Should I install wifi or only Wired LAN for my home

Its a no-brainer. Wifi is a MUST today and tomorrow.

Almost all devices are being wifi enabled rather than being ethernet enabled. Mobile device (Laptop, Smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, etc) feature only Wifi. Fixed device like smart appliances, TV setop box etc are all wifi enabled even though they may have an additional LAN port. Even PC motherboards are coming with both integrated Wifi and LAN.  The common/ubiquitous network connectivity interface therefore is Wifi.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-committee

But then why most telecom committee members insist on wired LAN connectivity to every room ?

Problem:
Despite all the simplicity and ubiquity of Wireless LAN (Wifi), the technology implementation for consumer devices suffers from a few key disadvantages:

(1) Poor Real world Throughput

(2) Limited Range

(3) Random Instability

Real world throughput is effected by many factors such as interference with neighbors wifi network (remember this is unlicensed spectrum use and all wifi routers use the same spectrum which is actual carrier/pipe for data),  attenuation by walls and other devices, EM interference etc. battery powered mobile device less antenna power  [often fewer antennas(1), less gain ones (embedded), less transmit/receive power) to conserve battery life, but this has a very negative impact on throughput achievable per device.

Similarly the signal strength falls of as the distance between Wifi Router/AP and the client device increases. The hard concrete walls and household items offer tremendous resistance to the wifi signal  propogation and progressively weaken it as we move away from the router in any direction.

Wifi links are also not stable. Their is variable latency (jitter) in transfering data and sometimes links go up and down (when router switches channels)

The short buck story is you may not see more than 1/3th the speed rated in the best case with inconsistent results in time & space. This is diametrically opposite of what you see with Wired LANs.

Here is a third party illustration of the speed gap betweeen promise and real-world delivery:

Solution:

On the contrary, Wired LAN ports on switch and client device are rated as 1 Gigabit and they can do simultaneous 1 gigabit upload and download on each port at cable lengths less than 100m. Which means an 8 port switch capacity is actually 16 Gbps simultaneous throughput whereas wifi is limited to 150 mbps per router antenna in case of 802.11n or 450 mbps per router antenna in 802.11ac. Also this antenna level router bandwidth is shared between ALL clients and therefore the practical throughput seen by each client is way less and dependent on what other clients are doing (unlike wired ethernet). A bridge solution for high throughput is to use multiple access points which use wifi for short range and backhaul wifi signal over Wired LAN (especially useful for duplex penthouses and large 4 BHKs)

A certain kind of device in home today like PC, NAS, TV setop box need high bandwidth and this makes wifi unsuitable as carrier. Their is no fixed place where we can constrain these devices to be put in every home and therefore the committee members recommend that:

(1) Every Bedroom has atleast 1 LAN port for data and they all terminate in one switch area

(2) Living room TV location(and every TV location in Bedrooms/kitchen) has 1 LAN port

(3) Additional LAN ports maybe placed wherever deemed fit for other high bandwidth applications (like CCTV camera, additional TV points, wifi access points, etc) or for redundancy

This would give you sufficient flexibility to integrate multiple access points/routers and integrate high bandwidth devices in future. In essence this prepares you for any eventuality and gives you upgrade paths for future as your needs evolve.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-committee

Wait a minute. I just saw a 1900 Mbps, 3200 mbps and even 5300 mbps Wifi Router. They are much faster than wired Ethernet. Right ?

Not exactly.

Fiction:

1. I throw $300-$400 at these routers and I get a wifi router 2 to 5 times faster than wired Gigabit Ethernet

Facts:

1. A 1800 mbps router is 802.11 ac based with 3 MIMO antennas. It can do maximum 450 mbps per antenna with 802.11 ac (1350 mbps total in 5 Ghz band plus 450 mbps 802.11n in 2.4 Ghz band) but only 150 mbps  per antenna in pure 802.11n which is spread across all clients. In mixed mode this throughput limit is further reduced. 
2. Most clients have one antenna only and the good ones (iPad, Laptop, big tablet, expensive smartphone) may have two and only low-gain antennas. You are never going to see the type of theoretical throughput in (1).
3. Most clients are still 802.11n and only the latest and greatest from Samy and Fruit company may have 802.11ac with 2 antennas. So you are capped theoretically to 300 mbps on 802.11n and 900 mbps on 802.11ac devices). 
4. The signal strength drops off as distance increases from router to client and therefore speeds also drop off. This does not happen in gigabit ethernet till 100m cable length with cat6 cable
5. in an Multi-Dwelling (MDU) environment like apartment complex a lot of homes are clustered on one block/tower and each wifi router faces interference from neighboring flat (up, down, same floor units) and this limits the real world throughput considerably. Please do not look at bench-marking sites and derive throughput conclusions. That is a controlled lab environment test report.

In contrast an 8 port GbE wired LAN switch has 1 Gbps capacity in each direction per port (same on client machines) and 16 gbps totally. This is something the Wifi gear marketing brochures conveniently hide. Bottom line is don't look at Wifi Speeds advertised on routers and client devices and compare it with wired speeds. You will be greatly disappointed if you ever try to take things to that level in real life.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-committee

What are your recommendations for LAN cabling

Technical Assessment:

Lan cables have four conductor pairs (8 wires) arranged in twisted pairs. Refer the nomenclature below for cables:

In the local market you would get 2 types of cables readily viz. cat 5e and cat6 and two cable types on demand viz. cat6a anbd cat7. Also two types of cables based on how they handle crosstalk between pairs and EMI between cables viz. shielded or unshielded. Plus you may see some non-standard grades like cat 6e/6+ etc. So which one to use ?

1. First of all avoid shielded cables (F/UTP, S/UTP, SF/UTP, F/FTP, S?FTP, ertc) of any grade. They are required in High EM environments like Hospitals, industrial environments, data centers, etc where their are lot of densly packed equipment d that *constantly* emits EM radiations. They are absolutely not required in most offices and almost all homes, unless ofcourse you are running a diagnostic lab from your home. cat7 is shielded by default and that strikes it of the list. In general only U/UTP cable (un-shielded twisted pair) should be used as they satisfy residential need completely
2. Cat 5e can do 100 mbps Ethernet till 100m and 1000 mbps (gigabit) Ethernet till 33m. Most cables  in apartment are less than this length but a few in 4 BHK/Penthouse may exceed this. this cable type cannot support the upcoming 10 gigabit Ethernet. So its better to avoid this also with an eye on future though it is just good enough as of today.
3. That leaves cat 6 UTP, 6e/6+ and cat6a.  Cat6 UTP can do gigabit Ethernet till 100m and 10GbE till 33m safely and often upto 55m based on cable quality. For 3 BHK it is probably future safe as each cable will most likely not exceed 33m.  Cat 6e/6+ (an enhancement over cat6 with 30-40% more headroom in performance parameters over cat6 UTP) can do 10 GbE upto 55m safely (perhaps slightly more). So is safer for large 4 BHks and penthouses. The price difference of cat6 compared to cat 5e is no more than 20-30%., while cat 6e/6+ will cost you 20% extra over regular Cat6 UTP
4. Cat 6a UTP cable is rare in market and is considerably thicker (i.5 times the diameter & and more stiffer) than Cat 6 UTP. This posses significant challenges in laying the cables as thgicker conduits are required with better bend radius. In US the costs are 20-35% more than cat 6 UTP, but in india, its more than 2 times costly (possibly a consequence of no local manufacturing and only import). As of 2016 beginning, it makes  little sense to invest (that too for 4 BHK/PH), but this may change in future. It also seems as little overkill as cat 6a jacks and connectors are required which are almost 10 times more expensive 

The telecom committee therefore recommends cat 6e/6+ cabling for 4BHK/PH and at-least cat 6 UTP for 1/2/3 BHK  homes (better if you can go for cat 6a).  4BHK/PH can use cat 6 UTP if the wiring electrician recommends that length are lesser than 33m.

