Need a router and wifi access points

[Bentley81]

I currently have gig internet and am using an old linksys router with samsung smart things wifi mesh.

 

I am looking to upgrade to an independent router and wifi access points.  I have 4 switches on the network with hard wire at all access point locations.  I need 3 access points to cover my property.

 

What is the good better and best options.  Looking to spend ~$1000 or less if its possible.  We have a lot of phones, IOT and other devices on the network.  I have about 20 devices hardwired into the network.

 

Thanks,

Eric 

[Falcon1986]

On 5/10/2021 at 1:26 PM, Bentley81 said:

I currently have gig internet and am using an old linksys router with samsung smart things wifi mesh.

At gigabit speeds, you need a router that can perform NAT at those speeds. Just having a “gigabit port” doesn’t satisfy this requirement. Normally, an ISP-supplied gateway will provide this, but there might be other features that you want from your own device. Furthermore, if you want VPN support and the ability to run IDS/IPS or other CPU-intensive tasks, regular consumer-grade hardware might not be up for the challenge.

 

Most people will go for a firewall appliance based on pfSense/OPNSense/Untangle/OpenWRT. There are pre-built devices from Netgate, Qotom, ProtectLi, etc. that you can purchase with the appropriate specifications. But you can just as well convert an old computer to act as a router if it has at least 2 ethernet ports.

 

On 5/10/2021 at 1:26 PM, Bentley81 said:

I need 3 access points to cover my property.

What are you looking for in terms of…

1. Form factor (e.g. ceiling mountable, shelf placement, wall mountable)
2. Wireless density (i.e. number of clients to support including number of simultaneously active clients)
3. Speed (WiFi can’t reliably provide consistent speeds at 1Gbps in real-world spaces)
4. WiFi generation (WiFi 5 or WiFi 6?)

Brands to look into include Ubiquiti, Grandstream, EnGenius, TP-Link, and Mikrotik… among others.

 

On 5/10/2021 at 1:26 PM, Bentley81 said:

I have about 20 devices hardwired into the network.

That’s good. The more wired devices, the better.

[Bentley81]

7 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

At gigabit speeds, you need a router that can perform NAT at those speeds. Just having a “gigabit port” doesn’t satisfy this requirement. Normally, an ISP-supplied gateway will provide this, but there might be other features that you want from your own device. Furthermore, if you want VPN support and the ability to run IDS/IPS or other CPU-intensive tasks, regular consumer-grade hardware might not be up for the challenge.

 

Most people will go for a firewall appliance based on pfSense/OPNSense/Untangle/OpenWRT. There are pre-built devices from Netgate, Qotom, ProtectLi, etc. that you can purchase with the appropriate specifications. But you can just as well convert an old computer to act as a router if it has at least 2 ethernet ports.

 

What are you looking for in terms of…

1. Form factor (e.g. ceiling mountable, shelf placement, wall mountable)
2. Wireless density (i.e. number of clients to support including number of simultaneously active clients)
3. Speed (WiFi can’t reliably provide consistent speeds at 1Gbps in real-world spaces)
4. WiFi generation (WiFi 5 or WiFi 6?)

Brands to look into include Ubiquiti, Grandstream, EnGenius, TP-Link, and Mikrotik… among others.

 

That’s good. The more wired devices, the better.

Form factor doesn't matter, they will all be hidden or in spaces the don't require them to look nice.  I would be happy with any options.

There will be about 20-30 wireless clients.

I would like wifi 6 and the speeds that go with it but I don't expect 1G over WIFI.