Home Network Made Easy – DIY Set Up

hey what's going on do you want to know how do you hook up your internet to your home maybe you've got a couple different components like a modem and a router and you're wondering how do those work together or maybe it's even something complicated like this that you've seen in a house and you're just wondering what is all that stuff and how does it work that was the case for me i moved into a house i was pre-wired for internet and i wasn't exactly sure how it all came together but after researching i learned it's actually a lot simpler than i thought on the surface it sounds and definitely looks more complicated than it actually is so i'm going to explain it to you quickly and efficiently and easy to understand terms so let's not waste any more time and jump right into it all right so the first thing in order to set up your internet is you're going to have to buy it from a source they're called isps which is internet service provider and this is extremely location based so in a lot of locations such as the one that i live in you pretty much only have one option there are some other options but they don't compare in terms of what they offer and really what it comes down to is the more speed you get from your internet the more it's going to cost in general now this can be tricky and confusing because there's a lot of marketing that goes on and always trying to bundle it up with something else like maybe a security system or tv or phone or something like that but when shopping for that value i would look for the speed that you need at the best price you can get it i'll link an article below that'll help you determine how much speed you need now once you buy it from an internet service provider it's gonna come into your house some way usually one cable something like this and then you're gonna have to plug this into something now another cool thing about isps is most of them are gonna offer you a one device solution to all of your home network and internet needs and they do this for two reasons reason number one is to make money because on your bill you'll notice they're going to charge you a monthly fee for that hardware for that device and let's say that that device cost a hundred dollars and they charge you 10 bucks a month after you've had it for 10 months is how they make money on that 11th month they made a little bit of money the other and possibly more important reason they do it is to just make it simple and easy for you and the way they do that is they make it all in one device and really that device is doing four things that you could buy individually as its own device and that's what i mean by all-in-one it's combining these four functions to give you one device to just make it simple you plug it into the wall for power you plug your internet source into that box and then you have everything you need the only thing you have to do is set up the wi-fi which they'll give you instructions here's the username password and you can change that if you want so you might be thinking okay well if it's that simple and easy then what's all that other stuff and what's it for sometimes you might want or even need more than what that one device can offer you so help understand i'm going to explain what each one of those individual things i'm talking about that is being combined into this one device does and that should help you understand why you may want or need more of each one of those individual things so let's start from the beginning first we're going to have this signal right here okay and that's gonna plug into what's called a moda now here's a modem and that's all that this is it's a single device it's a modem and all you do is you plug this in just like that and you're also gonna have a power source you're gonna have to the part that goes into your wall outlet is also gonna be plugged in and then you're gonna have an ethernet jack where you can take this ethernet cord and plug it into here and what this modem does is it takes your internet service provider signal and you can almost think of it as a translator or a converter it's going to convert this signal into usable internet that's the simplistic purpose and what a modem is and does so you can see here we've got this one internet connection here but in order to connect to this safely and in order to connect a bunch of devices we're going to need what's called a router all right so now we take this and we connect it to a router all right most routers today are three in one what i mean by that is it's a router it's also a switch and an access point and really all a switch and access point is is different ways to connect your devices to the internet so if it's a access point that's broadcasting a wi-fi signal and allows things to connect wirelessly now switch is the opposite where you're going to connect it with a wire now most routers have a port to connect the signal from your modem into the router and then they're going to have one to four ports where you can wire in a device now let's say that you take up these ports right here or it's like the euro that i have it only has one other port to connect to the internet but let's say that hey i want to wire four or five other devices that's when you'd use what's called a switch which is what this guy is so it's not an access point and it's not a router it's simply just a switch and the easiest way at least for me to think about a switch is it's just like a power cord you need the source where you plug into the outlet wall which is okay this usable signal coming off my router i'm going to plug it in and now these other ports can go to different devices so you could also think of it as like a splitter you know you put one import and now all the ports are active and you can plug multiple things into the device that's why i say that this is not only a switch but an access point and a router where all that this guy does right here is act as a switch which just allows you to plug more things into your internet with wires all right and an access point would be similar to a switch might look something like this to where all