Yorick
Wizard
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2018
- Messages
- 1,912
I've pulled the trigger on a "demo pre-order" of 2 WiFi 6 (11ax) APs, 2x2, and one 8-port PoE switch. In my case, for home use. Came to $330 with shipping; would have been $110 less without the switch. Once it ships, I have 30 days to return it, should it not live up to its promise.
I thought it was a good enough deal to pass it along. A little bit about my decision making below. I'm curious what other people are running for WiFi, too.
I'm running one WiFi 4 (11n) and one WiFi 5 (11ac) AP at home, FortiAPs. I've been missing smart-roam 11k/r functionality - my iPhone likes to "stick" to an AP, and that means as I am moving around, performance can get noticeably slow. Even for home use, some form of smart roaming would be appreciated. I don't need 11v AP load distribution: I have 6-8 wireless clients in the home, five of which are in fixed places. Everything else is wired. Very old-school that way.
That my home is low-density means I am perfectly fine with 2x2 APs. MU-MIMO doesn't really come into play here - also because of the sub-optimal placement of APs. They're at the perimeter of the home, where there is wiring, rather than in the middle. I didn't run wires through the ceiling.
This 2x2 AP connects at 1Gb/s Ethernet; it's their 4x4 that will do 2.5Gb/s Ethernet (mGig).
I've been jonesing for WiFi 6 (11ax). This is, arguably, silly. We have exactly one (1) WiFi 6 capable client in the house. So it's more a "because I can" sort of situation, not unlike, come to think of it, running a NAS instead of storing everything in a cloud :).
I wanted a solution without a yearly fee. This throws out Meraki (Cisco), Mist (Juniper),Ubiquity, Ruckus, AeroHive. I also wanted a solution that doesn't cost me 400-600 bucks per AP, and is easy to manage. There go the other more traditional players - Cisco, Aruba, Extreme Networks, Fortinet.
EnGenius fits the bill. 200 bucks for two APs is entirely reasonable. I took the switch because it can act as a controller and allows me to use their management software, which I am curious about. It also means I have one more managed switch, which gives me some flexibility with moving VLANs to places in the home that were just wired to a dumb switch before.
With just two APs, going for just the APs without the switch would have been reasonable. I do networking for a living, that's why I want to see what that management software feels like in practice.
I thought it was a good enough deal to pass it along. A little bit about my decision making below. I'm curious what other people are running for WiFi, too.
I'm running one WiFi 4 (11n) and one WiFi 5 (11ac) AP at home, FortiAPs. I've been missing smart-roam 11k/r functionality - my iPhone likes to "stick" to an AP, and that means as I am moving around, performance can get noticeably slow. Even for home use, some form of smart roaming would be appreciated. I don't need 11v AP load distribution: I have 6-8 wireless clients in the home, five of which are in fixed places. Everything else is wired. Very old-school that way.
That my home is low-density means I am perfectly fine with 2x2 APs. MU-MIMO doesn't really come into play here - also because of the sub-optimal placement of APs. They're at the perimeter of the home, where there is wiring, rather than in the middle. I didn't run wires through the ceiling.
This 2x2 AP connects at 1Gb/s Ethernet; it's their 4x4 that will do 2.5Gb/s Ethernet (mGig).
I've been jonesing for WiFi 6 (11ax). This is, arguably, silly. We have exactly one (1) WiFi 6 capable client in the house. So it's more a "because I can" sort of situation, not unlike, come to think of it, running a NAS instead of storing everything in a cloud :).
I wanted a solution without a yearly fee. This throws out Meraki (Cisco), Mist (Juniper),
EnGenius fits the bill. 200 bucks for two APs is entirely reasonable. I took the switch because it can act as a controller and allows me to use their management software, which I am curious about. It also means I have one more managed switch, which gives me some flexibility with moving VLANs to places in the home that were just wired to a dumb switch before.
With just two APs, going for just the APs without the switch would have been reasonable. I do networking for a living, that's why I want to see what that management software feels like in practice.
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