Price and Availability:

Cat 6 UTP is readily available off the counter for Rs 4500-5500 for a 305m box (based on brand) and Rs. 1700-800 for 100m box (only Dlink sells 100m box). You may but shorter lengths by paying 10-15% extra per meter from local electrical and computer shops or you can buy a box and sell remaining to others or few of owners can get together and share if lesser lengths are required. 

Cat6e/6+ retails for Rs. 6500/- to Rs. 8000/- for a 305m bundle. Its only on order, may not come in shorter lengths (less than a 305m box) and you may need to wait 1-2 weeks for delivery. Cat 6A costs 12500/- to 14500/- plus tax. It maybe available in some shops, but mostly its on order like cat 6e/6+.

Note: There are not many home applications today that demand 10 GbE (its not mass market technology for home but common in data center) and therefore prices are insane. 10 GbE port costs upto $200 per port and upwards of $1500 for switches. At-least for next 5 years their seems to be little use case of having a 10GbE LAN in residential environment. Even 4K or 8K video encoded with H.264 may not be able to stress a link more than 100 mbps. 3D does not exceed 2 times of 2D digital video (often 1.4 times only).

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

I do not understand the Home network setup. Can you elaborate ?

Please refer to the illustration below:

This is a typical home network for data. make a note of these key points:

1. The ONT (analogous to modem in DSL network) which is the termination point of service provider  and gateway to home network. 
2. The ONT is connected to a Router, In most homes this is a Wifi Router and that is sufficient for the home network (no use of wired clients). 
3. Many ONTs come with integrated router functionality (single box for simplification), but it rare for such boxes to give top-notch performance as they feature entry level routers for cost optimization.
4. An  router will typically have 4 Ethernet LAN ports. So you can connect upto 4 devices directly to it.
5. In case you have a complete and comprehensive architecture as we suggest, its likely your total LAN ports exceed 4 and you need all LAN cables to terminate in a STAR point to a switch area and connected to a LAN switch. One port of this switch is then plugged into the router to give internet access to all wired devices.
6. In case you have large home, you need one or more additional APs and you could plug them into the router (or switch also ...)
7. It is not necessary to buy an install all active equipment at one go. You could just get a Broadband connection, get a a router + Modem and then add switch and AP if you need it later. But the cabling infrastructure has to be made ready in advance. 

Please note that in case you have a very simple requirement to use Wifi only for Internet (WAN access), Want to use Wireless AP instead of router, not use very high speed data plan,  and not share large amounts of data in your (W)LAN, then you can connect the switch directly to the ONT (not use Wifi/Wired router), connect the AP to the switch. In this case the ONT will create the DHCP based subnet for your home network.

Feel free to comment here or write to :

telecom[dot]aprp3association[at]gmail[dot]com or 

adarsh-pam-retreat+telecom[at]apnacomplex[dot]com

in case you have any query or need further advice/suggestion.


- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom  Sub-Committee

What is Wifi Mesh networking

Its just 2017 and the blog is facing any onslaught of the technology obsolesce life-cycle already. Wifi Mesh networking is emerging technology for Home networking gaining traction:

http://in.pcmag.com/eero/111441/guide/the-best-wi-fi-mesh-network-systems-of-2017

http://bgr.com/2017/02/14/best-mesh-wifi-system-2017-mesh-network-router/

It is similar (in consumer view) to a our multiple AP architecture (or even a traditional one router multiple range extender architecture), except that the APs use wireless links for Backhaul as illustrated below:

The advantages are pretty obvious. Being wireless, its drop dead easy to retrofit into existing homes where no wired networking cabling is done (just need power socket not data port). Plus the units gel well with home decor, Secondly multiple paths facilitating load balancing and redundant path for data. And thirdly their is an integration of Smart Home technologies (Zigbeee, Zwave, etc) and Consumer Wifi mesh kits which opens the Wifi Router/AP OEMs to Internet of Things (IoT) domain.

For large home, mesh networking Wifi performance sits between 

(a) Multiple-AP/Router with wired LAN backhaul

(b) Single router or Single router - Multiple Range extender

architectures. 

Eero, Luma, Orbi, Ubiquiti, Google Wifi, Plume are major mesh Wifi networking gear manufacturers who are getting a lot of attention from consumers worldwide.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-committee

What is PoE ? I have a PoE device and how do we integrate it ?

PoE stands for power over Ethernet where the same cable is used for carrying both data and DC power to power the equipment. In normal case data and power cable is separate and you may have situation where you need an IP device to be mounted but have no power outlet nearby (like CCTV camera locations).  Typically Wireless AP and IP camera (incl. CCTV) are the devices that are PoE enabled and many homes will need one or both. Then there are others like VoIP phones, Video Door phones etc that may be powered via PoE. PoE is especially useful for ceiling mounting devices (in false ceiling) or a separate housing near the ceiling. Many small switches used for extending ports are also powered by PoE

The main PoE standards comprise IEEE 802.3af (PoE) amd 802.3at (PoE+) which can supply 15.4 and 30.8W respectively over Ethernet cable to any device. Typically all IP cameras are PoE while many high end Wifi AP (with multiple antenna) may need PoE+. 

To power and use these devices the LAN cable must run from the point of device location to a star point, just as any other data point. At the star point you either need to connect to on of:

(1) PoE/PoE+ Injector per PoE port, the data port of which is connected to LAN switch and Power adapter cable to an AC plug source.
(2) PoE/PoE+ Mid-span Injector - This is an array of PoE injectors (used especially in CCTV applications) to provide a lot of PoE ports without creating the cabling mess that accompanies each POE injector (3 cables). Generally these are rack mount devices.  They may come in 8, 16, 24 or 48 port capacities mirroring the ports typical;ly found on LAN switches.

(3) Separate PoE/PoE+ switch one port of which is connected to your LAN switch/router and all other ports provide active (auto-sensing) PoE output

You may familiarize yourself with these devices through the following video:

NOTE: It is extremely important to ensure that the Power grade of PoE device (i.e PoE or PoE+) must match the capability  of injector and switch, otherwise it may fail to provide sufficient power to power the equipment. You should also ensure that the injector and device support same standard. For eg., 24V and 48V non-802.3af compliant injectors are also used by some vendors like Ubiquiti and Cisco for their APs. Similarly there would be other incompatibilities like fast Ethernet or gigabit Ethernet power injection, active or passive injection etc.


- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Should i buy a PoE or PoE+ switch

First its important to note that a POE (802.3af complaint) switch should be able to supply upto 15.4W per port  while a POE+ (802.3at compliant)  switch can supply 30.8W of power per port. A good switch should be able to supply almost near to a multiple of these power ratings for as many PoE ports they feature.

Second most devices that work on PoE like IP camera, Video phone, IP Phone, small extension switch and common AP needs only PoE and not PoE+. Only very high end AP (with multiple antennas and radios plus high end CPU)  or high end PTZ camera (which anyways are gross overkill for home use) will need PoE+. This is as things stand today (2016 beginning)

So the recommendation is that once you have decided to go for a switch buy the cheaper and more commonly available PoE switch and if you run into a device which needs PoE+ in near future, just use the supplied PoE+ injector or buy one.


- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

I am confused on whether should buy a PoE switch or injector.

Please use the following principles:

1. If you have 1/2 PoE device you are better off buying PoE/PoE+ injector and connect them to your router or LAN switch (least cost and manageable cable mess)
2. If you have 3/4 PoE device, it is better you buy an 8-Port  PoE switch with 4 PoE Ports and 4 non-PoE ports.  Please make sure of switch data speed (100 mbps/1000 mbps) matching
3. If you have more than 4 PoE devices or are planning to have them soon, please go ahead an buy an 8-port PoE/PoE+ switch. They are expensive starting Rs. 7000 (Digisol) to about Rs. 16000 (Cisco) based on brand
4. If you are in greenfield mode and setting everything up, you can try to buy a switch that has 4 PoE ports and 4-20 standard Ethernet ports. 

Their is also the Midspan injector device,. You should buy that (its a little hard to find in market in India) if you need a lot of PoE/PoE+ ports and already have an existing investment in a large capacity non-PoE LAN switch

PoE (802.3af) is expensive and you pay for the simplicity of having only one wire carry both data and DC power. If PoE was not there you have the additional headache of providing power point near to device mount location or running a 2 pair electrical wire safely to that location. what's worse is that  PoE+ (802.3at)  is rarer. 

WARNING: A lot of PoE devices are not compliant to 802.3af or 802.3 at. So while buying the device make sure the device and injector/switch are supporting same power standard. Very frequently when good brands go for deviations (Ubiquity/Cisco) from 802.3af/at, they also supply their power injectors along with the device. Make sure yoiu use them and not plug them into a PoE/PoE+ switch/injector.midspan.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Why the builder has left networking cables handling from wall outlets and can this be fixed ?

Its most probably a cost cutting measure from the builder to skimp on the communication wiring. Though the common reason given by engineers is that if they put wall sockets it causes attenuation and degrades performances. 

The Telecom sub-committee has tested Ethernet cables (transfer rate) with multiple keystone jack connectors (two) introduced in a single patch chord and found that their is some truth in the attenuation argument (you can read on the internet) but no truth in the conclusion that it degrades performance (we found a drop of 0.015% only which is to be ignored as measurement error). Wall jacks, patch panels, etc are widely used in enterprise and data center which are much more sensitive to performance unlike home network and hence their is another way of validating our assertion and test result as opposed to the builder's argument.

Anyways, we should fix this. the electrical outlet system is Legrand Arteor in the project. Legrand Arteor has Cat 5e/Cat6 UTP modules available readily in local market, along with flush metal boxes and faceplates. Please get them as per  the number of open data point outlets and get them sealed like any other electrical outlet. You may do the same for switch side also or buy 19" inch rack with patch panel to cover the switch area (in the same rack depending on size, you may put a switch, router, NAS, UPS etc).


- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Are their ways of improving wifi coverage and speed without using a wired LAN and multiple access points ?

Technology Perspective:
Wifi was designed to be great at sharing an internet connection between multiple, never as a substitute for Wired LAN at exchanging data between two devices in the same network. With xDSL speeds in India evolving slowly from 2mbps to about 16 mbps (2 MB/s), Wifi speeds were just sufficient enough for sharing an internet connection and as a bridge to wired fixed like Broadband.

With FTTx (Fiber Optics), the broadband speeds have jumped to 20mbps, 30 mbps, 60 mbps, 100 mbps and even 1 Gbps in some cities. This has suddenly created 5-50 times speed jump for internet access speeds. Wifi simply could not evolve that fast [Its typically 3X with each technology (a, b, g, n, ac) change]. So today Wifi speed is a bottleneck for getting high speed broadband access from any *single* device.


Requirement:

In APR, Broadband speeds have reached 100 mbps and in many other parts on India 1 Gbps broadband is being offered uin under Rs. 3000 per month. So WAN to LAN connectivity max speed is 120 mbps to 1 Gbps today. If any wifi device wants to tap into this speed the wifi link must also support a throughput of at at-least 100 mbps today and possibly 1 Gbps or more in the near future,

Limitation:

We have not seem any router and client combination that can do such speeds on wireless network. So at this point of time, trying to bridge the Wireless wired speed gap is an exercise in vain. Wifi started (with 11 mbps and 54 mbps speed) as a good technology for sharing Internet connection (mostly narrow-band or early xDSL broadband implementations) between multiple device and the home. It never was great at sharing lot of data quickly between two devices, just simple to use. But Today Wireline Broadband (primarily due to FTTx) has far outpaced even the fastest throughput that Wifi can offer and therefore it is no longer by itself a great choice for sharing a high speed wireline internet connection. 

Temporary Solutions:

Some options do exist on how to improve wifi coverage and speed and are reported to work well sometimes doubling the speeds. They are:

1. Check if your router's antenna can be replaced by High gain omni-directional antennas (5dB, 8 dB, or higher) especially if your devices are placed at longer distance from router. Make sure your router supports this and then buy only compatible model. High gain antennas work surely for outdoor Wifi at great lengths if you have line of sight between device and AP/Router
2. Use of directional antenna (incl. Yagi antenna) to replace your router's antenna if signal is weak in on edirection
3. Use hacks like these below:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED5vl6IYto0
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG5cEik2ABY 
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYr0PCbLSHk
4. Use a Wifi Repeater or range extender. The repeater has to be placed somewhere we you get a good signal rather than somewhere where your signal strength is poor, so that it can extend the good signal to the area where it is poor. They come in Rs. 1000-3000 range and many Wireless router/AP can also be configured as range extenders. Please however note that the range extender will half the speed available at the place point point. 

But the MOST IMPORTANT TRICKs that will do 90% of the job will be to

• Try to put your router/AP in a central location or closer to where high speed access happens AFAP. It is not the default location provided by builder therefore, unfortunately needs cabling modifications
• Try to mount your router/AP near the ceiling with antennas facing downwards rather than conventional deployment where we place router on a raised platform on the floor. This is useful as devices face less attenuation from household objects in top to down direction and many clients will get LOS to router/AP. But again this needs wiring changes

Long term (possibly Permanent) solution:
Refer this Q&A (http://home-network-aprc-p3.blogspot.in/2015/10/what-is-future-of-wifi-technology-and.html)


- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Why do we need UPS for Internet connection and how to integrate it ?

