Consumer Box or "Prosumer" Router and AP Setup?

[JadeMonkey]

My venerable old DLink DIR-655 is finally starting to require frequent reboots and is nearing the end of its useful life. I also have a new laptop on the way with 802.11ac capability so the time has come to upgrade to a new routing solution with wireless ac capability.

The network in my house currently consists of the wireless router in the basement. There is a need for WiFi on the roof deck which is effectively the third floor. This currently works fine though the signal strength could be better; occasionally connectivity / throughput is lost when streaming music to the roof so somewhat improved range would be a plus. Unfortunately I'm renting so having networking equipment anywhere other than the basement will be tough; I can't just put an access point on the second floor which would be ideal. Expecting to have 2 desktops, 2 laptops, a server, 3 Xboxes, 2 smartphones, a tablet, and a few other devices on the network. I will most likely be adding a few security cameras due to some recent incidents and want to make a decision with that in mind as well. Figure 20 clients at most with the majority being wireless.

I'm fine doing some setup work, running third party firmware, or whatever else I might need to do. I would prefer something that doesn't require constant management. I don't need too many bells and whistles but decent QoS would be appreciated as we stream a good deal (Netflix/Hulu/AP, Xboxes as Media Centers, and so on) and currently have some issues keeping everything happy. I'll need to do some basic port forwarding so that I have remote access to my Big Green Egg for long BBQ sessions (yup, this is important). I'd prefer to keep my outlay to under $300. The way I see it I have 2 basic options:

1) The first option is to buy a new consumer level router. Should I go this way the current frontrunners are the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 R7000 and the Asus RT-AC68U. I'm open to other suggestions and not opposed to using third party firmware. This is the quick and easy solution thought I'm not sure it'll give me the best performance or bang for my buck.

2) The second option is to purchase a new standalone router and a wireless ac access point. From the research I've done either the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X or EdgeRouter Lite might work. I'm not sure which would be better for my situation or if there is something out there I should consider instead. From what I've read I may also need a switch for this setup and I'm in the dark as to what to spec for that, though I'm not sure if it even matters all that much. I would pair the router or router/switch combo with an ac access point, such as the Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-PRO; other suggestions are of course welcomed.

I'm leaning toward the second option but am somewhat lost and I'd appreciate whatever advice or suggestions anyone has. I'm not up on my home networking options and don't need to go crazy but would like something that will provide decent range, good speed, and options for growth in the future. Thanks all and please just ask if you need some information I haven't mentioned...

 

[Trip]

First, a few questions for clarity: What's your internet speed, up/down in Mb/s? Double-check on access: you can only install gear in the basement and third floor (not first or second floor), correct? Also, will this router need to provide internet for the other tenants as well?

Making a semi-informed guess, I'd say an ER-X would work well as your router in the basement. You'd be hard-pressed to find more bang-for-the-buck at $50. MikroTik has their RB-750GL, but it's much less approachable, although more feature-rich. One thing to note, as I'm sure you've discovered: neither brand is a good choice for anyone in need of hand-holding or a number to call. Documentation is decent, forums are a mixed bag. Neither should be seen as a substitute for real support. As long as that's settled, moving on. Port-forwarding is doable from the GUI. And assuming your aggregate internet speed is less than 250Mb/s or so, you can utilize the "smart" queue setup for QoS (fq_codel + HTB) and it should pretty much take care of any bandwidth contention or latency issues for LAN-to-WAN traffic. Presuming your access ability is indeed basement and third floor only, I'd do powerline AV2 or MoCa 2.0 adapters, one in the basement, the other wherever is most on convenient for your switch/AP on the third floor. Good options there are Extollo LanSocket 1500 and Actiontec ECB6200 (with latest firmware update applied, see the MoCa/powerline sub-forum for that thread and the file link there). Then run however many APs you need from the endpoint adapter. Depending on the number of outlets/coax drops available, if the router has to provide internet to other tenants, and/or what kind of network segmentation your looking for, you could do a separate set of adapters to serve the middle floor(s), with AP(s) placed there for the other tenants, then also activate VLAN and/or port-based subnetting for segmentation/privacy, if desired. If you do run multiple sets of adapters in the building, utilizing the encryption button on each separate pair to create private links would likely be a good idea. For overall segmentation/privacy, then, you could do it at the adapter-level, in the ER-X, or by using another router or L3 switch placed at the drop-point of each floor. Or a mix of any of the three. For APs, good unmanaged options would be consumer all-in-ones set as APs, such as the R7000 or AC68U, running custom firmware if stability/performance is flaky, or purpose-built APs from EnGenius, etc. You could do intro-level mesh if you really want blanketed coverage with slightly better hand-off and central management (UniFi, Open-Mesh, xClaim, etc.).

