Hi everyone, I installed a Surf SOHO at someone’s home office a while back and it’s largely been fine. However, they’ve been having some issues with Wi-Fi coverage recently for a couple of devices.
I’ve been looking to add another AP from another supplier, but then that’s two systems to maintain/diagnose if a fault ocurrs. I’d rather not do this…
I’m presuming that an AP One Mini would be off the menu as it needs a controller and the Surf SOHO would not be able to do this. So this pretty much leaves me with the Balance One Core + APs. However, I’ve a feeling this will be over budget.
The final option I’m looking at, are replacing the supplied antenna’s for something with a higher gain. Does anyone know how the supplied ones might compare with something in the region of say 7-10dBi? Unfortunately, moving the router is not possible…
DrayTek are fairly popular over here in the UK but their UI is absolutely horrendous! They have a product known as the VigorAP802 which is a small mesh node that connects back to the main DrayTek router wirelessly (https://www.draytek.co.uk/download/DrayTek_datasheet_VigorAP_802.pdf). I’d love to know if Peplink have any plans to release a simlar product to the VigorAP802…?
It doesn’t need a controller it can work standalone or you can control it via IC2.
Haven’t heard of any wifi mesh product in development so even if there is it won’t be generally available in the near future.
Personally I would push the end user for enough budget to get a proper cabled in wifi AP. but then I’ve always been generally disappointed by mesh wifi products in the past and favoured cabled well positioned APs instead. Especially as a way to reduce subsequent support costs.
Take a look at ArubaInstantOn APs. They are about $80 each. I have 3 of them in my RV. The mesh master plugs in to my Pepwave Surf SOHO MK3, and then creates a mesh network with the other two devices. I have turned the local wifi off on my SOHO MK3 but use it for WiFi-as-WAN connection to the RV resort wifi. The Aruba devices are very simply to manage, and can be managed from both a web interface as well as a mobile app.
Ideally I’d rather stick with the one interface (or at least the same type) of interface.
Thanks Martin, I’ll try and source an AP One Mini. I thought they had to talk back to a controller so this will be the cheapest option. None on Amazon so will have to hunt around…
Thanks also TCPIP, I might look into Aruba if I can’t source an AP One Mini
Thanks again everyone, before I dive in with an AP One AC Mini, will it work with the current SSIDs setup on the existing Surf SOHO Mk3? As in, will the SSIDs have to be recreated from scratch manually on the AC Mini, or will they pick up from the Surf? I’m presuming I’ll need to recreate from scratch.
That leaves me wondering therefore, will existing clients on the Surf that are on a particular VLAN/SSID and can currently talk to each (no client isolation), be able to talk to each other when some are connected to the same new SSID on the AC Mini? Hope I’ve made sense!
Equally, will any clients on the existing untrusted guest Wi-Fi (which is on an entirely different VLAN with client isolation enabled) continue to be separated from the trustee VLANs?
If anything is unclear please ask! Thanks again everyone… Oh and I’m currently in the North East of England.