Current Deployment Situation:

In APR Phase III Condominiums, the current plan is to get intercom and Broadband over FTTH only. We decided to drop xDSL completely because of the extreme asymmetry in upload and download speeds. Refer below URL for my 8 mbps Airtel Broadband performance:

 http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1558822516

With FTTH we usually get half the download speed as upload speed. Also intercom and voice as per current plan will also be delivered using FTTH. So for these services an ONT device will either be placed inside home or in the shaft and from which CATV, cat6 and telephone patch chords (cable)  will be drawn. 

Requirement:

When utility power fails, we want to have intercom continuity (if it fails it may take 5-15 min to get enabled after power comes back). Also most subscribers would want Broadband to continue so that their online sessions on video, chat, browsing, sync etc are not aborted suddenly due to networking failure.  The facility has DG power backup and the power would come back in 5-60 seconds anyways, but we still need to protect against the short sub-minute outage. Which means the ONT, Router, switch etc must be put on UPS backup which can support 1 min standby time. If the service provider puts shared ONT in shaft he will provide batter y backup for it. But if teh ONT is inside your home, then you need to take care of it. 

Concrete Solution:

Their are two ways to proceed on this:

1. Ensure that the ONT, Router, Switch etc are in one place (preferably in a nice rack unit) and connected to an offline UPS like APC back-UPS Model No. APC BX600CI-IN (available for Rs 2000-2200 locally) and turn the battery saver mode off if outages are longer than 1 min. We have verified that this can support upto 1 hour backup for low power device and will solve the issue for 90% plus of the residents. It has also supports Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) and Surge Protection when on utility mode and is the best bang for buck as far as UPSes go ...
2. A few residents want clean power for *ALL* their sensitive electronic device and deploy online (double conversion), Offline or Line interactive UPS at a phase level by connecting a high capacity UPS (2-3 KVA) to main Distribution box of flat.  This is also a very good (albeit expensive solution) but will ensure your TV, fan, LED lights, one refrigerator, etc which is put on one phase can continue to operate whenever power fails apart from just your communication equipment. besides protecting them from surges and over-voltages.

Feel free to write to telecom[dot]aprp3association[at]gmail[dot]com if you need more clarifications/details. 

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Which Wifi Router I should buy ?

This is a very hard question to answer as everyone's needs are different. And there are so many types of consumer products available in market from  prices starting Rs. 800/- to Rs. 30,000/- while enterprise ones go from $500-$1300 USD. Besides their is a huge gap between the promised theoretical speed labels on the packing box and what is practically achievable when deployed.

Here are some grades of Routers/APs based on application domain:

(1) Consumer Grade  - Belkin, Tp_link, Dlink, Asus, Linksys, tenda etc (FROM $20-$400)
(2) SOHO/SMB Grade - Ubiquiti (Typically $100- $200) - The best option for advanced users
(3) Enterprise Grade - Cisco/Meraki, HP/Aruba ($500-$1000) - Only for offices and workplaces with high density of WiFi Users
(4) Carrier Grade - Ruckus Wireless ($1000+). Suitable for WiFi Hotspots deployed by fixed line carriers

(3) and (4)  offer enterprise features which most users do not need, are hard to configure and therefore these routers are an overkill for the home environment besides being ridiculously expensive. Even though some of the radio performance and technology in them is extremely suitable to high density scene like apartment.  Therefore home users must straddle the lines in (1) and (2) based on what their needs are.

 Let see some evaluation criteria and then they to make a decision (sorry I cannot cut a long story short on this one):

Router capability (Speed label and Antennas):

Refer the illustration below:

802.11g (obsolete) used to support 1 antenna and work at a peak theoretical speed of 54 mbps.

802.11n (mature) supports 3 antennas and can work at 450 mbps max (with all 3 antennas)

802.11ac (emerging) supports 8 antennas max. With each antenna it can do upto 450 mbps per antenna (commonly its 3 and 1350 mbps). Or 3 times 802.11n

The above are all theoretical speeds, Real world we can get at max (varies from deployment to deployment greatly based on interference from neighbor) about 30MB/s (or 240 mbps) and 90 MB/s  (or 720 mbps) with a 3 antenna configuration. 

Most important to note is that the above speeds are cumulative for the router not per client. So to really tap  this speed a client must have the max. no of antennas. If their are two clients with max. no of antennas then speed of each is half of above, if 4 then its just one fourth (and if all are operated simultaneously).

Client Capability:

Lets see the client antenna situation on various devices:

• WiFi USB Dongle - Typically 1 or 2 antennas
• Smartphone - Typically 1 antenna to improve battery life and save space.
• Tablet (iPad) - Frequently 2 Antennas
• Laptops - Frequently 2 antennas (3 on desktop replacements)
• PCI card on PC - 1-4 antennas depending on the model you buy

What this means is that if your client has N antennas then it can reach only 54, Nx150, Nx450 mbps speed (with 802.11g, n and ac respectively) theoretically (or 1/3rd of that in real life). 

So if you have a 802.11ac smartphone (likely with one antenna), you will not exceed 30 MB/s transfer rate in real life. With 802.11n this would be capped to 10 MB/s


Additional features:
USB ports (for connecting Hard disk/pendrive, Dual WAN, Media servers, Print serever etc. These are needs of a few power users and for those few these decisions can come after you have settled on an option based on client & router speed

To summarize, do as under:

1. Skip 802.11g altogether. Technology is obsolete. all 802.11n and 802.11ac have backward compatibility with 802.11g, so that  takes care of older devices
2. Based on the type of client support you have and their number go for either 802.11n or 802.11ac (remember that ac routers are expensive while n routers are very cheap). 
3. Their is little using buying 802.11ac router when you have no 802.11ac client. You might consider a replacement when you have those clients and need the faster speed absolutely (not that feature is by default). With time both clients and router prices will drop (every 6 months or so as new models emerge)
4. If you are small family its unlikely you will be having more than 2-3 simultaneous clients downloading data using though many more many connect and therefore you do not need more than 1 or 2 antenna device.
5. Then of-course your need for extra value added features (USB drive, Media server, Printer etc)

For most people the heaviest bandwidth applications is to watch 1080p HD video streams and that requires no more than 10 mbps (little  1.25 MB/s) even with 3D. At max two such streams will be played in home simultaneously and therefore 20 Mbps is the max speed one needs from Wifi (and Broadband connection too ...). Therefore I generally believe a 2-antenna 802.11n router [eg. TP-Link TL-WR841N or TP-Link TL-WR841(N/HP)]  is the best bet for most of the homes. Anything more is luxury or just for bragging rights.

