Best cheap workhorse SOHO router

A

Asgorath

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Messages
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I have a computer consulting side business and I run into wireless issues on a regular basis at various customer sites (normally homes).

If someone just wants to hook their home up with wireless I'll install a typical Linksys N router. They never give me any problems.

If someone already has wireless but it doesn't have full coverage of their home I'll first try adding a larger omni antenna to the router they have. If that doesn't do it then I will run CAT5 to some other location in their house and then use a Netgear ProSafe WG103-100NAS Access point to create a second SSID and have them use that as their primary wireless. This works very well and I have had excellent experiences with the ProSafe access points. Rock solid for years at a time. Plus, if I have to put them in weird places (like an attic) I can use built

The downside to my Prosafe solution is that it requires me to run CAT5 which can sometimes be a pain.

I've been thinking about using a tomato modded firmware and using it as a wireless repeater for these cases. I've had TERRIBLE experiences with wireless repeaters in the past, but people on this forum seem to have good experiences from all the threads I've read.

What do you guys think I should do moving forward? What do you think of my practices and what would you do differently? I'm not set in stone on what I've been doing... that's why I'm looking for input! :)

Thanks.
 
Use AC powerline bridges to connect them, instead of running CAT5. Some places are simply too large to cover with 1 AP..so yeah you gotta use a couple.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Use AC powerline bridges to connect them, instead of running CAT5. Some places are simply too large to cover with 1 AP..so yeah you gotta use a couple.
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Or MoCA, but this is the route I'd go as well. You need a hardline backhaul of some kind or you're just going to run into problems.

Also you can run a single SSID. Decent NICs and APs will roam properly.
 
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keenan said:
Or MoCA, but this is the route I'd go as well. You need a hardline backhaul of some kind or you're just going to run into problems.

Also you can run a single SSID. Decent NICs and APs will roam properly.
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I have had nothing but problems when I use a single SSID. 90% of people won't have any problems, but then they'll invite over a friend or family member who is using an old 802.11b based laptop that doesn't roam properly. Then I get a call asking how to make it work and why it doesn't work and 'it works for me'...and all that.

That's why I don't set other people up for shared SSID's.

The powerline is a good option. I have done that before. I'd say works 75% of the time. In some old houses with weird power in the houses it sometimes won't detect.

So are you guys saying that I should stick with my current opinion of 'don't touch wireless repeaters with a 10 ft pole'?
 
yeah their isn't any good off the shelf repeaters. not sure why.

pepwave makes one that is suppose to be great but its expensive.

ive dont the dd-wrt repeater thing and that works, but its a hack and sometimes you spend time messing around with it.

i want an off the shelf unit that does nothing but repeat
 
Asgorath said:
I have had nothing but problems when I use a single SSID. 90% of people won't have any problems, but then they'll invite over a friend or family member who is using an old 802.11b based laptop that doesn't roam properly. Then I get a call asking how to make it work and why it doesn't work and 'it works for me'...and all that.

That's why I don't set other people up for shared SSID's.

The powerline is a good option. I have done that before. I'd say works 75% of the time. In some old houses with weird power in the houses it sometimes won't detect.

So are you guys saying that I should stick with my current opinion of 'don't touch wireless repeaters with a 10 ft pole'?
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if they have a b laptop, thats when you say the laptop isnt compatible with the network and the fix is to beat it with a sledgehammer.

and yes wifi repeaters suck, period.
 
Repeaters are fine if you're technically minded and can deal with fiddling with it once in a while. In my experience if set up properly they work well, but it's not a solution I'd install for a client.
 
keenan said:
Repeaters are fine if you're technically minded and can deal with fiddling with it once in a while. In my experience if set up properly they work well, but it's not a solution I'd install for a client.
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every single model of repeater we sell at frys gets returned 50-80% of the time.
D-link, Linkssys, Hawking, trendnet. All of them. I always try to sell a bridge and an AP or an AP and a EoPL adapter kit and AP.

But my preferred method is a better router (usually what the customer has is old anyway), and/or better antennas.
 
i use to use the Buffalo units with WDS and I still have some of those guys kicking around. They are like 3-4 years now.

only problem i had with them was WDS didn't allow WPA.

wonder if the new ones do.
 
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