Wireless access point?
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Hi Everybody, I am building my first pfsense router and I am in need of a wireless solution for my network. I would like to have Wireless N but from what I have read there are no real wireless N cards that I can add to my router. Can I add a wireless N Access Point to one of my gigabit switches to acheive what I am looking for? If I can is there one everybody would recommend? Dual band would also be a bonus as well as a web interface for the AP. Thanks.
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Sure, you can use an external wireless router as an access point, as described here:
http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Use_an_existing_wireless_router_with_pfSense
I don't have any recommendations, as I don't have any Wireless N gear, but someone else here might.
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I use a cheap D-Link router as a wireless access point and it works great. I just unchecked "enable DHCP server" , changed the IP address to be on the same subnet as my PFsense router and plugged the ethernet cable into a LAN port on the D-Link router.
The nice thing is it can be in a different place than your router. My PFsense is a noisy old Dell computer in my basement but my D-Link wireless access point is upstairs where I get better signal strength throughout the entire house. You also have a few open spots left on the D-Link to use as a switch.
I didn't find the D-Link was a great router for my needs but it's working beautifully as a wireless access point. -
Thanks everybody. I am going to use my Dlink DIR-655 as a wireless N access point and a wireless G card inside my router as a wireless G access point (so I will essentially have dual band). I may also set up the G as a "guest zone" so people can have access to the internet (but not the network). What do you think?
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AFAIK N is backwards compatible to G, though if you have a draft 1.0 router you might have issues.
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I use a Kelkin wireless N1 [+?] (MIMO) as my network AP and it works just fine for me…