Need recommendations for Wifi access point

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Serverking

The quieter you are, the more you can hear...
Jan 6, 2019
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"cant be disabled" ~ yet it is defeated with simply blocking the DNS for it to call home.
That is true unless they keep changing the domain, or just have one IP for tracking and updating etc.

Additionally they are planning an opt out box in future fw revisions.
If they lied once before just few months ago, why would you believe them now? 3rd party audit is required now!
 

BoredSysadmin

Not affiliated with Maxell
Mar 2, 2019
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@Serverking - I'm not very familiar with MikroTik, do they have their own management platform to control APs and provide additional network functionality per OP's ask?
 

Serverking

The quieter you are, the more you can hear...
Jan 6, 2019
510
212
43
do they have their own management platform to control AP
Like all of their products, everything can be controlled the Winbox or WebFig. There is no slick UI but you can push data to grafana for pretty graphs and whatnot.

Get a feel for their UI MikroTik

Under "Try RouterOS now by using our online demo routers" see demo.mt.lv and demo2.mt.lv links.
 

Serverking

The quieter you are, the more you can hear...
Jan 6, 2019
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neat, too bad its an extra $150$50

EDIT: nvm misread Any routerOS device with version 6.11 or above for need a level 6 controller license, only lvl 4 is required
Get yourself a RB1100AHx4 which has level 6... you don't need anything.

MikroTik
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
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along the Cisco line... talked to a friend of mine at Cisco who I use to work with when I consulted there, and he's given me a cisco air-cap3702e-a-k9 with the autonomous IOS on it. issue is I can't get updates without his help. also if i'm to use it I need the ceiling mount bracket. and he said it doesn't have a dhcp server.

any other suggestions other than Ubiquiti and Cisco?

Does it not support the "IP DHCP Pool" command? Try typing that, in term config mode, and see if it accepts the command?

I don't know exactly which IOS version supports it, but I would be surprised if that functionality is not available in at least a couple of versions :)
 

BLinux

cat lover server enthusiast
Jul 7, 2016
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any of you Ubiquiti fans ever use your AP as a bridge? I have a lab that can't be wired, and I bridge that network to my primary via WiFi. I updated OP with this requirement...
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
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@BLinux My curiosity finally got the better of me tonight. I have never had the need to run anything DHCP related on a 37xx before, only ever used it on older 12xx AP's, so thought I would give it a twirl and see where I got to. I run an Air-CAP3702I-A-K9 at home with IOS 15.2 on it, just for general wifi use. I can confirm mine works fine, both as a server and as a relay. As far as wireless bridging is concerned, it's what they were made for and they are pretty good at it.

It still comes down to budget though, there's no escaping the cost of having that badge on the front of your chariot :D

Ubiquity I wouldn't touch with yours, never mind mine, I install enough of their stupid radios weekly to know how crap their gear really is, once deployed and you actually need them to stay working reliably. I don't use their wifi equipment, who knows, maybe that is better, but I wouldn't be spending my own money to find out. MikroTik is certainly the better manufacturer, although I have no experience with their AP's, we have a number of their switches deployed with little to no trouble from them, and we do push them pretty hard 24/7 :)
 
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BLinux

cat lover server enthusiast
Jul 7, 2016
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@BLinux My curiosity finally got the better of me tonight. I have never had the need to run anything DHCP related on a 37xx before, only ever used it on older 12xx AP's, so thought I would give it a twirl and see where I got to. I run an Air-CAP3702I-A-K9 at home with IOS 15.2 on it, just for general wifi use. I can confirm mine works fine, both as a server and as a relay. As far as wireless bridging is concerned, it's what they were made for and they are pretty good at it.

It still comes down to budget though, there's no escaping the cost of having that badge on the front of your chariot :D

Ubiquity I wouldn't touch with yours, never mind mine, I install enough of their stupid radios weekly to know how crap their gear really is, once deployed and you actually need them to stay working reliably. I don't use their wifi equipment, who knows, maybe that is better, but I wouldn't be spending my own money to find out. MikroTik is certainly the better manufacturer, although I have no experience with their AP's, we have a number of their switches deployed with little to no trouble from them, and we do push them pretty hard 24/7 :)
that's good to know.. .are you running the Cisco with the autonomous firmware? that's what my friend gave me... as for cost, there won't be any as he's giving them to me to try out. i just need the ceiling mounting bracket... seems a little hard to find by itself. do i need to do everything through CLI? he said there was some webui... i haven't turned it on yet.

i like the performance of mikrotik and their cost/value, but still using http with no https option to connect to admin ui just seems so 1999. that's at least what i found with their switchos, not sure of their other products. then there's also a lot of CVEs on their products...
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
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Yea, mine was a Light-AP that was converted to Stand-alone/ Autonomous. The ceiling bracket and a bag of mounting screws etc should be in the box? I'm sure that's how mine arrived, but tbh I forget :)

It can do either HTTP or HTTPS and does have a client UI, if you wish to use that instead, although sometimes I find it doesn't always do what you might expect. The CLI is the best way to go, you can get very, very granular with your config and instantly see your changes etc.

I think there is value for money there, but there's no denying that MikroTik have a way to go with development, but in their defense, they ain't no HP or Cisco with the resources and budgets that they have to play with. Still a good contender though for mid level use cases :)
 

fohdeesha

Kaini Industries
Nov 20, 2016
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I love the Ruckus AP's but at $600+ per AP I didn't consider them for home use.
The mikrotik ones I haven't seen a a review from a us based site I trust ( @Patrick :).
where are you seeing 600 dollars? a lot of us here have been grabbing R710's for around $200, aside from ticking all his boxes, they'll smoke every other recommendation in this thread performance wise as well as far as I know. things are built like tanks

regarding mikrotik, I don't think I'd let any vendor into my house that has had its products turned into botnets not once, but twice (actually it may have happened three times counting last year, I've honestly lost count)