All This Bridging Lark? Building a New Network...

[Alteran]

Hi guys! Bit of a lurker in these parts, but I thought I'd finally come and ask for help, because so long as you've briefly used the search tool, there are no stupid questions.

So, at present, my current set-up is a very bad ISP-provided VMDG480 with a Wireless signal that's about as useful as semaphore signals. One of the Gbit ports goes round to an E4200v1 upstairs round the back of the house. The signal quality on it could be a lot better than it actually is and flashing it onto DD-WRT only worsened the signal slightly, if anything.

So, I'm planning on kicking the ISP router over to "modem only mode", as that's said to resolve a lot of problems with the device, and then buy two of the same router and configure them to work in tandem if possible.

Within reason, money is not an issue for me. I'm prepared to spend up to £400 in total to sort this out - about $650 of your American Dollars. I've been looking at the ASUS AC68U or the Netgear R7000 as potential candidates.

I also keep seeing references to "Bridging" like-for-like router units in an attempt to increase Wireless performance, but as to how this should be executed, I have no idea. Now, I am a qualified Computer Scientist and work in the IT field full-time. However, I am far from a qualified Network Engineer and my usefulness goes as far as rebooting crashed HP ProSafe switches for clients.

So, if I were to get two devices (if I should), then how would I go about configuring these?

Additionally, would you recommend one device over the other? I understand that the AC68U is a good device, but SNB's review suggests that the R7000 might be a better device.

Cheers.

 

[Dreamslacker]

Wireless bridging is only useful for your case if you don't have a wired link to the other end.

Since you already have a wired infrastructure in place, you need to only use 1 RT-AC68U as a router (set your ISP provided unit to bridge/ modem mode) and with the wired link to the back of the house, place another unit there in AP mode.

You can probably save a bit and get the AC66U instead. They have the nice (relatively) high-gain antennas.

 

[Alteran]

Wireless bridging is only useful for your case if you don't have a wired link to the other end.

Since you already have a wired infrastructure in place, you need to only use 1 RT-AC68U as a router (set your ISP provided unit to bridge/ modem mode) and with the wired link to the back of the house, place another unit there in AP mode.

You can probably save a bit and get the AC66U instead. They have the nice (relatively) high-gain antennas.

I was looking at the Unifi UAP Pro or AC units and maybe getting two of them installed at strategic locations around the house. I have a friend who has used one and claims it has just "worked and worked" ever since they plugged it in - what I also like is how they have seamless client hand-off when roaming between APs. Something like that appeals to me, and I'm in a particularly old building with very chunky walls and DECT handsets and what-not.

I am prepared to pay a bit more and get an AC68U instead of the AC66U if it makes an improvement in performance. I tend not to skimp out.

 

[KGB7]

If you going to spend that kind of money, then get two UniFi AP's devices and be done with it.

 

[Dreamslacker]

If you're already looking to buy into UniFi, then just get a pair of UAP-Pros as KGB7 suggested.

If your ISP provided modem-router isn't crapping out (other than wifi perf.) then there is no need to bridge it - just use it as a router but with wifi disabled. Let UniFi 3.0 handle the wifi with zero-handoff.

 

[AdvHomeServer]

I wrote an article that covers bridging on my blog Advanced Home Server. The article centers on DD-WRT and client bridges but covers all aspects of bridging. I went with DD-WRT when 5GHz client bridging was not common - a couple of years ago. Today, several media bridges are available at affordable prices. Use the reviews to decide on which is best if you go that route.