Equipment Crew Tech Thread

[KBKB]

I was just looking at wireless access points on Amazon for a work project. Ubiquiti gets good reviews and might be what I go with here at work.

I went with this Ubiquiti access point for my house:

Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point

Prior to that, I had been using a wifi router located in my second story office or a second router located on the first floor, but with a substantial wall between the room it was in and the rest of the house. Due to location & walls, coverage in the rest of the house with those routers was fair to poor.

I installed the Ubiquiti access point last October. I've been really happy with it. Coverage to all parts of the house ranges from fair to excellent. It's been rock solid too. In the past, with my other wifi routers, achieving a wifi connection would get flaky from some devices and would get "fixed" by rebooting the router. That's not been a problem with the Ubuiquiti access point.

I discuss installation and some other in-the-weeds stuff in this post: https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1467966511

Of interest to DM (perhap), is the use of a six foot long drill bit that was used to help run the wire between the first and second floor. This is the one I used:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005M29J26/

This made it a lot easier than I expected to run the wire between floors.

[dieselmike]

Anyway, how is the reception on 1st floor? and also what type router do you have ?

Reception on first floor is great. That said, the router is literally directly below the Family Room TV on an open shelf. (not an enclosed cabinet). About 20 - 25 feet away is my iMac. Basically unobstructed line of sight. Never an issue there either. But never really checked the strength of either. I just know the iMac connects to the internet and the Family Room TV streams video.

The type of Router is whatever Verizon provides. I called and asked if I have the newest model they offer and the answer was yes. Best Buy informed me that Verizon's "latest & greatest" is still a turd. I love capitalism.

Looks like you did not try the splitting the FOIS for home theater in the basement huhh. If you tried that, router would have stayed in the 2nd floor. But as long as it works that is what it matters.

I went to Best Buy to ask their opinion on that and they advised against splitting the line. Said it would degrade the signal. then I asked Verizon about that and they made it sound like it wasn't even an option. They weren't much help.

I'll look into the mesh router that you and lsi1 mentioned if the cheaper options don't work. First going to try a $20 WiFi extender (should have it tomorrow from Amazon). If unsatisfactory I will try a Powerline. If still not happy I will check out these mesh doohickeys. Is the product called "eero" one of these mesh routers or is that something different?

https://smile.amazon.com/eero-Home-W...ords=eero&th=1

[lsi1]

Reception on first floor is great. That said, the router is literally directly below the Family Room TV on an open shelf. (not an enclosed cabinet). About 20 - 25 feet away is my iMac. Basically unobstructed line of sight. Never an issue there either. But never really checked the strength of either. I just know the iMac connects to the internet and the Family Room TV streams video.

The type of Router is whatever Verizon provides. I called and asked if I have the newest model they offer and the answer was yes. Best Buy informed me that Verizon's "latest & greatest" is still a turd. I love capitalism.



I went to Best Buy to ask their opinion on that and they advised against splitting the line. Said it would degrade the signal. then I asked Verizon about that and they made it sound like it wasn't even an option. They weren't much help.

I'll look into the mesh router that you and lsi1 mentioned if the cheaper options don't work. First going to try a $20 WiFi extender (should have it tomorrow from Amazon). If unsatisfactory I will try a Powerline. If still not happy I will check out these mesh doohickeys. Is the product called "eero" one of these mesh routers or is that something different?

https://smile.amazon.com/eero-Home-W...ords=eero&th=1

thats one of them yes. There are a bunch of these now and they seem to be the new greatest thing.

[vhd16]

Damn there's some smart mother effers in here. I usually just plug in the modem and scream "WHY is there no WiFi I've got a green light"?

lol.. no offense to others but i would not call ppl smart for this...

[vhd16]

Reception on first floor is great. That said, the router is literally directly below the Family Room TV on an open shelf. (not an enclosed cabinet). About 20 - 25 feet away is my iMac. Basically unobstructed line of sight. Never an issue there either. But never really checked the strength of either. I just know the iMac connects to the internet and the Family Room TV streams video.

The type of Router is whatever Verizon provides. I called and asked if I have the newest model they offer and the answer was yes. Best Buy informed me that Verizon's "latest & greatest" is still a turd. I love capitalism.



