Wireless Access Point(s) or Router

[Busto963]

Need help deciding if a WAP (or WAPs) are right for my application; and if so which model.

My home is a three-story brick construction with concrete and tile block inner walls, with plaster coverings over the walls and ceilings (sometimes over wire mesh). Needless to say, wireless connectivity is barely adequate. On the plus side, my AC wiring is all in metal conduit, so AC noise is non-existent.

I have a mostly wired network with a single Airport Express (802.11n) connecting through the DMZ on my Zywall 5 (a security appliance with hardware firewall, router and VPN).

The Airport express has been surprisingly reliable, but does not have the greatest of coverage.

Is a WAP a better solution as I really do not need a router. Should I wait for the new AC standard to become more common?

Thanks!

 

[stevech]

Need help deciding if a WAP (or WAPs) are right for my application; and if so which model.

My home is a three-story brick construction with concrete and tile block inner walls, with plaster coverings over the walls and ceilings (sometimes over wire mesh). Needless to say, wireless connectivity is barely adequate. On the plus side, my AC wiring is all in metal conduit, so AC noise is non-existent.

I have a mostly wired network with a single Airport Express (802.11n) connecting through the DMZ on my Zywall 5 (a security appliance with hardware firewall, router and VPN).

The Airport express has been surprisingly reliable, but does not have the greatest of coverage.

Is a WAP a better solution as I really do not need a router. Should I wait for the new AC standard to become more common?

Thanks!

AC wiring in steel conduit doesn't help with noise. That noise is induced on the wiring by dimmers, motors, etc. And IP on power lines is very vulnerable to signal attenuators such as filtered power strips, TVs and the like with built-in filters, etc. If you understand the principles, you can get it to work. MoCA, if practical, is often a better choice.

You'll need a router. Airport Express is a half-router, if you will. OK for the very simple use cases. APs are needed to improve coverage.

 

[Busto963]

AC wiring in steel conduit doesn't help with noise. That noise is induced on the wiring by dimmers, motors, etc. And IP on power lines is very vulnerable to signal attenuators such as filtered power strips, TVs and the like with built-in filters, etc. If you understand the principles, you can get it to work. MoCA, if practical, is often a better choice.

For clarity, I am using gigbit ethernet, not power line networking.

I was referring to power line RFI (cables acting as antennas), not the noise in the AC power itself.

You'll need a router. Airport Express is a half-router, if you will. OK for the very simple use cases. APs are needed to improve coverage.

I have a wired router.

I am looking for a simple solution to extend my WLAN for devices that need to connect to the internet (ipads/phones/etc.).

I will run WAPs on a DMZ: WLAN to WAN.

Tim has not been kind in his assessment of WAPs versus re-purposed wireless routers as APs as I have discovered.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...onvert-a-wireless-router-into-an-access-point

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=12238

 

[remixedcat]

Please note: the following is actual transfer in Bytes rather then bits.

For Homeplug I had an average of 8Mbytes/sec on the PLA2.

Average speeds:
Wireless N I have around 12Mbytes/sec thru 32ft/2 walls/1 brick chimney/1 hardwood dresser
Wireless AC I have 22Mbytes/sec thru the same as above.

In your situation of you have bad electrical is to use a router+APs

 

[thiggins]

If you need better WiFi coverage, adding APs (or converted routers) connected via Ethernet will provide the best performance and reliability at the lowest cost.

 

[Nerre]

Seems most people (except thiggins) didn't read the question...

Even if an access point would be enough, they are mostly more expensive so router with the router part turned off is probably a better choice. (This is probably because of production volumes.)


I'm really not very fond of how people today use the word router. To me, a router is a device, with more than one network interface, routing between different networks. What most people call a router really is a router plus a switch plus a wireless access point. Sometimes there's also an ATA included.

 

[stevech]

Any WiFi router can be re-purposed as an Access Point by simple configuration changes. It may say router on the box, but not.

A common WiFi router is a router- it is routing traffic from the LAN side to the WAN side, and in doing so, it uses NAT and other rules that routers do.
The ethernet switch and the WiFi access point are layer 2 devices on the LAN side.

 

[sfx2000]

Any WiFi router can be re-purposed as an Access Point by simple configuration changes. It may say router on the box, but not.

A common WiFi router is a router- it is routing traffic from the LAN side to the WAN side, and in doing so, it uses NAT and other rules that routers do.
The ethernet switch and the WiFi access point are layer 2 devices on the LAN side.

Good article here on the site - bit dated, but still very valid - any Router/AP can be turned into an AP only with the right config.