Question WiFi Router setups for Small Office/Home Office?

oguruma

Prominent
Jul 1, 2022
19
0
510
What are some good options for small office/home office routers/networking equipment? I work for a cable ISP. I mainly do B2B sales. My company provides customer are single, sort of crappy, WiFi router, which often leads to a bad experience, especially for SMBs that need effective WiFi in large buildings.

customers ask me for recommendations for routers to get. I have experience with MikroTik, and I like it, but it's not something that the average "non tech person" is going to want to manage themselves. Plus. Mikrotik seems to be completely ignoring WiFi6 (or maybe they just haven't rolled out any products with it, yet).

So, I want to build a couple different labs with different offerings from different brands so I can make recommendations, and help customers out with them if they decide to buy them.

I'd like to find a brand/line of hardware that:
  1. Has a lot of options/types of products for SOHO users (different router and AP options, mainly).
  2. Offers are lot of bang-per-buck
  3. Has an intuitive interface
  4. Has perpetual licensing for the software, and doesn't require users to have to purchase a $200 piece of hardware to manage their WiFi APs (as I understand it is with Ubiquiti UniFi).
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
What are some good options for small office/home office routers/networking equipment? I work for a cable ISP. I mainly do B2B sales. My company provides customer are single, sort of crappy, WiFi router, which often leads to a bad experience, especially for SMBs that need effective WiFi in large buildings.

customers ask me for recommendations for routers to get. I have experience with MikroTik, and I like it, but it's not something that the average "non tech person" is going to want to manage themselves. Plus. Mikrotik seems to be completely ignoring WiFi6 (or maybe they just haven't rolled out any products with it, yet).

So, I want to build a couple different labs with different offerings from different brands so I can make recommendations, and help customers out with them if they decide to buy them.

I'd like to find a brand/line of hardware that:
  1. Has a lot of options/types of products for SOHO users (different router and AP options, mainly).
  2. Offers are lot of bang-per-buck
  3. Has an intuitive interface
  4. Has perpetual licensing for the software, and doesn't require users to have to purchase a $200 piece of hardware to manage their WiFi APs (as I understand it is with Ubiquiti UniFi).
The main thing about WIFI is a wired backbone with multiple APs. The wired backbone is also important to move devices OFF WIFI. Every stationary device should be on a wired connection.
 

oguruma

Prominent
Jul 1, 2022
19
0
510
The main thing about WIFI is a wired backbone with multiple APs. The wired backbone is also important to move devices OFF WIFI. Every stationary device should be on a wired connection.

Trust me, I get that. The problem is that the vast majorityu of my customers aren't willing to do any of that; they don't understand it, and they don't want to understand it. They also can't just wire the buildings themselves, or have their cousin's friend do it, the same way a home user can.

They just want a solution that works well without much hassle. That said, most of my customers needs aren't that demanding. A lot of barber shops, nail salons, mechanic's garages, etc.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Trust me, I get that. The problem is that the vast majorityu of my customers aren't willing to do any of that; they don't understand it, and they don't want to understand it. They also can't just wire the buildings themselves, or have their cousin's friend do it, the same way a home user can.

They just want a solution that works well without much hassle. That said, most of my customers needs aren't that demanding. A lot of barber shops, nail salons, mechanic's garages, etc.
IMO, there is no such thing.
You could look at the UniFI DreamRouter. It is WIFI6 (not that it really matters) has the controller functionality built-in and has a low price point.
 
  1. Has perpetual licensing for the software, and doesn't require users to have to purchase a $200 piece of hardware to manage their WiFi APs (as I understand it is with Ubiquiti UniFi).

Most commercial, even small business grade, equipment is not going to have the most intuitive interface. But with the Ubiquiti Cloudkey or Dreamrouter, you can use the smartphone app to manage all your access points, update firmware and make sure everything is working well. The interface isn't super complicated.

The advantage to having the cloudkey running or dreamrouter or pc with unifi software, is that the software will allow for a more seamless handoff and the software will help manage the wifi channels on the access points and look for interference. It'll keep the network running more smoothly.

Another advantage to using a centrally managed software is you can give access vouchers to guests and put them on the guest network and/or have a guest sign in portal page. With a guest voucher, to can give them access to the internet but not the main LAN. You can also dictate the expiration date of the voucher and have it stop working immediately.