Wireless Access Point?

devious93

devious93

devious93

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Joined
29 Jul 2012
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340
Location
Brighton
Hi Guys,

I need a hand figuring out the best way to get wireless to the bottom of the garden in a new building. We have a cat 6 cable running from here to the crappy sky standard default router and I need a high performance access point in this location to get internet access!

Looking around it seems like a nightmare finding high performance consumer units. I'd stick to Cisco/Ruckus which I'm used to supporting for work but I'm not made of money :)

Anyone have any ideas for a sub £150 pound solution which supports 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands. preferably with 4/5 ethernet ports if possible.

Thanks in advance for any advice guys!
 
In anticipation of moving from ADSL to FTTC I've used a Gigabit Powerline kit, (BT 1000 powerline flex kit) then connected that to a Netgear WAC120 which was £80 on the rainforest. The bedroom upstairs struggled to keep a good Wifi connection until now. Not the most sophisticated setup and Cat 6 is always the best if you can run it, but it does a job for me.
 
RanxZy said:
In anticipation of moving from ADSL to FTTC I've used a Gigabit Powerline kit, (BT 1000 powerline flex kit) then connected that to a Netgear WAC120 which was £80 on the rainforest. The bedroom upstairs struggled to keep a good Wifi connection until now. Not the most sophisticated setup and Cat 6 is always the best if you can run it, but it does a job for me.
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Something I was going to consider but it's a separate building and doesn't run off the same consumer unit (I think thats the word, otherwise fuse box thingy it is). So powerline isn't an option. Also with my experience of powerline adaptors they work okay but are a bit flakey and not really suitable if I'm running Cat 6 there anyway.

Zyxel units used to be fairy budget AP's but were solid and reliable. I was looking at the ZyXel NWA1123-AC but that was wall/ceiling mountable only and the 3205 didn't have very good reviews.
 
devious93 said:
Are you referring to the "Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC" just under 200 pounds which would also require a poe adaptor (as Sky's kit doesn't give PoE).
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I'd think faxfan was referring to the UniFi AP AC Lite (£80) AC LR (£100) or AC Pro (£130). All of which come with a PoE injector.

The first 2 aren't 802.3af/803.at PoE, they use 24v passive PoE so even if you had a PoE switch they wouldn't work. You can get an adapter to let them use a PoE switch but it only has 10/100 interfaces on it whereas the APs are GigE.

I've got an AC LR and am really happy with it.
 
the-evaluator said:
I'd think faxfan was referring to the UniFi AP AC Lite (£80) AC LR (£100) or AC Pro (£130). All of which come with a PoE injector.

The first 2 aren't 802.3af/803.at PoE, they use 24v passive PoE so even if you had a PoE switch they wouldn't work. You can get an adapter to let them use a PoE switch but it only has 10/100 interfaces on it whereas the APs are GigE.

I've got an AC LR and am really happy with it.
Click to expand...

That would make more sense!

Where do you have this unit located, mounted on a wall/ceiling or laying on a work surface?

What's the range and signal/speeds like around the house?
 
the-evaluator said:
I'd think faxfan was referring to the UniFi AP AC Lite (£80) AC LR (£100) or AC Pro (£130). All of which come with a PoE injector.

The first 2 aren't 802.3af/803.at PoE, they use 24v passive PoE so even if you had a PoE switch they wouldn't work. You can get an adapter to let them use a PoE switch but it only has 10/100 interfaces on it whereas the APs are GigE.

I've got an AC LR and am really happy with it.
Click to expand...

This, also have the LR - very very impressive kit and I had a Cisco WLAN controller and AP before.
 
@faxfan and @the-evaluator it's looking like I'm going to get the pro now (Damn you both :P). If you put this down on a worktop/coffee table does the signal still get reasonable coverage and no dead zones?

Ceiling mounted solutions and coverage confuse me a little in terms of what can and can't work!

Where it's going to be based ceiling mounting is out the question and wall mounting isn't really doable (a work around would be to use 3 command large hooks to secure this to a wall without drilling) but I'd rather not do this.
 
I just used a couple of "command strips" to ceiling mount it in the a corner near a cupboard, it's very light. Though just placing on a non metal surface as well should be fine :)
 
faxfan said:
I just used a couple of "command strips" to ceiling mount it in the a corner near a cupboard, it's very light. Though just placing on a non metal surface as well should be fine :)
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Same solution for mounting then, didn't realise you could use the strips by themselves :)

Rightyo, in the cart it goes.

Thanks for your help!
 
I have the AP AC Pro (the new circular model, NOT the old square type) It's fantastic. Range is insane. Maxes out my connection in every room.

My old Asus router would have trickle speeds in the furthest room.

In work, I manage over 200 of the older basic model on one site. They are a dream to setup and use.
 
My AC LR is currently sitting leaning against a wall until I have to time to run cables and ceiling mount it. The plan is it'll go in the stair well and be mounted underneath the loft.

I had it there for a brief while to test it and the range was excellent, it covered all the house (a big 4 bedroom house). Most importantly my other half deems it pleasant enough looking to allow it to be seen.
 
the-evaluator said:
My AC LR is currently sitting leaning against a wall until I have to time to run cables and ceiling mount it. The plan is it'll go in the stair well and be mounted underneath the loft.

I had it there for a brief while to test it and the range was excellent, it covered all the house (a big 4 bedroom house). Most importantly my other half deems it pleasant enough looking to allow it to be seen.
Click to expand...

Ours is at the end of the bed at present pointing up rather than down till i can sort power to the loft for the injector and mount it on the landing ceiling. The coverage is amazing, my AC56U showed up the Sky Hub but this is in a different league, while 'all in one' solutions are cute separating each function can make a massive improvement.
 
In my previous job I was asked to provide wireless outside that would reach a cabin around 100m away...I used a Ubiquti Pico station, really easy to set up and the range and speed is brilliant. They are not that expensive and the quality is top class.
 
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