Pfsense with wlm200nx and VAP - witch wlan repeater?

Blubern

Hi,

i have a apu2c4 with an wlm200nx wireless card.
I have two SSID one private and one guest on both frequency's 2,4 and 5Ghz.

But the signal is not strong enough. So there is an area there i have a bad wifi connection.
So my idea is to place a wireless repeater. i know that is not the best solution :) - better would be a second access point who is connected via a lan cable.
But that is not possible.

So my question is. Can you recommend me a wireless repeater? How i can figure out if the support also the VAP Feature? Because i want to repeat both SSIDs.
Thanks for your help.

Best regards
Blubern

pfsnooker

Hi Blubern,

I had the same setup (apu2c4 and wlm200) and the same problem of insufficient WIFI range due to non optimal placement of my pfsense.

The repeaters I knew only can extend one SSID. So if you want to extend two SSIDs you might have to use two repeaters…

My first try was also with a repeater (here in Germany the Brand "Fritz" by AVM is popular and of good quality), it worked - more or less - for me. The pro was, that the signal at the clients was much better, the con was, that the performance was not much better (a repeater shares one channel and gives you half of the throughput on a better range). I used a repeater only for 2 GHz (because the wlm200 has only one radio, that means it will only active at one band a time), it cost about 30 EUR (fritz!repeater 310).

But finally I ended up at an access point from Ubiquity (UniFi AP AC LR) which gave me at relatively low cost (EUR 100) a full dual band coverage including AC WIFI. I placed it side by side to my apu and was very happy to see, that the WIFI signal is now much better compared to the signal from the wlm200. The UniFi access point LR "Long Range" seems to have a better radio and better antennas, especially compared to consumer products. Now I have good coverage within all areas of my house (with solid brick walls).

Maybe this could be also a solution for you (if you do not own a VLAN capable switch you may use the 3rd interface of the APU).

Best regards
Jan

Blubern

Hi Jan,

thank you for your advise :).
I have now too Ubiquity Access Points.
It works very good!

Thanks!!
Grüße aus dem süden von Deutschland :)

lg
Blubern