OPNsense Forum
English Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: rama3124 on January 11, 2023, 07:06:23 am
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Hi, networking noobie here trying to get started with opnsense. I just bought a topton mini PC with quad NIC to run opnsense and am not sure which access points to setup. I live in a large single storey house with no ethernet cabling so probably need two access points with wifi backhaul for one. Otherwise I could use a powerline adaptor to wire the second accesss point. Can anyone recommend which access point might work best for my situation? I prefer wifi 6 so am thinking ubiquiti lite but not sure how I'm going to power the second one since they can only be powered with PoE
Thanks in advance
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Nothing beats ethernet cat5/6, but if you don't want to run cables then powerline is a distant second with a mesh system bringing up the rear.
Unifi AP's can be paired with PoE injectors (some are supplied with one) and PoE switches. You may get away with a single AP if you use the long range version. You can estimate coverage if you input a floor plan into https://design.ui.com/ There are a few phone apps to help you draw one.
Bart...
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If you can get away with one cable, consider my setup. I bought one of those flat CAT 7 cables and run that from lan port of router under carpets from one floor to another to a managed switch. There I plug in an eero in bridge mode. There are two more eeros also in bridge around the house to give full and strong coverage. So the mesh uses one of the channels amongst themselves and the final backhaul is wired.
I did use Powerline adapters for backhaul but it's too limited in my case, maybe the wiring is too old. Now that is only used to connect cctv cameras.
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Even more important for powerline imho than "old" wiring": Your hous(hold) has three phases of AC and if start and enpoint of powerline are not on the same phase it's complicated. You have to have the two relevant phases to be close together in part of the wiring to get connection. That's why in my experience adding more powerline adapters (trial and error where to place them...) gives better coverage/bandwidth.
I built my wifi access points from raspberry pis with external wifi usb adapters. Depends on bandwidth needed...
PoE can be injected direct at the point of installation iirc, at least with a TP-Link AP I recently bought for some installation.
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Has anyone tried a "Power Line Phase Coupler" to mitigate the problem caused by three phase wiring?
https://www.newegg.com/sedna-se-hp-phc-1-up-to-200mbps/p/1BV-0001-00002
"Transfer PCL signal across different phase in a 3 phase power system. Home Plugs connected in different phase can now communicate."
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...found that even in Germany
https://www.kemo-electronic.de/en/House/Home/M091A-Phase-Coupler-for-Power-Line-Products.php
...would not install something like that myself...
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Thanks for the reply. Ethernet cabling is out of the question for now since i don't have suitable ceiling space or carpet so it sounds like a LR AP +/- a secondary mesh AP (if needed) may be the way to go. The other end of the house not reached by the primary wired AP will be the bedroom so i don't mind as much if the signal is weak since we primarily use our gadgets in the main living area
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Many older houses that don't have Ethernet, have coax wiring. If you have coax you can use MoCA 2.5 adapters to link your APs. MoCA 2.5 supports up to 2.5G of shared bandwidth so if you only have two APs you should get about the same performance as a 1G Ethernet.
I just set up a small network this way using two wall APs. The apartment had some Ethernet so one AP is on Ethernet and uses PoE and the other is linked using a pair of MoCA adapters and powered using an injector.
I used these: https://www.amazon.com/Hitron-Ethernet-existing-Backbone-Streaming/dp/B08MQG6T61
More on MoCA: https://mocalliance.org/
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Good for North America I guess. Coax and MoCa aren't widely installed in UK and Europe.
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I am not sure how widely MoCA is used in the US. I just discovered it as an option last year. Before that I had no awareness of MoCA. It works well in my use case. I can't tell the difference in performance between the AP I have connected via CAT5e and one I have connected through MoCA.
I have no idea where the OP resides or how common it is for homes outside of North America to have coax installed. I did do a quick search and most of the MoCA adapters for sale on Amazon US also appear to be for sale on Amazon UK so there must be some market for them elsewhere.
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IMO< id look at Engenius, their access points are WICKED!!
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I am happy with my TP-Link Omada. Similar (too similar) with ubiquiti but without the requirement running a extra machine/docker to host the software. You have the choice. Run a master machine or configure it directly using the web GUI on the device.
That said, i think ubiquiti software update support seems better.
Not sure how it will work with multiple AP's.