What's new

AC1900 Compatible Wireless AP/Router with support for 802.1x, VLAN and multiple SSIDs

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

kesawi

New Around Here
I have an existing Netgear WNDR3800 running OpenWrt Barrier Breaker 14.07 that I currently use a the WiFi AP for my home network which is showing its age. I have a separate pfSense router and a managed switch so I am purely concerned with wireless functionality and performance rather than other features.

My network is made up of a mix of devices supporting 802.11n & 802.1ac, 2.4GHGz & 5GHz, and 20MHz & 40MHz channels including laptops, mobiles and tablets. I currently have 4 SSIDs on each band assigned to 4 VLANs:

  • SSID1 - VLAN1 - Main subnet - WPA2-enterprise
  • SSID2 - VLAN2 - Kid's devices - WPA2-enterprise
  • SSID3 - VLAN3 - Limited access to main subnet - WPA2-PSK
  • SSID4 - VLAN4 - Guest subnet
Routing between each subnet is handled by the pfSense router.

The Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 R7000 and ASUS RT-68U seem to be the two most recommended AC1900 routers, however I'm a little unclear whether each supports my requirements. I've also considered the Netgear EX7000 (as I don't need the router function), but it's not clear how much of the WiFi functionality has been cut from it. Given where I need to position the AP, I'd prefer it to have a desk stand so that I can mount it vertically. From what I can gather:

R7000
  • Supports VLAN tagging from natively within the netgear firmware
  • Only allows two SSIDs per band natively within the netgear firmware
  • Supports multiple SSIDs under DD-WRT
  • Possibly supports VLANs under DD-WRT and may require additional configuration from the CLI.
  • No open-wrt support.
  • No desk stand for vertical mounting?
EX7000
  • Unknown if it supports VLAN tagging from natively within the netgear firmware
  • Only allows two SSIDs per band natively within the netgear firmware (can't find any reference in the manual, but review site makes brief mention)
  • Does not appear to have DD-WRT support.
  • No open-wrt support.
  • Comes with desk stand for vertical mounting
RT-68U
  • Doesn't appear to natively support VLANs in GUI (may be possible through CLI)
  • Allows 3 SSIDs natively per band, however can only split between guest and intranet, not separate VLANs (may be possible through CLI).
  • Supports multiple SSIDs under DD-WRT
  • Appears to support VLANs under DD-WRT
  • No open-wrt support
  • Comes with desk stand for vertical mounting
I'd appreciate clarification from anyone who owns one of these devices as to whether it will meet my requirements, as I'm uncertain from the information I can find.
 
For just APs, all of them are good. The netgear hardware is better than ASUS but ASUS Firmware is much better. If you need multiple you can get different ones and install merlin firmware on them which lets you configure it like a normal linux server.
 
I pretty much thought that I would need to go to change from the stock firmware to get access to the features I need.

The asuswrt-merlin firmware looks interesting. It's good to see ASUS supporting open source options on their hardware. From what I can gather VLANs need to be configure from the CLI rather than the GUI (http://www.snbforums.com/threads/ssid-to-vlan.24791/#post-191187).

Is there a difference in performance between DD-WRT and stock firmware with wireless performance? Most of the information I've read appears to indicate routing performance suffers (which is not relevant for my use).

If Netgear is the better hardware and I'm likely to need to use DD-WRT, asuswrt-merlin (I see there's now a distro for the R7000), or some other non-stock firmware anyway, am I better of with the R7000?
 
I pretty much thought that I would need to go to change from the stock firmware to get access to the features I need.

The asuswrt-merlin firmware looks interesting. It's good to see ASUS supporting open source options on their hardware. From what I can gather VLANs need to be configure from the CLI rather than the GUI (http://www.snbforums.com/threads/ssid-to-vlan.24791/#post-191187).

Is there a difference in performance between DD-WRT and stock firmware with wireless performance? Most of the information I've read appears to indicate routing performance suffers (which is not relevant for my use).

If Netgear is the better hardware and I'm likely to need to use DD-WRT, asuswrt-merlin (I see there's now a distro for the R7000), or some other non-stock firmware anyway, am I better of with the R7000?

Both Rmerlin and stock firmware have same performance. DD-WRT performance is less but they have more features. Personally i prefer openwrt to dd-wrt since they're fully open sourced and more organised no to mention they have more features. Unless i specifically need their features i stick with stock/Merlin
 
Ended up getting the ASUS RT-AC68U and flashing DD-WRT to it. Now have multiple SSIDs on separate VLANs working including 802.1q tagging to my managed switch. Prefer OpenWRT interface to DD-WRT as the VLAN configuration is much simpler. Tried asuswrt Merlin, but getting VLANs setup was going to require some command line trickery. Probably the better interface though.
 

Similar threads

Latest threads

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top