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SOHO Router with WiFi Rate configuration

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80211WiGuy

Occasional Visitor
Hi Guys,
I'm trying to find a SOHO router which offers the option to configure the WiFi Data rates much like a lot of enterprise APs do. Not just enabling/disabling support for 802.11a/b/n etc. but actual rate selection. It's for a very niche case where we might need about 100 of these with data rates below 12Mbps and possibly 24Mbps disabled on 5GHz and 2.4GHz.

If anywhere I figured someone here might have seen this in a consumer grade router or open source router project?

Thanks for taking the time to read.
Greg
 
First of all, I'd assume you're familiar with certain perspectives on why disabling lower dates rates might not be the best idea, especially for certain scenarios (example reference).

That being acknowledged, I tried to see if it was doable in DD-WRT or OpenWRT, but I couldn't confirm, so that potentially rules out commodity consumer hardware. Anyone care to comment further on that?

One option that would work is MikroTik, who offer consumer-level pricing with an enterprise-level feature set in RouterOS. Here's a Winbox screenshot of specific data rate manipulation on a per-interface basis:
RouterOS_DataRates.png

For hardware choices, the $69 hAP ac² is a good value. The only caveat of course is that RouterOS has a fairly steep learning curve, especially if you're a networking novice. Here is a pretty good intro video by Greg Sowell on the basics, but it does assume you have CCNA-level background, or at least enough experience to hang with the lingo he's throwing out.

If you want more of a plug-and-play option, I believe Ubiquiti UniFi has rate control working in their latest versions (it was broken at various points in the past). That still doesn't get you a single box solution, though (well, at least not until the Dream Machine comes out, but they'll be $299 a pop anyways).

If I come across anything else, I'll post back.
 
Last edited:
There is a certain amount of rate control in the Cisco small business wireless APs. The older ones are fairly cheap on eBay. Make sure to replace the firmware with the latest if you buy one. I would not buy EOL ones.
 
First of all, I'd assume you're familiar with certain perspectives on why disabling lower dates rates might not be the best idea, especially for certain scenarios (example reference).

That being acknowledged, I tried to see if it was doable in DD-WRT or OpenWRT, but I couldn't confirm, so that potentially rules out commodity consumer hardware. Anyone care to comment further on that?

One option that would work is MikroTik, who offer consumer-level pricing with an enterprise-level feature set in RouterOS. Here's a Winbox screenshot of specific data rate manipulation on a per-interface basis:
View attachment 19230
For hardware choices, the $69 hAP ac² is a good value. The only caveat of course is that RouterOS has a fairly steep learning curve, especially if you're a networking novice. Here is a pretty good intro video by Greg Sowell on the basics, but it does assume you have CCNA-level background, or at least enough experience to hang with the lingo he's throwing out.

If you want more of a plug-and-play option, I believe Ubiquiti UniFi has rate control working in their latest versions (it was broken at various points in the past). That still doesn't get you a single box solution, though (well, at least not until the Dream Machine comes out, but they'll be $299 a pop anyways).

If I come across anything else, I'll post back.

Thank you thank you thank you! The MikroTik APs seem to have the feature set I'm looking for precisely. Someone else mentioned Mikrotik last week, but it was just a maybe. Thank you for the effort you put into your response and providing the screenshots. There's a Mikrotik event coming up in my area later this month I plan on attending to learn a little more, and probably order one of those hAP ac2 units you mentioned. I was looking at these last week but you're response confirmed what I was looking for.

I have an old DDWRT router I couldn't do this on. I'm thinking once we get our solution ironed out, we'll probably pre-provision about 50-100 of these for rapid deployment when needed. Totally aware of the risks from Ben's article - it's cool he's always willing to challenge best practices most of us take for granted.

Thanks Trip!
 
@80211WiGuy - You're very welcome!

As far as Mikrotik goes, very powerful stuff, especially considering the cost. And I definitely recommend hitting up that event, perhaps even going for a Mikrotik cert or two for you and/or your guys if their stuff ends up becoming a good fit.

Keep us posted!
 

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