I went to Best Buy to ask their opinion on that and they advised against splitting the line. Said it would degrade the signal. then I asked Verizon about that and they made it sound like it wasn't even an option. They weren't much help.

I'll look into the mesh router that you and lsi1 mentioned if the cheaper options don't work. First going to try a $20 WiFi extender (should have it tomorrow from Amazon). If unsatisfactory I will try a Powerline. If still not happy I will check out these mesh doohickeys. Is the product called "eero" one of these mesh routers or is that something different?

https://smile.amazon.com/eero-Home-W...ords=eero&th=1

"Wireless connectivity: Dual-band WiFi radios, simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless, 2x2 MIMO, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth Smart Ready"

The above is from product description. yes it is one of them. you can get the same range from the wireless extender as well for lot cheaper and does not have to worry about voltage that comes with power line extender etc... But extender needs to be set up properly.

As per verizon not able to split the FOIS, it makes sense that they said not an option. They probably wanted to you get a second line.

Btw, Verizon i don't think is making any money on FOIS. This is from Verizon rep when I asked how come my town does not have FOIS. They said they stopped laying out new FOIS cables every where as it is cost prohibitive. My town is considered little "up scale"

As per mesh router yes it should be the last option as these are yet to be battle tested in the real world scenarios.

[dieselmike]

Thanks for all the help from everyone here. I am certainly getting a 101 type education on this stuff.

vhd16 - I noticed you edited your previous post and I didn't respond to it earlier. I am not opposed to upgrading my router from the Verizon stock one to a branded high powered one. But doesn't that involve some tech work that is beyond my limited pay grade? Not just unplug one and plug in another? Don't I have to reconfigure networks, change network names, disconnect the network that Verizon provided me, etc?

[vhd16]

Thanks for all the help from everyone here. I am certainly getting a 101 type education on this stuff.

vhd16 - I noticed you edited your previous post and I didn't respond to it earlier. I am not opposed to upgrading my router from the Verizon stock one to a branded high powered one. But doesn't that involve some tech work that is beyond my limited pay grade? Not just unplug one and plug in another? Don't I have to reconfigure networks, change network names, disconnect the network that Verizon provided me, etc?

Pay grade huuh lol.. Yes , it will not be as simple as plug and play and Yes it will involve some setup work.

You can choose your own name for your home network like Diesel and your own password..well that would be give away.

It is not all that complicated . You just go to router home page via ip address they(stated in the router manual) provide you i..e type http://192.192.1.1 into your browser . Just make sure router is plugged into the iMac and go through different tabs to set up. We have iMac which is where router is connected and this iMac s no longer supported in terms upgrades etc..

Still no issues with router or wireless connections.

Depending on router you get , You can set up Guess network as well which is good to give it to kids. It will usually be at lower speeds so that lose interest on spending too much time on gaming and unnecessary stuff. You can also stream media through router which I don't do.


From what I have seen and how you approach things on this forum , i think it should be a breeze for you.

[KBKB]

You just go to router home page via ip address they(stated in the router manual) provide you i..e type http://192.192.1.1 into your browser .

That doesn't look right. Maybe 192.168.1.1 ?

[vhd16]

That doesn't look right. Maybe 192.168.1.1 ?

You must be an Engineer. lol yes, that was just an example. I don't remember what ip I had to use. But i think all linksys ones use the same ip 192.168.1.1, again I could be wrong. My current router is my 2 rd router in last 20 years. I still have my old linksys one which I think still works. So, I don't remember the ip's.

[lsi1]

"Wireless connectivity: Dual-band WiFi radios, simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless, 2x2 MIMO, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth Smart Ready"

The above is from product description. yes it is one of them. you can get the same range from the wireless extender as well for lot cheaper and does not have to worry about voltage that comes with power line extender etc... But extender needs to be set up properly.

As per verizon not able to split the FOIS, it makes sense that they said not an option. They probably wanted to you get a second line.

Btw, Verizon i don't think is making any money on FOIS. This is from Verizon rep when I asked how come my town does not have FOIS. They said they stopped laying out new FOIS cables every where as it is cost prohibitive. My town is considered little "up scale"

As per mesh router yes it should be the last option as these are yet to be battle tested in the real world scenarios.

