Finally Sick of UBNT. Need AP -Without- Corp. Network

[Krisbi]

I can't find ATF (and don't know what that is)

You´ll find an explanation here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/do...62_consolidated_3650_cg_chapter_01001100.html

 

[keenanj]

You may want to look at the ECW230 instead of EWS377AP it is the cloud managed version and has the best performance and features.

https://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=583

 

[Quantum`]

Remember, this whole thread is about I want -away- from corp cloud.

 

[keenanj]

Remember, this whole thread is about I want -away- from corp cloud.

Understood the EWS377AP is also really good I did some performance testing here https://www.keenansystems.com/wordpress/2019/10/03/exactly-how-fast-is-the-wi-fi-6-in-the-iphone-11/

note there is no V2 that was just a FCC filing they are currently working on V3

 

[coxhaus]

As it happens, this came out today:

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos rejects claims company acted like a 'drug dealer'

The Amazon boss is questioned by US Congress on one company's experience with his business.

www.bbc.com

On the WAP581 when I open my laptop in the morning I have hardly any throughput. Turn off the laptop NIC and back on again and then it's Ok. Never had these kind of wobblies with UBNT. I have too many emergencies to handle each day, than to deal with nonsense.

I guess I have to return this AP. Cisco definitely has the name, but IMO this AP is a mess. (As soon as I got each of them I installed the latest firmware) I guess I'll try the CBW240AC but if that has problems, that's it for Cisco.

It does have a limited lifetime warranty, but I'm a bit suspicious that it doesn't have an internal controller:

I can block its MAC from getting out.

I run 2 WAP581 APs and I have not seen your issue with the WAP581 APs. I am real sensitive to hesitation as I even have reported issues where one Intel driver is slower than another on this forum.

My 2 Cisco WAP581 APs are hit every morning with my granddaughter doing school and my wife doing multiple Zooms per day. I am on different forums in the morning and playing tank in the afternoon. I never restart my network or my laptop. It all works every day including Wi-Fi calling which we do multiple times a day using iPhones now on IOS14 as of last night, as my cell reception is poor in my house. Even ADT was over the other day working on my security alarm and he could not get a cell signal so I gave him my guest password for Wi-Fi calling. He was using an android.

PS
I liked the specs so much that I ordered a 3 pk of the CBW240 wireless APs.

 

[JanL65]

Hii

I run 2 WAP581 APs and I have not seen your issue with the WAP581 APs. I am real sensitive to hesitation as I even have reported issues where one Intel driver is slower than another on this forum.

My 2 Cisco WAP581 APs are hit every morning with my granddaughter doing school and my wife doing multiple Zooms per day. I am on different forums in the morning and playing tank in the afternoon. I never restart my network or my laptop. It all works every day including Wi-Fi calling which we do multiple times a day using iPhones now on IOS14 as of last night, as my cell reception is poor in my house. Even ADT was over the other day working on my security alarm and he could not get a cell signal so I gave him my guest password for Wi-Fi calling. He was using an android.

PS
I liked the specs so much that I ordered a 3 pk of the CBW240 wireless APs.

I got curious, as you answered my first input at SNB.
I do now see, that you are buying and dealing in a whole other "price range" - understanding that the Ciscos you have ordered 3 of, seem to cost around 700-800 GBP each ... whereas the Unifi-AP's and Asus-router solution only costs around 100-200 GBP each.

 

[JanL65]

Are Cisco really worth it? I have, so far, been thinking and reading, that AP's and Wifi in general, is held down by max allowed signal-sending strength, and the very nature of the signals, spreadings, obstructions, etc. etc. ?
... with the best, being able to be "better" because of good beam-forming, good antenna-distribution, etc [as the Asus-RT-N66U and other good AP's demonstrates] ... but I might be wrong, and Cisco might behold the Holy Grail, and be able to do magic with the 1-few hundred of milliwatts allowed, in their very costly company-targeted products...

 

[coxhaus]

Hii


I got curious, as you answered my first input at SNB.
I do now see, that you are buying and dealing in a whole other "price range" - understanding that the Ciscos you have ordered 3 of, seem to cost around 700-800 GBP each ... whereas the Unifi-AP's and Asus-router solution only costs around 100-200 GBP each.

Well the Cisco's CBW240ac cost about $169 here in the good old USA. Cheaper if you buy them in larger quantities. You can buy an 8 pk of CBW240ac wireless APs.

Yes, I think Cisco is really worth it. That is why I buy it.

I could never use ASUS as it is too limited and I don't like having to run a second router for an AP. I think it is a waste of money. You could build a really good AP for what a router costs.

 

[DaveMcLain]

I run some Engenuis APs, they've been solid for me.

