Wireless 802.11ac Access Point Recommendation

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Networkn
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#1015984 31-Mar-2014 13:05

billgates: I buy all my personal and commercial networking gear from eurodk. Prices are really good.

http://www.eurodk.com/en/products/base-stations

I thought there were all sorts of issues with buying wireless devices overseas in case they accidentally operate outside the bands advertised and interfere with stuff causing people like VF to come and get your first born son etc etc?

networkn

Networkn
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#1015986 31-Mar-2014 13:11

Hmm firther investigation seems to indicate the engenius and unifi-ac actually has worse range than some of the consumer gear like the dlink 865l etc...

Maybe I'll just stick with what I have and move it around the house a little. I could put a second in, but I am not a big fan, unless I have to, having suffered device hand off issues before.

chevrolux

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#1015993 31-Mar-2014 13:28

Comparing Unifi to D-Link is like comparing a dual Xeon Server to a Raspberry Pi.

They are just not the same.

Unifi is purpose built wireless kit. That is all it does. It will give the best performance when in a multi-cell situation and is simple to manage.

That D-Link thing is a home router with an AC radio bolted in. I would bet that antenna design has been sacrificed for aesthetics and fitting in the rest of the stuff.

sbiddle came up with a great analogy that in the wifi world it is far better to have many flash lights than one big flood light. Even in my little 200m^2 house I have two UAP's. The upside is that, on devices with 2x2 antenna, I can push around 50-60Mbps of traffic any where in the house.

SumnerBoy

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#1015995 31-Mar-2014 13:32

What are peoples thoughts on the UAP-LR for use in a typical home environment? I am going to buy one of these UAPs, just not sure whether to go for the standard UAP or UAP-LR. The WIFI range on my FritzBox is terrible so am going to disable and stick with a dedicated AP.

wasabi2k

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#1016001 31-Mar-2014 13:39

SumnerBoy: What are peoples thoughts on the UAP-LR for use in a typical home environment? I am going to buy one of these UAPs, just not sure whether to go for the standard UAP or UAP-LR. The WIFI range on my FritzBox is terrible so am going to disable and stick with a dedicated AP.

My UAP covers my whole house (4 bedroom).

Depends entirely on how big your house is and what the walls are made of.

networkn

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#1016003 31-Mar-2014 13:39

SumnerBoy: What are peoples thoughts on the UAP-LR for use in a typical home environment? I am going to buy one of these UAPs, just not sure whether to go for the standard UAP or UAP-LR. The WIFI range on my FritzBox is terrible so am going to disable and stick with a dedicated AP.

Bearing in mind the other wireless limitation which is even if the signal can get to your smartphone, is your smartphone wireless, powerful enough to send it back to the same place.

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nigelj

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#1016005 31-Mar-2014 13:41

Don't forget, the Linksys WRT1900AC is due out soon, and it'll actually run OpenWRT with apparently very little effort.

I realise that it isn't a straight access point, but I was doing some research for even N APs and the focus really appears to be on all-in-one boxes (which of course you can disable the routing on)

SumnerBoy

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#1016006 31-Mar-2014 13:41

Yep - so if I am mainly using mobile devices (i.e. low power) there is probably not much point going for the LR.

Better to stick with a standard UAP and if there are dead spots, add another?

billgates

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#1016014 31-Mar-2014 13:45

SumnerBoy: What are peoples thoughts on the UAP-LR for use in a typical home environment? I am going to buy one of these UAPs, just not sure whether to go for the standard UAP or UAP-LR. The WIFI range on my FritzBox is terrible so am going to disable and stick with a dedicated AP.

I am running an UAP-LR in my house. I turned off the WiFi services in my FritzBox with this model. Covers my entire house which is 242sqm.

Do whatever you want to do man.

SumnerBoy

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#1016015 31-Mar-2014 13:46

Thanks billgates - so in your opinion it is worth stumping for the LR? Does your phone/tablets connect ok at long distances?

billgates

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#1016016 31-Mar-2014 13:47

networkn:

I thought there were all sorts of issues with buying wireless devices overseas in case they accidentally operate outside the bands advertised and interfere with stuff causing people like VF to come and get your first born son etc etc?

Mobile networks gear maybe like repeaters but not WiFi gear AFAIK unless its a modem which then requires a telepermit approval. You can also change the region on most WiFi gear to that of your local region so it only allows you to connect to certain channels.

Do whatever you want to do man.

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billgates

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#1016017 31-Mar-2014 13:52

SumnerBoy: Thanks billgates - so in your opinion it is worth stumping for the LR? Does your phone/tablets connect ok at long distances?

My UAP-LR, is sitting in my home office at the other end of the house. It's not even mounted on the wall. It's sitting on my computer desk. I am in my bedroom on my Surface 2 and I have 4/5 bars consistently.

I thought a lot about getting the 802.11ac model but then decided against it when I read about 802.11ad coming in couple of years time. Not transferring local files over WiFi anyways. All my gear like Roku, Xbox 360, Xbox One etc have a wired Ethernet connection on the wall. WiFi is purely for web browsing and it works just fine with this. I can also stream 1080p youtube etc just fine sitting in my bedroom.

Do whatever you want to do man.

SumnerBoy

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#1016018 31-Mar-2014 13:55

Yeah sounds like a very similar setup to me. All my devices that actually stream anything are hard wired, unless viewing YouTube etc on my Phone/iPad. No file transfers either, just browsing/checking emails.

I think for the extra $15 I will go for the LR. Means things like my laptop and various Raspberry Pis with WIFI dongles should get much better range since they will have juicier transmitters.

Thanks for the info.

kiwitrc

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#1016022 31-Mar-2014 14:02

Have a look at the Netgear Nighthawk R7000

SumnerBoy

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#1016023 31-Mar-2014 14:04

Yeah I had come across that beast, but all I need is an AP. I don't do anything extreme on my WIFI, I just want decent range. So for half the price I have decided to go with the UAP-LR.

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