I am not taking my router into combat chances are I'm looking at titan.fitness to see what they cloned today or watching a video I don't want my wife to find out about.

let's take a home with a wifi router and a wireless extender as an example and we'll use Pandora as the app we're using to stream audio on when I move further from one network my phone stays on the base station signal until it drops off completely instead of switching over to the more available stronger wifi extender which would give me far better performance in that area. once I do finally pick up the wifi extended network my phone then stays locked onto that network until that signal is too weak or disappears completely. The mesh network however in this same situation is supposed to switch between base stations seamlessly. They are also supposed to be easily configurable with many user controlled options and some even have smartphone apps.

when you go online your modem has a public ip address this is the routing number to your home that servers on the internet use to transmit you data that you want. You rent this number from verizon in this case and splitting your bios and using another modem would require a second ip address I'm sure they would do this for you if you would pay them a second internet charge.

[dieselmike]

It is not all that complicated . ....... < then he changed to a different language> .......
From what I have seen and how you approach things on this forum , i think it should be a breeze for you.

Ok. I'll give it a try. Care to recommend any specific models? Amazon and or Best Buy links would be appreciated.....

I know, I know. If a newb came in this forum asking "Which Rack, Bar, etc should I buy?" We would answer: "Do some research buddy, the answers are all here."

But in this case I'll just be a hypocrite and defer to those with better knowledge.

[vhd16]

I am not taking my router into combat chances are I'm looking at titan.fitness to see what they cloned today or watching a video I don't want my wife to find out about.

let's take a home with a wifi router and a wireless extender as an example and we'll use Pandora as the app we're using to stream audio on when I move further from one network my phone stays on the base station signal until it drops off completely instead of switching over to the more available stronger wifi extender which would give me far better performance in that area. once I do finally pick up the wifi extended network my phone then stays locked onto that network until that signal is too weak or disappears completely. The mesh network however in this same situation is supposed to switch between base stations seamlessly. They are also supposed to be easily configurable with many user controlled options and some even have smartphone apps.

yes, agree. I was reminded of K-I-S-S principle couple of pages ago ( I think by DM) in a similar situation. so one step at a time.

[KBKB]

Ok. I'll give it a try. Care to recommend any specific models? Amazon and or Best Buy links would be appreciated.....

Here's a newegg link for top customer-rated tri-band models...

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...96%20601184592

I've found that newegg provides superior filters for drilling down to what you're looking for. I often use them when researching new tech stuff. I often buy from them too.

Amazon provides some filters too, but they're not as detailed or relevant. Once I've narrowed things down, however, I do go look at Amazon for the reviews.

[vhd16]

I have not look into this stuff in years. I was going to provide the link to Linksys routers. But then what is the budget DM ?

I have only used Linksys routers.

Here is the link. I would buy it during BF sale if there is no rush. I paid I think around $180 for mine but now it is not even listed on Linksys site and you can probably get it for $50 or so .
It is E4200.

yes, Newegg is good as well. I usually to go manufacturers site and select the one I want and then wait for BF sale.


http://www.linksys.com/us/c/wireless...desc&q=%3Aall#

I would get this during BF/Post Christmas sale and be done for another 10 years. Looks like new protocol AC has again increased the prices. I feel like a dinosaur in this area now.

http://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-EA9500...e=impactradius

[KBKB]

FWIW, here's a link to the Linksys AC1900 dual band router that I bought last year.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014MIBLSA/

I got it because it can be flashed to run DD-WRT or OpenWRT. (I use the latter.)

I'm not actually using it at the moment. I got hung up on whether to continue to use the firewall rules (created using Shorewall) that I've had in place for a long while now or to try to do it anew using netfilter/iptables or some layer above that. That's one of several projects I need to finish.

[jackbravo]

Wifi Mesh systems:

Thanks for starting this thread, SK! After multiple moves, I've reduced my iron collection to the final space I have, and now it's time for electronics!

What are people's experiences with the Wifi mesh systems. I just bought this guy:



Main reasons:
-it's an OEM manufacturer that's venturing into the consumer space, which hopefully means more reliability
-I like the screen on the router with connection information
-concerns: not rated as well as Linksys Velop or Netgear Orbi by a bunch of websites

Any experiences?

