Wi-Fi in a large house: how to do it right
One router will not cover 500 m². You need a mesh network or multiple access points with seamless roaming. How to design
Why one router is not enough
A standard home router covers Wi-Fi in one or two rooms. In a large house (from 200 m²) or an apartment with concrete walls, the signal fades, dead zones appear, the speed drops 5-10 times.
Consumer equipment (TP-Link, Keenetic, Mikrotik hAP) is designed for 5-10 devices. A smart home is 30-80 devices: phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, cameras, sensors, speakers. The router simply cannot cope with NAT and routing.
Structured cabling system (SCS)
SCS is the nervous system of the home. Copper Cat6A lines (10 Gbit/s) from each outlet to the patch panel cabinet. Fiber (single-mode or multi-mode) for trunks and between buildings.
Telecommunications cabinet (19 inches, 12U-42U) — usually in a technical room or closet. The fiber from the provider comes there, the router, switches, NAS, smart home controllers, UPS are installed there.
Standard — TIA-568 (Cat6A) or ISO/IEC 11801. Each outlet is labeled, the patch panel in the cabinet is also labeled. This is an infrastructure that works 15-20 years without replacement.
Wi-Fi: mesh vs wired access points
Mesh (Ubiquiti UniFi, TP-Link Deco, Asus ZenWiFi) is easier to deploy, no cables needed to each point. Minus: bandwidth is shared between points, latencies are higher.
Wired access points (Ubiquiti UAP, Aruba Instant On, Cisco Meraki) — each point is connected via Ethernet to a switch. Maximum speed, minimum latencies, seamless roaming via 802.11k/v/r.
For a house 200+ m², we recommend wired points. Mesh is for apartments and small houses where cables cannot be pulled.
Seamless roaming 802.11k/v/r
Without it, the phone thinks when switching between points: loses connection for 2-5 seconds, sometimes switches not to the closest point, but to the strongest (often not optimal).
802.11k is a list of neighboring points (the phone knows where to switch). 802.11v is a point recommendation from the controller. 802.11r is fast switching without re-authentication (critical for VoIP).
All three protocols must be enabled in the access point settings. Not all consumer routers support this — professional ones (Ubiquiti, Aruba, Cisco) do.
VLAN and segmentation
VLANs are virtual networks on the same physical equipment. For a smart home, at least 4 VLANs are recommended: main (computers, phones), guest (Wi-Fi for guests), IoT (cameras, sensors, speakers), management (KNX/Lutron/Crestron controllers).
Why: IoT devices often have vulnerabilities. If a camera is hacked — the attacker will be in an isolated VLAN, without access to computers and controllers.
Setting up VLANs on home equipment is through a managed switch (costs from 3000 ₽) and a router with VLAN support (Mikrotik, Ubiquiti EdgeRouter).
Providers and channel redundancy
One provider is one point of failure. For critical systems (video surveillance, smart home) — two providers with automatic switching (dual-WAN).
Connection type: optics (GPON, 1-10 Gbit/s) is the main one. LTE/5G modem as backup. Satellite internet (Starlink) — for remote sites.
Coordination with the provider is at the design stage. Bringing optics into the house, a place for the cabinet, IP addresses (static for remote access to cameras).