Recently moved into a house wired with Cat5e and want lots of smart lights & speakers - eviltoast

I’m a complete noob when it comes to networking. I want a very simple setup.

Here’s what I want to do, but have no idea how practical it is.

I want to put a modern tri-band modem in the main spot where the cable comes into the house. There’s a spot right next to there where there are more than a half dozen Cat5e endpoints (for lack of a better word) that run to various “drops” (I think that’s what they’re called) throughout the house.

The house is 2 story and 2400 sq feet.

- Can I just get a modern modem and connect the Cat5e endpoints/plugs directly to the router’s LAN ports?

- Do I need a special router?

- Can I plug something into the “drops” in various rooms to get devices in those rooms faster wifi speeds without needing a wifi mesh network?

- Are there any special considerations for running potentially 2 dozen smart lights, a half dozen smart speakers (to start), and having multiple people (3 - 5) streaming and/or gaming on various devices?

  • Potential_Store_9713@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I suggest first deciding exactly how you’re going to use your home network. Pick your smart switches and speakers, whatever else you want, then work backwards to what network support works best with your choices. Smart switches can be picky in some environments.