Home Network Setup Made-Easy

Outlined below the basics of how a home network works, which components are needed (router, access point, switch etc.) and how you can set it up to get the best network with great performance.

By FARHAD MEHRABAN

Planning your Home Network Setup

Before we start buying the network gear, first figure out what we need and what we want to accomplish with our home network.

What is the layout of your house and where would you like coverage? Just inside or you also like to have WiFi access available outdoors as well?
Wired or Wireless? Most devices can connect over WiFi, but for streaming and gaming, a wired connection is preferred.
How many devices require wired connection?
Do you want to support PoE (Power of Ethernet) devices? Think of IP Cameras and Access Points.

We need to plan for a network setup that is suitable for now and the upcoming 3 to 5 years. More and more devices require an internet connection these days, most wireless, so good wireless coverage is important. Especially if you want to use Smart Home products.

Also, keep into consideration that kids grow up, get their own mobile phone and might have a computer or game console in their own room.

Home Network Router

The first thing we need is a good network router. Your ISP will provide you with a modem/router which sometimes also has a built-in access point. So, why not use just the default modem/router?

Well, you have no control over security, the features are limited and the WiFi coverage might suffer speed and connectivity. Besides that, the modem/router from the ISP needs to be placed close to the internet cable, which is in most cases not place where you want to use the wireless network.

So, what makes a good router? If we look on the internet most brands advertise with the speed of the wireless connection, how many Mbps the router can handle etc. But what we are looking for is

Easy to manage – preferred a simple to use web interface
Fast – (number of packages per second it can process, the throughput)
Supports QoS – (quality of service, so we can prioritize streaming media and gaming)
Fan-less (fans make noise and attracted dust into the device)

What I don’t care about it there WiFi performance. A router is never placed in the optimal position for good WiFi coverage. And good WiFi coverage and speed is the most important part of a good home network. We will leave the Wifi to the access points, there are built for that.

Which router should you buy?

Now there are many routers on the market, but I have the best experience with the Unifi or Edge routers, both from Ubiquiti. You might have never heard of them, but they make enterprise-class network equipment for a great price.

Home Network Switch

Connecting network devices by wire is the best solution if you want stability and performance. Wireless networks are prone to interference which can be frustrating when you are watching your favorite series on Netflix or competing in an online game. So, when you have the opportunity, pull cables to every location in your house to ensure a good, reliable, home network.

How many ports do you need?

So, as part of our home network setup, we need a good switch to connect all the devices together. The most routers come with 4 Lan ports, so if you are only going to use WiFi in your home, then a switch is not needed.

In all the other cases, I recommend getting at least an 8-port switch to connect everything. Why 8-ports? Well, let I take you through a shortlist of common network devices:

You need one port of the switch to connect the router
Access point ground floor
Access point second floor
NAS (Network Attached Storage / External hard drive)
Smart TV
Game Console
Smart Thermostat (some connect over wifi, others need a bridge)
Office / Computer

You see, nothing special here and I already used the 8-ports. When buying a switch keep the following in mind:

PoE support, this way you can connect an access point with only an ethernet cable.
vLAN support, you want to separate your guest network for your own.
Gigabit Ethernet speed

Home Network Basics

So, before we start with setting up our home network, let me talk you through some basics to help you understand how a home network works.

In a network, all devices get an Ip Address. Each device has a unique Ip Address in the network. This way all the devices can communicate with each other.

Your router has always a fixed Ip Address, this way you are able to easily log in to your router, you simply go to http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1.

DHCP vs Fixed Ip Address

In a network, a device has either a fixed Ip Address or gets an Ip Address from the DHCP server. The DHCP server is built-in to your router and assigns a unique Ip Address for a specific time to a computer.

This way you can not only use your notebook or mobile phone in your home network but also at the office for example. When your notebook connects with the wireless network from the office it will request an Ip Address from the DHCP server at your office.

Now it’s good practice to give fixed network device a fixed Ip Address. This way you always know how to connect to them. Think of your network printer, access point or NAS. When you leave your network printer on DHCP then it will get a new IP Address every time it’s restarted, resulting in you losing the connection to your printer.

So, in our home network setup, we will give our fixed network devices a fixed IP address so we can easily manage them when necessary.

DHCP vs Fixed Ip Address

So, in our home network setup, we will give our fixed network devices a fixed IP address so we can easily manage them when necessary.

Home Network Setup

We now have all the gear we need to for our network. All is left to connect and install everything, and we are done. Sound simple right?

Let me help you with that!

Step 1 – Connect the router to the modem

Most ISP’s combine a modem and router into one device. This way you can just plug in your computer and it all works. But we want the best home network setup possible, so we need to “disable” the router function of the ISP’s modem/router.

What you will have to keep in mind is that every router you buy has a fixed IP-address already set from the factory and 9 out of 10 times it is 192.168.1.1 and that’s a problem. Because if two devices in the network have the same Ip Address then they can’t talk to each other.

