Zyxel NWA3160N/3560N business access points

[claykin]

Tim

In the recent past you reviewed Cisco and Netgear's newer business AP's. Of particular notice is the Cisco dual band/single radio WAP321 with its multi SSIDs, VLAN support and Captive Portal. You also mentioned in your review how these APs do not offer centralized admin. That would mean anyone using captive portal in an office with multiple WAP321's would need to update the list on each device. Hardly convenient.

In addition, the Captive Portal feature is limited to 128 users. Non upgradable. So, while this may be OK for a SOHO install, many SMB installs will need more.

Would you consider reviewing the year old Zyxel NWA3160N/NWA3560N? Yes, these models are $250/$350 but they seem to address the limitations discussed above. They support same features as Cisco's WAP321 with more. The built in Radius supports 512 users and updating settings/radius users on a single NWA3160/3560 device the user can push settings to other devices on same LAN.

I feel the Zyxel NWA3000 series AP's may be an excellent options for offices where they have a large set of users that are semi frequently changing. Real Estate offices are one industry that comes to mind. I don't know of any other 802.11N AP's in the $250/$350 price range that support such security and management features. Do you? I'm open to looking at other options.

 

[thiggins]

NWA3560N looks like the more interesting of the two. I'll contact ZyXEL. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[tipstir]

I agree price wise but that can be overlooked because of how many of the others you have to buy in the years just to get the WiFi working correctly.

 

[claykin]

I agree price wise but that can be overlooked because of how many of the others you have to buy in the years just to get the WiFi working correctly.

Not sure I understand your comment. I think you are supporting my request for a review of the NWA3000 series?

 

[tipstir]

Not sure I understand your comment. I think you are supporting my request for a review of the NWA3000 series?

Well that's up to the Editor here. I am just stating a point with all the network equipment purchased by most of us who have larger networks need something a bit more stable than what's out their now. In the past APN and HR was really stable but something happen. This one is surely high. But might be the way to go. Just curious about want's under the hood or what makes it tick!

 

[claykin]

Well that's up to the Editor here. I am just stating a point with all the network equipment purchased by most of us who have larger networks need something a bit more stable than what's out their now. In the past APN and HR was really stable but something happen. This one is surely high. But might be the way to go. Just curious about want's under the hood or what makes it tick!

Hmmm, OK. Zyxel NWA3000 units tick via a Atheros AR9xxx chipset.