Which wlan card to enable 802.11n on an Alix board
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Hi all,
it looks like my VDSL modem don't want to work anymore. So my old plan came back on my table: pfSense router combined with Alix board, gbit switch and 802.11n wlan adapter because of the flexibility of this solution compared to a commercial device.
Most important for me is to erase the bottle neck which I currently have with my 50 mbit internet connection (VDSL 50 without IP TV) combined with my old router. So performance counts! Second thing is having a device which is energy saving as possible.
I also thought about to buy a commercial device like Fritz!Box 7390, because I have some concerns if pfSense on an Alix board is really the best thing to deal with my requirements above. From a cost perspective there is not really a difference.I would also like to ask you for some support which Alix board I should buy and which wlan card is compatible to use with pfSense without having trouble during setup, please.
It looks like Alix 1d or 2d2 would fit perfect. 2d2 offers additional LAN and PCI ports whereas I am not sure if I really need them.Your help is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Uwe -
As far as I know FreeBSD does not support any 802.11n cards in AP mode at the moment :'(
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Ok, in this case I would say I can live with 54 mbit for the moment. So it's not a show stopper for pfSense. ;)
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Just keep in mind that with 802.11g/a you will never get 54Mbit/s. That's only the theory and in practice this will be far below.
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Thanks, I am aware about that.
Do you have any answers for my other questions in my original post? Is there a 802.11g/a card wich you can highly recommend on an Alix board in combination with pfSense?
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I have a Wistron CM9 on my Alix board. Works perfectly with pfsense 2.0.
http://www.pcengines.ch/cm9.htm
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If you look here you'll see that the only driver that claims 'N' support for FreeBSD is mwl(4). I've no idea how up to date that is but it's usefully collated information. If you search the FreeBSD forums there are some reports of working cards at 'N' speeds, along with many reports of not working. ::)
There are some cards that have 'N' hardware but don't, yet, run in N mode. If you get one of those you'll be ready to go when driver support catches up.
Steve
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Maybe also have a look at this document => https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AojFUXcbH0ROdHgwYkFHbkRUdV9hVWljVWl5SXkxbFE&hl=en#gid=0
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Ah I was looking for that but couldn't find it. Thanks!
I'm pretty sure that's quite old now as well though.
If you want/need N support I'd search the FreeBSD forums and mailing lists to see what is in developement.
Steve
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Is there a 802.11g/a card wich you can highly recommend on an Alix board in combination with pfSense?
I guess you are looking for a USB or miniPCI card. I have had satisfactory results (I haven't pushed it hard) from the Tenda W311U USB stick which is supported by the FreeBSD run driver, is wireless N capable and supports Access Point mode. I don't have any other "wireless N" capable equipment so I can't comment on support for "wireless N" speeds or features.