I've been using an Engenius EAP1300 in our workshop for the last year or so and it gives excellent coverage. It is powered from an unmanaged switch and it has been flawless covering 2500sq ft. A cheap switch and a couple of those would get the job done.

 

[JanL65]

Well the Cisco's CBW240ac cost about $169 here in the good old USA. Cheaper if you buy them in larger quantities. You can buy an 8 pk of CBW240ac wireless APs.

Yes, I think Cisco is really worth it. That is why I buy it.

I could never use ASUS as it is too limited and I don't like having to run a second router for an AP. I think it is a waste of money. You could build a really good AP for what a router costs.

Sorry for the price-thing. I was too fast and took the first price I did see. ... Being an electronic-engineeer, specialized in data - I have just seen too many "thinking Cisco is just the best", making them look a bit funny, like VIP's, to me and my collegues.
Thing is, if it has got the features and settings, that suits you and you have the time, to fiddle with settings, signalling, submenus, etc etc - then super, of course!

When it comes to my own home-setting and network - then for some reason, I just love if it "just runs", without me having to get in and fine-tune and manage, restore, etc settings - and spend a lot of time doing so ... I amd instead focusing on having "time off / sparetime", when I am at home, after work ... where I love to relax, and I then live with small "inconveniences and imperfections"...
The Unifi's, I knew needed some adjusting - but, I didn't expect or read in beforehand, that they actually maybe have so big problems, out of the box, with standard wifi-units ...
If the Cisco is a bit like the Unifi's, then well, they aren't for me .... privately ....

I am, as mentioned, fed up with technique fiddling, mastering, adjusting, fine-tuning etc etc of equipment at work.
(so instead of "diving deep into the Unifi's", I will probably "just let the Asus's run, as long a they can" ... with the few short-comings, that I of course also have discovered with them ....).
Pure performance, although, signal-throughput - have been good - and the same goes for stability. As you write with your setup - i have had a rock-solid wifi-connection, since I did get the Asus ... in contrast to before it, and now with Unifi's I have within 1 week, already seen 2 times, where the units were down .... interesting ... and to me BS seems to be the case with the Unifi's, but then, many a reviewer must then be "lying, or bought", which is a bit far-out (paranoic).

 

[coxhaus]

Sorry for the price-thing. I was too fast and took the first price I did see. ... Being an electronic-engineeer, specialized in data - I have just seen too many "thinking Cisco is just the best", making them look a bit funny, like VIP's, to me and my collegues.
Thing is, if it has got the features and settings, that suits you and you have the time, to fiddle with settings, signalling, submenus, etc etc - then super, of course!

When it comes to my own home-setting and network - then for some reason, I just love if it "just runs", without me having to get in and fine-tune and manage, restore, etc settings - and spend a lot of time doing so ... I amd instead focusing on having "time off / sparetime", when I am at home, after work ... where I love to relax, and I then live with small "inconveniences and imperfections"...
The Unifi's, I knew needed some adjusting - but, I didn't expect or read in beforehand, that they actually maybe have so big problems, out of the box, with standard wifi-units ...
If the Cisco is a bit like the Unifi's, then well, they aren't for me .... privately ....

I am, as mentioned, fed up with technique fiddling, mastering, adjusting, fine-tuning etc etc of equipment at work.
(so instead of "diving deep into the Unifi's", I will probably "just let the Asus's run, as long a they can" ... with the few short-comings, that I of course also have discovered with them ....).
Pure performance, although, signal-throughput - have been good - and the same goes for stability. As you write with your setup - i have had a rock-solid wifi-connection, since I did get the Asus ... in contrast to before it, and now with Unifi's I have within 1 week, already seen 2 times, where the units were down .... interesting ... and to me BS seems to be the case with the Unifi's, but then, many a reviewer must then be "lying, or bought", which is a bit far-out (paranoic).

I have to disagree as you are still putting out marketing BS. Please stop you are killing this thread.

PS
Read this. Sounds like Aimesh can't compete with UNIFI on a large scale.

ASUS AiMesh Reviewed - SmallNetBuilder

SmallNetBuilder provides networking and IT news, reviews, help and information for professional and prosumer home, SOHO and small business users.

mail.smallnetbuilder.com

 

[rafale77]

Interesting, I too have de-unified my site which had 4 APs and 9 switches, but for somewhat different reasons:
1. unifi controller started trying to become "too cute". It has become very intrusive and obviously a dependency without which the system doesn't work well. It assumes that the controller always has the latest and most correct configuration so it forces provisionning to all devices every time the device gets any type of interruption to its connection to the controller. This caused some catastrophic and repeated network interruptions downstream of the topology and other issues since I never wanted my controller to be doing this.
2. AP performance is nothing short of catastrophic. The bandwidth has greatly degraded over the two-three years since I have owned these gen3 (Qualcomm IPQ8064 based) devices. I don't know if it is due to overhead generated by the controller and the excessive monitoring and dependency but... this has been widely reported on their forum including myself and has been ignored for years. The fact that they implement new device support only on new version of the controller makes things worse as it made it impossible for me to downgrade to a more reasonable firmware/controller version set.

