Be Excellent To Each Other

In another thread Grim... mentioned his complex home network setup and stated that home networking is only going to become more complex. This got me wondering about the current state of home networking. I have been fiddling with various solutions since I first got Broadband back in the dim dark days of 2002.

Here's my setup:



It works well and has room for expansion. I'd like to know how your homes are wired up. Do tell.

O2 ADSL to Draytek modem to Airport Extreme Base Station.

Connected to the AEBS:-
1) gigabit wired to Windows Home Server
2) 100 meg wired to switch under TV
3) 200 meg (hah) wired to powerline adaptor
4) wifi to 2x MacBooks, 2x iPhones, 1x iPad, etc
5) Airport Express under TV (for iTunes streaming)

Connected to the switch under the TV:
1) Boxee
2) PS3
3) Xbox 360
(I'd make this gigabit but the Boxee Box only has a 10/100 ethernet adaptor anyway so I don't care.)

Connected to the powerline network:
1) One-port adaptor in kitchen that connects to a second Airport Express.
2) Four-port adaptor in office that connects to desktop PC and printer.

Fairly sure my 5 GHz Wifi network outperforms the 200 meg powerline one, so I use the MacBook on wifi even when it's in the office. I should test that hypothesis though.

Wireless Router wired to a gigabyte switch

Connected Wirelessly we have:

Xbox 360
2* Wii (one with a broken optical drive)
2* Netbook
Laptop (not often used)
Sky Anytime+
3* Boys computers in their bedrooms
OLD EPOS with usb (connected to TV)
Mobile Phone
I have a DS (but the router is not currently configured to let it through)

Wired to the switch:

Printer
3* Crappy computers that don't work as well as they should and rarely get used.

I guess I need to sort out the network a bit really.

Malc

Mine's nice and simple...

Virgin/Netgear Wireless Router

- Wired -
Desktop PC (just a spare)

- Wireless -
Main Desktop PC upstairs
Netbook
Xbox 360
Wii

Roughly this, just not gigabit yet. My NAS is under the TV too

Mine goes: Netgear ADSL modem/router/wireless box
1 wire to iMac (computer room)
1 wire to xBox 360 (living room)
1 wire to spare bedroom / laboratory (nothing connected)

Wireless iPhone, iPad, netbook. Old laptop etc.

Used to be more complicated. I got fed up with that.

Phone socket -> Wireless router -> All devices.

The router blatantly can't handle that much, but I'm not trailing wires.

Phone socket -> SKY router -> Xbox through a cable, everything else is wireless, as I don't like cables about the place.

I have the phone coming in upstairs to the modem where there's a couple of PCs, then a cable goes downstairs to another modem which I just use as a wireless access point thing and which has the PS3/360/TV wired into it. Wireless things don't seem to do too well in this house so having an upstairs and downstairs access point was the only way to solve it.

Wireless router with:
Wired connection to my old G4 Mac (cant remember last time I switched it on)
Wireless connection to my laptop, Mrs's laptop, 360, my phone, Mrs's phone & iPod Touch.

Some crappy Telco provided modem-router (possibly could do with replacing as although it's only a year old it's beginning to flake).

Wired:
Xbox 360
Revo (as a media centre)
A WD NAS (for media)
'Big' PC

Wireless:
Laptop
iPhone 3G
Lady T's X10 mini
Netbook (not used that often any more)
Wii (Almost never used)
DS (In a drawer, pretty much never used).

I have a Sky Sagem router. It's got a wired connection to my Home Server, and a powerline connection to my 360. Laptops/mobiles/iPad are wireless.

NetGear ADSL modem/router

1 x Windows PC
1 x NAS
1 x to other 10/100 hub


10/100 hub

1 x iMac
1 x Mono laser
1 x Colour laser

Wireless

802.11b

iPod Touch
2 x HTC Desire

802.11g

1 x laptop

When I bring the Funsquare home from Dublin, it will live downstairs, but I'm not too happy about it being on wireless. Might powerline it as a test.

Why? Mines been absolutely fine.

The laptop occasionally drops out and then immediately reconnects when downstairs. The Funsquare will be downstairs, with the router upstairs. So just thinking out loud really.

I've got my Virgin 20Mb cable modem heading into a wireless router. From there I've got my PC, 360 and PS3 cabled in, and the Wi-Fi is used for laptops and phones.