this does is broadcast wi-fi and it's going to need to be connected to the internet and we're going to connect that with wire that's what an access point is but pretty much all the routers you're going to buy today are going to do both it's going to take the signal from your modem you're going to plug it in and now you can connect devices with wires or with wi-fi that's wireless on here and then what most internet service providers are going to give you is something that combines these two devices into just one all-inclusive device so that all you have to do is plug in the source and then the ports coming out of it you can connect to internet and it's wirelessly putting out wi-fi and you can connect to it it's an all-in-one device so now that we understand that let's think of why someone might want and or even need something more than just that one unit well if there's only three ports on it and you need to connect seven things then you're gonna have to use a switch or let's say that yeah it's broadcasting wi-fi but i can't get it in the bedroom it's too far away it doesn't reach well then you're gonna want an access point now access points are unique because you can actually connect them wirelessly which is referred to as wi-fi mesh routers so a lot of the routers you can buy today are going to be a wi-fi mesh router which basically you're going to plug in one router into your modem and that's going to broadcast some wi-fi and then you're going to put another one of these somewhere else where it can pick up that wi-fi signal and then broadcast its own allowing you to reach farther and reach the whole area you're trying to cover and most of those mesh wi-fi routers are also going to have the option to where you can actually plug it in with a wire in which case that would be considered more of an access point rather than a mesh wi-fi router i'm just trying to help you understand the difference when you hear that mesh wi-fi router it's basically another access point that's connected wirelessly and when you hear access point it's basically something that is going to put off wi-fi that's connected with a wire to your router all right now other than the actual wire having to plug something in and not really being mobile and being plugged in having a wired connection is better and because of that some people will choose to wire in things that are stationary and not mobile like maybe a tv that's on the wall but unless you're gonna run a really long ethernet cable and plug it into your tv that's gonna be pretty unsightly so you wouldn't do that unless you live in a house that is wired for internet and a lot of times they do this when they build the house they'll call it like it's pre-wired for internet or sometimes even older houses or just people that are in need of wired connections will retrofit the house to be wired in a way that you can connect different devices and rooms basically it'll be a jack on the wall that'll have an ethernet connection and then all those wires will run behind the wall and come to one central location and that's basically what it means when somebody says hey this house was configured or pre-wired for internet all right so to recap all you really need is the one device your internet service provider gives you you plug it in it's gonna broadcast a wi-fi signal maybe you have a couple like hubs or something that you plug into that and you're good and if that suits you and satisfies your needs then don't over complicate it i would just leave it there now some problems might come up one being hey the wi-fi this is in the basement it doesn't reach the upstairs bedroom in which case you're gonna need another device to push out that wi-fi there's different ways of doing it it's either going to be wireless or wired but going back to that idea if it's possible to wire it it's going to be better so if you have a home that's pre-configured or the ability to connect the two with the wire that's not gonna be in the way or seen then definitely go that route and a lot of the ones you buy i'll put a link in the description of my personal favorite which is e-e-r-o i think it's pronounced eero or euro or something the reason i like that is because it's simple and it works it's a little bit more pricey and what you're paying for though is the simplicity you plug it in you download the app and it just works and you don't have problems with it that's why i use it but my point is with that you can actually plug them in with a wire or you can do it wirelessly with the wi-fi mesh but definitely wire it if possible now another problem that you might have is there's not enough ports on the device to connect all the things that you need to actually wire in like some hubs or something in which case you can just buy a switch and that's going to give you more ports and that's essentially all a home network is i know it seems like some big crazy complicated thing but let's again go look at mine and i'll explain exactly how it works and what those components are and why they're there and hopefully you'll understand it and have the knowledge now to set up your own home network all right now let's take what we just learned and explain all these wires and this system that looks really complicated and let me show you that's actually pretty simple the house i live in is pre-wired for internet so you can see all these wires and cables that are coming into this one centralized location and even if your house is pre-configured for internet it's still going to have that one cable that brings in the internet which is this guy right here you don't have to do all this you can just use that one device your isp provider gives you plug it into this and you're good to go so i think you can make a strong argument that none of this is really needed it's more of just a want unless you're some person whose work really involves a lot of tech and in that case you're probably not watching this video but all these wires come into one centralized location and i put it in this box basically you can see there's a glass door on there this shuts makes it look all nice and clean i'll put a