I'm in the process of building up my home network. I currently have an R7000 router for all my wireless traffic. It's a fantastic router (when paired with DD-wrt). My only issue is the router is located on the first floor on one side of the house, and my wife's computer is on the second floor, opposite side of the house. The connection is there, but it's been spotty at times... and mostly when the wife is working on shutterfly (any one else's wife completely addicted to shutterfly?!).
So with all that said, I'm just looking for a all around good... and cheap wireless router that works with DD-wrt. I can run a single line into a closet upstairs, which should work out well for the wife's machine.
Thanks for the input! I'll check it out. The R7000 is a beast. I LOVE it. But the wife doesn't understand... and i catch hell if it blips off for any reason whatsoever. 98% of the time, its connected and works fine. I just want a secondary router closer by... hopefully reducing the chances of drops.
Agreed. I finally bought one about a month ago and went from spotty WiFi 50ft from the AP to good WiFi 500ft from the AP. I'd like to see a pfSense package that runs the Unifi controller on FreeBSD, but I guess we can't have everything
I have the ac version and it's absolutely worth the money. It costs around the same as most high end ac routers so it's not that expensive. You can get the n ones for under $150.
going old school linksys wrt54g haha. more serious note, many of the asus routers i have heard are good. and many i believe support dd-wrt. check the database to verify
This ubiquiti has peaked my interest. Be nice to just put my lame netbook out the garage and have access to all my music when I'm out there. I don't know anything about them. Whats involved with setting one up?
They're pretty easy to set up. You have to install the software on a computer (doesn't have to be always on) and then it will detect the AP on the network and send it the configuration. The software is really easy to use considering that it's business grade. They're designed to be attached to the ceiling or wall but I have mine on a shelf and it works fine.
I've had mine for a few months now and haven't had any issues with disconnects, drop outs or crashes, I haven't had to restart it once.
OK, 1 every ones house is build different. so wireless propagation will change. What i would suggest is running a wire(cat5e) from the modem to the center of the house. then locate the router at the center of the house. when it comes down to is so many things can affect wireless networks. its a public spectrum limited to 1watt by the FCC. You can only expect so much form wireless. Always go wired if you can help it.
Wait it doesnt always have to be on? I thought you had to leave it running or the AP would stop working...wow I feel stupid now I've been burning CPU power with a Debian VM for this thing
It only needs to be on to use captive portal as far as I know. For general functionality and most of the other features (including zero handoff) the controller doesn't need to be running.
I would suggest looking at something like a repeater. I have an Asus RT-N12 (was about $20 at the time of purchase) which has a repeater mode which I find to be very useful. It supposedly can also be used with DD WRT, but I found the standard firmware to be sufficient. Maybe you can find one on ebay.
I personally tend to stay away from wireless repeaters...I've had so many issues with them being laggy or unstable, and something like an Ubiquiti is just so simple and easy and CHEAP now you can't go wrong . Even just using a spare crappy router as an AP, it just has to be N capable and support 10/100 and average Joe will be fine.
*tests it and turns red at finding it works* Wow I feel just brilliant now...I mean...I knew that :P do you know if there is a way to manage multiple APs from a single machine? My friend and I are trying to bridge two pfSense based networks over VPN and I wanted to eliminate the need for two OpenVZ containers running Unifi (we have a shared password we use for most network infrastructure, and who gets root privileges depends on who's physical machine it is)
The software is supposed to handle multi-site management but I haven't messed around with it so I have no idea. Maybe check the manual. If you're on the same layer 2 network (which you probably won't be by the sounds of it) then it'll just pick up all the APs on the network.