Help me choose a wireless AP
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I want to buy a proper wireless AP, because well... the one I got from my ISP is shit as shit. Basically, I want to turn off WiFi on my router, connect the WAP to it with an Ethernet cable and just be done with it.
My flat is 50m2, it's almost a rectangle. The problem is, the socket where the router is connected is in the corner of the bedroom, on the opposite side of the flat. And since there's quite a few flats like mine in the building (20?), there's a lot of WAPs fighting to get their signal across.
I'd like a WAP that can work in dual mode (2.4/5 GHz) reliably. Additional cool features would be guest portal and VPN, but that's not something that I need that much. It would be nice, but that's all.
I've looked around and I guess AC1900 will be enough for me. AC2400 are quite expensive (starting at around $250 here in Poland), plus I probably wouldn't really feel the speed advantage.
My budget is up to $180-200. I was leaning towards D-Link DIR 800. It's a bit under my budget, which is good, it has VPN built-in, guest portal, can work in dual-band mode (I believe it can even offer 4 SSIDs: 2 bands for guest portal and 2 bands for the network).
But then I saw the Ubiquiti Unifis. From what I read, the Lite one could be enough for me -- and if it isn't! Hey, buying another one would put me in the same price range as the D-Link.
What do you think?
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Before you go crazy (which you will), check the construction of the flat. Some methods (such as my previous place) are great at blocking Wifi (both 2.5 and 5) so I ended up with a repeater in (nearly) every room.
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@thecpuwizard said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
Before you go crazy (which you will), check the construction of the flat. Some methods (such as my previous place) are great at blocking Wifi (both 2.5 and 5) so I ended up with a repeater in (nearly) every room.
That's the idea with the UniFi. They can work as repeaters and 2 would cost me the same as the D-Link.
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@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
I've looked around and I guess AC1900 will be enough for me.
I have an AC1900ACS and have been more than happy; similar living situation. But no guest portal or VPN, I think (I have DD-WRT on it).
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Unifi AC Pro. Accept no substitute.
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@thecpuwizard said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
Before you go crazy (which you will), check the construction of the flat. Some methods (such as my previous place) are great at blocking Wifi (both 2.5 and 5) so I ended up with a repeater in (nearly) every room.
got an AP in every corner (figuratively) of the house.Granted they're also wired so...
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@heterodox said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
I've looked around and I guess AC1900 will be enough for me.
I have an AC1900ACS and have been more than happy; similar living situation. But no guest portal or VPN, I think (I have DD-WRT on it).
Ddwrt has both, but if you want proper isolation it gets a little tricky.
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@heterodox said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
I've looked around and I guess AC1900 will be enough for me.
I have an AC1900ACS and have been more than happy; similar living situation. But no guest portal or VPN, I think (I have DD-WRT on it).
Yeah, this one is a bit on the high side, money-wise. It's 800 PLN, so around $230 and for $60 more I could by Synology RT2600AC.
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@weng Unifi AC Lite or Unifi AC EDU or the new Unifi AC IW.
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@kt_ The fact is, one router isn't really good enough for the average sized home. You can get away with one when your access point is right in the middle of the house, but how often can you manage that? Most ISP endpoints are at one of your outer walls. So if you use a single access point next to your modem, you get good coverage at 60% of your home.
What I did when I had this problem last was get a Netgear powerline ethernet access point. One half plugs into the wall next to my modem, and the access point plugs into an outlet in the middle of my house. But powerline ethernet is its own can of worms. I get "good enough" speed, but my internet is somewhat faster than my internal LAN.
Don't use repeaters. You need a wired trunk to carry data to your access points. If you can drop your own cables, drop one in the middle of your home and get a Unifi AC Pro. Or drop two cables at opposite ends of your home and get two Unifi AC Lites. If dropping cables isn't an option, consider a powerline ethernet access point. If I owned my home, I'd also consider drilling holes in the exterior walls for ethernet -- at least for a single trunk line.
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I'm running a WRT-1900AC now (just in 5ghz mode). I've been happy. I upgraded the firmware as soon as I got it, and haven't had any issues.
The only thing I'd rather the admin software had was a firewall. You can restrict access by device (which is good for blocking all Google and Doubleclick ads on Molly's ipad), but there's no global blocklist. I'm sure I can Tomato it to get that but
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@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@weng said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
Unifi AC Pro. Accept no substitute.
But… why?
Every wireless network I’ve ever been on built with consumer gear has been at least a little bit shit.
Then A friend replaced their network of high end consumer gear with a Unifi and a dedicated router.
It was literally night and day’s difference in performance.
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@captain said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@weng Unifi AC Lite or Unifi AC EDU or the new Unifi AC IW.
The Lite’s radiation pattern and overall power aren’t quite good enough for a typical residential application. They’re more open plan office.
Not familiar with the EDU model. The IW model only makes sense in a new construction context.
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@kt_ I have a Netgear Nighthawk AC1750 and so far it's working pretty good.
It's got 3 antennas, so you'd have no problems with signal in an apartment that size. (But turn off 2.4 ghz and use only 5 ghz.)
@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
Additional cool features would be guest portal and VPN,
98% sure it has guest portal, but I'm not sure it has VPN support.
@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
My budget is up to $180-200.
That would be enough to buy one in the US. https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-R6700-100NAS-Nighthawk-AC1750-Router/dp/B00R2AZLD2
I dunno what Euro-prices are like.
@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
But then I saw the Ubiquiti Unifis.