Hope some of that helps!

 

[JadeMonkey]

That helps a great deal, thanks. I used to do some Cisco networking stuff back when I was still in IT but it's been a few years and I'm a little rusty; pretty sure I could figure out an ER-X with a little help. Any reason you'd suggest that over an ER-L? Now to provide some more info:

My internet speed is currently 6/60, though we may upgrade to 10/105 soon. I really can only install gear in the basement but I by that I mean I can't run ethernet throughout the house so powerline and MoCa are both valid options that apparently work much better than they did the last time I read anything about them. We actually do use a MoCa setup to get a signal to the first floor Xbox for streaming TV.

To clarify whol'll be using the network it's really just my roomate and I along with guests. We're actually in a single family home and there are no other tenants. I'll look into the options you suggested and try to make some sense of what a full setup would look like. Thanks again for your thoughts, if you or anyone else has more insight it would be much appreciated.

 

[Trip]

You're welcome. An ER-X will more than handle either of those speed tiers. Re- the ER-L and PoE-5, I steer myself and others clear because of the flash storage corruption issue, which tends to rear its ugly head in the form of an unbootable router after a certain number of power fluxes/failures. Additionally, to the best of my knowledge, UBNT has no plans to remedy the issue, which is, IMHO, irresponsible given the failure rate percentages (more than just an insignificant number). As seemingly simple as it would be to swap out the USB module with that of a SanDisk Cruzer Fit, it's a pretty embarrassing and usually unreasonable concession to have to make about a unit that is marketed so heavily as being "enterprise-class" (laugh!). The ER-8 and -Pro, on the other hand, don't have this issue, as their flash is soldered direct to the board, and has proved reliable. I'm largely positive that the -X and -X-SFP share the same construction, so I'd assume they're a much safer bet as well. That said, those little plastic wall-warts can fail on their own, apart from whatever they're plugged into, so your mileage may vary even so. Go figure.

On your MoCa run to the middle floor, that's great and it sounds like that area is settled. Re- powerline, the gigabit+ AV2 products have come a long way, and if they can't get all your WAN bandwidth to the top floor, I'd bet they could get a good chunk of it, depending upon wiring quality and interference levels, and do so more reliably and for way less cost than proper multi-radio, directional wifi bridging. It may pay to try different brands/models using different chipsets to see which is faster and more reliable on your wiring; if you can float the cash until you return one of them, perhaps do a LanSocket 1500 (based on Broadcom 6500) and a TP-Link 8010 (based on QCA 7500). Otherwise, if you're just hedging your bets, it appears the Extollo has been fastest in most of the benchmarks by a decent margin.

For wifi, even though you have some AC-capable stuff arriving, I often find that there are very few wireless clients besides stuff used for routine file transfers/streaming (which I would do by wire through a gigE switch, if you can), which actually need the supposed speed increases. Often, a stable and powerful N-class AP, or multiple properly channel-overlapped N APs, do the trick just fine. Think RT-N12s running AdvancedTomato for the el-cheapo solution at $35. Or ECB-350(s) for higher power per radio at $70. Etc. For simplicity, you could certainly do a pricier AC all-in-one consumer box and go about blasting signal everywhere from one spot, but depending on your client load and coverage goals, the former method may make more sense.

P.S. Sorry for my wordiness, just figured it would help to flush those topics out.