Personally I have a small family of two adults and one kid, with max two devices being used at a time have a Rs. 800 1-antenna 802.11n router and a Rs. 17000/- 3-antenna 802.11ac one,  and I am equally happy with the Rs. 800/- one. That's what made motivated me write this post to prevent others from unnecessarily blowing their wallet in a heavily depreciating asset.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Do I need a NAS for my home network

Our world is increasingly digital. We generate a lot of digital content (photos, videos, personal documents, purchased music & videos, etc) as opposed to what we did 10 years ago. Overtime this keeps on growing as many of them are related to memories and no one wants to delete memories. Plus you have digital documents and other assets that you simply cannot lose ... 

Previously we had all these user generated content in hard-copies (film negatives and positives), cassettes/DVDs, etc all of which are perishable material. Today no one lies to print all his photos or archive data in tapes and CDs. rather people prefer to keep all their data in a redundant fail-safe storage which is accessible from all kinds of devices (tablets, smartphones, computers, TV STB), possibly even from inside and outside his home at any time of day, week, month or year. And you cannot keep all of this data on Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, etc ...

All computers, hard disks, pen-drives, CD/DVD media fail at times. You should not be trusting a single copy of your data to be always available.  Should you do that  and some failure happens, you know what misfortune you are bringing upon yourself. This is where NAS (or personal cloud storage) comes in. A good NAS should provide N:1 redundancy (where N=1, 2, 3 ...) so that essentially in the event of mechanical failure, your data is most likely safe. You get diskless NAS models to 2/4 bay diskless or ready to store models in market as well as you can recycle old computers to build FreeNAS based file servers (I use this).  So by all means go ahead and get one which suits your need, pocket and skill level.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committtee

Do I need to run optical fiber to all data locations with eye on future ?

No. Fiber is rumored to have almost infinite bandwidth and possibly that's what starts this question. 

Fiber Optics is used for long range communications where low voltage electrical signals (like those that go on LAN or cat6 /6a cabling) cannot propagate ore lengths beyond 100m. This scenario is not faced in almost all homes of this project. Fiber also cannot supply power to PoE style devices. And cat6  speeds are common at 1 GbE (just as Fiber) with 10GbE on the horizon (it will require extremely expensive equipment to support such speeds on optical fiber).  On a per port basis optical fiber maybe 10 times expensive than LAN with little or no support on home devices and appliances. 

From a user perspective, its very hard for any home user to fully saturate the 1 GbE link bandwidth of cat 6/6a and these ca6/6a can support 10 GbE in future. So the use cases of "infinite bandwidth" are non-existent now in the home (and possibly in the 10 year period too). it can also handle any high-speed broadband service (10 Gbps) for the next 10 years in India. We are just stuck at 100 mbps at the premium end mostly with realistic E2E max throughput not exceeding 25 mbps,

Some Home automation firms push  fiber optic cabling in home as a means to carry 4K and 3D or higher video resolutions, but the cat6 infra is more than sufficient to handle that too.

So its a nice science  project to run fiber to each device and play around,  but that's what it really is. No practical use.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committtee

What is the future of WiFi technology and how can we be ready for future ?

Currently Wifi is using IEEE 802.11ac which uses 5 Ghz band and also supports legacy 2.4 GHz band clients. In terms of antenna, routers with 8 antennas (4x4) and direction beam forming and client bandwidth/priority allocation are inn the market. Their is a proposal to develop a router with 16 antennas (8x8 MIMO). Some routers support two or three 5 Ghz bands and one 2.4 Ghz bands. However this is just an implementation strategy with little or no  benefits on a per client basis but just increases the overall capacity of router to handle more clients each able to work at possibly much lower link speed than what speed label you see on the box. Of-course many homes may just do fine with this.

Technology wise the Standard work is happening on Gigabit Wifi (802.11ad or WiGig) as well as competing WirelessHD. Both these standards use the 60 Ghz band. One important consequence of this (by design to escape interference) is range of Wireless signals is further limited. 5 GHz range is less than 2.4 Ghz and 60 Ghz will be much less, possibly the size of the room and may not be able to penetrate concrete walls.

So the future of High Speed Wireless LAN is most likely "Multiple Access Points/Routers" in one home, probably one per room and supported by an underlying Wired Gigabit Ethernet LAN to hook up each room to the router in a broadband entry location.  Of course for this to take root all clients also need to change (for 60 Ghz frequency support) and that may take a long time(5+ years) to materialize with intermediate implementations supporting all 3 bands (2.4, 5 and 60 Ghz bands)

This is ONE MORE reason on why we insists that every room have Wired LAN connectivity by at-least having one LAN Port in every room and having structured cat 6/6a wiring.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Should i use 2.4 Ghz or 5 Ghz frequency band ?

Network Gear Situation:

With respect to frequency bands (or wireless carrier), Router are classified as:

1. Single band - Will support only 2.4 Ghz band (entry level)
2. Legacy Dual band - Will support both 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz but only one at a time
3. Dual band - Simultaneously operate both the frequency bands
4. Tri-band - Will support TWO 5 Ghz bands and ONE 2.4 Ghz band

Each frequency band means a virtual logical router in itself with independent SSID (Wireless network name)

A client will support either 2.4 ghz or 5 Ghz at a time. Never both simultaneously even though it cant support booth the frequency bands. And a lot of legacy Wifi clients or simple devices uses 2.4 Ghz only with only the latest ones being able to support the 5Ghz band additionally.

Tradeoffs:

1. 2.4 Ghz has more range (will reach father from router/AP) but will suffer more from interference with neighbor's network. 
2. 2.4 Ghz has more client support (and therefore more ubiquitous)
3. 5Ghz has less range and faces less interference from neighbor's network
4. 5Ghz has fewer client support (only modern devices). 
5. 5Ghz suffers more attenuation from walls and household objects and performance falls drastically outside the room where AP/router is placed. 
6. 5Ghz has more channels and more bandwidth compared to 2.4 Ghz

Here's a reference graphic comparison:

Which will give better throughput ?

Hard to verdict with 100% confidence. It depends on what factor dominates a deployment scene. Generally if we get a good signal strength, it will be the 5 Ghz band (less interface, more bandwidth). But this changes from home to home. If signal crosses more walls, 5 Ghz range dramatically falls and makes it unusable and worse than 2.4 Ghz.

It should be clear why I hate Wifi. To many ifs and buts ...

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Can you practically illustrate the interference problem ?

Please take the following as one reference Multi-Dwelling-Unit (MDU or apartment complex) example of the unlicensed 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz spectrum usage (from my current residence):

The figure on the left shows the 2.4 Ghz spectrum usage while the figure on the right shows the 5 Ghz spectrum usage (with my 5 Ghz AP only). It should be clear that the 2.4 Ghz band is congested while the 5 Ghz is empty and free for my outdoor AP use.

The results I got are like this:

1. My 2.4 GHz AP gives best case (client  device right over antenna) of around 40-45 Mbps while the 5 Ghz AP gives best case result of 90-95 mbps. A factor of two in the ideal case
2. In longer range, I could extract a performance of max. 7-8 mbps from the 2.4 Ghz Outdoor AP while the 5.0 Ghz AP gave me results of 15-16 Mbps. A factor of two again. I had line of sight between client device and and AP with only an occasional tree and leaves as obstacle. 

