When will NZ get the new Mikrotik Dual bander? (RB962UiGS-5HacT2HnT)

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › When will NZ get the new Mikrotik Dual bander? (RB962UiGS-5HacT2HnT)

Aaroona

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#191626 10-Feb-2016 21:17

I see a dual band (with 2.5Ghz/5Ghz wifi) router has been announced! and I want one.

Anyone know how long it normally takes for new releases to flow down to NZ?

I've been playing around with the virtual appliance of RouterOS, and I like it- but because they've not had any AIO routers until this announcement, I've been patiently holding off purchasing any hardware.

coffeebaron

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#1489984 10-Feb-2016 21:49

Campbell Technology have a reseller special on until 17-Feb, so I'm guessing around this date onwards.

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knoydart

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#1489985 10-Feb-2016 21:49

Maybe ask Dale at gowifi down in Canterbury?

Aaroona

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#1489992 10-Feb-2016 22:03

coffeebaron:

Campbell Technology have a reseller special on until 17-Feb, so I'm guessing around this date onwards.

Yeah, quite possible. I'll keep an eye out. I see StreakWave have it is stock ready to ship in the US for 106US.

knoydart:

Maybe ask Dale at gowifi down in Canterbury?

I've just flicked them an email now- thanks.

jnimmo

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#1490011 10-Feb-2016 22:32

Might have to give this a try, had been thinking of going for the EdgeRouter but the idea of having wifi built in + a PoE out is nice..

sbiddle

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#1490081 11-Feb-2016 07:25

With no band steering in RouterOS it's hard to recommend it as a WiFi solution right now.

Spec wise it's still a low end Mikrotik device, so my recommendation would be a standalone AP that supports band steering and then buy a higher spec routerboard as the router. The same product with a dual core CPU and band steering would be the perfect piece of CPE, so it's a shame that's not what they're building. :(

I'm a huge Mikrotik fan but IMHO they're starting to lose the plot a little at present. Continuing to build products with such low spec CPU's that are so easy to choke isn't good when so many competitors have vastly superior routing performance for similar price points.

Aaroona

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#1490627 11-Feb-2016 16:34

sbiddle:

With no band steering in RouterOS it's hard to recommend it as a WiFi solution right now.

Spec wise it's still a low end Mikrotik device, so my recommendation would be a standalone AP that supports band steering and then buy a higher spec routerboard as the router. The same product with a dual core CPU and band steering would be the perfect piece of CPE, so it's a shame that's not what they're building. :(

I'm a huge Mikrotik fan but IMHO they're starting to lose the plot a little at present. Continuing to build products with such low spec CPU's that are so easy to choke isn't good when so many competitors have vastly superior routing performance for similar price points.

I see you mentioning band steering in almost all Wifi related posts - is it really that important (in a home router in this case)? Or is it just a case of simplification for the end user, to make sure they're getting the most out of their connection, with least configuration?

I usually have my 2.4 and 5Ghz separate anyway because my router I assume doesn't support it (an old WNDR3700v1). In fact, the default config for Netgear was to have two SSID's separate (e.g. SSID and SSID5G)

EDIT: I usually place my devices that won't really benefit from having 300Mbps (My phones, ipad etc.) onto 2.4G, then the HTPC and Laptops on Wifi N.

This Mikrotik will actually be a little bit of a step down for me, slightly. My router at the moment is overclocked to 800Mhz, which was actually kind of impressive a while ago.

What would your recommendation be then, in place of this one? (keeping in mind that I want to have an AIO device)

Aaroona

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#1490713 11-Feb-2016 19:08

FYI, I've had an email back from GoWifi - they said somewhere between 1-2 weeks.

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sbiddle

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#1490749 11-Feb-2016 19:51

Aaroona:

I see you mentioning band steering in almost all Wifi related posts - is it really that important (in a home router in this case)? Or is it just a case of simplification for the end user, to make sure they're getting the most out of their connection, with least configuration?

