What I build · 10
Networks that hold
Most 'internet problems' are network problems. The link is fine; the building isn't. I build the building side properly.
What I build
- Coverage first. Access points placed where people and devices actually are, wired back to a switch rather than daisy-chained over the air.
- A wired backbone for the things that must not drop: the server, the cameras, the phone system, the desk that takes payments.
- Separate lanes (VLANs) for guests, cameras, work and the house — so a visitor’s laptop cannot see the point of sale, and a camera cannot see anything but its recorder.
- A guest network with a sign-in page, if you host guests. Time-limited, no password to hand out, and it keeps working with the uplink down because the page lives on the premises.
- A firewall you can read. Named rules, a diagram, and a written explanation of what each one is for. I run the same kind of router myself, and I keep a dated copy of its configuration so a change can always be undone.
- Local name resolution. The building answers its own name lookups, so “the printer” and “the files” still resolve when the outside DNS is unreachable.
What I don’t do
I don’t install equipment I would not run myself, and I don’t put a device on your network that phones home to a vendor cloud in order to function. If a piece of hardware stops working when its maker’s servers go down, it is not infrastructure.