The interference problem is particularly severe in apartments because of the density of flats (and each has a wifi routers). If we go to a villa or large bungalow community, the problem is less severe.

Please note that the 5 Ghz  suffers great attenuation from walls and based on that the results could change the other way round. But the above case clearly demonstrates quantitatively the impact of interference when both the 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz APs are theoretically rated to be able to do the same speeds.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Can I have two Broadband connection simultaneously in my home network ?

Yes you can. I assume you want two broadband network simultaneously serving one home LAN network.

This is very uncommon in home environment, where typically each home has ONE broadband connection serving one home network, but is very very common in enterprise network where two or more branch offices are linked to each other via separate broadband connections or leased lines for redundancy and fault tolerance. Various schemes exist to use these broadband connection like 50:50, round robin, active-standby and so on, Perhaps one of these schemes is what you may be looking at while trying to use more than one broadband connection at home.

So all we need to support this requirement is to port an entry-level enterprise solution in the home environment. This involves incorporating a wired load balancing router (3-8 ports) or using a Wifi Router that supports dual WAN. These routers substitute the existing wired or wifi router at home without disturbing the home network architecture in a major way.

Wired load balancing routers, however, in terms of configuration, is quite different (rather complex) from your regular wireless router which actually is a two port (or two interface router)+ integrated 4-port LAN switch where one interface connects to one internet connection (WAN) and the other serves the LAN over wired and wireless. And the wired load balancing router solution is not limited to two internet connections, but can use 3, 4, 5 etc depending on how many ports (minus 1) that the load balancing router has.

DataFlow (Router with 2 WAN and 1 LAN)

Physical Network interconnection topology

Various solutions exist to serve consumer level load balancing router market like:

1. Ubiquiti Edgerouter Lite ER3 (https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-lite/) - I use this as my router at home. 
2. TP-Link TL-R480T+ (http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/cat-4910_TL-R480T%2B.html)
3. Draytek Vigor2925 (http://www.draytek.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=5247&Itemid=660&lang=en)
4. Trendnet 4-port dual WAN VPN router (http://www.trendnet.com/products/proddetail?prod=185_TW100-BRV324)
5. Some  Wifi Router like  very popular and common Asus RT-AC68U in which you can configure one of the 4 LAN ports or the USB port for failover/load-balance of wifi [http://www.techpoy.com/2014/11/asus-rt-ac68u-dual-wan-set-up.html]

and these are frequently used in home environments and small home offices.  You may see more suitable candidates from the router rankings at smallnetbuilder:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/rankers/router/ranking/None/rev8/6

One typical use case is work from home (or even Virtual Desktop) which requires a stable link. the two connections will provide you more reliability and fault tolerance in your link with office (It should be more rare for two broadband connections from different SP to go down at the same time). The principle is same as that of core reliability design i..e of using redundant unreliable parts to make the system more reliable.

However if you are using Home office, you may want to keep home network and office network separate physically by just keeping two connections, two ISP modems and two routers. 

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-committee

How exactly can a load balancing router improve the performance & reliability of consumer broadband connections ?

A broadband connection can encounter a networking or cable fault anywhere within the campus or outside (fiber or cable damage outside APR) which is beyond the control of any subscriber. If it happens it may take a day (or more) also to fix at times. If you think you have a critical requirement like work-from-home which you cannot afford to compromise on, then its is better to dedicate a secondary backup internet connection. Their are three types of policies that are typically used with load balancing routers:

Case 1 - Active Standby Model

Here one of your connections is always designated as the primary (It could be a fast FTTH connection) while the secondary is designated as secondary (It could be slower and cheaper ADSL, 3G/4G Mobile Broadband or just a cheaper FTTH connection). We expect the fault in the primary connection to be intermittent and random and this topology will help overcome the temporary outage. And the transitions are transparent to the user (i.e. handled entirely by the LB router)

Case 2 - Round Robin Load balancing

This can be used if your primary connection is unreliable. In this case you can buy two high speed connections and load balance round robin (weighted or unweighted) through them If one of them goes down, your application still work through the backup without any observable degradation in performance. This is very popular in enterprise environment to connect two branch offices or by data centers.

Another use case is to increase Internet speed. The max speed at APR is now 100 mbps (supported by both Airtel and ACT). Let say you want a 200 mbps connection for some reason (including bragging rights). This will satisfy your need (but make sure you have a GbE router not fast Ethernet one)  You can add another 50 Mbps using Pursuit Edigital Internet service a LB router with 3 WAN ports if that's what you are after ;-))

Case 3 - On Demand

If you ISP supports 40 Mbps and 100 Mbps connection speeds but not 60 Mbps, then this is what you can go for. Use the 40 mbps connection as primary and another 20 Mbps from other Service provider, then the 2nd interface can be used if the first hits its peak speed. Maybe especially attractive if you have a good plan on pay per use on the secondary connection.

In the interest of Reliability and network fault tolerance, I do not recommend taking two connection from same ISP. Its very rare that only your one connection will go down. Generally a network fault (more common) will impact an entire complex or area for a particular ISP. So if you take both connection from same ISP, you may find that both yor connections are down together at same time defeating the reliability requirement entirely and frequently.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Can a Load balancing Router help do some static host or service based load balancing ?

Depending on the model of the load balancing router you use, you may be able to statically partition your hosts and your applications to use a specific internet connection. Please check the feature list and/or configuration guide of your router 

For eg., you can always make a router use a specific service use a specific connection. For eg., you may have both ACT and Airtel connections, with BitTorrent, Tele-presence & videoconferencing applications use th ACT connections (uploads are not counted), but other applications continue to use the Airtel Connection. 

You may also use such routers to partition your WEAN (internet hosts) which are only accessed using specific connections.  For eg., you have 10 GB free Airtel Wynk data on Airtel BB connection and so you want all wynk access to go only through the Airtel connection (irrespective of client device) , while other applications can use either Airtel or ACT connection. 

The following is an enterprise diagram. You can partition your LAN network into segment s like CCTV, office device, personal devices, kids devices, wife's devices and so on and make them use specific connections.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

Can we extend our home WiFi Network beyond our apartment indoor area ?

Very much. Wifi works in unlicensed and unregulated spectrum bands (2.4 Ghz, 5 Ghz and 60 Ghz in future). This part of spectrum is free for use. Nobody owns it and therefore you are legally free to extend the range of your home Wifi beyond the closed range of your apartment.

The common use cases for outdoor wifi are:

(1) You live in ground floor and  have big courtyard/garden/backyard where you spend quite a good amount of time and would like to browse while sitting on iPad/Smartphone/laptop/Gaming console.

(2) You live in a penthouse and you need a very strong signal outdoor in your terrace area for same purpose as above

(3) You live anywhere in middle floors, but you sit, walk and spend a lot of time in the common area in-front of your apartment and would  like to have your Wifi to reach there.

(4) Or simply want to set a free hotspot for community or guests.

