moveing and need help with router and AP choice (aus)

[2chriswy]

hey guys so i'm moving in about 2 weeks and the new apartment has NBN(fiber) and i have gone with the 100/40 speeds and i'm finding it hard to get the hardware i want in a package(looks) i want.

the fiber line comes in at the corner of the apartment and its in a reallllllly thick concrete cupboard and i'm certain the wifi signal will not even reach the master bedroom so i think i will go with a router and AP in separate packages so i can put the AP in the living room as its the middle room.

whole place is wired and has a switchboard in the networking cupboard and every single wall is real thick concrete.

so what i was thinking of is : Draytek Vigor 2120 and Linksys WAP300N

https://www.pccasegear.com/products/31634/draytek-vigor-2120-gigabit-router

https://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/products_review.phtml?id=10&bid=2&id2=272&sid=139980

list of devices connecting: 2 ipads 2 chromecasts 2 PC's 1 laptop 3 phones and a NAS (all of that just for 2 people can't believe it

 

sorry about the bad sketch of the floor plan that's the stretch of my artistic abilities

[Badazzz]

That router should do. Assuming your PCs and your NAS are on ethernet, don't worry about the speed of the wifi too much.

[Oshino Shinobu]

I'm loving the floor plan drawing. 

From personal experience, I would recommend a Ubiquiti UniFi AP. They're incredibly simple to set up, look pretty nice (as far as networking gear goes) and have good performance, even through thick concrete walls. 

I have no experience with the router, but from what I've heard of Draytek, they tend to be pretty good. 

If the apartment is completely wired, I'd try to have as many devices hardwired as you can. 

[2chriswy]

4 minutes ago, Badazzz said:

That router should do. Assuming your PCs and your NAS are on ethernet, don't worry about the speed of the wifi too much.

yeh i'm not to worried about the speed but plex can be picky sometime with casting to chromecasts so i'm more concerned about stability i guess

2 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

I'm loving the floor plan drawing. 

From personal experience, I would recommend a Ubiquiti UniFi AP. They're incredibly simple to set up, look pretty nice (as far as networking gear goes) and have good performance, even through thick concrete walls. 

I have no experience with the router, but from what I've heard of Draytek, they tend to be pretty good. 

If the apartment is completely wired, I'd try to have as many devices hardwired as you can. 

yeh im trying to keep as many as i can on Ethernet but we live on the chromecasts and ipads for netflix and plex. 

is it this one you where recommending (Ubiquiti Networks UAP Indoor 802.11n Wireless Access Point) and yeh it took to long to make the drawing im sad to say hahaha

 

[Oshino Shinobu]

7 minutes ago, 2chriswy said:

yeh im trying to keep as many as i can on Ethernet but we live on the chromecasts and ipads for netflix and plex. 

is it this one you where recommending (Ubiquiti Networks UAP Indoor 802.11n Wireless Access Point) and yeh it took to long to make the drawing im sad to say hahaha

Yep. I have two of them in my house, which is spread over a fairly wide area with thick concrete walls. They cover a lot of area on their own, despite the walls. Never had an issue with them after setting them up a few months ago.

 

EDIT: I've even changed the IP address on the router, as well as various settings and they just work after being set up once. 

[skywake]

I'd strongly recommend going with a dual-band access point if you can. Ubiquiti has an AC1200 class AP that's only ~$30AU more than that N300 one that has been linked to. Well worth the money to get those higher speeds on 5Ghz at close range. 

[Badazzz]

13 minutes ago, skywake said:

I'd strongly recommend going with a dual-band access point if you can. Ubiquiti has an AC1200 class AP that's only ~$30AU more than that N300 one that has been linked to. Well worth the money to get those higher speeds on 5Ghz at close range. 

With only that many devices connected to the wifi at a time I don't think dual band is worth it. More bands is only good if you have more devices.

[skywake]

20 minutes ago, Badazzz said:

With only that many devices connected to the wifi at a time I don't think dual band is worth it. More bands is only good if you have more devices.

Well it will be better for only ~$30AU more when you're already spending huge on the router itself. For The $280AU you're spending I think N300 is pretty average. You have a NAS and you have a high speed internet connection so I assume you are somewhat of a power user. The 75Mbps total throughput you can expect on N300? I don't think it's going to cut it. Even with most stuff wired. AC1200 will not only give you that ~75Mbps on 2.4G but it'll also be able to push upto 200Mbps or so on 5G. Why wouldn't you go that route for an extra $30AU?

