20+ simultaneous connection 802.11ac router for mobile lab?

[ES74656]

We send out a mobile lab to our clients on a regular basis with up to 20 laptops and a server that need to be connected.

Currently we are using an old 802.11n router, which is less than the reliability we need.

Are there any good options out there for business class 802.11ac routers that can support over 20 simultaneous connections? We would like to spend less than $300 if possible.

 

[L&LD]

Business class for that price and features, no.

I would consider the RT-AC56U or RT-AC68U for your needs, or multiples thereof, in a main router and additional AP's. I am assuming the devices are all located in a fairly small room with little or no obstacles.

 

[ES74656]

Business class for that price and features, no.

I would consider the RT-AC56U or RT-AC68U for your needs, or multiples thereof, in a main router and additional AP's. I am assuming the devices are all located in a fairly small room with little or no obstacles.

Yeah, they will all be in the same room, with pretty much los to the router. Do you think the RT-AC68U would support all 20 being connected simultaneously? We would like a single router solution, as space is a concern as well.

 

[L&LD]

A single router may be all you need for 20 simultaneous connections.

What kind of traffic will each generate?

Don't forget that you can use the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz bands too, so effectively it may be only 10 devices per band.

 

[sfx2000]

Airport Extreme, Linksys WRT1900ac, Asus 68U - all three of these would easily support up to 20 clients - with that many clients, the real bottleneck then is the upstream connection.

sfx

 

[System Error Message]

For lots of AC bandwidth the asus AC3200 or netgear r8000 assuming you can use LAG on the server ports

Other solution business wise would be to get a mikrotik routerboard with integrated AC wireless with miniPCIe and add an AC card to get 4 streams.

Most APs consumer or not support up to 32 clients but only some industrial ones support more per AP. The question is how much AC bandwidth you need and if you can use LAG for server ports. Some consumer routers while supposedly supporting 32 clients start choking up at 20 clients.

 

[ES74656]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, everyone.

I noticed that the ASUS RT-AC3200 just came out. It looks really nice, but perhaps is made more for a couple of devices having extremely high bandwidth, versus 20 individual connections?

We will be using terminal services Remoteapp with an application, so each client computer will not be sending or receiving all that much information.

 

[L&LD]

Then I again suggest the RT-AC68U with the devices balanced across the two radio bands.

I may even be tempted to suggest the RT-AC56U too, as the range, nor the aggregate throughput will be a consideration either.

Try both if you can and return the other. The advantage of the RT-AC56U is that it is compact with no external antennae and those antennae are in a 2x2 configuration vs. 2x3 in the '86U, but otherwise, they share the same hardware and have similar performance for your situation.

 

[System Error Message]

all wifi APs are made to handle up to 32 clients at least. the AC3200 not only has bandwidth but is for multiple devices too in order to get that bandwidth. The question really is how much bandwidth you need.

Theres also an AC86U with internal antennas but its a different model. How well the AP supports lots of clients depends on how big of an area they are all in.

 

[steven lilipali]

I do not know about it, because in my company also uses a 802 .11n router