We have maybe two dozen employees on laptops who use a mixture of wifi (in conference rooms) and wired (at their docking stations) connections for web browsing, vpn, and occasionally accessing large shares on a server. We are using a Cisco RV042 as our gateway, but we use mostly consumer-class wireless routers.
Our last router was a Netgear that had the occasional outage, and then one day started resetting itself every few minutes. We took it out and replaced it with a cheap device, which has started cutting out throughout the day.
We’re looking to replace our current router, but want to make sure we get a device that has a good uptime and won’t require frequent reboots during our production hours. We have a relatively small office, and would like dual-band. Any recommendations?
8 Spice ups
molan
(molan)
3
I would look at the Ubuquity Unifi Line. 3 AP’s for about $220 or 1 for $80
I believe the new pro line under this series does dual band (2.4 and 5.8)
they work very well, are expandable and very easy to manage
as you mention having a Cisco gateway device I am assuming you only actually need wifi devices and not full routers
molan wrote:
I would look at the Ubuquity Unifi Line. 3 AP’s for about $220 or 1 for $80
I believe the new pro line under this series does dual band (2.4 and 5.8)
they work very well, are expandable and very easy to manage
as you mention having a Cisco gateway device I am assuming you only actually need wifi devices and not full routers
+1 for Ubiquiti, I got (2) 3-packs of AP’s for a shade over $400 and they are working great. and VERY easy to configure / setup
I am very impressed with the configuration of the Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH models. Signals are great, up time is great. Very flexible.
I have used Linksys in many places for years with no troubles, but I have to say, I use DD-WRT to ‘upgrade’ them, also some of the new Buffalo units are already upgraded with DD-WRT. I have never had an issue with either.
1 Spice up
kfberns
(kfberns)
7
I’ve used Proxim, Netgear and Linksys – The Proxim being the more expensive of the bunch but none of these have impressed me. I just lost another Proxim AP-600 so I too am looking for something reliable… but don’t want to break the bank either.
+1 for the Cisco WRVS4400N here, at $203.00 US you can’t beat the performance, reliability, and features.
I would also +1 on the Ubuquity Unifi Line, very stable, affordable, and easy to use .
2 Spice ups
Don’t use a wifi router on your LAN, you want an Access Point, preferably a business quality one that supports multiple SSIDs, VLANs, etc. Several people have recommended Cisco, personally I’d go with that. Be careful not to get APs that require a controller. You’ll want standalone APs. Also I’d invest in a small switch that supports Power over Ethernet, or POE. That will give you a lot of flexibility in where you install the APs.
I haven’t looked at the Unifi line since shortly after it’s initial release.
The firmware was junk at that time, so they went on the shelf.
I’ll have to bust em out and update them if I ever have any free time.
I’ve been mostly using Picostation 2HP’s.
More power than the Unifi’s, better antenna, and the firmware doesn’t suck.
bryandoe
(Bryan Doe)
11
Drooney57 wrote:
I have used Linksys in many places for years with no troubles, but I have to say, I use DD-WRT to ‘upgrade’ them, also some of the new Buffalo units are already upgraded with DD-WRT. I have never had an issue with either.
Same here, been running a WRT300N and a WRT54GL with DD-WRT for years at the office, both have worked well. The WRT300N wasn’t that great until I put DD-WRT on it.
The only current model I’m aware of that DD-WRT supports is the E4200, but I’m sure some of the cheaper models do as well. I think the E3000 does, but not sure.
+1 for DD-WRT running on Linksys or Buffalo gear.
I’ve been running DD-WRT for years without issues and the last 4 years running with multiple SSIDs to provide isolated Guest access access with no issues. It’s a little more work on the front-end to load the firmware and figure out how to set them up, but once you do, wou’ll be happy with it and you really can’t beat the cost.
Currently I’m running on the Linksys E2000 and E3000 gear. At the refurb prices of about $30 and $50 respectively, they are very cheap, very reliable and fully integrate with an enterprise WPA2 deployment using Radius and Digital Certs provided by AD. And at that pricepoint, I just buy a few spares as a just in case measure though I haven’t had one of the E2000/E3000 fail on me yet.
I’d go for Ubiquity. I didn’t tested the Unifi Line, but their long range products are rock solid, working good on the hardest conditions (high pollution, high temperatures, high humidity, heavy rain).
I can’t recommend at all products from Engenius/Senao. I bought 4 ESR7750 for office use. They are just pathetic, tons of unsuccesful connections, unresponding web access, a very bad purchase. I also bought some products for long range point to point, the same bad performance. They were replaced for the ubiquity I said above.
2 Spice ups
Marchete wrote:
I can’t recommend at all products from Engenius/Senao. I bought 4 ESR7750 for office use. They are just pathetic, tons of unsuccesful connections, unresponding web access, a very bad purchase.
Concur.
Not every Engenius unit is junk, but enough are that they aren’t suitable for biz use.
I still have a couple in place that have stood the test of time, but I’ve replaced many others due to ports burning out, constant resets, and poor performance.
My Ubiquiti gear has been very nearly flawless.
1 Spice up
molan
(molan)
15
RobertFranz wrote:
Marchete wrote:
I can’t recommend at all products from Engenius/Senao. I bought 4 ESR7750 for office use. They are just pathetic, tons of unsuccesful connections, unresponding web access, a very bad purchase.
Concur.
Not every Engenius unit is junk, but enough are that they aren’t suitable for biz use.
I still have a couple in place that have stood the test of time, but I’ve replaced many others due to ports burning out, constant resets, and poor performance.
My Ubiquiti gear has been very nearly flawless.
This mirror’s my experience with both Ubiquity and En-genius exactly
Roy DeSimone wrote:
Cisco WRVS4400N Wireless-N Gigabit Security Router - VPN v2.0 - Retirement Notification - Cisco
Still a consumer class router - basically a warmed over LInksys - just like the RV042.
A better choice if a person really wants to go Cisco would be the 881w.
It at least runs IOS.
(Mind you, many of them shipped with unusable wireless firmware and have to be flashed prior to use.)
Neither of these will have the wireless performance of a <$100 Ubiquiti AP.
I was considering Cisco’s higher end AP’s, but it turns out their beam forming is pretty ineffective.
1 Spice up
ThomasTrain wrote:
+1 for DD-WRT running on Linksys or Buffalo gear.
I’ve been running DD-WRT for years without issues and the last 4 years running with multiple SSIDs to provide isolated Guest access access with no issues. It’s a little more work on the front-end to load the firmware and figure out how to set them up, but once you do, wou’ll be happy with it and you really can’t beat the cost.
I had to fire DD-WRT several years ago.
Four reasons:
1> Buggy firmware
2> Poor hardware selection
3> Brainslayer
4> Sash
RobertFranz wrote:
I had to fire DD-WRT several years ago.
Four reasons:
1> Buggy firmware
2> Poor hardware selection
3> Brainslayer
4> Sash
-
for a while there right around the v24 Beta to pre v24 SP1 builds (circa 2008), the firmware was extremely buggy but things have gotten much better - as with any development cycle, bugs are introduced and squashed, you just need to find the right build.
-
The hardware selection available now is amazing and just keeps getting better.
3-4) Can’t say much about Brainslayer and Sash though as neither one seems to want to be responsive anymore, but that’s to be expected given how popular the system has become as they tend to rely heavily on the community to provide support now.
mkwj
(MKWJ)
19
+1 for Linksys running DD-WRT
bjoyce
(Brad503)
20
It could be your environment causing problems, Is it hot where you house your access point?
