Wireless 802.11ac AP recommendations

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Captain Kirk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2002
Messages
288
I'm looking for a WiFi AP, 802.11ac, that can do SSID to VLAN mapping. That feature seems to be pretty hard to find in most consumer APs. The Linksys LAPAC series seems to have it, but they seem to be pretty pricey and don't have the best reviews.

Can anyone recommend a few solutions? I want to be able to do two distinct VLAN mappings. One for guests and one for the (bridged) LAN.

Thanks!
 
I'm currently using my ASUS RT-AC68U with the Tomato firmware by Shibby and hosting two different wifi APs, each one to a separate VLAN. I believe it can support up to 14 total interfaces, but you are limited to just two hardware antennas, one for 2.4GHz, and a second for 5GHz.

I've heard good things about the Unifi devices, so that might be the better "out of the box" choice.
 
Is the Unifi stable now? It had a lot of problems when it launched.

If you were looking for something with those features you are likely putting down $200+ for some type of enterprise AP or high end SOHO device. I would probably just wait until more Wave 2 devices hit and pick one that is solid from the start. I'm hoping a Wave 2 Unifi will come out working well from the start.
 
I recently needed to replace my Asus RT-N16 due to flakey WiFi and had a similar question.

I ended up going with the Unifi AP since a lot of the threads I was reading about said the Unifi AC was still having issues, also the simple fact it costs almost 5 times more, it wasn't worth it to me to have that little bit faster WiFi since the range was the same.

For just over $60 I'm not sure there is a better AP for the money than the Unifiy AP. If you want a little more versatility though the Unifi AP Pro is another solid option.
 
I use a netgear r7000 with ddwrt ( http://www.desipro.de/ddwrt/K3-AC-Arm/ ) very happy with it. Note that I only use it for wifi, not its router capabilities. *I run ddwrt because I believe it to be more secure, when I upgraded, netgear didn't have a firmware that turned off WDS as per wifi scanner I was using at the time (prob insidder, but not sure).

I'm not sure how it compares to everything else speed wise, but I was able to push 47 to 50mbytes / second. So little less than half what wired gigabit could do.
 
QwertyJuan said:
I love my Unifi... BUT for home user? Asus AC68U
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I don't need a router, just an AP that can do SSID to VLAN mapping. This is for home use. I have an isolated, guest VLAN that I want guests to be able to connect to while maintaining my own LAN VLAN.
 
I use unifi stuff for clients, but no way I'm paying that price for their half functional AC product. I use a refurb tenda W1800R flashed with tomato. Apparently very similar or same internals as the asus AC66 model. Had it since Feb, been rock solid.
 
We have Unifi AC units and while they are great we still fight with random reboots every week.
 
I would not recommend the Unifi-AC at all. I've spent over a year working with support and am still having issues. Huge disappointment...
 
I'd love to say I had a better experience, but I had to send my competitive demo unit back twice. And getting answers from support was like pulling teeth. But after the second time, it has been stable for the past 6 months.
 
I am deploying Aerohive AP230 access points with great success. They are very reasonable per unit for an enterprise 802.11ac WAP.
 
Captain Kirk said:
I'm looking for a WiFi AP, 802.11ac, that can do SSID to VLAN mapping. That feature seems to be pretty hard to find in most consumer APs. The Linksys LAPAC series seems to have it, but they seem to be pretty pricey and don't have the best reviews.

Can anyone recommend a few solutions? I want to be able to do two distinct VLAN mappings. One for guests and one for the (bridged) LAN.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm currently using a TL-WDR4300 with OpenWrt to do exactly that. The Archer C5/C7 seem to be supported but the page isn't really clear about the 802.11ac support:

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr7500

Anyway, here are some screenshots of my WDR4300 with an old snapshot of OpenWrt showing multiple SSIDs being bridged to different VLANs:

http://eazy.amigager.de/~tcm/owrt/
 
I installed an Unifi AC in my house and now i have full home coverage with just one AP (but not 100% however, in the edges of other stories i get ~50% signal (3 bars)) and forgot what is wifi problems.

Everything simply works.
 
DouglasteR said:
I installed an Unifi AC in my house and now i have full home coverage with just one AP (but not 100% however, in the edges of other stories i get ~50% signal (3 bars)) and forgot what is wifi problems.

Everything simply works.
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One AP on top most floor? Currently building and trying to determine how many APs I'm going to need in the home (I know there's no simple answer). Not sure if I'd get best coverage from mounting on 2nd floor or main floor.
 
Jaxon said:
One AP on top most floor? Currently building and trying to determine how many APs I'm going to need in the home (I know there's no simple answer). Not sure if I'd get best coverage from mounting on 2nd floor or main floor.
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Depends on the model. The AC in this thread is meant to be ceiling mounted so most of it's signal goes out and down. You would want one of those mounted on the ceiling in the second story with the metal back toward the roof.

The design of the APs which don't have external antennas are not made for range, but for density. They have lower signal strength so you can put more of them into an area for better throughput by having less clients per AP. If you are looking for max range than getting something like the ASUS AC models with external antennas you will be able to place those in the center of the house on the first floor and cover a larger area. Signal will travel up and down as they are omnidirectional and don't have a metal back hindering the signal. (Also I'm guessing the ones without external antennas are somewhat directional and emit more power out the front)
 
bman - thanks for the input. I may be going AC as well as I'm currently using an UAP-Pro in my condo. Thinking a UAP-AC mounted on the ceiling on the 2nd floor of the new house may be a good start. I can add APs as necessary from there.
 
Jaxon said:
One AP on top most floor? Currently building and trying to determine how many APs I'm going to need in the home (I know there's no simple answer). Not sure if I'd get best coverage from mounting on 2nd floor or main floor.
Click to expand...

Just one AP vertically mounted near the roof of the middle floor. Switch to ceiling mount and didnt make any discernible difference, so back to the wall near the ceiling.

bman212121 said:
Depends on the model. The AC in this thread is meant to be ceiling mounted so most of it's signal goes out and down. You would want one of those mounted on the ceiling in the second story with the metal back toward the roof.

The design of the APs which don't have external antennas are not made for range, but for density. They have lower signal strength so you can put more of them into an area for better throughput by having less clients per AP. If you are looking for max range than getting something like the ASUS AC models with external antennas you will be able to place those in the center of the house on the first floor and cover a larger area. Signal will travel up and down as they are omnidirectional and don't have a metal back hindering the signal. (Also I'm guessing the ones without external antennas are somewhat directional and emit more power out the front)
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Jaxon said:
bman - thanks for the input. I may be going AC as well as I'm currently using an UAP-Pro in my condo. Thinking a UAP-AC mounted on the ceiling on the 2nd floor of the new house may be a good start. I can add APs as necessary from there.
Click to expand...

You wount regret it. I have 10 concurrent users (my family lol, only the cats dont have wifi, but i bet this will change in the next years :p) and lots of friends and family that come to spend the weekend and connect.
 
I tried to get a UniFi to work but one of my laptops refused to connect. I have a Trendnet now and it works great.

The UI is irrelevant if it don't work. It all comes down to the chipset. YMMV.
 
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