Ruckus r510 range improvement for dummies?

[eric_hutchens]

We recently purchased a smart home that has a Ruckus r510 AP installed in the ceiling of the front entryway, which is connected to a Ruckus ICX-7150 switch in a media cabinet in the laundry room.  All the smart home features seem to be working pretty well --- the only complaint I have is that there are a few "dead spots", locations in the house  where it seems to take forever to get my smartphone to communicate to the smart home devices through the supporting apps.  I was wondering what options I might have to improve reception/range to try to eliminate these dead spots. I would not consider myself an expert on home Wi-Fi & networking, but I'm a quick study --- I'm hoping for a fairly economical solution that would also minimizes the chances of me unintentionally crashing my smart home to a point where I can't recover with my limited knowledge!

[eric_hutchens]

I'm still trying to make progress on this, but it has been a challenge for the last few days....

I want to be sure I'm following what you're suggesting, and better understand how this improves my home network configuration & wi-fi range --- as I mentioned at the outset, my knowledge of this stuff is limited. 

So right now, my home network configuration is:

 1. Technicolor CGM-4140 Gateway Modem  (rented from Cox Communications)
     (handles internet communications, has 2.4 & 5 GHZ wi-fi capabilities, functions as
       the network router?, handles DHCP & NAT?)

 2. Ruckus ICX-7150 Network Switch
     (Does the switch just provide the ability to connect more wired devices to the home network
     via Ethernet connections?
      Does this existing switch provide PoE as-is? ) 

 3. Ruckus r510 Network Access Point
     (handles all wi-fi the connections/communications with the home network?)

I read back through what we had discussed in this thread so far, and I think your original suggestion for an alternate home network configuration was:

 1. Arris SB6183 Modem (new, purchased)
     (standalone modem, would handle internet communications only)

 2. Edgerouter X Network Router (new)
      (standalone wired network router; would handle network DHCP & NAT functions?)

 3. Ruckus ICX-7150 Network Switch (existing)
     (this provides the ability to connect more wired devices to the home network via
      Ethernet connections) 
     
 4. Ruckus r510 Network Access Point (existing)
     (handles all the wi-fi connections/communications with the home network?)
 
Purchasing the Arris modem & Edgerouter would allow me to stop renting the Technicolor gateway modem from Cox.

< continued in next post.... >

[hayward_kong]

" 1. Technicolor CGM-4140 Gateway Modem  (rented from Cox Communications)
     (handles internet communications, has 2.4 & 5 GHZ wi-fi capabilities, functions as
       the network router?, handles DHCP & NAT?) "

     Correct

--------

" 2. Ruckus ICX-7150 Network Switch
     (Does the switch just provide the ability to connect more wired devices to the home network
     via Ethernet connections?
      Does this existing switch provide PoE as-is? ) "

Yes and Yes. Just note it provides 124 watts of POE power to other POE devices. So your max budget that adds up should be below 124 watts.

----------


" 3. Ruckus r510 Network Access Point
     (handles all wi-fi the connections/communications with the home network?)"

All 2.4ghz and 5ghz Wifi Communicates.

------------


"I read back through what we had discussed in this thread so far, and I think your original suggestion for an alternate home network configuration was:

 1. Arris SB6183 Modem (new, purchased)
     (standalone modem, would handle internet communications only)"

Correct. However, it does not do any routing at all.

---------

"2. Edgerouter X Network Router (new)
      (standalone wired network router; would handle network DHCP & NAT functions?)"

Yes


------

"3. Ruckus ICX-7150 Network Switch (existing)
     (this provides the ability to connect more wired devices to the home network via
      Ethernet connections) "

Yes

------

"4. Ruckus r510 Network Access Point (existing)
     (handles all the wi-fi connections/communications with the home network?)"

Yes

-------

"Purchasing the Arris modem & Edgerouter would allow me to stop renting the Technicolor gateway modem from Cox."

Yes


-------
(Note I'll anwer the 2nd post later today when I have time)

[eric_hutchens]

The latest twist on your suggested network configuration was that, if I could get a second ethernet cable run between the r510 AP and the SME (structured media enclosure), I could turn the r510 AP into a gateway/router/AP combo. The network configuration would then be:

 1. Arris SB6183 Modem (new, purchased)
     (standalone modem, would handle internet communications only)

 2. Ruckus r510 Network Gateway Access Point (existing, but modified)
     (handles all the wi-fi connections/communications, routing / DHCP & NAT functions
      with the home network?)
     (Are there other configuration changes that will be required with the AP in addition to
       plugging in the second Ethernet cable to the modem?)

 3. Ruckus ICX-7150 Network Switch (existing)
     (provides the ability to connect more wired devices to the home network via Ethernet connections)

I can see how your suggested configuration could save me some money in the long-term --- the purchased modem & network reconfiguration allow me to stop paying the monthly modem rental fee to Cox. I'm having more difficulty understanding if these changes do anything to improve the internal speed and/or performance of my home network, or would improve the wi-fi communications range of the network. I don't know that you discussed any advantages or disadvantages of having the r510 take over the gateway functions. You did indicate that the purchase and installation of additional r510 APs in closer proximity to my problem communication areas might help with the wi-fi range, and that rolling back to the 200.6.x firmware for the r510 might also improve the wi-fi speed/quality?

Please let me know if I've generally summed things up correctly, and I'd appreciate it if you could correct any of the gaps in my understanding of how all there various pieces of home network equipment work together. Then I need to figure out how to proceeed....

[hayward_kong]

As for the 2nd configuration about using the R510 as gateway/router. Forget it. I recently, read that using the R510 or any other Ruckus Access point that there are used as a gateway has some performance issues in routing when doing that. It works up to 150mbps , but I rather you not go that route now that I know. Most people don't use it as a gateway, but I knew that feature always existed but never bother with it since I prefer more advanced routing functions.

Anyway, you summed it pretty well.

Recently, the last few day, I read that unleashed firmware 200.8.x will be released soon.. I'm hoping it'll have a different wifi driver.. hopefully it will fix things.


Regardless of the firmware, I think you still think you need 2nd R510 since the area of coverage is still too far in my opinion.  I suggest waiting at this point for the new firmware since it will be released soon  then upgrade.. then after that see how the range is.. if it's still not good then get a 2nd R510.

Oh BTW, the ones I got on ebay seem in very good condition physically and will have to test them over the weekend.

[sergiosoto78]

I have the same speed issue with my smart home 2700sqft with two ruckus 510s in the middle of each floor. Speeds are limited to 200mbps in the setting with firm ware 200.7.10 which says it’s up to date. Connected to the same switch as users above. My ISP is Spectrum with the 400mbps service