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Access Point recommendation

jrilton
Rising Star
Posts: 112
Thanks: 11
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎21-07-2014

Access Point recommendation

Can anyone recommend a good wifi access point? Its going to sit centrally on a desk in my house so it needs to broadcast in all directions. Most seem to be ceiling or wall mounted and broadcast most of its signal in  in 1 direction. It will be connected via my switch to get the full speed of my internet (rather than a range extender) 

 

I was looking at this https://www.asus.com/uk/Networking/EAAC87/ but I'm a bit confused if I can wire it into my switch or does it connect to my router wirelessly.

Basically I want to switch wifi off on my router and have the AP purely for wifi.

Thanks Smiley

10 REPLIES 10
7up
Community Veteran
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Access Point recommendation

Use a windows box with a pci wifi card set into AP mode and bridge it to the lan connection. Then you have a great system that you can let people connect to and it will be more customisable than a small AP.. That way you can also use a custom external antenna of your choice.

A good card to get is one with the rt2500 chipset as you can set them into ap mode without running a software app to do it. I keep an old msi card for this reason.

I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
jrilton
Rising Star
Posts: 112
Thanks: 11
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Registered: ‎21-07-2014

Re: Access Point recommendation

Thanks for the reply.

 

That sounds a bit complex and I'm not entirely sure what you mean ha. Plus my PC is a bit out of the way so it wouldn't make a great location for the AP.

I would just like something plug and play. I don't really need anything that customisable, just set a few SSID and be duel band. Smiley

MisterW
Superuser
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Access Point recommendation

The one you linked to is ONLY single band , 5 GHz only I'm afraid

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jrilton
Rising Star
Posts: 112
Thanks: 11
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎21-07-2014

Re: Access Point recommendation

so it is!

 

How about this one! I actually much prefer the look too Smiley

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RP-AC68U-Extender-Indicator-Repeater/dp/B01CERF1MS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&...

30FTTC06
Pro
Posts: 2,286
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Registered: ‎18-02-2013

Re: Access Point recommendation

I just bought a tp-link wdr3600 for 35 quid from maplins and put DD-WRT on it.

Works great as an AP dual band etc, it's not the fastest thing out there, but It will cover all I need with DD-WRT on it.

Firmware: DD-WRT v3.0-r30709 std (09/29/16)
Time: 15:54:24 up 16 days, 6:08, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.04
30FTTC06
Pro
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Registered: ‎18-02-2013

Re: Access Point recommendation

Forward and reverse speeds for anybody interested.

Wifi 2.4/5 and gigabit switch passthrough, 915mbps Is good enough Lan wise as well.

iperf -c 0.0.0.0 -r
WiFi 2.4gig

[  4] local 192.168.0.99 port 55588 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 5001
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   101 MBytes  84.5 Mbits/sec
[  4] local 192.168.0.99 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 37834
[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   111 MBytes  92.7 Mbits/sec

WiFi 5gig
[  4] local 192.168.0.99 port 55870 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 5001
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec  98.4 MBytes  82.4 Mbits/sec
[  4] local 192.168.0.99 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 37846
[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec  99.2 MBytes  83.0 Mbits/sec

Bit slower on 5gig, I can cope with that.

pass-through switch Gigabit to Gigabit lancards.
The slower forward out speed is just this USB-gigabit Thing, but the return is fine.

[  4] local 192.168.0.101 port 55875 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 5001
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   783 MBytes   657 Mbits/sec
[  4] local 192.168.0.101 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 42608
[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec  1.07 GBytes   915 Mbits/sec
30FTTC06
Pro
Posts: 2,286
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Registered: ‎18-02-2013

Re: Access Point recommendation

Linux to Linux speeds are a bit better as well.

WiFi 2.4gig
[  5] local 192.168.0.88 port 40576 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 5001
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]  0.0-10.0 sec   124 MBytes   104 Mbits/sec
[  4] local 192.168.0.88 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 47188
[  4]  0.0-10.1 sec   117 MBytes  97.8 Mbits/sec

WiFi 5gig
[  5] local 192.168.0.88 port 40574 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 5001
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]  0.0-10.1 sec   120 MBytes  99.8 Mbits/sec
[  4] local 192.168.0.88 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.44 port 47186
[  4]  0.0-10.1 sec   118 MBytes  98.1 Mbits/sec
jrilton
Rising Star
Posts: 112
Thanks: 11
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎21-07-2014

Re: Access Point recommendation

Thanks for the help

 

I went with the Asus RP AC68U, set up in AP mode, it works well! Wifi is a million times better than the PN router. 

Now it feels like I have a borg ship sitting on my desk Smiley

30FTTC06
Pro
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Registered: ‎18-02-2013

Re: Access Point recommendation

Glad you got sorted!

£155..... WuT 😄

Browni
Aspiring Hero
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Registered: ‎02-03-2016

Re: Access Point recommendation


@jrilton wrote:

 

 

 

Now it feels like I have a borg ship sitting on my desk Smiley


I can see what you mean...

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