A ‘wired’ network issue…

From last month onwards, we had a strange network problem in our building (both).

Because of this problem, most of our tenants and we could not connect to our WiFi router.

Anytime we connect, it keeps on disconnecting.

We never had an issue with a wired connection. 

This only happens on our sub-router, which we placed in our tenant’s house (in Access Point mode). In the main router, we never had any such issue. So this is something within our house network and has nothing to do with the internet service provider.

Usually, any kind of network issue happens in our house, I was the one who handled it. 

For some reason, I wasn’t able to fix this problem. All tenants keep on complaining about internet issues. 

This time, I decided to try a professional network engineer to fix this problem, and he also arrived at our house and asked how we did the wiring and how we connected…

I answered.

He also observed and noticed the same and informed everything you have done right. 

He also tried to do some tests by ping and all… and also tried checking wire connections.

He also didn’t understand the problem and tried to call some of his network friends, but their suggestions didn’t help.

He suggested one more solution: changing our unmanaged switch to a managed switch. Which cost around 12K per switch and we need two such switch. 

I’m fine with that solution. But our current switch is going to waste. I still agreed to his suggestion… but he didn’t promise it will 100% fix the problem.

I don’t have any other option, so I’m okay with experimenting with his suggestion.

He left home, informing me I would come next week with a switch.

One day, I got some free time and was playing with different router settings to fix the issue.

While experimenting with the setting, I found something wrong and fixed the setting. Immediately, the WiFi connection and disconnection issue was fixed.

I double-checked whether it really fixed the problem or not. It was fixed immediately….

I called that network engineer and informed them to cancel my switch order, and I paid 1K for just coming to visit our house. 

He also agreed and cancelled my order. 

If he had bought and installed a new switch in our house, it could have cost around 30K just to check…

Thankfully, I got the solution to the problem at the right time.

Now, we need to update the same settings for all the subrouters (which are used in Access point mode). I guess almost 20 routers we need to make changes.

It almost took half a day to make these changes in all routers. 

Now, we have zero issues with our network. 

All users (almost 50+ active devices) use a single internet connection without issue. 

That’s how you should design a network setup when constructing your house. 

Consulting a professional network of engineers is a costly thing.

Most electricians don’t know how to do proper wiring…

If you need internet service in every corner of your house without speed drop, WiFi signal issue, or any router limit, read my Internet Everywhere Guide.

I shared all my practical knowledge… which I implemented in both my building and using it successfully. 

No theory. Only praticle.

Arun

When is an ideal time to start planning for home automation?

The best time to plan a home automation concept is… as soon as you get your house plan from an engineer, you can plan your home automation stuff.

First, you need to have a rough idea of what type of automation you need and where it will be installed.

Some automation requires special requirements, and some don’t require much.

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Thought of buying a network box?

Yesterday, my brother worked on some changes in the network box.

As it’s Sunday, we will always work on house-related stuff or improve the existing setup.

The current network setup has caused some issues over the past few months… so my brother decided to fix that issue by trying a workaround.

Somehow, we were able to fix that issue.

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Problem of not having a strong WiFi signal

I opend my CCTV app on my phone and when I try to view cameras visuals… visuals open and suddenly stop showing.

This is some new issue I started facing in my new building. The reason is low WiFi signal. 

As it’s a new building, I haven’t done full proper networking setup. All the ports in my networking switch is already used. If I need to add more Wifi router, I need buy new network switch.

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Laying fibre optic cables

BDA acquired many empty land in Bangalore to develop a BDA site.

The project name is “Dr K Shivaram Karanth Layout”. If you watch the news or read the newspaper, you might have heard about it.

After so much opposition from the land owner, BDA finally got a green signal from the court to acquire land.

But on a condition to give alternative sites once the development work is over.

For people who already have houses in those acquired areas (revenue sites) recently, the Supreme Court regularised those buildings built before the notification.

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I started sharing my internet connection…

We have rental units in both buildings. Each building contains 8+8 spacious 1 Bhk units.

All our tenants are college students.

While building both houses, I properly planned and did networking for both buildings.

While doing this, I didn’t plan on offering internet to all the tenants in our building.

But still, I did the network setup. Because in future we cannot do so.

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Things you should keep in mind for CCTV setup

If you plan to use CCTV in your house now or later, here is something you should keep in mind.

To enjoy CCTV benefits to their fullest extent, you must plan and adopt a few tech stuff. They are…

1) Have a wired network connection to CCTV DVR

2) Don’t use a Wireless network unless you don’t have wired network options

3) If you need to watch LIVE CCTV visuals from different locations, then you need to have internet connections at home as well as user who need to see visuals

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Regarding our Smart Home Attempt

During our first house construction time, I wasn’t aware of the smart home and IOT concept yet.

But one thing I’m sure of is… having a proper network should be set up for our entire house.

So with my networking knowledge, I implemented the networking concept for the full building.

Due to good broadband speed… I learned the smart home concept online and implemented some automation in our first house.

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