So in order to extend your home wifi network, pick up a simple Outdoor Wifi AP (these are weather and dust proof, mostly powered by PoE) unit like:

(a) Ubiquiti (Loco) M2 or M5

(b) Tp-Link Outdoor Wifi AP (2.4 and 5 Ghz versions)

(c) or any other similar equipment

which features directional antennas and mount it in the balcony area facing the area which you want to cover (the signal will spread in a cone). The range will depend on the antenna Gain characteristics. Depending on the interference, distance and Line Of Sight between client device and AP, you may be able to get your entire Internet Speed (upto 100 mbps for 802.11n 5 Ghz band) at the outdoor location covered by the signal cone. For terrace or private garden/backyard, you may even use outdoor APs with omni-directional antennas as the area to be covered is small. The signal will not be able to penetrate thick walls and come oput on other side. So if you have a building in-front of your flat, do not expect the signal to penetrate and be strong or even visible on the other side of the building.

Both the ubiquity and Tp-link units are priced in the Rs. 3000-4500 range and therefor are not an expensive investment to make/trial out. Personally I have tested Ubiquiti Loco M2 and M5 models  in LOS conditions upto 50-70m from my 6th floor apartment and am specially happy with the Loco m5 performance.

Infrastructure wise, you would need a LAN port at the outdoor mounting location in balcony/terrace and this is something you should have planned for in advance (or have to do modification otherwise). It is very rare to have planned for a LAN port in balcony/utility/terrace etc in advance though.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committtee

How to do telephone wiring Inside our home ?

Data cabling works only in one wiring topology i.e. STAR with the switch at the STAR point. However the STAR is not the only option for telephone wiring. Their are others like Ring, Bus, or some hybrid. For brief intro on these typologies, refer the following web-page

http://www.homephonewiring.com/route.html

Most builders (including ours) by default provide Bus topology (the likely motive  being to save cable , conduit and labour cost and effort). However telephone cables are rather inexpensive, conduits are one time investment for each home and therefore we recommend that in the interest of maximum flexibility and ability to add new points without disturbing existing ones, all owners go for STAR wiring only (i.e. REDO the telephone cabling). In-fact telephone cables are thin and can share conduits to each room used by data or coaxial cables, safely. With STAR topology you can keep multiple handsets and multiple landline connections too with the interconnect done at the star point.

We do not recommend using telephone cables out of data points as they reduce data port speed to 100 mbps max (from 1 or 10 Gbps) and also each such sharing port loses ability to do PoE (both passive and active). Moreover high voltages(incl. short risks) are used at times to ring phones and it stands a chance of interfering with even the 100 mbps speed data traffic. However you can use separate Cat 5 cables (cat 5e/6 is overkill and waste of money) as telephone wires (they use twisted pairs and offer better protection against electrical interference) compared to straight-pair telephone cables (infact this is the new recommended standard for telephone cabling). Cat 5 is also only marginally costlier than 2-pair telephone cabling and therefore an attractive preposition.


- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committtee

And how we handle Cable TV wiring ?

In general the use of coaxial cable is declining worldwide in favour of Optical Fiber for Internet and TV signal distribution outside the home and Ethernet (Cat5e/6) inside the home. . Even analog CCTV cameras are getting replaced by digital. 

However because most Setop boxes and TV still expect a coax Input and as such we need coax cable from ONT/ONU to STB. In india still TV distribution by Optical fiber is not widespread and DTH/Traditional cable TV networks hold sway due to which we must be prepared to install proper coax wiring for the next 5-10 years for Video (TV).

Again like Ethernet and telephone, coaxial wiring must be done in a "STAR" fashion and not "Bus" Topology by using splitters, in case of multi TV configurations. It is recommended to install either

1. an inline signal amplifier + splitter or
2. a multi-channel switch (non-cascading)

at the STAR point if splitting is done to serve more than 1 TV.

Generally one should make a provision for TV in every room, and hence this may be unavoidable to maintain signal strength. It is also recommended to run 3 cables to each access point from the STAR as many STBs feature dual Tuners, pl;us we may need the ability to receive both terrestrial radio/tv or local Cable TV in addition to  DTH transmission. This is a one time investment.

Also RG6 is the recommended cable TV/DTH coaxial wiring standard (costs Rs. 10-12/m in bulk package in India). However we recommend that "RG6/U quad shielded cable ore RG6QS" (Rs. 40-50 per meter) be used as it offers better high frequency and EMI performance and is the new recommended standard for MATV, recommended satellite TV distribution standard in residential or commercial premises. Commscope, Finolex and Belden are the better brands (in order) of coaxial cable in Indian market (Refer http://www.broadcastandcablesat.co.in/cables-dth-and-catv-drive-demand.html)

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committtee

Can we use VoIP in india and how we can prepare our apartment cabling for this ?

I will answer the 2nd part of the question first because its in our hand. 

In US, their are many Over-the-top VoIP providers like Vonage, RingCentral, PhonePower, Skype, Jive, etc. Apart from these companies providing smartphone, Tablet and PC apps, they also provide fixed terminals like:

1.  A VoIP phone - an IP Phone usually powered by PoE ( made by Cisco, Linksys, Grandstream, Polycom, etc). This needs a RJ45 data port at each location, and possibly, an electrical socket nearby if PoE is not feasible.
2. An VoIP Analog telephone adapter (ATA) which usually accepts an RJ45 data port as input and has two ports for connecting regular POTS analog phone terminals

VoIP maybe delivered in OTT fashion i..e, it will come on your Broadband connection, or it can be even offered by Telco (business connection) in which case it may come like IPTV service on a separate LAN port of ONT. All you need for using such a device is a data port at the device location and the option to connect to either your home network or to the special ONT Port.

To answer the second part, please note that presently, In India,  regulatory framework is restrictive of VoIP services, possibly in order to protect the incumbent long distance voice operators from loss of STD/ISD revenue. In particular VoIP Gateways are not allowed to be put inside India to bypass STD/ISD toll. As such all foreign based VOIP server services are illegal to use in India, TRAI treats VoIP as a service different in scope, nature and kind from real-time voice as offered by Telcos and long distance carriers. However as a consequence only the following type of VoIP or Internet telephony is allowed in India:

1. PC to PC Voip Call within or outside India
2. PC/IP-Phone/Adapter to a landline/mobile abroad (The gateway in this case is outside India)
3. PC/IP-Phone/Adapter connected to ISP with static IP calling similar device inside or Outside India (again an IP-IP call)

Their is also no number (E.164) allocation strategy for VoIP as given to fixed line voice, GSM or CDMA voice. ISPs are forbidden from putting E.164 to IP address mappings as recommended by IANA is forbidden. This ensures a different quality of experience than using regular landline or mobile phones. To summarize VoIP does not have a level playing field in India as in US, especially when interconnect with legacy voice networks are concerned.

Things however may change in future, but the time-frame is not determinable. Owners can however prepare infrastructure upfront as highlighted above to be ready for this eventuality.

