2017 Recommended Access Points use with pFsense?

[NotYetRated]

Looking for some fellow techies experiences with the various options for distributing wifi throughout the house. I've got about 2,000 sq.ft home that I am looking to cover, plus a small workshop close to the house. Plasterboard walls, nothing too bad to get signal through in the house. Have 2x gig ethernet cables already run to the workshop.

 

Currently using pFsense for routing and firewall, with a Netgear Nighthawk set in bridge mode for serving up wifi. Coverage is quite poor. Nighthawk is located on ceiling of basement, dead center of house. I get no signal at the workshop, limited in garage and corner rooms of the house.

 

Looked at ubiquity, and people seem to be disappointed in their latest models/hardware/software.

I have explored Xclaim Xi-3, but it is a little pricey @$250 for a single unit.

Google onHub and wifi dont seem to support multiple SSID support/guest networks, so I ruled them out.

 

Mostly looking for good coverage, modern technology(2x2 or preferably 3x3), have hardwire access pretty much everywhere, as well as PoE availability, guest network options. I have a lot of devices to serve up, multiple phones, tablets, laptops as well as an abundant amount of misc wifi devices such as Amazon Echo's, some wifi based intercoms, etc. Looking for advice before I drop hundreds of dollars.

[sadkisson]

Plaster walls have wire mesh behind them and make wireless penetration very poor in my experience. I would suggest multiple access points and not just a single access point.

[unevent]

13 hours ago, NotYetRated said:

Looking for some fellow techies experiences with the various options for distributing wifi throughout the house. I've got about 2,000 sq.ft home that I am looking to cover, plus a small workshop close to the house. Plasterboard walls, nothing too bad to get signal through in the house. Have 2x gig ethernet cables already run to the workshop.

 

Currently using pFsense for routing and firewall, with a Netgear Nighthawk set in bridge mode for serving up wifi. Coverage is quite poor. Nighthawk is located on ceiling of basement, dead center of house. I get no signal at the workshop, limited in garage and corner rooms of the house.

 

Looked at ubiquity, and people seem to be disappointed in their latest models/hardware/software.

I have explored Xclaim Xi-3, but it is a little pricey @$250 for a single unit.

Google onHub and wifi dont seem to support multiple SSID support/guest networks, so I ruled them out.

 

Mostly looking for good coverage, modern technology(2x2 or preferably 3x3), have hardwire access pretty much everywhere, as well as PoE availability, guest network options. I have a lot of devices to serve up, multiple phones, tablets, laptops as well as an abundant amount of misc wifi devices such as Amazon Echo's, some wifi based intercoms, etc. Looking for advice before I drop hundreds of dollars.

 

2.4 or 5GHz wifi? 2000ft^2, is it a 2-story?  If 2-story suggest moving your wifi access point (AP) out of the basement to at least high up on first floor (or second floor) and as central to your desired coverage area as possible.  Google for best antenna placement on your Nighthawk.  Typically one should be vertical and two at 45* for a 3-antenna unit.  Google something like wifi dipole antenna radiation pattern to get a visual of wifi signal pattern.  If your plasterboard is drywall/wallboard then not necessarily an issue for signal until you start looking at 4-5 wall's worth with 2.4GHz, 5GHz would suffer more with only 2-3 maybe 4 walls.

 

Since you run pfsense try the captive portal for managing the guest network and suggest to use Tomato (Toastman) or Merlin firmware with VLAN tagging on your Nighthawk to isolate the guest portion (unique SSID and subnet).  VLAN tagging will allow you to use same AP and single hard line back to pfsense for regular and isolated guest users, assuming you have VLAN capable smart switch like TP-Link TL-SG108E, Netgear GS108T, or similar/better equipment.  Look into a mesh system for AP if you want to cover a wide area (especially at 5GHz) without having to run hard lines to each AP as you would typically have (want) to do when bridging conventional access points together.  Try poking around https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/ for reviews and articles on 2017 wifi options.

[uldise]

How about Mikrotik and their CAPsMAN feature? https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:CAPsMAN

general idea: you place many AP to you house connected by ethernet. one of the Mikrotik devices is used as central point for WIFI management too(CAPsMAN Node).

and when  you move over the house, your computer finds best AP, as they acts as one(or two if you use 5Ghz too) Wifi network.

you can even tell management to drop wifi if signal reaches very low level, and then device will try to find nearest AP again..

their devices are cheep, but performs very well. https://routerboard.com/products/group/20

 

[HellDiverUK]

Wifi access points work better the higher they are.  Why people insist in putting them in basements and then wonder why they don't work is beyond me.  They then spend a fortune on things like Ubiquiti which they then fit on ceilings and are amazed at the difference, when all they had to do is move their existing router to a higher point.

 

I have my RT-AC87U on top of a wardrobe on the top floor of my house and I get full signal everywhere, including well down the street and all round the garden.  When I had the same router beside the front door on the ground floor, I got weak signal at the back of the house and none in the garden at all.

[BRiT]

My router WiFi (AC1900 type) is in the rafters of the basement floor and I get amazing coverage all throughout the house, even on the second floor and even outside in the backyard. I really have no idea how others can have such horrible wifi signal coverage.

Edited March 23, 2017 by BRiT

[NotYetRated]

15 hours ago, BRiT said:

My router WiFi (AC1900 type) is in the rafters of the basement floor and I get amazing coverage all throughout the house, even on the second floor and even outside in the backyard. I really have no idea how others can have such horrible wifi signal coverage.

 

I know what you mean regarding basement placement. In my situation, I have a central small closet in the basement which houses all of my homes electronics, computers, server, switches, modem, etc. This way I have a single nice tidy spot for everything, as well as easy battery backup setup for all items. Spreading the AP out with current gear means getting battery backup units at their home locations, which in my setup is not ideal. Easier to get some PoE AP's and set the PoE switch on the battery backup.

 

Though that yields an interesting idea, could just PoE inject and split an ethernet line, that would keep the need for a separate batter backup unit at the ideal AP location upstairs....

 

Still interested in what units some others have gone with, thanks for all the replies.

[HellDiverUK]

At work we're just using an Airport Extreme and a couple of Airport Express.  It's not ideal, but it works 98% of the time, and it was much cheaper than Ubiquity or the likes.  It's not mission critical, it's just for BYOD internet access.

[JonathanM]

1 hour ago, HellDiverUK said:

At work we're just using an Airport Extreme and a couple of Airport Express.  It's not ideal, but it works 98% of the time, and it was much cheaper than Ubiquity or the likes.  It's not mission critical, it's just for BYOD internet access.

I guess pricing is vastly different where you are, for many places ubiquity AP's are cheaper than an airport extreme, and not just by a little.