Kingston Communications 'broad'band line

goes into:

Ubiquitous Thompson router you get everywhere

802.11g link to:

Cyberpower Gaming rig ---bridged--- XBox 360
Eee1000H --bridged--Mesh music studio PC
XBox 360 (lounge, media centre stuff)
Eee 901
Eee901 --bridged-- LG internet TV
Dell Inspiron something
Wii

Mobile devices on the router's list:

DS, DS Lite, PSP, HTC Desire, Nokia N95, SE Blue S60 Experia thing, 2 Kindles and a

Wired: Original XBox (for no reason whatsoever anymore)

Good lord, you're a glutton for punishment!

Holy shit, GY!

Unfortunately, the electrician quoted a grand for loads of socket quantity/placement work or 3.5k for "also a complete rewire", which rules out running Cat5e everywhere instead of using HomePlugs.

I have a PC on XP and a laptop on Vista, I can only connect in one direction, and that is when I switch off my firewall. Even then, any attempt at data transfer is so slow, it is quicker to burn to CD and and then copy off that.

My 200Mbps powerlines don't work anywhere near as faster as wireless. Probably max out at 20-25Mbps I used to get similar speeds with 3 plugs though as I only use 2 now.

So my network is:





I find the PowerLine are reliable as hell although they aren't fast enough to handle a 100Mbps NAS, so all devices that need fast access are connected to the switch.

Why, what?

Am I doing it wrong?

If you are referring to the bridged stuff, these are things that only need to be online occasionally, which I'm not forking out £20-50 for a wifi adapter for, when I've got tiny underpowered PCs that'll do the job just as well.

Nah, just that it's tons of stuff, and highly complicated.

All you need is a river to cross!

Thinking on, when I tested the powerline from the utility room (where my router is) to my office, it was managing approximately 7.5 GB/hour. Which is slower than the fastest 802.11n I've seen at about 17 GB/hr.

I've got 200Mbps plugs, and I get around 80Mbit out of them.

It's not all on at once!

I've had my plugs for around 3-4 years... could be that they be old.... or it could be I have a crap power system

Hmm. That's about 5x the speed I get, then (35 GB/hr, right?)

It's totally dependent on the state of your wiring, and whether it crosses multiple ring mains etc.

Yes, I know. Interesting that it really is sub-par is all.

bear in mind that my house was totally rewired four years ago, and I'm only getting 80, not 200. That's with both ends on a single circuit too.

The 200 figure is cheaty duplex marketing, i.e. it's 100 Mb in each direction added together to make a bigger number. And it's also the theoretical maximum which excludes bitrate used on necessary overhead (think Ethernet frame headers, but for whatever encapsulation Powerline uses). So you're probably on 85-90% or so of maximum real-world speed for two plugs right next to each other, which is pretty reasonable.

Nerd.

I still like it though.

Interesting mix of complexity and simplicity.

Anyone have any neighbours with amusing wifi names?

I have no network at home

This thread scares me because I can only understand about 25% of it.
Anyway, I have some kind of wireless router thingy that "runs" the iPod, iPad, DS, Wii and PSP. The PC and 360 are wired up to it. With wires.
Everything else is controlled by Cornish Piskies.

We had one in range of us called 'The Whorehouse' and I was always itching to know who it was.

When the MILF with the big tits from two doors down moved out a few months ago and the network disappeared, it all fell into place.

With the benefit of hindsight I should have popped round to ask for a cup of sugar one evening.

Just ordered a bargain basement NAS. Will share my inevitable horror stories after it arrives.

No idea about my neighbours, but mine is Mos Eisley Spaceport.

My network layout goes something like this:

Virgin 50mb broadband > Supplied Netgear router >
[Wired] Server/Data Storage
[Wired] PS3
[Wired] Sony BDP-570
[Wired] Netbook
[Wired] Toshiba HD-EP35
[Wireless] Wii
[Wireless] Samsung Galaxy S
[Wireless] Spare PC downstairs
Zio has wireless access to my router for his iFad and iDrone. As does my Mum's laptop and other family member's phones and Kindles.

One of my neighbours has named their network " Hot Wet Teen "

Is it Zardoz Dimrill?

Unlikely but Craster does live in my postcode area

This, shockingly, went well. No hitches at all.

Sorry.

NAS horror stories rarely happen in the first week of ownership.

Yeah, they wait until you have plenty of stuff to lose.
What did you get?

This is where he says "Buffalo Linkstation" and we all roll about laughing.