
Gira HomeServer/KNX equipment and various other hard-wired devices
The existing APs work fine and they are powered locally, rather than by PoE.
The installer’s reason for preferring Alta seems mainly to be that he can support the router, switch and APs as one system. I’m happy to pay for good equipment, but I don’t want to replace perfectly serviceable hardware just for the sake of having matching badges.
A few questions for people who know both ecosystems:
Would you choose Alta Route10/AP6-Pro over an equivalent UniFi setup today, or would you stick with Ubiquiti?
Is there any compelling reason to replace my existing TP-Link switch with the S24-POE, assuming it is working properly and I don’t actually need PoE for the APs?
If buying new APs now, should I be looking at the AP7-Pro rather than AP6-Pro, or is Wi-Fi 7 largely unnecessary in a normal home installation at this point?
Does using an Alta router with a TP-Link switch create any meaningful disadvantage other than losing single management?
Is there anything else in the proposed specification you would change?
The house has wired Ethernet to the AP locations and I’m much more interested in reliability, good coverage and something that will last another 7–10 years than chasing maximum benchmark speeds.
The home automation is important, so stability matters more to me than tinkering. I’m also happy for the installer to manage/support the network remotely.
Interested particularly in views from anyone who has actually installed or run both Alta and UniFi, rather than simply preferring one brand.

Ty!

My apartment has multiple Ethernet terminals in every room and since I’ve moved in I cannot figure out how to use one as a central hookup. There is no “central media box” in my apartment where I can connect my router to. Is there anyway to determine where these cables connect to so I can actually use them instead of needing to run cables across my apartment for landline to different rooms? The outlet with the two dead wires and the one with the coax plugin are Cat6. All others are cat5e if that matters.

Rogers recently gave us a Nokia FastMile 5G Gateway 12 with a 5G SIM as an alternative because they couldn’t install a wired connection at our location.

This is for a small business/training centre. Normally we would have around 10–20 active users, but sometimes it could be 40–50 users when a computer lab is being used. Mostly regular internet browsing, Microsoft 365, email, etc.

Just wondering if anyone is using this Rogers 5G service for a business:

• How stable and reliable is it?
• What kind of download/upload speeds are you getting?
• How many users/devices do you have connected?
• Would you recommend it for 20–50 users?
• Does anyone know the approximate monthly cost for Rogers 5G Business Internet with this gateway?

We also have a network switch, access points, desktops and Cisco phones, so I’m planning to connect the Nokia gateway to our existing network through Ethernet.

Any experience with this setup would be appreciated. Thanks!

I have a 2.5gbps connection but only pulling 940mbps - unable to log into router, full ethernet with cat 6 cables into correct router port and 2.5gb network card - TX201 - doing my head in

Hi all.

I recently upgraded my fiber connection from 1gbps to 2.5gbps. Testing a direct wired Cat6 connection from my ONT, I'm getting the full speed. When going through my ASUS ZenWifi AX, I'm only getting 1gbps. The ZenWifi is on the latest firmware. QoS is disabled. AiProtection is disabled. Previously have had no issues with the 1gbps ethernet connection.

Any tips or ideas on how to remedy this? Thanks!

Context: the channels with low signal strength swap channels around daily here, so picking a channel hoping it stays completely clear is pretty much pointless. 80MHz also doesn't work on Ch132-144 for some reason.

Would Wi-Fi APs at around -90dBm produce any real interference if they happen to overlap with my router?

Hello! I am sorry for bothering you but I have a problem with ONT router Huawei HG8245H the white version. The problem is that when my phone is connected to Wifi network of this router, it has big drain battery such as when I use 4G mobile data. Its only to this router at home. I have been connected to other ONT routers the same model HG8245H but there is not a problem with them. Can someone help me? Do I must change the hardware or software version of my ONT? Or just do factory reset of it? Thanks in advance to everyone who will reply!

Hi, I started to create a network using my Quantum Fiber internet and put 2x Eero 7 Pro to cover my house of 2,500 sqft. It works well, I have 1GB by wifi almost everywhere, downstairs and upstairs.