[KBKB]

Wifi Mesh systems:

Thanks for starting this thread, SK! After multiple moves, I've reduced my iron collection to the final space I have, and now it's time for electronics!

What are people's experiences with the Wifi mesh systems. I just bought this guy:

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/attac...1&d=1496274362

Main reasons:
-it's an OEM manufacturer that's venturing into the consumer space, which hopefully means more reliability
-I like the screen on the router with connection information
-concerns: not rated as well as Linksys Velop or Netgear Orbi by a bunch of websites

Any experiences?

No experience yet here.

I did some searching and found that those Amplifi units that you bought are Ubiquiti's "first foray into home networking". (Bear in mind that they've been doing enterprise level networking for a long while.) Here's a link:

https://amplifi.com/

I did some more reading (and watched a few videos too) and learned that mesh wifi has the following properties / advantages:

As you move within the space covered by the wifi mesh network, your device is seamlessly handed off from one access point to another based on signal strength. Without mesh, even when using repeaters (apparently), you're often tied to the access point that you started with until the signal becomes so poor that it disconnects. I've had this happen in my house - it's really lame.

In order to use mesh wifi you only need one access point that's wired. The other access points communicate with each other wirelessly using a different part of spectrum. You only need to find a way to power them - which is usually not a problem in a house.

For dieselmike's house, it seems to me that (wifi mesh) access points could be placed at the top and bottom of the stairs and perhaps at other locations on the second floor as needed in order to get good wifi on the entire second floor. The point of doing them at the top and bottom of the stairs is to get line-of-sight between them. Hopefully, there'll be a line of sight between the main (wired) access point on the first floor and the one at the foot of the stairs. (Actually, I'm just speculating that this might be a good topology - since I have no experience with them, I don't really know.)

For my house, I've learned that Ubiquiti makes the Ubiquiti UAP-AC-M-PRO-US Unifi Access Point and the Ubiquiti UAP-AC-M-US Unifi Mesh Access Point, both of which are mesh access points, and both of which are compatible with the Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point that I purchased last year. I'm not sure that I really need these for my house, but I'm curious enough about the technology that I might get one or two to try them. (It won't be right away though.)

[lsi1]

No experience yet here.

I did some searching and found that those Amplifi units that you bought are Ubiquiti's "first foray into home networking". (Bear in mind that they've been doing enterprise level networking for a long while.) Here's a link:

https://amplifi.com/

I did some more reading (and watched a few videos too) and learned that mesh wifi has the following properties / advantages:

As you move within the space covered by the wifi mesh network, your device is seamlessly handed off from one access point to another based on signal strength. Without mesh, even when using repeaters (apparently), you're often tied to the access point that you started with until the signal becomes so poor that it disconnects. I've had this happen in my house - it's really lame.

In order to use mesh wifi you only need one access point that's wired. The other access points communicate with each other wirelessly using a different part of spectrum. You only need to find a way to power them - which is usually not a problem in a house.

For dieselmike's house, it seems to me that (wifi mesh) access points could be placed at the top and bottom of the stairs and perhaps at other locations on the second floor as needed in order to get good wifi on the entire second floor. The point of doing them at the top and bottom of the stairs is to get line-of-sight between them. Hopefully, there'll be a line of sight between the main (wired) access point on the first floor and the one at the foot of the stairs. (Actually, I'm just speculating that this might be a good topology - since I have no experience with them, I don't really know.)

For my house, I've learned that Ubiquiti makes the Ubiquiti UAP-AC-M-PRO-US Unifi Access Point and the Ubiquiti UAP-AC-M-US Unifi Mesh Access Point, both of which are mesh access points, and both of which are compatible with the Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point that I purchased last year. I'm not sure that I really need these for my house, but I'm curious enough about the technology that I might get one or two to try them. (It won't be right away though.)

the only concerns I would have with this stuff is that they are used to enterprise level support which in general means a well trained it department who doesn't need to call in to a tech support department or has no need for greatly simplified user interfaces so it could be very complex to use and even harder to get technical support on. I do not know this for sure just a concern I have reading your post.

