31–40 of 230 posts
So after the Ubiquiti debacle I went out and looked for a similar combination (solid hardware + not-too-annoying software). After briefly considering Mikrotik (which has issues with ac (wifi 5) and no ax (wifi 6) support) I settled on Grandstream for now. They don't just make phones but a small set of fairly nicely featured wifi APs for ok prices. Hardware seems solid, Software not annoying. I've bought a few pieces…
If I hadn't done a CCNA I don't think I would have ever figured this out. I don't know what ordinary people do when this happens to them.
> I had to move away from Asus as they didn't provide a good hardware solution for 4G Surely a 4G USB dongle would work fine in a linux router such as those from Asus?
This type of whackery is (the primary reason) why I try to buy computing devices on which I can flash a clean OS (OpenWrt/DD-WRT for routers)[1]. It sucks because it limits my choices down to a few, but at the same time I feel like I don't throw out money at abandonware. [1] don't even get me started on TP-Link releasing routers with the same name but v2/v3/2020/2021 update where it's hard to even know if I'm buying…
The author touched on right of repair. I’d love to see a law requiring all devices to either be supported, or if being sunset, being required by law to provide tools/source/schematics to take over the device and extend its utility beyond the manufacturer’s willingness. Particularly a last firmware that disables anything requiring phoning home to continue to function. We saw that with OnHub recently, when after only 6…
This type of whackery is (the primary reason) why I try to buy computing devices on which I can flash a clean OS (OpenWrt/DD-WRT for routers)[1]. It sucks because it limits my choices down to a few, but at the same time I feel like I don't throw out money at abandonware. [1] don't even get me started on TP-Link releasing routers with the same name but v2/v3/2020/2021 update where it's hard to even know if I'm buying…
The author touched on right of repair. I’d love to see a law requiring all devices to either be supported, or if being sunset, being required by law to provide tools/source/schematics to take over the device and extend its utility beyond the manufacturer’s willingness. Particularly a last firmware that disables anything requiring phoning home to continue to function. We saw that with OnHub recently, when after only 6…
I had a related problem with their PowerLine TPA-4220 devices yesterday. It turns out there's a DHCP server on it that you can't turn off! It's supposed to be smart and know when there's another DHCP server on the network, but it appears that this sometimes doesn't work. So I found that my laptop sometimes ends up configured on the wrong subnet, which of course kills the internet connection. The thing is, the web int…
Turns out you can split them up into separate SSIDs, but only by telnetting into your base station and each satellite and running some cryptic commands on each. It used to be possible via the web UI, but they just... dropped it.
I had a related problem with their PowerLine TPA-4220 devices yesterday. It turns out there's a DHCP server on it that you can't turn off! It's supposed to be smart and know when there's another DHCP server on the network, but it appears that this sometimes doesn't work. So I found that my laptop sometimes ends up configured on the wrong subnet, which of course kills the internet connection. The thing is, the web int…
> I had to move away from Asus as they didn't provide a good hardware solution for 4G Surely a 4G USB dongle would work fine in a linux router such as those from Asus?
I haven't had the time to dive deep enough into all of the code yet, but so far I'm very optimistic. Not perfect; some of the more interesting functionality (like site-to-site VPN) is tied to a proprietary closed SaaS with associated telemetry (and maybe even backdoors, intentional or otherwise). The Wireguard setup is for some reason (legacy?) not using the OpenWRT WG-interfaces but set up using custom init scripts. And getting anything else than OpenWRT/LEDE running on them with full hardware support will probably be a significant effort. I'm a bit wary of using the stock OS without compiling it myself because, well, you know.
Still, the sources are provided (including instructions on how to customize and compile your own OS/firmware). The locked-away functionality can be ported/unlocked if you're up for it. They fully support users hacking their devices all they want - and stuff like this[1] shows some hacker DNA. Out of the box the hotspot is by far the best I've found in the price-class.
The mudi's pretty cool; pocket wifi with swappable miniPCIe 4G/WiFi cards and a small dongle for Ethernet. So one could make it into a fully customized road-warrior bridge for any WiFi/Ethernet devices, or whatever other shenanigans you can imagine with that.
I really hope they steer course on the right track and don't fall to the same fate as Ubiquity. As mentioned I haven't battle-tested them extensively yet but so far I can warmly recommend them.
Huawei AX3 does something similar. As does any Xfinity router (but I think you can turn that off) but the Xfinity mesh is actually pretty decent if you have a subscription. Similarly, in Vietnam HCMC you can connect to wifi anywhere in the city because every telco/isp router creates a mesh like Xfinity. It's not a bad idea: having wifi network everywhere, but I suspect 5G will obviate this need. Wouldn't surprise me…
The public hotspot systems are actually much "worse" in terms of the overheads the author wrote about. With a couple of unused SSIDs, they're just sending out a simple 802.11 beacon frame every so often and that's it. The energy cost and disruption to surrounding networks/channels must be minimal. With a hotspot, not only do you have regular network traffic flowing and causing more potential interference, your router…
It sounds like you are claiming public 802.11 hotspots are more noisy that everyone running their own routers. You do realize it is the same spectrum, right? It is literally the same impact, except with a larger BSSID you can route traffic more effectively.
Sharing more stations across phy APS in the same BSSID would be less overall traffic because it can be evenly distributed.
Maybe I missed your point: please explain how personal router vs public hotspot over rented router is different w.r.t. 802.11 interference.
EDIT: Deleted the part where I computed power cost incorrectly, because I'm an eeeediot.