Equipment Choice for 10GbE wired and WiFi 7 mesh?

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cycling-atria-0s

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Nov 3, 2024
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This is a newbie question, but could you help choosing the right equipment, please?

I'm building a home network with 10GbE wired and WiFi 7 mesh access points. I have a 1gig fiber to the home and the modem / router provided by the internet company. I want to add a better firewall and separate some wifi connections to separate VLANs. Currently, I don't see the need to have wired VLANs, only wireless.

What I'm thinking is:

- Protectli firewall appliance running Opnsense

- MikroTik 10GbE switches (e.g., CRS304-4XG-IN)

- Asus ZenWifi BT10 WiFi 7 mesh

Would you recommend this configuration or would you suggest changes?

EDIT: This is in the EU.
 

pimposh

hardware pimp
Nov 19, 2022
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U7 pro over any ASUS. Or wait for other real vendors. Are there any WiFi7 clients already ?
If you can run cabling to several AP's then you don't need that "marketing mesh bs with backhauls over wifi.
 

cycling-atria-0s

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Nov 3, 2024
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Ok, thanks. I was avoiding them for the ceiling mounting, but there appear to be tabletop options too. And then the PoE power is a challenge.
 

Tech Junky

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Oct 26, 2023
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Engenius has a couple of options the ecw526/536. I got a quote from neobits shipped for ~$325 on the 536 which is pretty good compared to other sellers.
 

cycling-atria-0s

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Nov 3, 2024
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So could I use the other components (Protectli firewall & Mikrotik switches) with Ubiquity Unifi U7 Pro wifi access points? Or should the whole set up be Unifi? The Unifi switches with 10Gb & PoE are pricey...
 

blunden

Active Member
Nov 29, 2019
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So could I use the other components (Protectli firewall & Mikrotik switches) with Ubiquity Unifi U7 Pro wifi access points? Or should the whole set up be Unifi? The Unifi switches with 10Gb & PoE are pricey...
Yes, you can just install the controller somewhere and manage them like that. It doesn't even have to be running, although I prefer to keep mine running 24/7 to have easy access to stats and monitoring. I'm one of those people running only their APs and nothing else from Ubiquiti. :)

Are you planning on going with CAT 6/6a or fiber?
 

cycling-atria-0s

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Nov 3, 2024
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Ok, great. Could it run (in a container) on my NAS, the Protectli, or a Raspberry Pi 4/5? Does it matter at what speed those are connected to the network? (Only the NAS would have 10GbE, the Protectli 2.5GbE.)

I'm planning (what is claimed to be) flat Cat 7 from Primewire and using these: MikroTik Switch
 

pimposh

hardware pimp
Nov 19, 2022
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There is no such thing as FLAT Cat7.... ;-) It contradicts with all principles what Cat7 should be.
Use quality Cat6A SFTP. Extra bandwith that Cat7 offers at the moment is not used and there are no ongoing works on faster standards requiring this.
 

blunden

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Nov 29, 2019
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Ok, great. Could it run (in a container) on my NAS, the Protectli, or a Raspberry Pi 4/5? Does it matter at what speed those are connected to the network? (Only the NAS would have 10GbE, the Protectli 2.5GbE.)

I'm planning (what is claimed to be) flat Cat 7 from Primewire and using these: MikroTik Switch
Yes, it can run in a container or on a Raspberry Pi just fine. Not sure about the Protectli. No, it only ever receives statistics and management traffic and provisions the configuration of Unifi devices so the network connection speed practically doesn't matter.

CAT7 is a bit special since it wasn't created by the same organizations creating previous standards.



Flat cables are also not always compliant with the specification, so make sure the cables you choose are. :)

@pimposh True. Newer standards use CAT8, although I would pick fiber if aiming for those speeds. :D
 

pimposh

hardware pimp
Nov 19, 2022
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Well, they claim it to be Cat 7 and it is flat: Primewire cable
I am claiming i am midget black pope.

Cablematters also gone marketing bs. Cat 8 does not exist. Cat 8.1/8.2 do - either with 8P8C or GG45 for latter as termination. Cablematters seems to sell not-existing category of cables.
Early plans to release Cat8 were abandoned. Some preliminary results here.

Just check what conductor diameter is required for Cat 8.1/Cat 8.2 and compare to what other are selling. 32AWG for Ugreen !?
Kind of 9999999mAh AA accus on aliexpress.
 
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pimposh

hardware pimp
Nov 19, 2022
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Not an expert, but UGreen is certainly not alone in using 32AWG: Here, here, here, here, ...
While Cat7 usually is 1200MHz and 7A is 1500, some of forementioned products are specc'd to 500/600Mhz which is nothing but Cat6/6A.
There are many more parameters such as NEXT/ATT/ACR/PSACR/RL/ELF/PSELF... that are more complex to understand and not listed for these cabling. AWG32 is unable to match many of requirements on longer runs due to physics.
TLDR; dont' bother.
Go for quality 6A. Don't believe into marketing.
 

Tech Junky

Active Member
Oct 26, 2023
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Here sre some basics....

Higher the AWG = thinner copper / more prone to issues like breakage / usually going to be strands vs solid core
Higher MHZ/GHZ = shorter distance due to attenuation
5E will do 10GE and has been used for decades

A lot of niche cables are mostly marketing and a cash grab and work fine for short distances. If you want to spend 3-5X more to feel special it's you're money.

And how do I identify quality 6A?
Look at the reviews. There's a lot of info to be gleaned from reviews to spot the better options. Ignore most of the bad reviews if you're looking on Amazon as most people leaving the bad reviews tend to be inept when it comes to using the cables. However, if a good portion of the reviews are bad then there's probably a quality issue with the cable.

Cabling though comes down to logic and filtering through the fluff. It's like anything else and takes a bit of detective work and/or testing in your own environment. I pick a few different options typically and test them myself to find the best option. For instance I did this with Thunder Bolt cables and weeded out the suspect cables and found the $10 cable that worked just as well as the $50 cable. So, price isn't always the best indicator either as to the quality of the cable.
 
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cycling-atria-0s

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Nov 3, 2024
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Look at the reviews. There's a lot of info to be gleaned from reviews to spot the better options. Ignore most of the bad reviews if you're looking on Amazon as most people leaving the bad reviews tend to be inept when it comes to using the cables. However, if a good portion of the reviews are bad then there's probably a quality issue with the cable.
Thank you. I agree. However, that UGreen "Cat 8" cable has 37,220 reviews on Amazon with 82% giving it five stars. Searching through the reviews seems to indicate that it works for 10GbE. And 32.50 euros for 15 meters or 40 euros 20 meters is not a bad price. The Primewire flat "Cat 7" cable has 76% five-star reviews and is 14 euros for 20 meters.

Molex looks great, but I can only find bulkwire here.