Dual-band/dual-radio wireless-N access point?

I want to add a decent wireless N access point to an existing adsl modem/router.

It's going in an environment where there is already excellent coverage from more than 20 other wireless networks in the 2.4GHz band! It will be used by a variety different laptop users, many with Macbooks (supporting 802.11n in 5GHz band), but also older machines with b/g radios.

So I want to get as much traffic as possible on the 5GHz band (to avoid the interference from adjacent networks and other noise) and support legacy b/g users on 2.4GHz.

As far as I can discover, the only dual-band/dual-radio b/g/n access points available at the moment are enterprise class units, usually powered with PoE, and priced at £250 to £800 each, which is a bit beyond the budget.

Has anybody seen anything with dual radios (2.4Ghz + 5GHz), supporting b/g/n, at a more modest price? Preferably just an access point with good wireless performance (I'm more concerned about coverage than speed).

Otherwise, I guess I could use a wireless/router such as Linksys WRT610N/Netgear WNDR3700/Apple Airport Extreme/D-Link DIR-855, and disable DHCP, firewall, etc. In which case does anyone have any opinions about which offers the best wireless coverage/performance?

Thanks!

Hi,

We have 2 Cisco (Linksys) WRT610N and 1 D-Link DIR-855 at work - they both seem to perform up to expectations with a choice of manual or automatic/wizard based Wi-Fi setup (plus Wi-Fi Protected option).

On the WRT610Ns one is acting as a router, the other as an access point - seem equally capable in either role.

The DIR-855 is just acting as an access point - the LED display might seem a bit gimmicky but it is quite useful for checking your settings without having to boot up another computer wired into it, as well as for watching throughput and other stats.

Personally I find the configuration menus on the WRT610N simpler but the DIR-855 does provide the option of a separate additional SSID for guests.

So you might want to skim through the manuals / UI screenshots to see which features you might find useful or interface you prefer.

They have USB slots for providing a network share / media storage which I can't vouch for but am looking forward to trying out.

At the time we chose these because we struggled to find dual-band N as access points only. But it doesn't really matter if you don't need the routing right now as it leaves open the flexibility to isolate subnets at a future date if your network ever needs it.

In my tests they were both capable of 100Mbit/s firewall throughput (wired). Wireless YMMV depending on the laptops hardware too - I'm seeing a rash of N laptops which are only b/g/n 2.4GHz. Your 2.4GHz network may need to stay on 20MHz bands for backwards compatibility whereas you can run the 5GHz network on 40MHz bands..

Also they are good value if you don't need the enterprise features - things like PoE with multi SSIDs associated with VLANs and using network management. In that field you have e.g. 3Com 9552 which although more expensive has extensive features and can manage / be managed by other APs in a large network.

Thanks very much prlzx, your comments are very useful. You've confirmed the conclusion that I was starting to reach, that I'll need to use wireless routers. I'm surprised there aren't any (domestic) pure access points with dual radios yet, but I guess the vendors want to sell us a complete new router rather than just adding 2.4GHz + 5Ghz radio capability to an existing system.

Interesting that you're seeing a lot of laptops with n capability but only on 2.4GHz. We have a lot of users with Macbooks, so I'm hoping that we can get a fair amount of traffic on to the 5Ghz band instead, but it sounds like I may be optimistic.

A few extra questions, if I may:

1. Are you using the same SSID on all 3 access points, or do they each have their own SSID?
2. Have you noticed any difference in coverage between the DIR-855 with external antennas and the WRT610N with internal antennas?
3. Have you tried using the Guest SSID on the DIR-855? This would be a useful feature for us, but I wonder if it works in this configuration with the WRT610N as the router. Not sure if the DIR-855 can tag the VLAN and the WRT610N supports 802.1q to route it correctly.

Thanks again for taking the time to post your experience with this issue.

In reply to a post by Bright:

1. Are you using the same SSID on all 3 access points, or do they each have their own SSID?
2. Have you noticed any difference in coverage between the DIR-855 with external antennas and the WRT610N with internal antennas?
3. Have you tried using the Guest SSID on the DIR-855? This would be a useful feature for us, but I wonder if it works in this configuration with the WRT610N as the router. Not sure if the DIR-855 can tag the VLAN and the WRT610N supports 802.1q to route it correctly.

1. Where they serve the same network they have same SSID+security but different channels. Devices roam between them based on signal strength (but some stations' behaviour is to hold on to one connection until too weak before switching over).
   
   In our case one of the WRT610N is serving a meeting room LAN for guests, the other two boxes a private LAN for the office.
   
   
2. Not really noticed a difference. One of the WRT610N can be picked up in an adjacent partner building through 2 partition walls and one external despite not being ideally placed (would prefer to place it on a high shelf).
   
   The external antennas on the DIR-855 do give you the options to fit / place your own antennas e.g. if you need a directional beam. The 3Com has strong internal antennas and external connectors
   
   
3. As I read it its guest SSID is still behind the NAT but only allowed access to the internet (WAN) and not not the LAN. Don't quote me on that as I only tried it briefly to check both networks were being broadcast.
   
   Both models offer AP isolation (client isolation) if you don't want stations on the same physical AP to see each other) - useful if you are providing public access. I haven't tried to see what happens with VLAN packet tagging (we don't rely on that for security as some network adapters come with utilities to do VLAN hopping).
   
   

Thanks very much for that! Time to get the cheque book out. If only we could afford something like the 3com AP though