Is pfSense what I need?
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I'd second what Steve and John are saying (I have to, since I learned a lot from them ;D). The link John posts I can recommend: it is exactly what I bought based on recommendations on this very fine forum, and my neighbors are wondering why the NASA headquarters (the name of my AP) is blowing away their wireless ;D ;D ;D
I have the 'Pro' version, by the way, since that is also 5Ghz. The normal one is only 2,4Ghz.
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Any other reliable AP maker besides ubiquiti you can recommend? All I would need is stability and QoS for the VoIP apps, no need other any fancy VPN or security stuff.
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You might find that your wireless router is far more stable if it's not acting as a router but as an AP.
I had a couple of truly awful D-link DIR-685 wireless routers that someone gave me. They got re-used as APs and are pretty solid in that role.
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Ok I will repurpose my router as AP for now. I just need to acquire some NIC and then I can start with this.
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Do I need 3 NIC total to set this up?
pfsense box - NIC 1 = WAN
NIC 2 = switch
NIC 3 = connect to wireless APIt is possible to do this with 2 NIC?
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Do I need 3 NIC total to set this up?
pfsense box - NIC 1 = WAN
NIC 2 = switch
NIC 3 = connect to wireless APIt is possible to do this with 2 NIC?
If you don't want your AP to be on the switch/LAN, yes, you will need three NICs.
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Ok I have the AP connected to the switch right now, easier this way I think. BTW, is there a way to make the pfsense box automatically start? I have to press F1 everytime the computer boots up to start pfsense, else it just stays at the screen awaiting command.
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Hmm, that shouldn't happen. Does it have more than one choice, F1 F2 etc?
Steve
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It says something like:
F1 pfsense
F2 PXEBoot:
I'd have to wait til the office is empty to reboot to get the exact wording on the screen. It would stay that way unless I did something, like press F1.
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Hmm, not too sure what to suggest here. Normally the boot loader should timeout and automatically select F1. Quite why it isn't I don't know. Have you changed anything in the box since you installed, like perhaps added or enabled something that provided the PXE boot option?
You could try this:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Remove_F1_Boot_PromptThat carries some risk though. Make sure you know which disk you're using!
Steve