[KBKB]

the only concerns I would have with this stuff is that they are used to enterprise level support which in general means a well trained it department who doesn't need to call in to a tech support department or has no need for greatly simplified user interfaces so it could be very complex to use and even harder to get technical support on. I do not know this for sure just a concern I have reading your post.

I hadn't considered this, but you do have a point. (Quality of tech support is usually unimportant to me.)

Hopefully, jackbravo will tell us of his experience with Amplifi mesh wifi once it's deployed in his house.

My other points about mesh wifi still stand though. There are other companies (Google, Linksys, Netgear) with mesh wifi offerings.

[jackbravo]

@KBKB - Thanks for your input. I looked at that access point you got before making my purchase. Some of the amazon reviews and the enterprise level tech had me concerned that I wouldn't be able to set it up. My background is networking is nil. Based on the reviews I saw, hopefully the ampliFi kit will right out of the box. We'll see! I looked at many of the other mesh networks, with Linksys Velop and Netgear orbi being generally the higher rated ones on the review websites. Still, there were a lot of complaints on their forums about losing connectivity, and their hardware is not as advanced as Ubiquiti's. My sense is that there's not really a perfect system out there right now, but a lot of players are getting in the game (including Samsung later this year), so the technology should improve.

@Isi1 - I had similar concerns, but it seems like their consumer grade products are user-friendly. We'll see, I'll get to set it up this weekend I think.

[KBKB]

@KBKB - Thanks for your input. I looked at that access point you got before making my purchase. Some of the amazon reviews and the enterprise level tech had me concerned that I wouldn't be able to set it up. My background is networking is nil.

One of the ways that the Ubiquiti access point differed from what I've come to expect from consumer-grade networking stuff is that I had to install an application on an administrative machine which is then used to detect and configure the access point. That same interface detects other stuff from the same manufacturer so that it can all be administered from the same interface. If I actually had other stuff from Ubiquiti, this would be great. I think I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I set up a virtual machine running a suitable version of Debian Linux (Jessie) and then installed the app. Once that was done, I was able to use my web browser to connect to the app which in turn used some other protocol to detect the Ubiquiti devices on the network.

For my purposes though, it would have been easier to connect to 192.168.1.1 (or whatever) on the access point and be presented with a web interface which would have allowed me to make the necessary changes. This is what most consumer grade stuff does these days, I think. Of course, this has problems of its own. That private IP address - 192.168.1.1 - might already be in use by some other device on the network. Hmm... come to think of it, I think that my Netgear router used some other mechanism; I'm not sure what it was now, but it sure was easy. In any case, network equipment manufacturers are trying to make consumer level gear dead easy to use.

It's been a while since I set it up, but I think that the Ubiquiti access point might have been good to go out of the box, assuming that you don't mind having it's address assigned by DHCP. (Which was okay with me.) I think I looked at the various settings, but I'm not certain now if I really made any significant changes. (Edit: I checked - I had to, of course, assign the ESSID, tell it which security protocol to use, and also set a passphrase. I don't think I did much more than this.)

Based on the reviews I saw, hopefully the ampliFi kit will right out of the box. We'll see! I looked at many of the other mesh networks, with Linksys Velop and Netgear orbi being generally the higher rated ones on the review websites. Still, there were a lot of complaints on their forums about losing connectivity, and their hardware is not as advanced as Ubiquiti's. My sense is that there's not really a perfect system out there right now, but a lot of players are getting in the game (including Samsung later this year), so the technology should improve.

I look forward to your comments after you deploy it...

[litljay]

I went with this Ubiquiti access point for my house:

Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point

Prior to that, I had been using a wifi router located in my second story office or a second router located on the first floor, but with a substantial wall between the room it was in and the rest of the house. Due to location & walls, coverage in the rest of the house with those routers was fair to poor.

I installed the Ubiquiti access point last October. I've been really happy with it. Coverage to all parts of the house ranges from fair to excellent. It's been rock solid too. In the past, with my other wifi routers, achieving a wifi connection would get flaky from some devices and would get "fixed" by rebooting the router. That's not been a problem with the Ubuiquiti access point.

I discuss installation and some other in-the-weeds stuff in this post: https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1467966511

Of interest to DM (perhap), is the use of a six foot long drill bit that was used to help run the wire between the first and second floor. This is the one I used:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005M29J26/

This made it a lot easier than I expected to run the wire between floors.