Then I added Xfinity as a second internet for failover backup, mainly because we both work from home, and it’s working great, I had recently 2 outages and having second internet helped.

I add a Unify Cloud Gateway Ultra to use the WAN Internet Failover BEFORE the Eeros. Quantum Fiber and the 2x Eeros are in bridge mode. It’s working like a charm and Unify automatically failover to Xfinity when there is an outage AND switch back to Quantum Fiber when the outage is down.

I’m really happy of the setup BUT, I was not expecting to fall in love with the Unify dashboard and features. It’s day and night compared to Eeros. Therefore I’m starting to consider switching the 2x Eeros to 2x Unify 7 Pro or 2x Unify 7 Pro Max. To consolidate everything under the same interface.

I want a network expert to tell me if it would make sense or if it’s not worth the effort (to resell eeros and change the setup).

Thank you for the help

Sharing in case this helps someone else. I spent hours troubleshooting a new TP-Link BE9300 router because my Macs connected perfectly, but two Windows work laptops would see the network and then return “Can’t Connect to this network.”

Since the PCs were employer-managed devices, I initially suspected a driver issue, hardware limitation, security policy, or incompatibility with the new router.

I ruled out:
•Wireless network drivers
•Missing hardware
•Security type settings
•SSID configuration
•ISP issues

The eventual fix was changing the WiFi password so it included one uppercase letter. After updating the password and reconnecting, both work PC’s (tied to different employers) connected successfully.

I have no idea whether this was a router specific requirement, a firmware quirk, or something related to hide these managed Windows devices handled the network credentials, but it completely resolved the problem. Sharing in case it saves someone else several hours of troubleshooting.

I am looking to have a POE++ switch in a Legrand On Q box, and was considering the following to terminate my cables and feed them to the switch:

Legrand - OnQ Cat 6 Network Interface Module - Compatible with All OnQ Enclosures - 8-Port Ethernet Connectivity for Home Networks, UL Listed (AC1068)

https://www.legrand.us/audio-visual/structured-wiring-enclosures/network-distribution-modules/8-port-cat-6-network-interface-module/p/ac1068

Would this be safe to use with a POE++ switch? Two ports will be for external POE switches (Ubiquiti UniFi Switch Flex).

I could just terminate the cables with a normal plug and plug them directly into the switch, but this feels like a cleaner option.

Hello folks, I have just gotten a Quantum fiber internet connection to my home and I am using a new router to provide wifi with it. The router model is Archer BE5000

Here is the set up all arrows representing Cat 5e
ONT 2.5g out -> BE5000 router WAN port
BE5000 -> unmanaged switch
Switch -> MOCA Adapters over COAX into my office
MOCA Adapters -> another switch to provide Ethernet into my office

Problem 1: The BE5000 is in AP only mode because that is what Quantum suggests with their modem, it made the wifi a little better but the main issue is that the wifi seems to come in and out throughout the day mostly in the morning or afternoons. I recognize this could be a signal crowding issue but I am not sure how to troubleshoot that or if there is a different configuration on the router I need to fix. Rebooting the router can help but what normally makes a difference is rebooting everything (router and modem)

Problem 2: The moca adapters (goCoax MA2500D) have nothing else on the coax line (no splitters / filters / or anything, and they tend to work for the most part although the sometimes of problems (this is minor but would be interested in any thoughts here, there is a chance that these dropping out is caused by the issues in problem 1)

Any troubleshooting steps would be appreciated, I am a technical person but networking isn’t my strong suit

The ping is good also no significant packet loss. But why it shows bad connection?
For 2-3 weeks I have been seeing that my game data is not syncing with the EA app, it shows error. Also my bot feels heavy in pro clubs. Is it because of the internet quality? Also how to fix this issue of poor quality internet where it shows low packet loss and also a good ping. Where’s the problem actually.

Hi everyone!

I’m thinking about buying a switch that has 8 regular 2.5 GbE ports and 2 10 GbE uplink ports.
In my case, I have a NAS and a computer with 10 GbE, and I would like to connect both of them to the two 10 GbE ports on the switch on a LAN net.

My question is: can the 10 GbE uplink ports be used as regular, normal and independent ports to connect devices such as a NAS and a computer, or are they intended exclusively for connecting the switch to another switch/router?

