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Krakkles
May 5, 2003

What's it called when you use a wireless router to connect to and extend another wifi network, and / or connect wired devices to the router to connect to that other wifi network?

(I have my cable modem downstairs, providing a wifi network, I have a (Linksys EA2700) router upstairs that I want to connect to that wifi and have the desktop computer hardwired to it connect.)

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Krakkles
May 5, 2003

Antillie posted:

You are describing a wifi bridge. While certainly possible it usually requires 3rd party firmware such as DD-WRT.
drat. Ok, off to find out if I can install that on my router.

Is there a better way (other than hardwiring) to connect a desktop, a NAS, and an IP phone upstairs to a modem / router downstairs?

The desktop I could just get a wifi card for, but the IP phone and the NAS probably not.

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

Inspector_666 posted:

Before you put to much effort into this, know that wireless bridging/extension will pretty much never work as well as you want.
Thank you. Based on this, I'm taking the suggestion above for powerline networking. Thanks all!

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

Krakkles posted:

Thank you. Based on this, I'm taking the suggestion above for powerline networking. Thanks all!
Trip report: Bought a TP-Link kit off of Amazon, got free next day shipping (woo!), plugged it in and had it connected in about 5 minutes. Works great!

Thanks again, everybody.

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

This may not be the right place for this, so please suggest where else this might be relevant/answered, but I figured you guys would probably have good suggestions.

Is there a good "HTPC-like" simple option that I could use as a ... Network endpoint, for lack of a better term? The basic functions I'd be looking for would be to be able to RDP (specifically with the windows client, so that likely limits me to running some version of Windows) to the box, RDP from the box to other computers on my home network, run some version of uTorrent or something like it, and run headless.

I used to use a Dell GX280 for this, but it was noisy and slow, so I parted ways with it, but I'd like to set this back up.

I'd like it to be less than a couple hundred bucks, but I'm willing to pay for quality, ease of use, quiet, etc.

I'm not afraid of building, either, if that's a good option, I just don't even know where to start looking at parts.

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

Rukus posted:

Either one of Intel's NUCs or those Mini PCs you can find on Aliexpress.
Perfect! Looks like those NUCs are just what I needed. Thank you.

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

smax posted:

Seconding the NUC, be sure to get one of the new ones (it'll have "i6" in the name).
Hmmm. My googling here may have been unsuccessful - "Intel nuc i6" in Google came up with:

Coming Soon

This is the one I was looking at, which seemed like it would probably meet my needs:
Intel Boxed, NUC Kit, Nuc5ppyh Components, Silver with Black Top (BOXNUC5PPYH)

Should I wait for the 6th gen? Is there a release date? (I'm not seeing one so far, but I'm still googling.)

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

What's better? Airport base station + external hard drive or Time Capsule?

Cost is no object, reliability and functionality are king.

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

Edit: Nevermind, looks like no modem, just router. Recommended what's in the OP. Thanks anyway!

Krakkles fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Sep 10, 2018

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

Devian666 posted:

Which Modem should I buy?

This is increasingly complicated and is very dependent on your local provider. Check with your ISP to see what modems they support on their network before you go out and buy one. However, you should buy instead of rent because rentals are generally always more expensive over the long term.

As a rule, try to get the latest Motorola Surfboard modem supported by your ISP. These kits are generally rock-solid compared to other manufacturers and are designed to last a long time. The SB6141 and SB6183 are the go to models at the moment with the SB6190 on the high end. What’s the difference? Channel bonding. What the hell is that? In a word, speed. The more channels a modem can bond to the higher the speeds it can achieve. Some ISPs only offer their higher speed tiers with modems that can bond a minimum number of channels. In addition to making higher raw speeds possible the ability to bond more channels (8 for the 6141, 16 for the 6183, and 32 for the 6190) allows the modem to load balance your traffic across multiple channels more effectively and better avoid congested channels on the ISP's network. So even if you aren't paying for a higher speed tier you will get whatever speed you are paying for more consistently and more often with a modem that can bind to more channels.

The 6141, 6183, and 6190 are all pretty much the same but each one can bond to more channels than the previous one while also costing more. It’s hard to say if getting a more expensive modem is objectively worth the extra money without actually hooking up each modem in turn and testing them on your specific ISP in your specific area. The more people there are on the cable system in the area the more being able to bond to more channels helps out.

Now that price of the SB6183 has come down a bit it may be the better overall choice unless you live in an area with relatively few other cable internet subscribers where you would be just fine with the SB6141. The SB6190 is the king of channel bonding but it’s expensive. If you live in a dense apartment block/highrise with a ton of other cable internet subscribers the SB6190 may be worth it if your ISP supports it.

If you get stuck with a combo modem (Modem+Router+Wireless) and you want to run your own equipment behind it, then you must put the combo modem into bridge mode, or else you’ll suffer from issues like double NAT and another wireless network causing congestion.
It might be worth an update to this part of the OP - I've had an SB6190 for awhile and have constant problems (disconnects, reboots, mysterious latency).

Turns out I'm not the only one.

Krakkles
May 5, 2003

sellouts posted:

I have a 6183 you could try out? Just pay for shipping and if you like it kick me a few bucks? Worked flawlessly until I upgraded to gigabit.

Speaking of, got my pfSense set up with the qotom box from AliExpress. Anecdotal and based on network conditions but I now get 700-750mbps from Fast.com compare to 400-430mbps from Fast.com when connected to my Edgerouter.

Pretty happy. Very easy to get my basic set up going.
I appreciate the offer, but Spectrum came out and [did something] and swear it will work now!

... and I'm going to buy something not-Arris when it doesn't.

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Krakkles
May 5, 2003

I’m not at all sure where to ask this, but: are there IP desk phones that I can connect simultaneously to a google voice account and a Microsoft teams account?

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