WAP recommendations

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networkn

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Topic # 201376 16-Aug-2016 12:30

Hi.

For the past 5 years we have been using Engenius EAP350's for customers sites, they are priced OK, are generally reliable and have great range.

Lately we have been having some issues and are also considering the possibility of a switch to another brand that also offers centralized management of AP's across different sites and customers.

Cambium did a promo recently and I like their devices, but the regular price is nearly $80 more than the Cambium and it's hard to justify that to small customers.

Often these might go into Home Offices etc, and customers have given feedback they don't want Black ugly boxes with aerials stuck everywhere which is why the Engenius are good.

Cheers.

JaseNZ

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Reply # 1612427 16-Aug-2016 12:34

We use these which are fantastic and discreet. Price is up there but they do work really well.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=NETUBI1040&name=Ubiquiti-UAP-LR-UniFi-802.11bgn-2.4GHz-300Mbps-500

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networkn

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Reply # 1612432 16-Aug-2016 12:41

Mspec:

We use these which are fantastic and discreet. Price is up there but they do work really well.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=NETUBI1040&name=Ubiquiti-UAP-LR-UniFi-802.11bgn-2.4GHz-300Mbps-500

No centralized management (We are a reseller and have lots of clients and we want to be able to manage all devices via a web console or such).

I like the Unifi, but their management tools and support are seriously sh!te

Dynamic

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Reply # 1612434 16-Aug-2016 12:52

networkn: I like the Unifi, but their management tools and support are seriously sh!te

They are still our go-to device for SMB clients. The cheap CloudKey management appliance is much nicer than having to have a VM hanging around with the console (and we had java issues on our VM which was a PITA). I can comment very favourably on Snapper's local support for devices purchased from them, but have not had to go to Ubiquiti for anything.

We just have the one CloudKey with only 2 dozen UAPs on it. Larger sites could have a CloudKey per site.

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sbiddle

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Reply # 1612634 16-Aug-2016 18:20

One person supports this post

Xclaim by Ruckus. Ruckus quality without the price.

mdf

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Reply # 1612706 16-Aug-2016 19:59

networkn:

Cambium did a promo recently and I like their devices, but the regular price is nearly $80 more than the Cambium and it's hard to justify that to small customers.

FWIW, if it's just price holding you back on the Cambium gear, it might be worth having a word to GoWifi about your current and prospective future requirements. Cambium seems to be in the new, start up, chasing market share phase and seem really responsive to requests. They donated the router for @michaelmurfy's review/Geekzone giveaway and offered me a discount on a very modest spend of Cambium gear.

networkn

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Reply # 1612752 16-Aug-2016 20:27

mdf:

networkn:

Cambium did a promo recently and I like their devices, but the regular price is nearly $80 more than the Cambium and it's hard to justify that to small customers.

FWIW, if it's just price holding you back on the Cambium gear, it might be worth having a word to GoWifi about your current and prospective future requirements. Cambium seems to be in the new, start up, chasing market share phase and seem really responsive to requests. They donated the router for @michaelmurfy's review/Geekzone giveaway and offered me a discount on a very modest spend of Cambium gear.

We are already a reseller for them, but the respective buy prices are still $80 apart. They are investigating a potential other option.

michaelmurfy

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Reply # 1612785 16-Aug-2016 20:49

The Cambium gear is very good so would recommend - but so are the Xclaim units. The Xclaim might be better due to it's managed service portal with a "click and deploy" type interface making it easy for anyone to change their network settings. The other one you can do is deploy a UniFi controller on a AWS/Sitehost/Linode instance and deploy UniFi AP's to the said cloud controller - is a really good solution if you're wanting central management (guide here). Use a free SSL certificate from Letsencrypt and even set up a reverse proxy (via NGINX or Apache) to make it a nicer solution.

I've set up a bunch of cloud controllers for UniFi products and never had any problems with them - can even do remote firmware updates etc with ease. I used to preconfigure units (by adopting them to the controller) before sending the units out to the customer to simply plug in to their network - can even give the customer RO access to their premises on the cloud controller to view stats, generate WiFi codes (for guest WiFi) etc.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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networkn

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Reply # 1612891 16-Aug-2016 23:03

sbiddle:

Xclaim by Ruckus. Ruckus quality without the price.

Sign up for the MSP portal and you and your customers (if you want) will have access.

Sadly, even more expensive than all the other options.

sbiddle

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Reply # 1613376 17-Aug-2016 18:09

networkn:

sbiddle:

Xclaim by Ruckus. Ruckus quality without the price.

Sign up for the MSP portal and you and your customers (if you want) will have access.

Sadly, even more expensive than all the other options.

To what? Performance wise you won't come close with anything else except buying Ruckus itself. The MSP portal is also very cool.

Despite having (and still installing) a lot of UniFi kit I would never recommend it due to the ongoing performance and software issues.

richms

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Reply # 1613379 17-Aug-2016 18:12

sbiddle:

To what? Performance wise you won't come close with anything else except buying Ruckus itself. The MSP portal is also very cool.

Despite having (and still installing) a lot of UniFi kit I would never recommend it due to the ongoing performance and software issues.

Glaciers are faster than the unifi development

Richard rich.ms

networkn

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Reply # 1613391 17-Aug-2016 18:42

sbiddle:

To what? Performance wise you won't come close with anything else except buying Ruckus itself. The MSP portal is also very cool.

Despite having (and still installing) a lot of UniFi kit I would never recommend it due to the ongoing performance and software issues.

Yeah I must admit to having reservations toward UniFi having had issues in the past, but last lot of software upgrades made our experience better.

Xclaim (XI3) are upward of $375 per AP! Whilst I am sure they are good, that's reasonably difficult to justify to SMB and Home Business users.

Do you have experience with the Cambium? Or Engenius? When you say performance, specifically what are you talking about? Range? Speeds?

darylblake

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Reply # 1613398 17-Aug-2016 18:59

Depending on what you want to spend.

Cheap Unifi AP AC Lite

Mid-range Id go for Xclaim XI-3 this will be in the $300~$400 range.

In the more expensive range I would probably look at Ruckus R500 or better. But this is about $800. If you like Cisco then you can get Meraki's but I don't think they are as good as Ruckus.

Remember, you get what you pay for. If you go cheap, you will have more problems.

vulcannz

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Reply # 1614668 19-Aug-2016 21:50

Ruckus also tend to get far better coverage, so you spend more on buying multiple cheap APs where a single Ruckus will cover a large area.