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    Building router. Can it support ac wireless?

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    • ?
      Guest
      last edited by

      I'm currently building (parts on order) a mini itx pc (m350 case) using a Supermicro J1900 celeron board. It has room for a little wireless pci card. I have not ordered one because I am unsure of the capability of PFSense as a wireless router. I saw a YouTube video where one was configured, but it was older technology. I saw the spreadsheet, but don't know how current it is.

      Can it support an Intel or other ac class wireless mini pci card (with supplemental wire antennas) so I can turn it into a wireless ac router and not need to use my current wireless router as an access point? If so, will it work very well?

      Or is there a USB 3.0 ac adapter it can support? If so, is it worth it?

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      • D
        divsys
        last edited by

        Yes, it's possible but you'll need to do some research to see if your card is supported some have been hit and miss.

        As has been noted many times before, a better solution is to simply keep your wireless access point on the LAN but deactivate it's DHCP so pfSense manages all the IP addresses.

        You can put the AP anywhere it's convenient so it can handle wireless connections well and pfSense can handle traffic well.

        -jfp

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        • jimpJ
          jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
          last edited by

          There are no 802.11ac devices working with FreeBSD at the moment. It just recently got working 802.11n support.

          If you need 802.11ac, stick with an external access point.

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          • ?
            Guest
            last edited by

            @jimp:

            There are no 802.11ac devices working with FreeBSD at the moment. It just recently got working 802.11n support.

            If you need 802.11ac, stick with an external access point.

            Thanks, much. I'll stay traditional.

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            • S
              Sir Loin
              last edited by

              I added a UniFi UAP AC access point to my setup.  It supports b, g, n, and ac.

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              • D
                divsys
                last edited by

                Excellent hardware choice IMHO.

                -jfp

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                • ?
                  Guest
                  last edited by

                  @divsys:

                  Excellent hardware choice IMHO.

                  the UNIFI or the supermicro?

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                  • T
                    tirsojrp
                    last edited by

                    b@jim1000:

                    @divsys:

                    Excellent hardware choice IMHO.

                    the UNIFI or the supermicro?

                    I would say both

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                    • M
                      messerchmidt
                      last edited by

                      for newer wifi cards, you need to basically run pfsense in a hyper-v vm on server 2012 r2. use windows server to install the nic drivers and share to connection to the wifi card to make it an AP

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                      • jahonixJ
                        jahonix
                        last edited by

                        @messerchmidt:

                        …run pfsense in a hyper-v vm on server 2012 r2...

                        on a J1900 Celeron CPU?
                        I want the same you had for breakfast.

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