Seriously, for $250AU you could get a $100AU small router from Ubiquiti and pair it with one of their AC1200 APs. A better experience than what you're getting for less. Or you could go the other route and get an all-in-one router from DLink with AC1200 for $130AU from pcccasegear (a suprisingly good deal), pair it with a AC1200 AP also from DLink for about the same. Totalling $260AU and you get two access points, both dual-band. Still less than the $280 you're spending.

[Trikein]

14 minutes ago, Badazzz said:

 More bands is only good if you have more devices.

Ahh, I disagree. A dual band just means it is capable of 5Ghz. A single band can only connect at 2.4Ghz which is a more congested band. That and high throughput for streaming from PC to PC is what a dual band is for. It doesn't have anything to do with how many devices you can connect.

With that said, the 5Ghz band wouldn't be optimal in this case because of wall penetration. Instead you would probably be better with a wired router in the network closet and atleast 1 wireless AP somewhere in the house. As for where, hard to say by going on the diagram alone. Maybe 1 AP in living-room, on outside of bedroom wall, and 1 AP in master bedroom on the wall closer to the deck. Some of it is going to be trial and error. Download InSSIDer or something similar and see where the biggest wifi dead zones are in the house and try put AP around to cover them. That is where the Ubiquiti UniFi software comes in handy. See video by Linus here and see here for a comparsion of  the different models.

[2chriswy]

14 minutes ago, skywake said:

Well it will be better for only ~$30AU more when you're already spending huge on the router itself. For The $280AU you're spending I think N300 is pretty average. You have a NAS and you have a high speed internet connection so I assume you are somewhat of a power user. The 75Mbps total throughput you can expect on N300? I don't think it's going to cut it. Even with most stuff wired. AC1200 will not only give you that ~75Mbps on 2.4G but it'll also be able to push upto 200Mbps or so on 5G. Why wouldn't you go that route for an extra $30AU?

Seriously, for $250AU you could get a $100AU small router from Ubiquiti and pair it with one of their AC1200 APs. A better experience than what you're getting for less. Or you could go the other route and get an all-in-one router from DLink with AC1200 for $130AU from pcccasegear (a suprisingly good deal), pair it with a AC1200 AP also from DLink for about the same. Totalling $260AU and you get two access points, both dual-band. Still less than the $280 you're spending.

yeh im happy spending more money to not get any sort of dlink or netgear consumer products.

so ive got the Ubiquiti Networks UAP-AC-LITE 802.11ac in the cart now and about to pay thanks for all the help guys

[Trikein]

Good choice. You will also need a router of some type. Or specifically:

A DHCP-enabled network (for the AP to obtain an IP address as well as for the wireless clients after deployment)

A management station computer running the UniFi Controller software, located either onsite and connected to the same Layer-2 network, or off-site in a cloud or NOC

[2chriswy]

@Trikeini hope this one will do for that 

[skywake]

18 minutes ago, 2chriswy said:

yeh im happy spending more money to not get any sort of dlink or netgear consumer products.

so ive got the Ubiquiti Networks UAP-AC-LITE 802.11ac in the cart now and about to pay thanks for all the help guys

Yeah, that's cool. I'm just laying out the options you have. Currently I have a consumer router because I'm still on ADSL2 so it won't make much of a difference anyway. If I was getting 100/40Mbps 'nets? I'd go for something better. Probably this one rather than the one you're going after but it's neither here nor there really.

WiFi though. I go for the idea of getting the cheapest and most decent spec gear you can and installing more of them. But if you have money to spend? Ubiquiti's more professional gear isn't that much more expensive.

[Trikein]

Not familiar with that brand. In general it looks to be a decent device, although some reviews show the Wifi to be a bit wonky, but you won't be using it for Wifi. It will probably work fine, but I checked on the Unifi forums and found someone having a issue between that AP and router. 

[2chriswy]

@Trikein it looks like I shouldn't have the same problem as him as the problem lied with his system and not the network gear thanks heaps but for the link always good to know  

[dzonidev]

Honestly, I'd go full on Ubiquiti. Throw that Vigor thing into the trash can and order yourself an Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X.

[2chriswy]

@dzonidev na i got it for 40$ so im right with staying with it