What AP should i get?

[RollinLower]

Hello!

 

first and foremost: networking noob here.

I recently got a Mikrotik Routerboard RB2011UiAS-RM to replace my crappy router i got from the ISP.

i put the ISP router into bridge mode and set up the MikroTik as the new router. works like a charm for ethernet, but no wireless yet.

now this routerboard doesn't come with wifi antennas, so i need to set up an access point of some kind. here lies my problem, there are thousands of different AP's to choose from, so how do i find out which one is right for me?

 

it would be very lightly used. 5 devices connected tops, in a small apartment with 3 rooms. 

 

any, and i mean any help would be appreciated!

[Metallus97]

ASUS or AVM (maybe NG)!

Your budget, linespeed and do you need extra features like some server shit?

[RollinLower]

1 minute ago, Metallus97 said:

ASUS or AVM!

Your budget, linespeed and do you need extra features like some server shit?

budget is max 150 euro's, but the less the better

linespeed is 1Gbps

extra features to mess around with would be awesome, but keep in mind i'm a noob with this stuff. so anything that would give me a good 5Ghz band is NASA to me.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Personally I have an Ubiquiti nanoHD which can hit 700Mbit. (although I did need to setup a controller to enable 160Mhz channel width to achieve it)

 

You'd need to spend about twice as much to have a hope of hitting 1Gbit which I don't think is worth it until WiFi 6 is fully ratified.

 

I wouldn't go back to consumer hardware, there is just so much more control and statistics for this, plus WiFi devices seem to connect quicker than I've ever seen before.

[RollinLower]

1 minute ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Personally I have an Ubiquiti nanoHD which can hit 700Mbit. (although I did need to setup a controller to enable 160Mhz channel width to achieve it)

 

You'd need to spend about twice as much to have a hope of hitting 1Gbit which I don't think is worth it until WiFi 6 is fully ratified.

yeah i was thinking 1Gbit would be pretty optimistic.

it's just home wifi tough, and the heaviest workload it'll have to endure is streaming netflix to my gf's ipad. most of the other devices in my home are wired.

 

if i go ubiquiti would i need an external controller aswell? or can i just plug it into the POE port on my MikroTik router?

[Metallus97]

RT AC87U

slap merlins custom FW (officially supported by Asus) on it and you can fiddle around like a boss.

its about 150 and one of the fastest AC AP/ routers I know with heaps of features and a fast CPU (with merlins FW you REALY unlock it and gain extra security. For example DOH and Skynet extra firewall)

[RollinLower]

25 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

RT AC87U

slap merlins custom FW (officially supported by Asus) on it and you can fiddle around like a boss.

its about 150 and one of the fastest AC AP/ routers I know with heaps of features and a fast CPU (with merlins FW you REALY unlock it and gain extra security. For example DOH and Skynet extra firewall)

looks like a good option, tough i would really prefer something wall/ceiling mountable. does this come with a wallmount?

[Metallus97]

1 hour ago, RollinLower said:

looks like a good option, tough i would really prefer something wall/ceiling mountable. does this come with a wallmount?

yes! It has slots on the back to hang it on two nails or something along those lines

[Alex Atkin UK]

9 hours ago, RollinLower said:

yeah i was thinking 1Gbit would be pretty optimistic.

it's just home wifi tough, and the heaviest workload it'll have to endure is streaming netflix to my gf's ipad. most of the other devices in my home are wired.

 

if i go ubiquiti would i need an external controller aswell? or can i just plug it into the POE port on my MikroTik router?

It only seems to support 80Mhz channel width without the controller, although oddly that still got 650Mbit on my phone (I'm not sure any phones support 160Mhz channel width anyway, the Galaxy S10 doesn't so it always falls back to 80Mhz), it was only my laptop that for some reason needed double the channel width to get the same performance.

 

Although you can get away with installing the controller on a PC, setting it up with 160Mhz channel width, then never running it again unless you need to change settings.

 

I do think having it ceiling mounted has been a huge benefit though, as one of my laptops has the antennas in the palm rest, the other in the screen, so having it on either wall would block the signal to one of them vs having it above.