UPDATE October 2018: The Indian Government has relaxed regulations (6 months back) allowing the use of VoIP or Wifi by all Telecom services license holders (their own or other providers's network). As such both VoWifi/Wifi-Calling and VoIP are now feasible in India if launched by a telecom license holder like BSNL, Bharti, Tata, Vodafone, Idea or Reliance. BSNL WINGS is now the first usable VoIP service in India with seamless connectivity to all landlines and mobiles and works on any Wifi and any Cellular bearer /transport technology. 

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-committee

So can i use Vonage, Skype, Whatsapp, Viber and other OTT VoIP services in India ?

VoIP is permitted in India subject to regulations of interconnect with landline/mobile numbers in india. So you can use these OTT services and VoIP application/device to call

1. IP Phones in other countries
2. Landline/mobiles in other countries.
3. IP Phones in any part of India (provided you use IP addresses and not E.164 compliant telephone numbers)

Skype, Viber, Whatsapp, facebook messenger, etc are IP Phone to IP phone type of calling applications and therefore are perfectly legal. 

You cannot call a landline India. If you try calling a landline/mobile in India would require to connect to server outside India and then route using PSTN/PLMN gateways which will incur significant ISD charges making local and STD calling prohibitively expensive and render it un-competitive (on cost) in comparison to traditional voice service offered by telcos and cellular operators. Similarly their is no way to call a VoIP number from landline/mobile number in India.


- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee

How many communication (RJ45, RJ11 and coax) ports I really need in my apartment ?

Their is no answer that is just right for everyone. Different apartments interiors are styled differently based on owner's need and foresight. Infrastructure investment is also a matter of initial pain and latter gain tradeoff which many owners may not be able to appreciate. Here is what I think, i am going to plan my potential port allocation at different places may be like:

Any TV Area (1 ft height) - 6 ports:

1. IPTV STB – 1 RJ45 Nos.
2. Internet and LAN television (n STBs but only one used at a time, n indeterminate (1-10 possibly)) – 1 RJ45 Nos.
3. Cable Television – 3 RG6 COAX Nos. (1 for cable TV/Terrestrial radio and 2 for DTH)
4. Smart TV Unit – 1 RJ45 Nos. ( They use this to upgrade the firmware (and use some smart features).

Any Study Table/Area/Desk (4 ft height) - 5 ports :

1. Data – 2 RJ45 (study table (not in LR)
2. Telephone points – 2 RJ11 (1 for Landline, 1 for intercom)
3. VoIP Phone - 1 RJ45 POE Nos.
4. No TV

False Ceiling in BRs, LRs, FRs and DRs - 2 ports:

1. Wifi Access Point – 1 RJ45 PoE Nos.
2. CCTV camera – 1 Nos. (only provision, not use for privacy or use in maid visiting hours only)
3. No telephone or TV

That's a lot of ports in house and almost 100% owners would not have initially planned like this.  Its perfectly fine that you can assume i have started doing drugs, have lost my mind and restrict yourself to only data point per room (and distribute using small switch if required). Fact is new data point use cases emerge over time.  and individual flat resident needs are different: some people will like to go for one AP per room, while others may go for one AP for whole flat. Some may go for CCTV only in 2 points, others at more and most probably none.

Apart from my above hyperbole list, there may be other locations that need only CCTV, Only Wifi AP, Only landline, intercom and VoIP phones, etc. It can only be done with your interior work and some amount of conduit and cabling rework  is unavoidable.  We can only recommend that one be generous with conduit laying and face-plate allocation (even if no wires are drawn or ports installed) so that extension is easier down the line (no need to chip walls or expose ugly casings on the surface). Conduit design (where to use thick, where to use medium, where to use thin) plus where all to provide conduits is the most important consideration.

Cabling design - type, number can always be changed later. For eg., Its possible to use a star point in every room for RJ45 and connect it to main RJ45 STAR hub point for the flat rather than use every cable as a home run to central star point. Not every device needs 1 GbE. For eg., TVs doing 1080p, VoIP Phone, CCTV streaming needs less than 10 Mbps today. In future TVs maybe they will need 100-200 Mbps max (next 10 years).  Every such STAR point will have to have a small network switch (8 port). Similarly some cat6 can be replaced by Fiber optic cable if required 20 years down the line.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-committee

Its 2016 mid. Should we go for 10 Gb Ethernet now ?

10 GbE Ethernet is still some years away from becoming common in consumer market. The current status is that it is target towards enterprise market and therefore prices are generally high:

1. A 10 GbE switch will cost $1500 easily and may have to be imported wheras 1 GbE switches start from $30 only
2. A 10 GbE PCI card costs $200-$400 whereas a PCioe 2.0 GbE interface is available for $15-$20 only
3. Cat6A cabling is difficult to procure and it costs 3 times compared to Cat 6 UTP. Connectors would similarly be expensive
4. Their is no real time application (including 4K/3D video that would need more than 100 mbps speed. The content ecosystem is mature only for Full HD (1080p)
5. The WAN (Internet speed) typically seen at the top end in India is 100 mbps with 1 Gbps being offered only in select cities near the sea.

Their is very little reason for consumers to want or even care about 10G in home network.  However one case is starting to emerge slowly in a small minority of very advanced home networking setups:

In some deployments, users will centralization workstation storage in a RAID-1(N) NAS and use the  PC/Laptop/Workstation as a data less client which works on fast SSDs. Typically SATA 3 buses show this type of performance profile

• Host to Disk speed of 100-200 MB/s (0.8 to 1.6 Gbps)
• Host to HDD Cache speed of 6 Gbps (SATA 2 supports 3 Gbps, SATA 1.5 Gbps)
• OS/CPU caches further gives better transfer rates

So you can see that if a data transfer (read/write) is done on a NAS and it it hits any cache or disk, then the bottleneck would be the link itself and not the disk I/O operation and the GbE link would become fully saturated practically. 

To get around this, the use of 10 GbE seems logical. But not every device needs such type of transfer speeds. Only NAS and remote workstation. So the best way forward for these very slim minority homes is to either 

1. Put a small 10 GbE switch and put only NAS and workstation(s) in it and uplink to a slow GbE switch for the rest of the home network devices or even setup P2P 10 GbE links
2. install 10 GbE NICs (PCI cards)  on both the NAS and the PC (if you have only one) and puit direct P2P ethernet link
3. If you have multiple clients PCs and one NAS with 100-120 MB/s transfer speed  acceptable, the the switch can be upgraded to a smart 1 gbps switch, A n-port PCI card be put on NAS and link aggregation be used between NAS and switch, leaving the PCs connected to switch with standard 1 Gbps links

So 10 GbE is useful to quickly write small data but lots of it (typical workstation workload) or transfer large files quickly (again largely useful for transferring big video and image files during content creation activities). The "quickly" is the key point or pull for 10 GbE. 

In a nutshell, 10 GbE in home network is an overkill (and still impractical) for 2016 if implemented across the board. Infact most applications ( and most homes) are just fine with 100 mbps (Phone, Tablet, Streamer, Surveillance camera, etc)  with only applications that need to do big file transfer over LAN between two local nodes really needing 1 Gigabit Ethernet.

- Suman Kumar Luthra @ APRC-P3 Telecom Sub-Committee