What I did? Moved all my switches to netgear multigig (mostly MS510TXPP) switches, and Engenius EWS377AP. The wireless performance and coverage is so much improved (>50% in average from my testing) that I needed 1 less AP. Entire backhaul is now 10G-5G and even reselling all my unifi stuff at a loss, I made money in the process since the upgraded setup is about 50% cheaper than the unifi one. I am still discovering that most nagging issues I used to have on some devices have disappeared. I never knew they were related to my network.

 

[keenanj]

We just got the first shipment of the EWS377AP V3 we have them in stock here

Keenan Systems New Wi-Fi Store

 

[ddaenen1]

I used to have all kinds of different AP's, mainly older routers configured in AP-mode. I had an Netgear R7000, an R7800, an Asus RT-AC88u, an Asus EA-AC87, a Linksys EA4500 and an EA6400. I always had issues, from unreliable wifi connections, spontaneous reboots, freezes, i have seen it all. Last year i decided it was enough and kick it all out replacing it with 3 Cisco WAP571 AP's hooked up to a Netgear POE+ switch. I never looked back and have not had even one single hiccup since. Things "just work". Actually looking to add another WAP571E outside to increase reception in the garden.

 

[bleomycin]

We just got the first shipment of the EWS377AP V3 we have them in stock here

Keenan Systems New Wi-Fi Store

Do you know what has changed with V3? Updated chipset? Additional features (160Mhz channel support?). Earlier you mentioned the ECW230 has better performance, can you elaborate in what way the performance is better because i've been unable to determine the true difference from googling myself. I've poked around the engenius cloud demo and ezmaster demo sites and both offer enough features for me to be satisfied with either product. I'm most interested on selecting the best product for performance though, not just management niceties. My definition of performance being seamless handoff for roaming between ap's for voip calls, and maximum throughput for file transfers on the LAN.

 

[keenanj]

Do you know what has changed with V3? Updated chipset? Additional features (160Mhz channel support?). Earlier you mentioned the ECW230 has better performance, can you elaborate in what way the performance is better because i've been unable to determine the true difference from googling myself. I've poked around the engenius cloud demo and ezmaster demo sites and both offer enough features for me to be satisfied with either product. I'm most interested on selecting the best product for performance though, not just management niceties. My definition of performance being seamless handoff for roaming between ap's for voip calls, and maximum throughput for file transfers on the LAN.

The only difference is a updated ethernet chip there are no performance differences between versions. Both ECW377AP and ECW230 will do seamless roaming when configured correctly. But once you try the engenius cloud you will not want to use stand alone AP's way easier to setup monitor and more features.

 

[rafale77]

The only difference is a updated ethernet chip there are no performance differences between versions. Both ECW377AP and ECW230 will do seamless roaming when configured correctly. But once you try the engenius cloud you will not want to use stand alone AP's way easier to setup monitor and more features.

Does the cloud controller have that much more to offer vs ezmaster? As I went to download ezmaster, I was offered a 100% off coupon for a skykey so I took it. It got shipped by newegg and I must say that it is pretty good. It has almost everything you need and none of the useless and performance/reliability degrading sparkles unifi has.

 

[keenanj]

Does the cloud controller have that much more to offer vs ezmaster? As I went to download ezmaster, I was offered a 100% off coupon for a skykey so I took it. It got shipped by newegg and I must say that it is pretty good. It has almost everything you need and none of the useless and performance/reliability degrading sparkles unifi has.

So the skykey is good it does everything you need but the cloud is next level much easier to deploy and monitor once a customer sees the cloud app they want to switch just for that!

 

[rafale77]

Yeah I am a cloud skeptic for this kind of things though. I see the value of the mobile app for some use cases but I even much prefer not to need one at all.

 

[ddaenen1]

Yeah I am a cloud skeptic for this kind of things though. I see the value of the mobile app for some use cases but I even much prefer not to need one at all.

I am with you on this one. I invest time and money to keep things secure even. I prefer the Cisco approach, where the AP's 'find' each other and you can deploy firmware upgrades and configurations via the single point setup. In general, i don't like cloud solutions, except my own Nextcloud