ASK NC

I am upgrading my 15+ year old home network. The planned setup:
RT6600ax router, Synology NAS (most likely DS1522+), 16-port managed switch. In the 2nd step I will add an 8-port unmanaged PoE switch with a set of security cameras and Surveillance Station on the NAS.
Currently, everything is wired with Cat5e and I plan to only upgrade a few cables to Cat6 if needed.

I wondered whether you can advise on a 16-port managed switch for this setup. It will connect to all LAN points in the house (7x), plus printer (1x), TV and the PoE switch. I plan to connect the NAS directly to the RT6600ax (potentially 2.5 GbE or 2 x 1 GbE aggregated). I want to reserve one 1 GbE port of the router for a potential ethernet backhaul as I may need a Mesh router. Does this sound reasonable? Any suggestion for a 16-port managed switch?

You are doing great work! Love the videos. THANKS – Peter (Liverpool)

Thank you for the kind words, Peter! Your planned setup sounds reasonable and well thought-out. It's good that you're planning to upgrade some cables to Cat6 if needed, as it will allow for faster and more reliable data transfer.

Regarding the 16-port managed switch, there are several options available on the market. Some popular brands include Netgear, Cisco, TP-Link, and Ubiquiti. When selecting a switch, it's important to consider your specific needs and requirements, such as the number of ports, PoE support, VLAN support, and QoS capabilities.

I would recomend Unify switches or Netgear models. The will be reliable option. Here are few https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/store/gig...hes/?t=937

Lastly, your plan to reserve one 1 GbE port of the router for a potential ethernet backhaul for a Mesh router is reasonable. This will allow you to easily expand your network coverage without sacrificing bandwidth or performance.