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Make educated wireless router/AP upgrade decisions

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Re: Make educated wireless router/AP upgrade decisions

#41

Post by Dahoon »

davidhyde wrote: post #36
Dahoon wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something made to have open source flashed safely. I use OpenWRT on my access points and router. Maybe not as easy but on the other hand nothing comes close in functionality (unless you buy products made for big business).

Thanks! Can you recommend a particular model?

No I'm not knowledgeable enough to recommend any specific models. I use an old Linksys WRT 1200 because I got it cheap. Some models come with DD-WRT or OpenWRT already installed. If flashing one yourself I'd recommend you buy one with room for two ROMs (so if it fails you can boot into the other one).

Re: Make educated wireless router/AP upgrade decisions

#44

Post by pedrocr »

Very good information to get great performance. It would be nice if it explained how much to go for for a given WAN speed and LAN requirements. The links I have are 100Mb/s symmetrical so spending 250€ on the recommended router would probably not help compared to the 70€ Archer C7/AC1750 I've installed in a couple of places already.

It would be awesome to have a simple table somewhere that described what to get based on WAN speed and OpenWRT support. Add some affiliate links and it could be a nice income stream.

Re: Make educated wireless router/AP upgrade decisions

#45

Post by leokennis »

Superb article, high on info, low on confusion!

For my own home, I used to try to optimize the hell out of it (regularly switching channels, trying new routers etc.)

Now I "installed" a TP-Link Deco M9 system. I have 250 Mbps coming in, and at the worst part of my house, my iPhone will still get 100 Mbps from that. That is more than enough even for streaming 4K. So I have now arrived at the "why bother tinkering with a good enough system" stage of WiFi, which is a huge relief.

Re: Make educated wireless router/AP upgrade decisions

#46

Post by [deleted] »

davidhyde wrote: post #36
Dahoon wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something made to have open source flashed safely. I use OpenWRT on my access points and router. Maybe not as easy but on the other hand nothing comes close in functionality (unless you buy products made for big business).

Thanks! Can you recommend a particular model?

[deleted]

Re: Make educated wireless router/AP upgrade decisions

#47

Post by miek »

goihoiholi wrote: post #26

Nice article! However, roaming support is entirely missing. Handover between access points is really important in my experience. It would have been nice to have an overview on the current situation in WiFi.

I don't think you'll find a system with automatic access point adjustment to maximize handoff quality.I think the basic best practices for overlapping wifi access points are something like this: -set each to a different channel -adjust power settings to reduce coverage overlap (some is necessary; too much is bad)

Re: Make educated wireless router/AP upgrade decisions

#48

Post by phonon »

agurk wrote: post #30

It's interesting that the he says in the guide that it's definitely worth getting a 4x4 MIMO AP/router: > It is easy to overlook and miss, but beamforming and diversity are the key reasons why you want a 4×4 MIMO router even though most clients are still only 2×2 MIMO. The extra antennas are actually used and offer value (a stronger signal, which translate to better connect speeds for some users)! Having been a keen…

EAP330 goes up to 1300 mbits/s...[1]

[1] https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/ceiling-mount...

Re: Make educated wireless router/AP upgrade decisions

#49

Post by agurk »

phonon wrote: post #48
agurk wrote: post #30

It's interesting that the he says in the guide that it's definitely worth getting a 4x4 MIMO AP/router: > It is easy to overlook and miss, but beamforming and diversity are the key reasons why you want a 4×4 MIMO router even though most clients are still only 2×2 MIMO. The extra antennas are actually used and offer value (a stronger signal, which translate to better connect speeds for some users)! Having been a keen…

EAP330 goes up to 1300 mbits/s...[1] [1] https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/ceiling-mount...

Yes, which must mean it's a 3x3 (same as the EAP245). Of their upcoming HD620 and 660 Wifi 6 models the former is 2x2 and the latter 4x4[0]. And there is an somewhat oblique reference to this with the marketing copy talking about "4 streams". The article did say to hold off from purchasing wifi 6 equipment however.

[0] https://www.tp-link.com/uk/business-networking/ceiling-mount...

Re: Make educated wireless router/AP upgrade decisions

#50

Post by goihoiholi »

miek wrote: post #47
goihoiholi wrote: post #26

Nice article! However, roaming support is entirely missing. Handover between access points is really important in my experience. It would have been nice to have an overview on the current situation in WiFi.

I don't think you'll find a system with automatic access point adjustment to maximize handoff quality.I think the basic best practices for overlapping wifi access points are something like this: -set each to a different channel -adjust power settings to reduce coverage overlap (some is necessary; too much is bad)

[edit: re-read your post; you're well aware what handoff is, so sorry for the overly vivid explanation]

That's 'cell planning'. Roaming is different:

Let's say you're moving from your bedroom to the kitchen. The bedroom AP's signal suddenly drops. Your smartphone needs to find the kitchen AP, re-connect, and re-transmit all the packets that might have been lost.

Mobile networks assist the smartphone: it tells the smartphone that the kitchen AP will soon be in range. It already allocates and configures resources at the target AP. Then the handover is more seamless.

In theory, WiFi can do this too. But last time I checked, it seemed a vendor-specific mess.

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