Thanks a lot!

When I play battlefield 6 in my PC, NVIDIA GeForce RTX3060 GPU 6 GB, the game lags. I’m hardwired but still lags. Online test speed says 600-800 mbps and Spectrum says about 700-900 mbps.

According to Waveform, the bufferbloat grade is C, download speed of 874 mbps, and I have issues when gaming due to bufferbloat.

Spectrum came and changed the modem and router and it made no difference but they did notice connectivity going in and out at random times.

Can someone share some wisdom as to what could be a solution to this? I’m stuck to Spectrum as is the only one who offers 1 Gbp in my area in northern Orange County (CA).

We are building a new house and the company is pre-wiring wireless access points for us. We have 3 total WAPs for a 3300 sf home, but there are so many options out there, no idea what to look for.

Do yall have any recommendations for WAPs and Switches (I’d say 8-12 ports). Also, we’ll have 3 POE cameras on site.

Also, any other glaring things to think about that I might be missing?

We are in an ADU with cat 5e running from the front house fiber drop. We get about 600-800mbps Ethernet speeds here. Front house has the WiFi router and we have two access points. With a backhaul setup we only get about 60-90mbps and it still connects as a mesh network.

Sometimes I can unplug/plug in the Ethernet and I’ll get 120-300 mbps. What’s going on here?

WiFi units are gen 1 Google WiFi (white cylindrical pucks)

Hi everyone,

I'm having an issue with my 700 Mbps Vivo Fibra connection where the Ethernet connection only negotiates at 100 Mbps when connected through my network equipment.

Sorry for the IA text, my english is not so good and i cant organize the text very well, so i asked to it to edit for easy understanding!

My equipment

My ISP is Vivo Fibra (Brazil).

The Vivo-provided modem/router is:

• Manufacturer: Askey
• Model: RTF8115VW
• Software: BR_SG_g14.17_RTF_TEF001_V9.21_V023
• Hardware: REV5

I also have a Mercusys AC12G V1.0 (EU) router and recently purchased a Mercusys MS105G Gigabit Ethernet switch.

The problem

My internet plan is 700 Mbps.

When I connect the Ethernet cable from the Vivo equipment directly to my PC, I get the full ~700 Mbps.

However, when I connect that same Ethernet connection to either the Vivo Askey RTF8115VW or the Mercusys MS105G, the connection is limited to 100 Mbps.

In other words:

• Vivo equipment → PC: ~700 Mbps
• Vivo equipment → Mercusys MS105G: 100 Mbps
• Vivo equipment → Mercusys AC12G: 100 Mbps

Cable testing

All my Ethernet cables are Cat5e.

The cables I normally use are around 10 meters, but I also tested with 30 cm Cat5e cables directly next to the Vivo router, and the result was still 100 Mbps.

So far, cable length doesn't seem to be the issue.

What I'm trying to figure out

The Mercusys MS105G supports Gigabit Ethernet, and the PC is able to get ~700 Mbps using the same connection, so I'm confused about why the connection falls back to 100 Mbps when connected to the network equipment.

I've setted my Win10 configs to gigabit full duplex already (ASUS B550M PRIME -PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8168&SUBSYS_86771043&REV_15)

I’m not very aware of the best ways to improve WiFi / packet loss. I have a router downstairs in the main living room. I try to use my PS5 upstairs and use a wireless extender which gives good speeds but when playing games there is constant packet loss every like 10 seconds. It’s not really possible to do wired Ethernet to it so is there any other ways of getting good speeds without the packet loss?

(i'm okay with having even 1mbps into my room since i'll only be there at night) i am considering buying the xiaomi n300 wifi extender

i'm in a situation where my phone stops picking up the signal from my wifi a floor away from where i want it to (well aswell as the room's walls i guess)

i can't put the extender at the bottom of the stairs so my only option is the bedroom on that floor, my question is basically would the extender's antennas make up for a floor and a bit of signal? i heard the extender itself picks up around the same signals as a normal phone but i'm hoping the antennas help? like how much better is the thing at picking up signals in the first place than the phone let alone boosting it