Wireless Access Point Reliability? 82
darrelld2 asks: "I'm having problems finding a low cost access point that is reliable. I started searching the web; however, I can't find anyone who has done independent research on access points to find which one is the most dependable. I have had several different brands; Cisco, 3Com, and Netgear. The only one that has lasted more than 6 months was the Cisco. What are other Slashdot users seeing?" Just as an added datapoint, I've been using my Cabletron Wireless AP for well over 2 years, and aside with a (repairable) problem with the power supply, it is still going strong. What have your experiences been with wireless APs?
In An Unexpected Turn of Events... (Score:1)
Re:In An Unexpected Turn of Events... (Score:2)
I've had a linksys BEFW11S4 [linksys.com] v1 for almost 3 years now.
I've never had a problem with it.
Linksys has always added great new featues to the firmware with upgrades.
I understand your pain with price.
I paid $300 dollars for mine and now they cost $99 most places.
Re:In An Unexpected Turn of Events... (Score:1)
Another really good router was the Ugate 3000. Seemed to be more robust than the LinkSys.
Re:In An Unexpected Turn of Events... (Score:1)
Re:In An Unexpected Turn of Events... (Score:1)
My friend bought the same one recently (a more recent WAP11) that was dead out of the box. He sent it back to Linksys and quickly got another one, and hasn't had any problems with it in the 2 months or so he's been using it.
Based on those experiences, and the fact that Linksys is pretty inexpensive, I'd recommend you give them a try (although I've yet to try any of their G products if tha
3Com (Score:1)
3Com WAPs hava always given me exceptional service. D-Link is a brand I would stay away from, though I use one in my house (it sucks).
I'd imagine you'll find a lot of praise for NetGear, but I've never used one.
Orinoco, Proxim, Agere (Score:1)
Re:Orinoco, Proxim, Agere (Score:2)
What have you been doing with your AP? (Score:3, Informative)
I've got a Linksys, it's been working fine for probably a year now. At work, we use Cisco AP's and they've been running strong for well over 2 years.
Do you leave it outside in the rain, drop it in the mud, or kick it?
Re:What have you been doing with your AP? (Score:1)
Re:What have you been doing with your AP? (Score:5, Interesting)
Now personally, I can't imagine being any harder on these devices than I've been, short of storing them underwater, so I should think most any decent brandname AP will do just fine.
Re:What have you been doing with your AP? (Score:2)
Re:What have you been doing with your AP? (Score:2)
Re:What have you been doing with your AP? (Score:2)
As for WiFi reliability, hell they are only $80 apiece, buy a few identical units and keep spares. Make detailed installation instructions (specifically detailing WEP codes so you don't have to reprogram every laptop in your org) when you install the first one. If that one craters pull out your spare and you are back up and running in about 10 minutes.
Re:What have you been doing with your AP? (Score:2)
Ralph
Re:What have you been doing with your AP? (Score:1)
Using them in the manner you are supposed to; however, usually I have them mounted in the warm place (between 80 - 95 degrees). I think heat brakes them...
D-Link DI-614 reliability (Score:2)
My D-Link DI-614 accesspoint/router has had the habit of crashing from time to time, forcing me to manually reboot it. It happens once or twice a month when the trafic load is high. I have seen other people reporting the same thing on newsgroups/mailinglists, but without any answers to why or what to do about it.
Re:D-Link DI-614 reliability (Score:1)
Re:D-Link DI-614 reliability (Score:2)
Re:D-Link DI-614 reliability (Score:2)
Since then the only problem has been the lousy range...
Re:D-Link DI-614 reliability (Score:1)
Re:D-Link DI-614 reliability (Score:1)
Linksys WAP11 Version 1 - upgraded firmware (Score:3, Insightful)
I have heard horror stories about them but I must admit I am a very happy customer. Their PCCards suck though.
Re:Linksys WAP11 Version 1 - upgraded firmware (Score:2)
I'm also happy with the PCCard I have from Linksys, it has good range and has worked fine, I've had that for about a year. (note: I did notice a lot of people had range issues with their older cards...)
People can complain all they want about Linksys being low quality, but I'
Re:Linksys WAP11 Version 1 - upgraded firmware (Score:2)
My v1 sucked, then I upgraded to the 2.5 card.
The 2.5 was aptly named cuz I got about 2 and a half times the range and speed with WPC 2.5 over the WPC v1.
Re:Linksys WAP11 Version 1 - upgraded firmware (Score:1)
Re:Linksys WAP11 (Score:2)
I must be odd man out. I had one go bad on me (normal office environment). It got into a mode where it would slow way down, and packet sniffing (with etherial) showed that it was trying to "phone home" (a huge number of HTTP puts to an IP address that resolved to labs.linksys.com IIRC). Cycling power seemed to fix it for a day or two. Three others in the same environment seemed fine.
-- MarkusQ
P.S. I also have a Netgear (don't recall the model) that goes wonkers in lightning storms--though I can't say
Re:Linksys WAP11 (Score:2)
Re:Linksys WAP11 (Score:1)
Thanks, I'll look into that.
-- MarkusQ
DLink DWL-100AP (Score:3, Informative)
Re:DLink DWL-100AP (Score:3, Informative)
I find that's the biggest problem in the high tech sector - unless you buy very expensive technology and pay for the support you will likely own the product longer than it's supported.
Some companies are a little better than others when it comes to supporting older products. A quick check of ATI shows they still have very
My trusty Apple AirPort (original) (Score:3, Informative)
I don't know about the newer versions, but the original Graphite base station has worked great for me. There are Windows and Java-based configurators available for the older Graphite and Snow 802.11b models. I'm not sure about the Extreme (802.11g) version, though.
A base station of any brand shouldn't fail as quickly as you are experiencing, I think. If they die quickly, they may be getting too hot or perhaps they're getting really crappy power that stresses the power supply beyond what they're spec'd for.
Re:My trusty Apple AirPort (original) (Score:2)
Jason
Re:My trusty Apple AirPort (original) (Score:2)
My thoughts (Score:5, Informative)
At my home I have a Linksys box (one of the gateway/wireless/4 port hub boxes) and it has been working alright for a couple years now. With earlier firmware revs the wireless would occasionally drop, but with the later revs its been pretty good.
my netgear.... (Score:1)
Apple AirPort (Score:1)
Re:Apple AirPort (Score:1)
HostAP... (Score:2, Interesting)
Just find a rock solid card, ignore the AP issue and build your own with Linux! Hey, it really is that simple. And I have used this now for months without an issue at all. Debian Stable with the hostap driver compiled on and a upd
Re:HostAP... (Score:1)
The other chipsets won't work with hostap. Look in the man pages for hostap for a list of all the cards that it supports -- it's quite a long list.
Note also that, if you go this route, you'll have to set up your own DHCP
Re:HostAP... (Score:1)
Re:HostAP... (Score:2)
AP's (Score:1)
At work, we have several Linksys AP's and I have a Linksys WET11 wireless-to-ethernet bridge at home. I have found Linksys's equipment to be quite reliable and reasonably-priced. Thei
Belkin?? (Score:1)
Re:Belkin?? (Score:1)
SMC2655W (Score:2)
-xdg
Re:SMC2655W (Score:2)
Re:SMC2655W (Score:2)
I think the problem is that it overheats. I tried raising it up as to increase airflow, and that seemed to help a bit. Still, its not worth it. Don't buy the SMC7004AWBR Barricade. Myself, I'm staying away from all SMC products from now.
Re:SMC2655W (Score:1)
Don't forget Lucent/Orinoco/Proxim/whatever (Score:1)
Our replacements are Proxim AP-600's, and so far they've proven to be less stable. One developed a short on its mainboard and melted down a few days after deployment, and a few others have spurious wireless card failures from time to time. Luckily, a reset from the web or telnet interface seems to bring them back online
Re:Don't forget Lucent/Orinoco/Proxim/whatever (Score:2)
Not in my experience anyway...
Re:Don't forget Lucent/Orinoco/Proxim/whatever (Score:1)
Re:Don't forget Lucent/Orinoco/Proxim/whatever (Score:1)
Proxim (Lucent) Orinoco Access Points (Score:1)
However, you're grossly overestimating the CPU in the box
I can't say with perfect accuracy, but I believe the WP-II's run a 66MHz processor and the IIe's run a 75MHz processor. Anyway, it's along those lines, perhaps it's 75MHz and 100MHz, not sure - regardless, they're 486's.
Incidentally, they both do have CardBus controllers in them, so they probably could support ne
Re:Proxim (Lucent) Orinoco Access Points (Score:1)
You're right about the CPU specs. Our WavePoint II's have AMD 486 DX2/66 CPUs.
A plethora of APs (Score:2)
The Linksys Issue: Some BEFW11S4 routers have a problem with some 802.11b/g cards
Siemens SpeedStream 2623 (Score:1)
Yes, I'm using the latest firmware recommended by them. Yes, I know what I'm doing. Steer clear.
Firmware (Score:1)
I've seen many instances of (wireless) router misbehavior due to buggy firmware that has since been fixed and posted to the company's web site.
Linksys WAP11B (Score:1)
Ditto (Re:Linksys WAP11B) (Score:2)
I'd be pretty pissed if an access point only last 6 months!
-psy
Wiring problems? (Score:2)
If you have a UPS, you could try plugging your AP into it to smooth things out a bit.
Re:Wiring problems? (Score:1)
I see so many of them die, because I install them all over. In hotels, in homes, and businesses. Everyone wants the cheapest product possible, and I try to steer them to what I know works through the rough
Netgear (Score:4, Informative)
Nezt time, I'll pay the extra money for Cisco.
Cisco, LinkSys & Nokia (Score:2, Informative)
At home I have a Linksys WAP51AB dual band AP. I've had one or two times where the box has frozen and one time where the A radio froze, but the B didn't. Overall, it's a reasonably good product other than the A radio having disappointing performance and the fact that it seems to have marginal support since the intoduction of the B+G product
Here it comes (Score:1)
AirPort , flawless since Xmas 2001 (Score:1)
Speedstream 2624 Crashes (Score:1)
netgear MR314 (Score:1)
Long story short, my Netgear wireless router is great, the Netgear laptop card not so much.
Reliable AP's (Score:2, Informative)
Well I've been using both Cisco and D-link AP's for a few years, and have had neglible problems with either of them.
In our house we are heavy wireless user's and there are times I'm streaming heavy video to one device or another, and have never had much degredation, or packet drops.
Netgear MR814 = good (Score:2)
I would highly rec. this router.
D-Link 614 (Score:1)
RoamAbout R2 (Score:1)
Enterasys (formerly Cabletron) has a new line of APs out called RoamAbout R2. They have support for 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11a. You can also use one AP to bridge between a G and an A network, or any combination thereof.
They have full support for 802.1x authentication using a Radius server, re-keying, MAC filtering, etc. You name it, they support it.
I, too, have had problems with pow