Dual band ( two radios ) Gigabit Wireless Access Point

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b@nD

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Does anyone know of such a beast ?

I have a Netgear WNDR3700 which is a Dual band ( 2.4 / 5 Ghz ) 802.11n wireless router with four gigabit ports and a lot of other fancy stuff ( Working 100% for awhile now just used as an AP )

It is overkill for me as I have a Cisco router and switches. I really only wanted an AP but nothing was available.

The Trendnet N600 TEW-670AP comes about the closest but does not have a Gigabit Ethernet port.

http://www.trendnet.com/products/proddetail.asp?prod=155_TEW-670AP&cat=164

Some manufacturers speak of dual band but only install ONE radio.
Proper dual band is handy as you can run two wireless networks simultaneously ( unfortunately not with each one on it's own ethernet port -- NO idea why not ? Although you can segment / VLAN the wireless segments )


Does someone perhaps have some suggestions ( or would like to swop ? )
 
I only know of the expensive Cisco, Asus, Buffalo and Netgear dual band + gigabit routers. I haven't seen a cheap simultaneous dual band router besides those few ones.
 
Simple question about simultaneous AP's. Are there supposed to bridge two wireless networks as OP says, or for increased thoughput, reliability and availability of channels (in highly congested area)?
 
sajunky:
Typically these routers/AP's come with 2 VLANs:
1) is for the WAN port
2) is for the LAN ports + WiFi radios

So to answer your question: the radios are bridged with the LAN interface, unless you go and change the VLANs.
HOWEVER, please bare in mind that they are not bridged wirelessly like you can do with WDS, instead they are bridged internally on the router.

With the 5GHz 802.11n AP you should be able to get up to 300Mbps connectivity quite easily, where as with 2.4GHz 802.11n you need clients and an AP that supports channel bonding so that it can combine 2x 150Mbps channels to form 1x 300Mbps connection.

Many people simply increase their AP's output power and think that it will improve their throughput in their home, but instead they just mess up that channel and the 3 more channels on either sides for people close to that AP.
Increasing the throughput usually just helps if you have another AP on the other end where you can also increase the output power.

Using high gain antenna's is the way to go if you want to increase your throughput and reliability. They do have 1 side effect and that is that the vertical area that they broadcast the signal to is smaller than the low gain antennas, so they might not work that well over multiple floors.

At my office I used the WiFi Analyzer application on Android to check for open 2.4GHz WiFi channels and then I just set our WiFi AP's on them.
Currently the 2.4GHz channels are saturated everywhere in town/city, where as if you have 5GHz you should have no problem in a residential area!
 
Thank you for explanation, this is what I expected. Radios are bridged on the single LAN instead of creating two separate access points for each frequency band. This is a key point for understanding dual frequency routers.
 
sajunkie:
They can still be 2 separate SSID's and the performance should be as if you connect to 2 separate AP's.
 
AP ( Access Point )

Pada said:
I only know of the expensive Cisco, Asus, Buffalo and Netgear dual band + gigabit routers. I haven't seen a cheap simultaneous dual band router besides those few ones.
Click to expand...

I mentioned one in my first post -- did you not see it ?

Thanks -- but I was looking for an AP ( Access Point ) rather than any type of router.

There are AP's with a Gigabit Ethernet Port ( an AP normally just has a single RJ45 )

But these are normally single band and normally 2.4Ghz ( with all the problems Pada has mentioned )

SO can anyone suggest something ?

Just an AP , not fancy routing etc etc , but with a single Gigabit port and dual radios ( not one radio operating on both frequencies -- I did give an example in my OP
 
b@nD:
I didn't miss that trendnet router that you originally posted...
I simply couldn't find any local prices for it, except at Wantitall where it costs over R1300!

Do you perhaps have a local price for me on that AP?
 
Channel

Pada said:
b@nD:
I didn't miss that trendnet router that you originally posted...
I simply couldn't find any local prices for it, except at Wantitall where it costs over R1300!
Do you perhaps have a local price for me on that AP?
Click to expand...

There are dealers in SA for Trendnet -- have the details somewhere -- Makro used to stock them.

Maybe local distributor mentioned on the actual Trendnet site ? ( they do a whole lot of other stuff as well )
 
b@nD said:
I mentioned one in my first post -- did you not see it ?

Thanks -- but I was looking for an AP ( Access Point ) rather than any type of router.

There are AP's with a Gigabit Ethernet Port ( an AP normally just has a single RJ45 )

But these are normally single band and normally 2.4Ghz ( with all the problems Pada has mentioned )

SO can anyone suggest something ?

Just an AP , not fancy routing etc etc , but with a single Gigabit port and dual radios ( not one radio operating on both frequencies -- I did give an example in my OP
Click to expand...

HP MSM 460 is a dual band , dual radio with a gigabit interface. It also supports 450 Mbits on 5Ghz using 802.11n. http://h17007.www1.hp.com/us/en/whatsnew/011011.aspx
 
Corporate !

Yuu said:
Pricey, starting at R5,339.00 ouch :/
Click to expand...
Thanks

I thought as much -- this is serious commercial kit -- with multiple special abilities just like the Cisco Aironet

http://www.cisco.com/web/EA/products/wireless/index.html

Unless one finds this "fallen-off-a-truck" somewhere , only for the big budget corporate types.

Although this one seems possible

Cisco Aironet 1040

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11203/index.html

The problem is Cisco has so many different models and I am not sure if this needs a Wireless Controller in order to function ?
or
Is there a stand alone model ?

FRUSTRATING !

Ok here are the details of the different models

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/wireless/ps5678/ps11203/data_sheet_c78-609338.html

Cisco Aironet 1040 Series Access Point
• AIR-LAP1042N-x-K9: Dual-band Controller-based 802.11a/g/n
• AIR-LAP1041N-x-K9: Single-band Controller-based 802.11g/n
• AIR-AP1042N-x-K9: Dual-band Standalone 802.11a/g/n
• AIR-AP1041N-x-K9: Single-band Standalone 802.11g/n
• AIR-LAP1042-xK9-10: Eco-pack (dual-band 802.11a/g/n) 10 quantity controller-based access points
• AIR-AP1042-xK9-5: Eco-pack (dual-band 802.11a/g/n) 5 quantity standalone access points

Please note ;
LAP means that device needs a Wireless controller
Standalone means you can configure the device on it's own ( Web-Interface)
Only the AP1042N has dual radios

http://www.thenerds.net/CISCO_SYSTEMS.Cisco_Aironet_1042N_Wireless_Access_Point.AIRAP1042NAK9.html

Wonder what this sells for in SA :erm:


Back to the lovely affordable Chinese "specials" ( My kinda price guys )
 
Last edited:
b@nD said:
Thanks looks interesting -- any idea of local availability and price ?
Click to expand...

Any of the big IT re-sellers will be able to get hold of them, or if you can buy direct from Axiz, Tarsus or Duxbury.
Price wise I reckon they are about $700.
 
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