"N" Wireless Access Point Recommendations?

[andyturpie]

Good morning all,

 

I am looking for a decent "N" rated WAP, for our working staffroom, which at the moment has two seperate "G" band D-Links.

 

There are around 28 desks in there, not every one will log in at the same time, but would like to replace with the one "N" device that could handle that many connections.

 

I love TP link WAPS as we have quite a few "G" bands dotted around the school and they were only around 12 quid apiece, but if their "N" WAPS couldn't handle that amount of wifi connections I would rather spend more money on a better more capable one if possible.

 

Would love some feedback if possible, cheers!

 

Andy T

[Oaktech]

also interested to hear peoples thoughts on this, we have had a tplink AP fail yesterday (user could connect but wouldn't pass through a dhcp address) and we are not sure what to get to replace it. And before any one says aruba or ruckus etc, it just needs to be a good quality home AP, we are still trying to get the cash together for a proper solution!

[Geoff]

ZyXEL NWA-3166 perhaps? About £150-200.

 

ZyXEL Wireless LAN Access Point / NWA3166

 

Its a nice stepping stone to a fully managed system too.

[andyturpie]

Thanks Geoff, might be a little overkill for what I need. Like Oaktech, looking for a cheaper solution as we aren't really looking at deploying a full wireless kit around the school.

[SYNACK]

Eek, I have had massive issues with TP-Link stuff http://www.edugeek.net/forums/behind-red-door/72924-tp-link-wireless-routers.html it is not the most credible brand. I agree with those above, get something robust and actually designed to handle the load with the possibility of being managed. Some Ruckus APs can run standalone and be managed later, Aruba does the IAP-105 which is cluster managed with the controler built right in to the AP. There are also business grade single AP solutions that could work too.

[Geoff]

NWA1100 Series perhaps?

 

Just bear in mind your rapidly heading to the point where unmanaged APs become um... unmanageable.

[SYNACK]

Oh and with 28 devices, you should really be looking at two for bareable bandwidth and reliability even with people not logging in at the same time.

[BHMS]

You can pick up a dual band Apple Airport Extreme for about £100-110. It has central management via software which is handy if you buy more than 1. Good performance for consumer kit but it's certainly no Ruckus.

[Achandler]

Get Unifi Wifi Points?

[FN-GM]

I have noticed some wireless N points with only 10/100 ports, seems pretty pointless for a wireless N