That's exactly the unit I was looking at for here at work and now has me curious for a home mount. My wifi router is upstairs and the signal out to the pool is non existent. I think this might solve that problem if I can get it installed in the right location.

One of the ways that the Ubiquiti access point differed from what I've come to expect from consumer-grade networking stuff is that I had to install an application on an administrative machine which is then used to detect and configure the access point. That same interface detects other stuff from the same manufacturer so that it can all be administered from the same interface. If I actually had other stuff from Ubiquiti, this would be great. I think I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I set up a virtual machine running a suitable version of Debian Linux (Jessie) and then installed the app. Once that was done, I was able to use my web browser to connect to the app which in turn used some other protocol to detect the Ubiquiti devices on the network.

For my purposes though, it would have been easier to connect to 192.168.1.1 (or whatever) on the access point and be presented with a web interface which would have allowed me to make the necessary changes. This is what most consumer grade stuff does these days, I think. Of course, this has problems of its own. That private IP address - 192.168.1.1 - might already be in use by some other device on the network. Hmm... come to think of it, I think that my Netgear router used some other mechanism; I'm not sure what it was now, but it sure was easy. In any case, network equipment manufacturers are trying to make consumer level gear dead easy to use.

It's been a while since I set it up, but I think that the Ubiquiti access point might have been good to go out of the box, assuming that you don't mind having it's address assigned by DHCP. (Which was okay with me.) I think I looked at the various settings, but I'm not certain now if I really made any significant changes. (Edit: I checked - I had to, of course, assign the ESSID, tell it which security protocol to use, and also set a passphrase. I don't think I did much more than this.)



I look forward to your comments after you deploy it...

According to this guy, you set up the Ubiquiti stuff just as you mentioned. Plug into your computer and open browser to get to settings.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-r...D?ref=va_cr_lb

[KBKB]

According to this guy, you set up the Ubiquiti stuff just as you mentioned. Plug into your computer and open browser to get to settings.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-r...D?ref=va_cr_lb

That's a very nice video that he's made.

At 4:44 in his video, he says, "The way these Unifi access points work is they have some software that you install on a computer to configure the entire network. And this is just like any other of the Unifi devices in that it will show up as just another access point. And all you have to do here is click on "adopt" to integrate it into my network which is what I'm going to do right now."

[rpark]

For what it's worth, I'm not a tech moron.... but I recently considered a Ubiquiti access point... so I bought two as a possible replacement to a Cisco meraki unit.

I did the normal plug and play stuff... but never could find a new wifi network, and first glance.... couldn't see a way to setup a new network. Pisses me off.... that I might need to read the damn directions.... sheesh.

[lsi1]

One of the ways that the Ubiquiti access point differed from what I've come to expect from consumer-grade networking stuff is that I had to install an application on an administrative machine which is then used to detect and configure the access point. That same interface detects other stuff from the same manufacturer so that it can all be administered from the same interface. If I actually had other stuff from Ubiquiti, this would be great. I think I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I set up a virtual machine running a suitable version of Debian Linux (Jessie) and then installed the app. Once that was done, I was able to use my web browser to connect to the app which in turn used some other protocol to detect the Ubiquiti devices on the network.

For my purposes though, it would have been easier to connect to 192.168.1.1 (or whatever) on the access point and be presented with a web interface which would have allowed me to make the necessary changes. This is what most consumer grade stuff does these days, I think. Of course, this has problems of its own. That private IP address - 192.168.1.1 - might already be in use by some other device on the network. Hmm... come to think of it, I think that my Netgear router used some other mechanism; I'm not sure what it was now, but it sure was easy. In any case, network equipment manufacturers are trying to make consumer level gear dead easy to use.

It's been a while since I set it up, but I think that the Ubiquiti access point might have been good to go out of the box, assuming that you don't mind having it's address assigned by DHCP. (Which was okay with me.) I think I looked at the various settings, but I'm not certain now if I really made any significant changes. (Edit: I checked - I had to, of course, assign the ESSID, tell it which security protocol to use, and also set a passphrase. I don't think I did much more than this.)