link in the description to this exact one it was definitely the best price i could find i saw a lot of others that were not fully enclosed had less shelves and more expensive so i was really happy and surprised with how good of a price this is it even comes with a fan see i'll turn it on real quick to keep everything in here cool i'm going to turn it off for now because it makes too much noise it's a really good deal but you don't need this box you could just use what i use for my aquarium equipment i'll show a shot just like a piece of plywood and just put all this stuff on the plywood you could even put it on some shelving or something like you don't have to buy something like this it's totally unnecessary but it looks really cool and it's definitely used in businesses because they might have a lot of i.t stuff and it just wraps it up makes it look really nice but unnecessary for a home but that's what this is it's called a rack and when you're looking at them you'll see they'll say 6u or 8u the u is just number of shelves how many different things you can put in it you can see this takes up one this takes up one here's one this is one that's all that that means and all iraq is just like a box to store the stuff and sometimes it's not even a box just sheldon all right so this bottom strip right here with these little switches all it is is a power strip just like this one on the back of it looks just like this and then on the front you have these switches it just makes it look cool that's all it is just a big power strip that's made to fit in one of these racks all right now we have this one signal which is right here it comes down into the box and it connects to this which is the modem the back of the modem looks just like the back of this modem and that one wire connects just like that and then you have your power which is connected to this guy all right and then that one ethernet port has a wire an ethernet wire connected and then this the other end of that wire goes into this right here which is my router now this is a eero router it's very simple and that's why i love it is because it works it rarely ever cuts out you pay a little bit more for how nice and simple it is but i highly recommend it i'll put a link in the description and it only has three connections one for power one where you plug into it from this guy and then one where we have another cord coming out of it and then that cord is this black wire right here which plugs into this guy and this guy is just a big switch that's all it is so just like that little one i showed before that has five ports it's the same thing it just has 24 ports so you can see i plugged in one right here now these other 23 ports are usable to where you could plug in something like a computer and now it has access to the internet so all of those wires that are running through the house behind the walls and come down to this one point we could take those wires and we could just plug them into this switch right here which would mean now if i go to that room where there's a jack on the wall and the other end of that wire is if i plug something in like a computer it's going to have access to the internet now this top piece here is completely unnecessary you don't have to have it it's mainly to make it look cool and to keep it organized but it's called a patch panel and all those wires that come in rather than just being a bunch of wires that look like this dangling around it plugs into the back of this patch panel and then it has a ethernet jack where you can just plug something in and these are basically just little jumper cables that go from the end of the wires that come into the house and then plug it into the switch so that's all these wires are that's all it is it's basically just a little extension cord just plugging in those two things to make it look a little bit nicer and neater there's a lot of advantages to it and i'm not going to explain it because this is a simple video but it's completely unnecessary is the point i'm trying to make but obviously you can tell it's easy to move things around i made it look color coordinated because all the wires in my house have two ethernet cords going to each room one's green one's blue and i kept that color scheme here so i could differentiate and easily visually see them you can see there's places to mark up here so you can label which ones which and easily tell what's going on and that's it so you can see it's actually not too complicated once you understand the components and it's pretty simple now i took out a bunch of other things that were plugged in here so that it didn't over complicate it but for example this right here is just a smart home hub it's a samsung smart things just allows you to like turn off and on lights um smartly and what's nice about having a rack like this is i just need to put this on the shelf plug in the power and then i take this ethernet cord and just plug it into my switch and bam it's connected to the internet i could even take this guy and not put it in here i could go put it in a room somewhere plug this end into the wall and it's connected to the internet that's the advantage of having this whole system set up now there's a lot of other things i don't have like nas network attached storage which basically is just a big hard drive that you plug into your switch and then you can plug your computer in in another room and since that wired connection's there you can pull data off just like an external hard drive people do other things like have actual servers in here but again i'm just keeping it simple and i think now you understand this is kind of the basic setup and then you can just plug stuff into it that's the advantage of why people do it alright cool so i hope you got some value out of this video if you did and would like to let me and youtube know just like comment or subscribe i appreciate you watching and i'll see you next time

Channel: Walt's Reviews

Views: 88,959

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Id: 1-CLozCaZzE

Length: 16min 59sec (1019 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 04 2021