"Inexpensive" AC access points

[LoneWolf]

Well, in the past year, I became certified on Watchguard firewalls. And that certification results in being able to purchase a small-business class firewall for an inexpensive price. On top of that, our amazing rep got my team additional three-year subscriptions to all of the features, even beyond the one year we originally got when we became certified. This really means that I don't need my ASUS RT-AC87 any more; the Watchguard is just more robust on the firewall end and has a bit nicer VPN. Anyhow, point of the thread...

I'm thinking of selling off my ASUS, and getting one or two 802.11AC access points in the small-business category. My key wants are like this:

-Cannot require a dedicated controller (an additional expense)
-Preferably three-stream (I'll consider 2x2, but 3x3 is nicer for 802.11n use in my case)
-Should have an embedded web UI, and preferably be clusterable (i.e., control all of them at once)
-Should support standard PoE
-Need to be in the small-business price range (I'm not paying $400-800 each for access points)

Ubiquiti at this point is out due to the lack of an embedded WebUI. Ruckus' XClaim Xi-3 just doesn't seem fully baked yet from everything I read, which is a pity, since I'd have been interested. Cisco's WAP-371 has had horrible reviews from almost everywhere I read.

That leaves the EnGenius EAP1750, which I've heard some promising things about, but would need to know more, and any other units that people here have had experience with. Has anyone here used the EnGenius units, and how have they been for you? Are there any other units that I haven't mentioned that people have tried and had good experiences with?

 

[thiggins]

Check the Linksys AC1750 and AC1200 Pro.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...ro-ac1750-pro-dual-band-access-point-reviewed

 

[System Error Message]

My college used engenius and they had high failure rates and did very poorly not to mention a lot more expansive than ubiquiti.
Cisco has wifi routers that are in the higher end catogary with their cisco IOS unlike their cisco RV series.

mikrotik can be managed all at once if you take advantage of their API but it requires you to make your own software for it and their devices can be accessed via layer 2 which is useful when you're locked yourself out network wise. They'll still newer at wifi but i've never used one of their APs so i cant comment on their wifi reliability.

There may be other manufacturers too.

 

[Cloud200]

Zyxel has some nice options. Look at the NWA-1123-AC to start then work your way up in price/features.
3x3 access points get very expensive very quickly.