Overkill. Your apartment isn't big enough to need more than one wifi access point, even if it is flush against a wall.
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@captain said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
The fact is, one router isn't really good enough for the average sized home.
We're talking about a 50 square meter apartment. Focus, people, focus.
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@blakeyrat said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@captain said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
The fact is, one router isn't really good enough for the average sized home.
We're talking about a 50 square meter apartment. Focus, people, focus.
Now imagine what happens when every wall is made of grounded metal lattice [plaster walls, but old school wood lathe being too expensive]. An AP on one side of the wall not even visible as a SID on the other side..... (and yes, that was the construction of the last place I lived - approx. 83 square meters so a little bigger, but that is immaterial when I am talking a direct distance of less than 1/2 a meter!)
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@thecpuwizard said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@blakeyrat said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@captain said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
The fact is, one router isn't really good enough for the average sized home.
We're talking about a 50 square meter apartment. Focus, people, focus.
Now imagine what happens when every wall is made of grounded metal lattice [plaster walls, but old school wood lathe being too expensive]. An AP on one side of the wall not even visible as a SID on the other side..... (and yes, that was the construction of the last place I lived - approx. 83 square meters so a little bigger, but that is immaterial when I am talking a direct distance of less than 1/2 a meter!)
This isn't the case here. The current router works, it's just unreliable.
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@blakeyrat said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@kt_ I have a Netgear Nighthawk AC1750 and so far it's working pretty good.
(But turn off 2.4 ghz and use only 5 ghz.)
Can't do that, still have devices that won't talk 5GHz.
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@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@thecpuwizard said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@blakeyrat said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@captain said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
The fact is, one router isn't really good enough for the average sized home.
We're talking about a 50 square meter apartment. Focus, people, focus.
Now imagine what happens when every wall is made of grounded metal lattice [plaster walls, but old school wood lathe being too expensive]. An AP on one side of the wall not even visible as a SID on the other side..... (and yes, that was the construction of the last place I lived - approx. 83 square meters so a little bigger, but that is immaterial when I am talking a direct distance of less than 1/2 a meter!)
This isn't the case here. The current router works, it's just unreliable.
Fair enough.. I brought it up originally only because I have seen a number of people burned by similar situations. And then followed up when there was a comment about the overall size.... Best of luck to you.
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@thecpuwizard said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@thecpuwizard said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@blakeyrat said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@captain said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
The fact is, one router isn't really good enough for the average sized home.
We're talking about a 50 square meter apartment. Focus, people, focus.
Now imagine what happens when every wall is made of grounded metal lattice [plaster walls, but old school wood lathe being too expensive]. An AP on one side of the wall not even visible as a SID on the other side..... (and yes, that was the construction of the last place I lived - approx. 83 square meters so a little bigger, but that is immaterial when I am talking a direct distance of less than 1/2 a meter!)
This isn't the case here. The current router works, it's just unreliable.
Fair enough.. I brought it up originally only because I have seen a number of people burned by similar situations. And then followed up when there was a comment about the overall size.... Best of luck to you.
Gotcha.
What I think is the main issue here isn't wall thickness. It's that there's around 20 other networks fighting over the bands.
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@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
What I think is the main issue here isn't wall thickness. It's that there's around 20 other networks fighting over the bands.
So, the issue is lack of wall thickness, then.
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@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@thecpuwizard said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@thecpuwizard said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@blakeyrat said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@captain said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
The fact is, one router isn't really good enough for the average sized home.
We're talking about a 50 square meter apartment. Focus, people, focus.
Now imagine what happens when every wall is made of grounded metal lattice [plaster walls, but old school wood lathe being too expensive]. An AP on one side of the wall not even visible as a SID on the other side..... (and yes, that was the construction of the last place I lived - approx. 83 square meters so a little bigger, but that is immaterial when I am talking a direct distance of less than 1/2 a meter!)
This isn't the case here. The current router works, it's just unreliable.
Fair enough.. I brought it up originally only because I have seen a number of people burned by similar situations. And then followed up when there was a comment about the overall size.... Best of luck to you.
Gotcha.
What I think is the main issue here isn't wall thickness. It's that there's around 20 other networks fighting over the bands.
Unfortunately I only know of two (legal) ways to deal with that:
- Perimeter Shielding
- Cooperation - where you and your neighbors AP's all communicate to self regulate power.
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@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
Can't do that, still have devices that won't talk 5GHz.
I hear ya. I just spent $30 on a Roku that speaks 5 ghz due to that same problem.
However, the 2.4 frequencies around here are SO JAMMED anything on it is pretty much useless.
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@blakeyrat said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
Can't do that, still have devices that won't talk 5GHz.
I hear ya. I just spent $30 on a Roku that speaks 5 ghz due to that same problem.
However, the 2.4 frequencies around here are SO JAMMED anything on it is pretty much useless.
What about turning on dual band mode? Your Netgear must support it. Theoretically dual-band shouldn't have adverse effects.
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@kt_ said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
What about turning on dual band mode? Your Netgear must support it.
Of course it does.
Problem is: the 2.4 ghz bands are so saturated I still don't get shit for bandwidth, even just downstairs. Better to just turn it off (be nice to the neighbors) and use 5 ghz for my own shit. Even if it means having to buy a new Roku.
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@blakeyrat said in Help me choose a wireless AP:
Better to just turn it off (be nice to the neighbors) and use 5 ghz for my own shit. Even if it means having to buy a new Roku.
You're a good scout.
