What is the best AP for the buck? (AC & N only)

[b1ggjoe]

Sorry Joe. I don't have the bandwidth to give individual product selection advice. That's what the charts, rankers and other tools are for.

I use very few products long term and my wireless needs are very simple.

No problem at all Tim. So far, your help has been extremely instrumental, just this website alone rocks!!!

I will do as you suggested and go for an AC Router to turn into an AP. Now I will look at the Charts to check out the options.

The NetGear NightHawk is looking pretty slick!!

BJ

 

[b1ggjoe]

It's going to be tough for me. I would love to wait for the new Linksys AC Router, but I was hoping to make my purchase in mid-February.

From what I understand, the new Linksys won't launch until possibly April 2014.

So who knows, Asus seems enticing and so does the Netgear Nighthawk.

What to do...what to do.

BJ

 

[inkuyo]

in the attic?

BJ -

I saw you were thinking of putting the ap in the attic. I just caution you on this because of the dust and the temperature swings. Not so much the cold but more the heat. Not sure where you are located, but you don't want to over heat your electronics.

Dale

 

[b1ggjoe]

BJ -

I saw you were thinking of putting the ap in the attic. I just caution you on this because of the dust and the temperature swings. Not so much the cold but more the heat. Not sure where you are located, but you don't want to over heat your electronics.

Dale

That is an excellent point. I forgot about that. I'm in Southern California, and it doesn't get too hot where I live. The house is a brand-new construction build, so insulation should be up to snuff.

But with that in mind, I should make sure that whatever device I get has a great Heatsync and other features to help keep it cool?

Also, I was thinking, there's really no need for me to wait until April for the new Linksys Router, since whatever Router I end up getting will be turned into an Access point any way.

So now, I'm looking at the charts to see what is the best.

I wonder if certain routers have better 'Access Point-only' features than others?

BJ

 

[tipstir]

What did you end up with?

I am still using ESR600H 20dBm 4x ANT 5dBi along with ESR300H 23dBm 2x ANT 5 dBi which I had just blown off the dust and upgraded to latest firmware for it. Both are configured to use as Wireless Access Point (hard wired). Now the entire house is 100% stronger coverage.

 

[b1ggjoe]

I ended up purchasing the ASUS RT-AC68U for the house and the ASUS RT-N66U (Dark Knight) for the Garage, which is about 100 feet away. I plan on setting them up this Monday. Both will be hard-wired with a Gigabit connection straight into the LAN and will be in AP-only mode. Well this is the plan at least.

Not sure if I want them to have 2 different SSIDs or if they should be the same one.

I read on here that some clients tend to be 'sticky' and have a hard time auto switching to the closest AP.

Any suggestions?

BJ


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[L&LD]

Separate ssid's recommended from me.

Why set yourself up to be pulling your hair out when a device refuses to associate with a closer AP?

Of course, with the Roaming assistant setting in Wireless Professional you may want to play with how well roaming works with your specific set of devices at this time.

But given the fact that these devices will change over time (not to mention (possibly) the existing wireless drivers too), it is simpler to set them uniquely now and not have to worry about the possible issues that a single ssid between consumer routers often entails.

 

[b1ggjoe]

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. 2 SSIDs it is then!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tipstir]

I use several SSID here.

Desktops, laptops, netbooks (have their own)
Tablets and smartphones (have their own)
Wii and Network Media Players, Blue Ray with Internet (have their own)

 

[htismaqe]

I use several SSID here.

Desktops, laptops, netbooks (have their own)
Tablets and smartphones (have their own)
Wii and Network Media Players, Blue Ray with Internet (have their own)

That's the way I have it as well only mine are segregated more by users (kids, wife, me).

 

[BAyersGA]

Best I could find

After a lot of testing, and I am in the industrial wireless business, for my home I purchased what was then the EA4500 Cisco, now called Linksys EA4500 again (Cisco sold them back). I went from having an AP with 2 boosters in my home to just this one, sitting by my big screen (no external antennas, no special mounting yea), and it covers every floor and corner of my home. I have recommended it to quite a few people and everyone that has bought one gives me the same feed back I am giving you and now that the price is not as Cisco-e it is really competative.
The comments about the AMPed are correct, pushing out more power does not mean the ability to receive is better. All that I have read on the AMP seems to indicate they are doing a good job on the receive, but I think they are going more for hype and not substance for their pricing.

 

[sfx2000]

Yes. My question was meant to be: do you know if latter versions of 11n removed the requirement for symmetric data rates?

802.11 has never defined that data rates are symmetric - always point to point, each link is independent.

TDD and all...

sfx