Smartswitch vs router (home network)

[Pandamonium]

My D-Link DIR-825 B2 is about to die. As it stands, it covers most of the house on the 2.4GHz band pretty well (craps out exactly at the back door). 5GHz is a bit more dicey, especially upstairs.

Anyway, I want to move all my gear to the basement to clean up the area behind my TV. I also plan to run CAT6 upstairs in the future. Unless the DIR-825 has incredibly poor range and newer units like an Asus RT-AC68U provide outstanding range, I'm pretty sure I'll need at least one additional access point (2 APs if I want wifi on the patio, which I might in the future. But then I want seamless handoff, which opens a whole other can of worms...)

So I'm looking at potentially getting a basic but very reliable GbE router +/- switch in the basement, and a new wireless router that I'll configure as an AP on the ground floor.

As far as the router side of things, i've come across things like Netgear Smart Switches, which seem awfully similar to routers. But for the life of me, I can't figure out how much different they are. Any advice?

(FWIW, I've also looked into Ubiquiti. I like it and would seriously considering deploying it if the 802.11ac units weren't ridiculously expensive.)

As far as requirements:
GbE (no GbE = dealbreaker)
Jumbo frames highly preferred
Reliability/uptime/"set it and forget it"
PoE is nice (especially if I go with Ubiquiti APs)
Min 8 ports

 

[smitbret]

The problem I see is proper DHCP configuration. Why would you not just leave the router as a router? You can still connect everything through the switch in the basement but let the router do its thing and act as the AP.

Switches are headed the route of "commodity" where it is hard to go wrong with a brand name as long as it has all of the features you need.

Try this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833704173

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833122111

Drop a decent router onto the ground floor, let it take care of the DHCP and the wireless and you should be good to go.

There are switches out there that can act as a DHCP server but I haven't really heard good things about their ability to be easily set up.

 

[heymrdj]

Do a quality router and separate switch in the basement. Run unifi AP's (as many as you need) throughout the house. They even make an outdoor model if you want one dedicated to outside. If your switch/wiring supports it, they also run off of PoE so you wont have to have an adapter.