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    Bridging dd wrt wifi router to pfsense

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    23 Posts 5 Posters 2.0k Views
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    • W
      wheelhouse20
      last edited by

      No it was a gooseberry.

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      • johnpozJ
        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
        last edited by

        Yeah that makes more sense ;)

        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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        • W
          wheelhouse20
          last edited by

          what do you guys use as an access point ?

          JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • JKnottJ
            JKnott @wheelhouse20
            last edited by

            @wheelhouse20

            I have a TP-Link TL-WA901N AP. This is a stand alone AP with PoE.

            PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
            i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
            UniFi AC-Lite access point

            I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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            • 4
              4o4rh
              last edited by 4o4rh

              i have 2x wr1043nd and 1x wdr3600 that all use to run dd-wrt. aside from the bug that trashed the firmware requiring a serial recovery, the vlan / switching config was different on each device. i struggled for ages trying to get them to work with the 3600 cascaded under a 1043.

              The firmware update that resulted in a serial recovery was the final straw.
              switched to openwrt and never looked back. i have them bridged as access points with vlans on the switch and separate ones for wireless. interface is sooooo much better than dd-wrt and the standard minimal install is all that is needed for an access point.

              @johnpoz i assume he means bridge the wan/lan ports into a 5 port switch. with my tplink devices, HD videos were choppy when the devices were used as routers. turning them into unmanaged switches and a wireless access point solved the performance on both wireless and vlan networks

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              • W
                wheelhouse20
                last edited by

                i was thinking of getting either Ubiquiti UAP-AC-M-PRO or an EAP225-Outdoor and just sticking it in the loft but not sure what sort of coverage id get.

                JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • JKnottJ
                  JKnott @wheelhouse20
                  last edited by

                  @wheelhouse20

                  That would depend on your house. If you have a multilevel house putting it up in a loft might not be the best choice. I live in a condo and have my AP mounted high on a wall in my laundry room, where it's roughly in the middle of my unit. With PoE, you don't have to worry about having AC handy. The Ubiquiti APs come with the PoE adapter, provided you buy them individually. They don't come in the 5 pack.

                  PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                  i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                  UniFi AC-Lite access point

                  I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                  • W
                    wheelhouse20
                    last edited by

                    i live in a 2 story house with all ground floor walls being brick and the upstairs plasterboard walls. No PoE adapter in the 5 pack what a con. i use an Arbor FPC-7502 for the pfsense box.

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                    • JKnottJ
                      JKnott @wheelhouse20
                      last edited by

                      @wheelhouse20

                      No it's not a con. The price per AP is significantly less. The assumption is if you're buying that many, you'll be using a PoE switch. As for the loft, that will mean the AP is significantly above much of the house and may have poorer signal at lower levels. One thing you can do is use your cell phone as an AP and place it at various locations, so see how the signal is around the house.

                      PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                      i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                      UniFi AC-Lite access point

                      I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        I have a single UAP-AC-LR that I have on the ceiling of a ground floor room. I can connect to that from anywhere across 3 floors in a brick building with good signal levels.
                        Generally speaking higher is better for APs but not through floors!

                        Steve

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