Cisco Aironet 1240G Series Access Point?
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I found a few links discussing the conversion.
Here's two
https://supportforums.cisco.com/thread/335468
https://supportforums.cisco.com/thread/331907I was just thinking some of the Pfsence users might have already been down this road. I will keep looking around.
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I spoke with someone this evening that has personally performed many downgrades on the Cisco AIR-LAP1242AG-A-K9 to a AIR-AP1242AG-A-K9 autonomous mode. So it has been confirmed downgrading can be performed.
I will be receiving a New Open box unit first of next week and will perform the downgrade to a AIR-AP1242AG-A-K9. By the way the New Open box unit …. I made a offer to a eBay seller of $20/Free shipping and it was accepted .... Tehehe ..... Crossing fingers it is a New Open box unit!
For $20 buck that's no power supply and antennas. I ordered a new original Cisco P/S for $11 and 2 Cisco antennas for $5. Total sum for a enterprise class AP ... $36
It will be after Christmas before I have all components in place and the network up and running. I will post some photos once done.
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A quick note about consumer equipment.
d-link, a-link, tp-link, netgear, buffalo, linksys etc ….. Many consumer products have a very short manufacturing/support time line. There isn't enough time or concern given to truly debug a product before the manufacturer is releasing a new product to replace the former product.
Enterprise markets are a bit different. The Cisco 1242 AP line for example started production based on there oldest maintenance release in early 2007 with some sweet hardware specs that even by today's standards for a G class AP with a PowerPC405 is not bad. There are a total of 9 maintenance release to date over the course of 6 years and more to come. There are no consumer products/manufactures in the world today that will spend the money like enterprise equipment makers do in long term continual existing product improvements!
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If you want to buy a 1240G to learn Cisco's AP product, by all means go for it (as I wrote earlier, there seem to be many people who buy 26xx or even 25xx Cisco routers for a "CCNA home lab") although in most cases these are deployed in large numbers as LWAPs, rather than as a single stand-alone AP.
However, unless one lives in a rural area, he probably won't be able to get a decent (by today's standards) Wifi performance out of a 1240G, due to the limitations of 802.11G & 2.4GHz spectrum. And for "tinkerers" the *wrt firmwares offer unparalleled versatility.
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However, unless one lives in a rural area, he probably won't be able to get a decent (by today's standards) Wifi performance out of a 1240G, due to the limitations of 802.11G & 2.4GHz spectrum.
As I have said, I don't have any experience with Cisco equipment other than what I read.
Lets say a wireless device is within clean line of sight of the AP1242 50ft away. Are you saying that the Cisco AP1242 hardware is not powerful enough or capable of delivering 54Mbs stream to one single wireless devices in a clean air wave environment?
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However, unless one lives in a rural area, he probably won't be able to get a decent (by today's standards) Wifi performance out of a 1240G, due to the limitations of 802.11G & 2.4GHz spectrum.
Lets say a wireless device is within clean line of sight of the AP1242 50ft away. Are you saying that the Cisco AP1242 hardware is not powerful enough or capable of delivering 54Mbs stream to one single wireless devices in a clean air wave environment?
As I wrote, it's not an issue of a WAP being "powerful enough" but due to the limitations of 802.11G & 2.4GHz. Just use Google, there are countless articles on the web about the technical issues involved.
Btw the fact that many users increase AP transmit power trying to "out-shout" their neighbors' Wifi is a big contributing factor why 2.4GHz is problematic in urban environments (read IETF conference attendees re-engineer their hotel's Wi-Fi network where they had to turn power down and switch some WAPs off to get decent performance).
If, as you write, you have clean line of sight, you'd want to use N and 5GHz.
PS: In a "clean air wave environment" 802.11G should also work fine.
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Just received the Cisco LAP1242 AP Unit.
Performed a simple signal distant test with a laptop.
Both units are located inside my home. The Cisco has one additional interior wall the signal must pass though.Home Exterior Wall Construction
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drywall
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2x4studs
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1/2" Plywood sheathing
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1/2" foil backed urethane insulation
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Vinyl siding
Test subjects:
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NetGear Wireless RangeMax G Router (WPN824 v3)
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Cisco AIR-LAP1242AG-A-K9 Aironet 1240G Access Point V03
Walking down our driveway
NetGear dropped around the 350' Range.
Cisco Dropped in the 550' range.- 200' differences or 58% distance advantage over the NetGear.
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One of the two AIR-LAP1242AG-A-K9 V03 units where DOA. The seller gave me a refund and didn't see any value in me retuning the unit. So for the interested ones, here are the Blood & Guts view of the Cisco AP.
The red arrow pointing at the burned circuit on the DOA unit.
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ive run all different kinds of Access Points at home , everything from consumer to enterprise grade….
when my good ole Cisco Linksys WRT600n finally died (had ddwrt on it) , i replaced it with a Cisco
AP.. i have BOTH a 1242 and 1252 in the mix of my network at home. i also run Cisco Catalyst
switches at home as well but i have a relatively complex network.i can see the Cisco Alot further away from the house than i ever could with the linksys...
yes its possible to downgrade/upgrade the AP. just got to follow the directions on the internet. its EASY.
done it many times.
good luck with your project.
SunCatalyst
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I agree with the coments about enterprise gear… In my organization, we use Cisco 1121g APs. As they are way past end of life, and are very inexpensive, I have used them at home and on other jobs I have done alone the way... They are pretty much bullet proof and when it comes to power and sensitivity, they run circles around the soho gear on the market. Interstingly, I have had several of them apart and have modified them for external antenae which is just another cool way of extending range.
Getting experience with the cisco gear is a great idea because of Cisco's own unique nuance and the marketability of putting "Cisco" on your resume. All of our switches are Cisco 3750 series and we try to maintain a balance between high dollar gear and "getting by" in other areas, but converse to sticking with name-brand gear, we recently abandoned all of our Sonicwall shizzel in favor of pfSense. The transition to pfSense has been one of the best things I've done in a while. Being new to pfSense however, means that I am still learning my way around... Now that I have gotten completely off subject, let me get back on - When the entprise gear is affordable and accessible, it's good to get your feet wet...