[SOLVED] Need a fast WiFi access point

[swbruce21]

I have 5 access points (routers acting as APs) in my home and all the old G routers work fine for Netflix, IP cameras, Amazon TV, Alexa etc, but the single 5GHzrouter I have sucks for our 3 personal computers. We get 6Mb download speed when our wired systems get 68Mb.

So what WiFi router/AP should I use for the WiFi access point for our family's PCs ? They all have 5Ghz adaptors. I don't want to use a mesh system because each of 5 Access Points is on its own Static IP from Century Link. This separates our wired Exchange Server and wired Business File server from our families BS.

 

[bill001g]

When you have more than 3 or so AP i normally recommend people look into ubiquiti products. These AP have many features of commercial AP but have prices of home user equipment. The key is their central control software.

The thing that messed up that recommendation is that you are some how assigning IP to the AP. This means they are likely routers ?

You of course could just buy any $50 802.11ac router for AP and get a massive increase. You would use whatever hack you are using to assign the IP on your old system.

The way this would be done in a commercial install is to assign the IPs to a central router with different vlans. You would then run all the vlans to the different AP so each AP has all networks on it but all the nat and security function is done on the router.

Ubiquiti edge routers I know support vlans but I do not if they support mulitple public IP. This partially depends on how the ISP is giving you mulitple IP.

 

[doolittle]

In a similar situation with my FIOS quantum gateway, wifi performance was spotty so I just disabled the wifi on it and got a UAP-AC-LR and fully agree Ubiquity is top notch - I get full bars 5ghz in my 3 floor townhome (save one room, where it drops a bar) and even 1/2 bars in my backyard.

There is also the TP-Link EAP225 which is also very good for the price.

 

[swbruce21]

When you have more than 3 or so AP i normally recommend people look into ubiquiti products. These AP have many features of commercial AP but have prices of home user equipment. The key is their central control software.

The thing that messed up that recommendation is that you are some how assigning IP to the AP. This means they are likely routers ?

You of course could just buy any $50 802.11ac router for AP and get a massive increase. You would use whatever hack you are using to assign the IP on your old system.

The way this would be done in a commercial install is to assign the IPs to a central router with different vlans. You would then run all the vlans to the different AP so each AP has all networks on it but all the nat and security function is done on the router.

Ubiquiti edge routers I know support vlans but I do not if they support mulitple public IP. This partially depends on how the ISP is giving you mulitple IP.

Yes I have 5 nat routers each with a Century-Link Static IP Address and DHCP for each of 5 LANs. The 5GHz WiFi Access Point is wired to one the 1 of the 5 routers. If I plug my notebook into 1 of the LAN ports on the 5Ghz WiFi device I get a 68Mb speed test. WiFi on the same device I get 6-10 Mbs.

It is my intention for each of 5 LANs to be 100% isolated from each other because my Bank Auditing Business needs 1 isolated LAN with only 1 file server and 1 workstation client. The other's are for internet facing test servers, Exchange Server etc. plus for switching public addresses for outbound Penetration Testing. I don't know enough to centralized management and keep the 5 LANs separate from each other.

I just ordered the UAP-AC-LR Thanks

 

[kanewolf]

If you want 5 public IP addresses, then I would recommend that you stick with 5 used routers. Go to E-Bay and get 5 RT-N56U routers. They routinely sell for less than $20. They can run second source firmware (Padavan) and are dual band and have very good performance for being as old as they are.

If you don't need WIFI on any of the 5 public IP lans, then disable the WIFI on that router. For any that do need WIFI, manually choose the channels to be as unique as possible (there are only 3 unique 2.4Ghz WIFI channels).