I usually have my 2.4 and 5Ghz separate anyway because my router I assume doesn't support it (an old WNDR3700v1). In fact, the default config for Netgear was to have two SSID's separate (e.g. SSID and SSID5G)

EDIT: I usually place my devices that won't really benefit from having 300Mbps (My phones, ipad etc.) onto 2.4G, then the HTPC and Laptops on Wifi N.

This Mikrotik will actually be a little bit of a step down for me, slightly. My router at the moment is overclocked to 800Mhz, which was actually kind of impressive a while ago.

What would your recommendation be then, in place of this one? (keeping in mind that I want to have an AIO device)

I think it is important - WiFi performance in the 2.4GHz band can be terrible in many urban environments, and having to run two different SSID's causes lots of issues, particularly as Android and iOS don't support hierarchal AP lists.

IMHO 5GHz should be the preferred band for WiFi, stepping back to 2.4GHz when needed. You can't do this without band steering.

The best solution for an AP with band steering right now is a UniFi AC lite - with the caveat that I still don't recommend UniFi kit for the average home.

Aaroona

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#1490754 11-Feb-2016 19:58

sbiddle:

I think it is important - WiFi performance in the 2.4GHz band can be terrible in many urban environments, and having to run two different SSID's causes lots of issues, particularly as Android and iOS don't support hierarchal AP lists.

IMHO 5GHz should be the preferred band for WiFi, stepping back to 2.4GHz when needed. You can't do this without band steering.

The best solution for an AP with band steering right now is a UniFi AC lite - with the caveat that I still don't recommend UniFi kit for the average home.

Fair call - I guess in my household it's not an issue, since for iOS and Android devices, I only ever associate one AP.

I do live in an Apartment in the city with quite a number of other wifi access points around (on every channel, too), so would be interested to see how it would improve my experience.

EDIT: I guess it wouldnt really- it would just essentially push people to my 5Ghz network. Was getting it a little confused with auto channel selection.

Is that caveat based on the fact that UniFi gear is not easy to configure? or something else?

sbiddle

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#1490770 11-Feb-2016 20:28

Aaroona:

Fair call - I guess in my household it's not an issue, since for iOS and Android devices, I only ever associate one AP.

I do live in an Apartment in the city with quite a number of other wifi access points around (on every channel, too), so would be interested to see how it would improve my experience.

EDIT: I guess it wouldnt really- it would just essentially push people to my 5Ghz network. Was getting it a little confused with auto channel selection.

Is that caveat based on the fact that UniFi gear is not easy to configure? or something else?

Band steering pushes clients to 5GHz when they can support it. If they can't (or SNR is too low) they can then reassociate with 2.4GHz

UniFi gear is not optimised for speed, it's optimised for large scale deployments with many clients so you'll get better performance off many other brands of gear out there (many of which will choke however once they have 20 clients connected). There have also been plenty of bugs that have crept into the UniFi software over the years and a lot of issues with multicast and device support which isn't an issue in a typical deployment in an office for example, but can be a deal breaker in a home environment.

Maybe that'll change - the new UniFi software is a big step forward.

mcraenz

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#1492137 14-Feb-2016 17:36

Has anyone tried the Engenius gear? E.g :
http://www.gowifi.co.nz/access-points-802.11/indoor-wireless-access-points/engenius-eap1750h-dual-band-802.11ac-access-point.html

I'm looking to put in a ceiling mount AP at home with the absolute best performance I can get for ~$350. Is this likely to be better than a Ubiquity AP?

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darylblake

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#1492384 15-Feb-2016 07:47

mcraenz: Has anyone tried the Engenius gear? E.g :
http://www.gowifi.co.nz/access-points-802.11/indoor-wireless-access-points/engenius-eap1750h-dual-band-802.11ac-access-point.html

I'm looking to put in a ceiling mount AP at home with the absolute best performance I can get for ~$350. Is this likely to be better than a Ubiquity AP?