Change Ip address and DHCP

So, we are going to start with changing network settings in the router from the ISP:

Press Windows Key + R
Type cmd <enter>

The good old dos box (Windows Command Prompt) opens. Enter the following command:

ipconfig <enter>

It will give you a result like this:

As you can see, the default address of my ISP’s router is also 192.168.1.1, so when we connect our new router to the one of the ISP we will get a conflict.

So first you need to login to your ISP router, on http://192.168.1.1 and change the IP range in the DHCP settings to something like 192.168.0.10 – 192.168.0.100 and make the IP-address of the router itself 192.168.0.1

You will find the DHCP settings somewhere under Network Settings, Local Network, Network Setup or something similar.

Connect new router

We now can safely connect our new router, just connect a cable between a LAN port of your ISP router to the WAN or Eth0 port of your new router. And because we need our computer connected as well, a cable from a LAN port of our new router to your computer:

Step 2 – Setting up our new Router

So, our new router is connected to the one of the ISP. We now need to set up our new router.

Change the default password

Security in our home network is something you always must take care of. Make sure you change the default password of the router to something unique and strong. Default passwords are listed on the internet, so you really shouldn’t use those.

Setup the DHCP server

We want to keep the Ip Address above the 192.168.1.200 available for the fixed network devices. So, make sure the DHCP range is set to something like 192.168.1.10 to 192.168.1.199. This way we have enough Ip Address available for our access points, network printers etc.

DNS Server

DNS Servers translate domain names, like lazyadmin.nl, to an Ip Address. So your computer can connect to the server where the site is hosted. Now some DNS servers are relatively slow while others are blazing fast.

You can find the fastest DNS server for you, but most of the time 1.1.1.1 and 1.1.0.0 are the fastest DNS server available. Another advantage of 1.1.1.1 is that they respect your privacy.

Step 3 – Connect the switch

This one is easy, just put a cable between a LAN port of your new router and the switch. If you have a managed switch, then check the documentation on how to login into the web interface.

Some switches come with a fixed IP address; others have a tool to find the device. What I often use in for me strange networks, is a small program called Advanced Ip Scanner. This small, free tool scans your network and list all connected devices and their IP-Address.

When you are logged into to switch, give it a fixed IP address, so you don’t have to search for it again.

Step 4 – Access Points

Depending on the access point you got and the switch that you’ve bought, it can be as simple a connecting an ethernet cable between the switch and access point. But when you have a switch without PoE, then you need to place the PoE adapter between the switch and access point.

Home Network Security

Separate Guest WiFi Network

After we have done our home network setup it’s time to think about the security of it and the devices on it. We all get guests in our house, it can be friends, family or relatives and they all have a cell phone. You might be tempted to give them your WiFi password, but what if their device has malware or a virus on it? Your network could be infected as well.

Most modern access points allow you to create multiple SSID’s (WiFI networks), so create one for your guests. But that’s not all you have to do; the goal is to separate the guest network traffic from your own network. And that’s where VLANs comes in (remember what to keep in mind when looking for a new switch).

Create a separate VLAN for your guest network to keep your network safe. When creating a VLAN you need to create the VLAN on the router first, and then assign the VLAN to the guest SSID in the access point.

If you have gone for the Unifi solution you can also use the Unifi Guest Network to prevent guests from accessing your local network

Scan internet traffic

To keep our network safe, we need to prevent malware and other malicious traffic. This can be done with a free service called OpenDNS. When you browse the internet, every URL you type is converted to an IP address.

So when you type www.google.com, it’s converted by a DNS server to the correct IP address (for example 172.217.19.196 ). This conversion is done by DNS servers, and there are many DNS server available. Your ISP has one, Google, Microsoft, etc.

What OpenDNS does is keeping a list of known malicious servers. When your computer makes a request to www.fakebanksite.com it will check if that site is on the known list and block the traffic. This way it protects you from phishing and other malicious websites

OpenDNS is free for personal use and I really recommend using it. All it takes is changing the DNS servers in your new router to their DNS server to protect your network.

OpenDNS is also one of the fastest DNS servers available, so a really good choice next to 1.1.1.1.

Change the default network name (SSID)

New routers and access points come with a default WiFi network name (SSID) and password. You should always change this immediately after you connected everything. Hackers can easily guess the password based on the manufacturer of the router or access point. Choose an SSID name that doesn’t give away any personal information you’re your family name or address.

Regular update the firmware of your network appliances

A network appliances, router, access point, switch, smart devices, printers, need to be updated regularly to keep them secure. Creating a good home network isn’t a one-time task, you need to keep it updated.

The firmware updates can address security vulnerabilities and improve your network device’s performance. So, every two months or so, check for the latest updates and apply them to the devices.

Home Network Setup Made-Easy

Home Network Setup Made-Easy