Personal Project: Setting Up Proper Networking :D

Okay, so im planning to get a more stable network at my new place.

The ISP, Altibox uses regular ethernet cables for both internet and tv so i was thinking of upgrading the existing CAT5 setup to a proper CAT6 network.
I get around 60 Mbit/s bandwidth up & down, but this can get upgraded later on so im looking forward to futureproof it as much as possible.

The network will connect minimum 4 PCs, 2 Xbox 360 consoles, a PS3 + 2 NAS drives with cable, the rest will probably be connected by a wireless router.

The other network for TV will be separate.
The switch im thinking of using for splitting up the TV network will be this one from Netgear.

The regular network will be split up by two Asus wireless N routers.
The review i read on it was very positive so hopefully it will work out.

When all this is finished, i can keep all the computers backed up by the first NAS drive while the second one can keep all my media digitally so no more DVD discs.

But since this is the first time im ever doing something like this im open for helpful suggestions, and why not ask the NBR community on that.

DEagleson

 

ASUS RT-66U is a good router but it's somewhat pricey (not to mention buggy firmware).
I'm not saying it's a bad idea but it's roughly $360 worth of routers.
It might be an overkill.

Another matter is Cat5-> Cat6 upgrade. Cat 5e is perfectly capable of of 1gbps while ordinary Cat 5 not so much.
If your wiring is done with Cat 5e there's no reason to upgrade.

 

Its hard choosing the right router.
The last purchase i did was on a D-Link DIR-855 back in 2009 and while its mostly working now it took a long time before D-Link made the firmware stable enough.

So anything D-Link is out of the question at the moment.

But i wont buy two of the Asus ones at the same time, im gonna buy one and test it out before i make up my mind.
My aim once this is done is that both the 2,4GHz and 5GHz wireless will be as stable as possible for the various devices i own.

But i will check if the cables are CAT5 or CAT5e.
I did not do the work on that network, but the ISP did so im not sure what standard it is.

Whats the easiest way to confirm that?

 

The easiest would be to check what's printed on the cable itself provided the cable is visible somewhere (as in not in the wall).

 

Okay, thanks for the advice.

Edit: I can confirm its CAT5e, but im replacing it anyways because of slight damage visible on the outside cable.
Probably wont last another winter since one part is outside the house.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

The switch you picked is only a 10/100 speed. I would jump up to a GigE switch. Make sure you get one that is non-limiting. Some have a max total for ports.

 

@blue68f100

I think it's a Gigabit one.

 

Its a gigabit switch, just a typo on the site.

 

Good, There was something about the Netgear SW I did not like when I looked at them several years ago. I ended up with a Dlink.