Linksys Access Point Clustering Reviewed

[thiggins]

Linksys' solution for managing groups of its business class access points is easy to use.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

 

[Cloud200]

What does this mean?
"
3) All the APs in this table have Channel Management features, but only the Linksys and Edimax have Channel Management features within their controller solutions.
4) All the APs in this table have wireless Power Management features, but only the Edimax has Power Management features in their controller solution.
"

I have a unifi controller at home and I see both power and channel management options;

 

[dreid]

What does this mean?
"
3) All the APs in this table have Channel Management features, but only the Linksys and Edimax have Channel Management features within their controller solutions.
4) All the APs in this table have wireless Power Management features, but only the Edimax has Power Management features in their controller solution.
"

I have a unifi controller at home and I see both power and channel management options;

Thank you for your comment!

My observation in the review is intended to convey the following.

• There are power and channel options in UniFi. With UniFi, you apply those options to each AP individually.
• Edimax has the ability to tune managed AP's power settings as a whole, as well as to each AP individually.
• Linksys and Edimax have the ability to tune channels for all the managed AP's as a whole, as well as to each AP individually.

 

[sfx2000]

Looks like a nice setup for a smallish business - quick question on the logging - I see they support SNMP (which is very nice perhaps depending on what they expose on their MIB), but I didn't see an option in the review for sending log output to syslog... was that missed?

 

[dreid]

Looks like a nice setup for a smallish business - quick question on the logging - I see they support SNMP (which is very nice perhaps depending on what they expose on their MIB), but I didn't see an option in the review for sending log output to syslog... was that missed?

Thanks for the question! Syslog is supported. If you look at the bottom of the Log Settings screen shot in the review, you'll see the options for syslog.

 

[sfx2000]

Thanks for the question! Syslog is supported. If you look at the bottom of the Log Settings screen shot in the review, you'll see the options for syslog.

Cool, that does make it more useful -

It's a kind of in the middle product - like I mentioned, good for a small business that has outgrown a consumer Router/AP, and not quite the scale of going upmarket into enterprise grade AP's...

 

[System Error Message]

nice review but the price wasnt mentioned though. I would like to see business APs cheaper than consumer wifi routers for the fact that they're just an AP. This would give more of a choice when buying something for wifi if you dont need a router upgrade. I know both ubiquiti and mikrotik have AC APs below $100 but i would like to see the same for other business wifi.

 

[stevech]

Several years ago, the industry coined the term "skinny AP" and "Fat AP". The latter is the traditional router. The former is a dumbed down AP that relies on a controller. Impetus was not cost, but easier centralized management.

ASUS and other routers have an explicit AP mode. Some are $75 or so.

 

[sfx2000]

ASUS and other routers have an explicit AP mode. Some are $75 or so.

explicit AP mode is a bit different than what these devices have...

 

[pege63]

I know mikrotik have AC APs below $100 but i would like to see the same for other business wifi.

Which one do you thinking off, name some of them looks interesting?

 

[thiggins]

nice review but the price wasnt mentioned though. I would like to see business APs cheaper than consumer wifi routers for the fact that they're just an AP. This would give more of a choice when buying something for wifi if you dont need a router upgrade. I know both ubiquiti and mikrotik have AC APs below $100 but i would like to see the same for other business wifi.

Price for the LAPAC1200 is right at the top of the review. This was a review of AP clustering features, which are offered on multiple Linksys business APs.

 

[System Error Message]

i guess i must've missed it. Thanks.

 

[LoneWolf]

I was originally looking at the LAPAC1750PRO due to Tim's reviews; it had every feature I wanted. But as I watched, I found Linksys didn't seem to update their firmware very often, and I was concerned with that.

I ended up going with the Ubiquiti UAP-AC-PRO, which is AC1750 like the Linksys upper-end model (3x3 802.11n/AC) but runs about $150 shipped. If you don't want to run the controller software off a PC (I was running it off a Linux VM on my server), you can get a CloudKey, a PoE, computer-on-a-stick that runs the controller software, for $80.

I found the UAP-AC-PRO had excellent 3x3 N performance, and very good 2x2 AC performance too, and worked well off my Netgear GS110TP switch. Unfortunately, a firmware update bricked it --but in response to my heavily troubleshooting the problem and having only owned it a month, I'm not only being sent a replacement, but support is sending me a CloudKey for my troubles as well and a return shipping tag for the old one so I'm not out of pocket. I'm impressed; I'm supposed to get things tomorrow, and I can't wait to report back on the CloudKey.

I think there are still a few kinks for Ubiquiti to work out, but firmware development is pretty rapid. The access point is much more responsive (especially in connecting and passing through DHCP from my firewall) than my ASUS RT-AC87R in access point mode was.