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    PCI-E Card for WiFi AP

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Wireless
    wifipci-eaccess point
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    • provelsP
      provels
      last edited by provels

      I use both the AR9280 and AR9380 chipsets (in mini-PCIE format) and get a solid 300Mb up and down at 11ng.
      But pickings are slim for slot cards. No experience with any of these directly, just the chipset. As long as you are relatively close to the router, probably get a decent connection. My location is about 15' away from router line-of-sight, but through a floor, wall and around some heating ducts. I do this because I can, not necessarily because I should. I have old g-APs as well. Not a gamer and only a 70Mb line anyway.

      https://www.newegg.com/p/0XM-062S-000J2
      https://www.newegg.com/p/3C6-012A-000T5
      https://www.newegg.com/p/1HD-00JE-01EW6

      Maybe this, I'd try it.
      https://www.ebay.com/itm/252506432034

      22a35db0-1341-4a0f-9186-7e647c0614f4-image.png

      Peder

      MAIN - pfSense+ 24.11-RELEASE - Adlink MXE-5401, i7, 16 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD. 500 GB HDD for SyslogNG
      BACKUP - pfSense+ 23.01-RELEASE - Hyper-V Virtual Machine, Gen 1, 2 v-CPUs, 3 GB RAM, 8GB VHDX (Dynamic)

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Yup, or get a PCIe - miniPCIe adapter.

        provelsP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
        • provelsP
          provels @stephenw10
          last edited by

          Yeah, get something like this, you can mix/match. Any good? Dunno.

          https://www.newegg.com/p/0XM-06C7-00001

          Peder

          MAIN - pfSense+ 24.11-RELEASE - Adlink MXE-5401, i7, 16 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD. 500 GB HDD for SyslogNG
          BACKUP - pfSense+ 23.01-RELEASE - Hyper-V Virtual Machine, Gen 1, 2 v-CPUs, 3 GB RAM, 8GB VHDX (Dynamic)

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • M
            MasterLog
            last edited by

            Hello guys,
            Thank you for your suggestions on this thread.
            I think I will give a try using a WiFi card before (eventually) moving to a separate AP!
            I just have a doubt about the protocols: basically for my smart devices I need something on 2.4GHz (802.11b/g/n) and better have 5GHz (802.11a/n/ac..) for the laptops.
            If I could find a supported PCI-E Card, is it possible to have an AP on multiple frequencies and bands?
            Or I may need to have 2 PCI-E Cards each one working no a specific frequency?

            Regards,

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • JonathanLeeJ
              JonathanLee
              last edited by JonathanLee

              I have a 2100-MAX I use an internal pcie card for guest WiFi and an external AP for the secure side. It works fine.

              But the pcie card can't do both 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz at the same time. So with that said it's great for my guest and unfiltered Internet for gaming systems. Things like MFPs need 2.4 ghz. But I run both APs at the same time so it works for what I need.

              This way you will end up with 2 DHCP servers and you can set up two different private IP blocks, like 192.169.1.1 and a 10.0.0.1 network block. It's really cool.

              Yes they do work but I played with every setting this is the best coverage for my internal card set to a/n -40 and fcc anywhere. All the other options have issues.

              No more bssid errors it runs good.

              Screenshot_20231117-181345.png Screenshot_20231117-181404.png Screenshot_20231117-181439.png

              5dbi antenna also for mine. Has a oval coverage shape.

              Make sure to upvote

              M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • M
                MasterLog @JonathanLee
                last edited by

                @JonathanLee said in PCI-E Card for WiFi AP:

                But the pcie card can't do both 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz at the same time.

                Hello. Sorry, is that a limitation of that specific card, or in general?

                JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • JonathanLeeJ
                  JonathanLee @MasterLog
                  last edited by JonathanLee

                  @MasterLog it's a limitations for PfSense on the 2100MAX I assume it's for all. That's why everyone loves external AP plus wifi AC support is not available on the drivers for the internal cards.

                  External APs got it all and then some.

                  https://forum.netgate.com/topic/184066/pfsense-how-to-guide-guest-wifi-secure-wifi-on-a-sg2100-max

                  I made a quick how to guide if you want to check it out.

                  Make sure to upvote

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    You need something with dual radios to do more than one channel at a time. Most access points have that. Some have 3 or 4 radios these days. They can run at 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6Ghz and have a radio dedicated to monitoring.
                    You could put two NICs in pfSense if you really wanted to. But..... external AP. 😉

                    M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • M
                      MasterLog @stephenw10
                      last edited by MasterLog

                      @stephenw10 said in PCI-E Card for WiFi AP:

                      You could put two NICs in pfSense if you really wanted to.

                      Unfortunately on my device (which is a Thin Client) I have only 1 PCI-E slot (used by the 2nd LAN port) and 1 mini PCI-E slot (for the AP) so I can put only 1 Card for AP.
                      Hopefully I can find a compatible one with 2 radios (2.4 and 5 GHz).

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        I think you're very unlikely to find one. And if you do it may be, literally, 100x more expensive! However you don't need dual band like that to run as an AP.

                        JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • JonathanLeeJ
                          JonathanLee @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 the Compex has 2 radios but FreeBSD and pfSense software only allow use of one of the channels at a time. Also auto mode does not function however PfSense has an option to use auto. Maybe it will work in a future version.

                          Make sure to upvote

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            WLE200NX is dual band but it only has one radio. It can only use one band at a time in any OS.

                            JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • M
                              MasterLog
                              last edited by

                              Thank you guys.
                              It seems that using 2 Cards is the only solution at this point.

                              Regards,

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • JonathanLeeJ
                                JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10

                                Screenshot_20231118-190317.png

                                It shows 2 rx 2 tx and 2 radios. . . I just think the software doesn't have code yet to enable both at the same time.

                                Make sure to upvote

                                M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • M
                                  MasterLog @JonathanLee
                                  last edited by

                                  @JonathanLee said in PCI-E Card for WiFi AP:

                                  @stephenw10

                                  Screenshot_20231118-190317.png

                                  It shows 2 rx 2 tx and 2 radios. . . I just think the software doesn't have code yet to enable both at the same time.

                                  Sorry, do you mean also with 2 different devices (e.g. 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz)?

                                  JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • JonathanLeeJ
                                    JonathanLee @MasterLog
                                    last edited by JonathanLee

                                    @MasterLog that's my Compex card just one. I only can get one radio to run with PfSense FreeBSD. I have a external AP for most of the secure traffic.

                                    Use 2 cards, I didn't know PfSense could do that.

                                    Make sure to upvote

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                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      Hmm, interesting. Looking at the data sheet for the chip it does indeed contain two radios. However I think either part of that is shared or it's restricted some way in hardware because Ive never seen one of those chipsets that could use both simultaneously.

                                      JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • JonathanLeeJ
                                        JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10 Maybe we need to configure 2 interfaces?

                                        Screenshot_20231119-070451.png

                                        Make sure to upvote

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          Creating two virtual interfaces like that share one parent NIC, ath0, and can only use one set of wifi values. They always use the same channel.

                                          JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • JonathanLeeJ
                                            JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                            last edited by JonathanLee

                                            @stephenw10 it's weird I thought it was a ath0 driver issue with FreeBSD. The card clearly has two radios. Again it just only runs one. Have you ever seen a 2100 running 2 radios on one card?

                                            https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=athn&sektion=4&manpath=OpenBSD+5.0

                                            Screenshot_20231119-072708.png

                                            Per FreeBSD the 9280 has 2 radios.

                                            Make sure to upvote

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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