Sorry I Never tried them. But would be interested to find out what these units are like. I am building a new 240 Sqm house (140sqm downstairs 100sqm upstairs) at the moment which should complete in October and I was planning to get 2 new 802.11ac PoE AP's. Not sure what to get. Sbiddle is saying get band steering and he's got a great point, which will force the connections on 5Ghz devices to use 5Ghz. The only ones I have found to have it are the Cisco Meraki's and this EnGenius. I don't think any of the UniFi Gear works properly for this. Even their new range says its "coming" and I have not been super impressed with the ubiquity AP either. I mean its been ok, range was pretty good. But I never really got amazing speeds from it. About 70mbit is probably the max i have ever had. But mines 2.4 Ghz only and there are quite a few networks around my current area on all channels hence why I will look at a replacement.

From what I have found from experience is that usually manufacturers are taking a more complex unit like a router, then adding an access point, switch and media plugs. With an average CPU at best, then they are writing software to make all these items work together, squeezing it into a smaller box and then putting a consumer price point on it. I actually am planning to keep my mikrotik, and have a seperate couple of AP's.

When you look at reasonable quality AP's alone like a Ruckus Zoneflex R500 or an Aerohive AP 230 they cost around $700 - $1000 and thats just for the AP. Im not saying you cant get reasonable wifi for less than $300 ( https://store.xclaimwireless.com/us/p_ruckus_product.aspx?i=266991 ) but I do think that if you want a decent wireless network you will need to spend a bit on it.

The other problem with All in one units (and don't get me wrong for small dwellings they are usually sufficient if you are on 100mbit fibre or less) is that they nearly always get placed in poor locations because its convenient to run cables to a shelf thats up high or a roof. Its much easier to shove it behind a TV unit or something.

As for the router yeh Mikrotik is great stuff, I mean router OS gives you so much in the way of configuration options, and the hardware is very cheap. And if you do end up using that EnGenius unit let me know how it goes. Or something good for multiple AP's. I would love to have a good 100Mbit+ coverage all over the new place.

sbiddle

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#1492392 15-Feb-2016 08:18

Ubiquiti have band steering on the UniFi - as I'm a beta tester I've been using this for quite a few months now and it's been officially as of early Feb when UniFi 4.8.12 became available.

I'm a huge Ruckus fan and IMHO they build the best WiFi kit in the world - but it comes at a price which they can justify in the same way a nice Mercedes costs more than a Toyota Corolla. It's not a product that will appeal to most people.

My pick right now for good gear in terms of performance/price is the Xclaim range by Ruckus.

darylblake

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#1492720 15-Feb-2016 16:20

sbiddle: Ubiquiti have band steering on the UniFi - as I'm a beta tester I've been using this for quite a few months now and it's been officially as of early Feb when UniFi 4.8.12 became available. I'm a huge Ruckus fan and IMHO they build the best WiFi kit in the world - but it comes at a price which they can justify in the same way a nice Mercedes costs more than a Toyota Corolla. It's not a product that will appeal to most people. My pick right now for good gear in terms of performance/price is the Xclaim range by Ruckus.

Yeh @michaelmurfy an old workmate got one of those Xclaim XI-3's and was raving about how great it was. I was planning to get 2 AP's, 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs at opposite ends of the house. The House is pretty square shaped and has a garage in 1 corner where the Wifi is not really as important. + it will have a switch and patch panel in the garage anyway. So was thinking at one end in the main living quart in the downstairs and then in the master bedroom upstairs above the garage.

I was considering getting unifi acs or perhaps the XI-3. Interested to see what the engenius stuff was like as well. I looked at the Zoneflex R500 but they are soo expensive. If I could get one AP and cover the whole property then I might consider it. I may even stick my unifi ap up and see what the coverage is like in all the rooms and if its pretty solid i might buy a single R500. But I think I am already going to blow my max I want to spend on the build anyway. So will probably look at whats cheap by the time the house is finished. I will probably re-asses in 6 months time, to see if anything else is new or and specials are around. New stuff is coming out all the time.

sbiddle

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#1492774 15-Feb-2016 17:47

If you're happy with 802.11n there are a lot of 2nd hand (and new) Ruckus AP's that are regularly on eBay. You could easily pick something dual band up for NZ$200. To get the full benefits of Ruckus hardware you really need a Zonedirector controller, but 99% of the functionality is available from the CLI via SSH if you're happy learning about the hardware. You can easily control band steering and roaming/min rssi via CLI commands.