Wireless (WiFi) Access Point Rec?

[RyC]

Not quite $50, but the Cloud Key is a dedicated stick that runs the controller software UniFi Cloud Key

 

[Eric Faden]

How about mikrotik?... The major thing I don't like about unifi is the controller... Also a lot of their features seemed under baked... I have a bunch of unifi lr (the non AC ones) if your interested. They aren't in use and are just in my basement sitting.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Terry Kennedy]

Given that long rambling intro, my main question is: should I get a typical consumer-level device, or step up to the low-end enterprise grade products? Looks like I can get POE-powered 802.11ac WAPs from the likes of Netgear, Linksys, TP-Link for $100 or less. On the other end of things, I see lots of love here and other places for Ruckus, specifically the R310 looks ideal for my situation, but at $350 or so.

Every once in a while the Cisco Aironet [advertising link] 702i shows up on eBay [advertising link] for < $100. I got a bunch for $39.95 each as "new open box" because the seller thought they were defective. Actually, they had the controller-based version of the firmware and just needed to be switched to the autonomous version.

The Cisco Aironet 1252 is regularly available on eBay [advertising link] for under $35. It doesn't do 802.11ac (it is 802.11a/b/g/n only). It is a battleship (most people don't believe my "you could easily bludgeon someone to death with it" until they try to pick one up - it has a cast aluminum frame). But they suffer from the "reboot of death" memory issue. At the price, though, you can pick up a bunch of spares. If you get a 1252, make sure it includes all 6 antennas and the mounting bracket. It is also a high-power (36W) PoE device - the 702i has a much smaller appetite.

In general, I've never been able to really understand the difference between the higher-end consumer stuff and the entry-level enterprise stuff. I know the latter often comes with "enterprise features", which I really don't need; I'm good with MAC address filtering and WPA2 PSK. So is the hardware that much better?

At least with Cisco, enterprise means "no firmware updates without paying us". You get much more solid hardware (I have some where the SNMP uptime counter has "rolled over" at 495 days) which can deal with a huge number of associated clients. They're also somewhat better when dealing with crowded channels (I can see > 50 SSIDs from my cell phone, for example).

I have firmware for the 702i and the 1252 if you get either of those.

 

[matt_garman]

Ok, just got the UAP-AC-PRO set up. I haven't tweaked anything yet, just went through the initial setup wizard. Oh, I did upgrade to the latest firmware (3.7.47.6194). I put the UniFi right next to the Asus RT-N66U router.

I set up iperf3 on my Linux server "septictank". Then I ran an iperf3 client from a Windows 7 laptop. First connected via the Asus at 2.4GHz:

c:\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3.exe -c septictank
Connecting to host septictank, port 5201
[  4] local 10.224.192.73 port 61655 connected to 10.224.192.33 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec   256 KBytes  2.10 Mbits/sec
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec   256 KBytes  2.10 Mbits/sec
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  1.00 MBytes  8.39 Mbits/sec
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  1.25 MBytes  10.5 Mbits/sec
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec   640 KBytes  5.24 Mbits/sec
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec   640 KBytes  5.24 Mbits/sec
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  1.50 MBytes  12.6 Mbits/sec
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  2.75 MBytes  23.1 Mbits/sec
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  1.88 MBytes  15.7 Mbits/sec
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  1.25 MBytes  10.5 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec  11.4 MBytes  9.54 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec  11.3 MBytes  9.49 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

Now again instead connected to the Unifi:

c:\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3.exe -c septictank
Connecting to host septictank, port 5201
[  4] local 10.224.192.73 port 61799 connected to 10.224.192.33 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  14.9 MBytes   125 Mbits/sec
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  19.0 MBytes   159 Mbits/sec
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  18.0 MBytes   152 Mbits/sec
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  19.4 MBytes   163 Mbits/sec
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  20.6 MBytes   173 Mbits/sec
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  21.1 MBytes   177 Mbits/sec
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  21.2 MBytes   178 Mbits/sec
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  19.6 MBytes   165 Mbits/sec
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  20.5 MBytes   172 Mbits/sec
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  19.9 MBytes   167 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   194 MBytes   163 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   194 MBytes   163 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

This is from approximately 15 feet away, though the Asus and Unifi devices are in a closet (so a wall/door between).

Quite encouraging so far!

 

[ridney]

I see you've already bought a Unifi AP but if you ever change your mind I would always suggest getting a used Cisco AP like 2702i or a 3602i. There are plenty available on ebay and they are dirt cheap right now.

Good thing about using Cisco APs is lots of documentation, firmware updates (if you know where to look), standards support and support forums.

Myself Im running a few 3602i APs with a 2504 WLC in my home for more than 2 years now and it has been very smooth without any disruptions or hardware restarts. Performance is average but it is very consistent. Like you Im also using my wifi just for mobile devices and laptops. Everything else are wired.

Good thing with these enterprise APs are the hundreds of knobs available at your disposal so you can tweak your wireless network according to your specific needs like adjusting TXpower so that your APs are having the same power as your weakest wireless device. Im running my APs at 11mw and have set mandatory data rates at 24mbps to reduce cell size. Really helps with faster client roaming. These are just some of the options that are available to you.

Also, its also nice to know that with Cisco and perhaps other enterprise APs they support 802.11 standards like 802.11k, 802.11r, 802.11v etc. features that may you find helpful with client roaming.

Also controller features gets you rogue AP mitigation and event driven Clean Air where it automatically changes APs to a cleaner channels are nice to have too.

Anyways, just to let anyone know that there's an option with used Cisco gears at a cheap cost with tons of features and robust hardware and software and it just works.

 

[Eric Faden]

Where do you look for Cisco firmware? I stopped using them due to the subscription requirement to get any support

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk