[dvdbloc]

What solution do you use for wireless access points? That’s generally my problem, you can find plenty of solid hardware to run pfSense on but as soon as you look at access points everything seems to be proprietary something or from questionable sources.

[ssl-3]

I use Mikrotik access points at home. They're not the simplest to configure, but they aren't daunting to someone who has been futzing around with networking for awhile. I like that they allow me to implement whatever weird stuff I can dream up, and that I can generally implement that weird stuff all in the GUI.

The hardware is relatively inexpensive and seems to be rather stable, the company is based in Latvia, and the manufacturing (or at least the board-stuffing and injection-molding) seems to primarily be done in Europe. Some of their stuff is pretty flexible about what kinds of PoE is can work with.

All of the Mikrotik stuff I'm aware of runs their Linux-based RouterOS. This means they all get the same user interface -- the same for a "switch," for an "access point," and for a "router."

I like that this blurs the lines between different device classes. For instance, my access points have two Ethernet ports on them, and two radios. I can use them as simple access points, or as routers, or as switches... or all of this at the same time. Whatever I want to do with them is fine: It's just a highly-configurable device with n hardware interfaces available on it.

I could replace the separate switch and OpenWRT router that I have on a shelf in the basement with a singular Mikrotik switch that did both jobs if I wanted to. (I probably would not, and it probably would never make sense to do so, but their software allows me to do as many nonsensical things as I choose. That's a good thing.)

[alias_neo]

I currently use a bunch of Unifi APs, not got full-house coverage yet, but I have key areas and run their management software on a Raspberry Pi.

They've mostly been solid, and aren't too expensive. I did replace the one in the hall (on the ceiling) outside my living room recently though, upgrading it from an AP-AC-Pro to an U6-Pro and the range is significantly worse on the same WiFi spec, making the living room TV basically unusable for streaming, despite being flawless on the older AP.

I'm going to try the newer U7 Pros and if that doesn't work out, I'll start looking at alternatives, but I suspect anything acceptable will be more expensive. I run ethernet almost everywhere so WiFi is just for our mobiles/laptops/tablets/IoT, but the TV in the living room currently has no easy way to get cables to so that AP is critical.

[toast0]

Try to get something that runs OpenWRT (or can run it) and isn't like super tight on flash space. Although I'm having some issues with my latest batch of access points; I have a few clients that seem to have more trouble staying associated, and I was hoping to use 802.11r, k and v and DAWN, but I had to turn all of them off because too many subsets of the clients wouldn't work with some of those.

I'm coming to the realization that mixed 2.4 ghz/5ghz access points aren't a great idea. If I wanted consistent 5 ghz coverage, I'd need a lot more access points, but I'd want to turn the 2.4ghz radios off on most of them because 2.4ghz goes too far.

[VTimofeenko]

Ruckus is awesome. R710 and similar models are pretty cheap off-lease on ebay.