Wireless router vs wired router with ap

[Horses188]

My router had stopped working when it did work. The wifi coverage was not all that good. So I plan on putting in an AP. When doing so what is better a router that has wifi with an AP added or a router with out wifi with an APadded. I have a 24 port switch Thanks

 

[MichaelCG]

Depends on your use case, coverage areas, number/type of clients, speed expectations, and the budget.

 

[System Error Message]

There is no difference, its more of a difference of firmware rather. For example consumer routers all have wifi and wired because people want 1 device rather than buying many. Non consumer dont really combine both, i mean mikrotik does but thats because they also are trying to sell to home users whereas ubiquiti doesnt have wireless routers.

Its all a matter of quality and what you want from the options available. Sure these wired only routers do a good job at being a router but thats because the company that made them didnt make wifi routers this is because they want their devices to be cheaper and more focused to a specific task. In non home environments like an office the router could be in the server room where wifi would not get out. They would place many wifi APs in the building/office to cover the areas. Imagine if all those devices were replaced with consumer routers, it would cost more for the same feature set and the CPU of those wifi routers as APs would just be wasted.

The other reason is that non consumer markets have a different featureset requirements which is why you see cisco APs costing like $1k or more each, although in my opinion they dont need to cost that much as they dont use current technology (MU-MIMO adoptation among non consumer is very slow, usually a generation behind), and those extra features dont cost a lot more to develop either and they use the same hardware as consumer networking gear too.

However you will find that you can be quite wrong in many areas. Pfsense is most commonly used as a wired router but can also be used as a wifi router too, only PCIe and usb wifi cards arent as great as dedicated APs or wifi routers when it comes to wifi.

There really should be no such thing as a wired or wireless router, as that should really refer to their medium of routing or how they should work, the term is very wrongly used. Rather it should just be called router as all it is is just a computer running an OS that has software to do a task. The wired/wireless is just a hardware extension so it should be called router with wireless or router without wireless.

 

[sfx2000]

My router had stopped working when it did work. The wifi coverage was not all that good. So I plan on putting in an AP. When doing so what is better a router that has wifi with an AP added or a router with out wifi with an APadded. I have a 24 port switch Thanks

Some folks like BHR's - some are looking into DWS solutions (Orbi/Eero/etc), and some like the component approach - depends on your needs and expectations...

It really does come down to understanding what the needs are - and deploy a solution that is appropriate.

One can get a decent AC1900 class BHR for less than $200USD - there's a lot of good candidates out there - go up $100 dollars, and lots of features, but not a lot more performance - so in my opinion - the BHR hard limit is $200USD - nothing more, and shop around, can find good solutions for $130-150...

DWS - Orbi seems to be the hot item - and depending on where you shop - one can get an Orbi base and Satellite for $349 or so (observed today at BestBuy brick and mortar store, on sale) - Eero 2-pack runs about $300, and a 3-pack is $400...

With DWS - Orbi and Eero seem to be the best answers there...

With a component solution - e.g. dedicated router and a couple of AP's and switches - it's like owning a boat - how much money do you want to spend?