What router do I get for this?

danlightbulb said:
Why are access points so expensive? The router does all the clever stuff and an almost pro grade router like the ER-X is under £50, but a wireless access point is crazy money on top and I would need two.
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Not if you get a UniFi Express - it has a built-in access point and if you go with the U6-IW it’s not that much bigger than a plug socket and you you get a 4-port switch. The U6-Enterprise IW is much bigger though.

[Edit]I just realised you could buy 2 UniFi Express and run one of them in access point mode. That would be about £250 the pair.[/Edit]
 
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danlightbulb said:
Why are access points so expensive? The router does all the clever stuff and an almost pro grade router like the ER-X is under £50, but a wireless access point is crazy money on top and I would need two.
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Actually, the ER-X is a very basic router. And the router doesn’t actually do very much. It turns outside (WAN) network traffic into internal (LAN) network traffic and it keeps track of all the devices on the network and makes sure no two of them have the same IP address. Pretty much everything else is done by the network adapter in the client device or the access point. It’s the access point that turns the digital signal into an analogue radio transmission then turns it back to digital again. So you need antennae, radios and wired network interfaces. Plus, they don’t sell nearly as many wireless access points as consumer routers so the cost per unit is higher.

You can get quite cheap access points. TP-link Omada start at under £25 but I think you want WiFi6 so it’s going to be at least £100 and you want one to sit on your window ledge so that’s a UniFi Express in access point mode or a U6-Mesh (excellent access point). I know I keep banging on about In-wall access points but I really think for what you want it’s a good solution.
 
Been browsing the Unifi stuff, man its nice but expensive. A dream router with integrated switch would be perfect for my main location near the internet entry point, with the TV and NAS plugged in via ethernet. And then upstairs a Unifi Express would be perfect as an access point with one port plugged into the LAN and one port used for the PC ethernet connection.

But to buy those two items is £450. Crazy.
 
To keep costs even further down, you can just buy one UniFi Express for upstairs and stick with the ISP supplied router for downstairs. Granted the VM hub 3 is only WiFi 5 so may not be ideal for VR, but I would imagine when City Fibre is available all ISPs based on it will be WiFi 6.
 
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WJA96 said:
Why would you buy a Dream Router over a UniFi Express? Two UniFi Express’ will do what you want for £260.
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I need more ethernet ports than the Express provides in the downstairs location. Need one for NAS, one for TV, and then one for the LAN.

Yes I could buy a separate switch but then its an extra box on the shelf.
 
Orcvader said:
To keep costs even further down, you can just buy one UniFi Express for upstairs and stick with the ISP supplied router for downstairs. Granted the VM hub 3 is only WiFi 5 so may not be ideal for VR, but I would imagine when City Fibre is available all ISPs based on it will be WiFi 6.
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Wouldn't that make my upstairs wifi to be wifi 5 as well, unless i run it as a separate wifi 6 network purely for the VR?
Can you mesh wifi with different manufacturers equipment?
 
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Its possible that one access point upstairs would be sufficient for the whole house and I could turn off the ISP router's wifi completely. I was keeping it for the TV but Ive ethernet'd that now.

If it wasnt for the Quest VR the landing ceiling would probably be the best place for an access point, but the Quest requires close proximity and the PC to be hardwired to the router for best performance.
 
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