[TriLUG] Router Recommendations

[Don Jerman via TriLUG]

I do the same, except I have a separate netgear POE switch 'cause our house
has a bunch of drops wired in.  Separating the concerns lets me put the
TP-Link router in the closet where the cable modem lives, put the
distribution switch on a separate shelf where the wire bundle comes down,
and hide the AP in another spot that has less metal around it, so it gives
good coverage.  I tried moving the TP-link all around the closet but
between the wall boxes and the net of wires converging there, there were
always some low spots in the house.  Moving the AP upstairs just "shadows"
the wiring  closet, which is the one place I don't really need wifi :).

Also the TP-Link wifi had a bug under OpenWRT where it would drop certain
clients after some amount of traffic until a power reset started the count
over.  Probably an Atheros driver thing that didn't get documented to the
developers.  Ubiquiti gives better throughput and lacks the bug.

So whenever Google or AT&T feel like coming down my street I only have one
$70 device to upgrade, rather than trying to get it all-in-one.

On Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 6:54 PM, Igor Partola via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
wrote:

> That is sort of what I am suggesting. I haven't been able to find a good
> and cheap wired router that can run OpenWRT, so I use their wireless router
> with the AP set up as the admin/emergency only access. I then use Ubiquiti
> stuff for the main house Wi-Fi.
>
> Separate hardware has two advantages. First, it lets you have more than one
> access point. If your house has dead zones, this is a godsend. Or if you
> just want more bandwidth. Or more reliability. Ubiquiti stuff is geared
> towards enterprise customers but priced like consumer equipment so it's
> pretty sweet.
>
> Second, you generally don't need to upgrade your main router as often as
> you need to upgrade the Wi-Fi AP's. The jump from Gigabit to 10-GB for
> consumer stuff isn't happening quite yet. When it does, you'll have to
> upgrade only one device. But if you wanted to upgrade your AP's every 1-3
> years, you could, and Ubiquiti stuff will still be worth something as a
> trade-in.
>
> My current setup is a TP-Link something or other + TP-Link gigabit 8 port
> switch with four ports being POE (Uni-Fi stuff runs off POE; yay single
> cable!), and a single Uni-Fi AP. That's enough to cover my house with 5G
> 802.11n. I am hoping to upgrade to 802.11ac at some point soon.
>
> Oh and of course there was that one time when I saw a flagship Asus router
> die if you used too many of its switch's ports. Adding a dedicated switch
> solved it all.
>
> Igor
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