I look forward to your comments after you deploy it...

my recent experience with a router and some wireless range extenders is that now you try to navigate to a web address like www.myrouterhere.com or something similar. since the router is between you and the internet it just intercepts the traffic and redirects you to the html version of whatever setup they use.

As I said above my cable company has their router completely locked down. i can't access anything from the user side of things and if I want a port forwarded or need something put into the DMZ so I can access it from somewhere else then I need to call a very nice english speaking tech support company that generally knows what they are doing and will help me within reason but things that should take 30 seconds often take half an hour. Looking at this from the keep it simple side of things this is probably the best possible solution for about 90% of people as most people would rather not tinker around with obscure settings trying to make that netflix stream not stutter while your kid plays minecraft with his friend.

[dieselmike]

So I mentioned earlier this week that I was going to start with a cheap solution and go from there if it didn't work. Well sure enough this stupid little 20 dollar device did the trick:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It took me longer to unpackage it than it did to set up. This thing was really idiot-proof. I plugged it into an outlet very close to my Verizon modem/router. Press the WPS button on the router, then press the button on the TP-Link unit. An LED blinks for a few seconds on the unit and then turns solid green. Which apparently means it's paired.

Then I unplugged it an plugged it back into an outlet in the upstairs hallway which is about halfway between router and my Master bedroom. Wait a few seconds and again the light goes from blinking to solid green. Which according to the instrx means that it is receiving a good signal.

Then I turned on my bedroom TV. Went to Network settings and saw that it was picking up a new Network name which was simply my current Network name followed by _EXT. For example if my Network name was DieselMike (It's not) now there was also a DieselMike_EXT. DieselMike has one tiny green spot on that WiFi strength symbol. But DieselMike_EXT was full of green lines. So I connected the TV to that. Finally turned on the Netflix ap (it's a Samsung Smart TV), went to a newly released film (Doctor Strange), and it loaded up and played perfectly. Problem Solved.

Upon further inspection to reinforce what a POS the Verizon router is...... I grabbed my iPhone, sat right next to my router (like 3-4 feet away). Meaning I was a good 25 feet away from the TP-Link unit (On different floors). I went to WiFi settings on my phone and when it showed available networks the strength symbol on the _EXT had full signal strength. The non _EXT name (the router) was showing the top line greyed out. I don't understand how the Extender can put out a greater signal than the router while at a further distance away. But it was the case. So needless to say I switched my phone setting to only pick up the _EXT whenever I am in the house.


In lieu of this I will upgrade the Router at some point. But for now I seem to be good to go.

[lsi1]

glad to see the simple solution was the best for you.

sometimes the fitness gear weight plates get you just as strong as calibrated kg plates.

[vhd16]

Yep that is it DM
Question is consistency of the signal strength
Give it 6 months to year and see how it performs
Hopefully you don't need too many reboots
By then Routers would be lot more cheaper than they are now which is usually the case with the electronics/Tech stuff

Kbkb and others have taken the discussion to the another level just like discusssing latest squat bar or power bar etc 😀

Now a days as other have mentioned consumer electronics for the matter even enterprise/coorparate tech is being made really simple to use
Everything is packaged a deal
Hence it becomes harder to trouble shoot sometimes

[Synthetickiller]

I'm way too out of it to jump into the conversation, lol, but I just wanted to say...
If anyone is annoyed by restarting routers, failing routers, etc, seriously consider building one & running PFSense on it, along with an access point. It's not horribly expensive, the signal strength is amazing & you don't have to worry about trashing anything. If you have 802.11n & need 802.11ac, just upgrade your access point, sell the old one & in the mean time, your router stays running.

I've run PFsense probably 3 years now & I have never had a reset or glitch. I'd argue that I pull more bandwidth than most people on here (my ISP probably hates me, lol).

[Domicron]

anyone know anything about a dual monitor setup? i'm considering adding a 2nd monitor to my work setup (mostly so that i can watch streaming movies while i do my bookkeeping in the office [i have ADD and watching reruns of old tv shows helps when i do monotonous work]) should i just pick up a 2nd monitor and plug it in or is there an advantage to buying a double monitor?

what else do i need to consider when pondering a 2nd monitor?