I have an old Engenius EAP350 power over ethernet 802.11n 2-antenna access point high power that has served me well for VoIP on the smartphones, laptop access and other portable device support. I have avoided overloading it by running ethernet to the desktop computers.
Recently we got an iPad and my daughter began squashing our VoIP calls by streaming high-bitrate HD movies from the media server. Although my wired network has QoS properly implemented, the EAP350 does not support this. And let's face it, the bandwidth is pretty limited compared to what is available today.
I would like to thoroughly suppress this problem by upgrading the wireless access point. I am rather fond of the ceiling-mount "smoke detector" form factor, and POE is a must. I have a 1500SF single story home with the AP centrally located. The walls are stucco and windows dual pane with anti-reflective coating. I would like decent coverage outside for the smartphones, this probably means connecting them at 2.4GHz.
Other desires are:
3 X 3 MIMO high-gain antennae (better than high power?), and/or high power
supports QoS
simultaneous dual or even tri band (I think tri-band is only simultaneous for two bands?)
A bonus would be compatibility with standards-based 802.11 fast roaming for the smartphones so I could add a second AP later and roam between them while on VoIP. This is probably more a want than a must, it seems this feature is taking forever to hit consumer level.
I would like to spend under $300, although I am willing to consider price vs performance arguments.
Thanks!
Recently we got an iPad and my daughter began squashing our VoIP calls by streaming high-bitrate HD movies from the media server. Although my wired network has QoS properly implemented, the EAP350 does not support this. And let's face it, the bandwidth is pretty limited compared to what is available today.
I would like to thoroughly suppress this problem by upgrading the wireless access point. I am rather fond of the ceiling-mount "smoke detector" form factor, and POE is a must. I have a 1500SF single story home with the AP centrally located. The walls are stucco and windows dual pane with anti-reflective coating. I would like decent coverage outside for the smartphones, this probably means connecting them at 2.4GHz.
Other desires are:
3 X 3 MIMO high-gain antennae (better than high power?), and/or high power
supports QoS
simultaneous dual or even tri band (I think tri-band is only simultaneous for two bands?)
A bonus would be compatibility with standards-based 802.11 fast roaming for the smartphones so I could add a second AP later and roam between them while on VoIP. This is probably more a want than a must, it seems this feature is taking forever to hit consumer level.
I would like to spend under $300, although I am willing to consider price vs performance arguments.
Thanks!
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