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    WiFi hardware

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    • S
      stryfe
      last edited by

      After I've watched a few videos and read a few reviews I'm ready to make the plung into pfsense it has all the features I've ever wanted especially the RRDGraph.. My question is quite a few of my devices are wifi only what would be the ideal card to buy for maximum throughput?  I plan on buying a used dual processor server from ebay with 4-6gb of ram a dual port intel nic for the wan port going to another 10/100/1000 switch.

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      • stan-qazS
        stan-qaz
        last edited by

        I'd suggest you look at external access points, you might find that the additional options one will offer you over an internal card make them a better option for most folks.

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        • S
          stryfe
          last edited by

          That's an idea i did think about too.. Has anyone had any experience with chromecast'ng with their devices?

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Chrome cast hasn't made it across the pond yet.  :( However there is one thread I'm aware of with a user struggling to get it working. The requirements to have UPNP enabled in Google's FAQ seemed high dubious (still does). No reports of success but that's not surprising, people only post failure.  ::)

            I second the external AP route. The best you'll get from an internal card is 'G' speeds. I have both at home though. Using an external AP you'll get better throughput and you can position it better. They are cheap. You may get better diagnostic logs from an internal card.

            Steve

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            • K
              kejianshi
              last edited by

              Yeah - I was reading the threads on that Chrome cast and all the while thinking to myself:

              "Self - This Seems like alot of bother"

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              • S
                stryfe
                last edited by

                It may just be the AP that's causing the issue translating to the internal network from the AP.  I guess in order to get what I want done I would need to do an internal wifi card.

                EDIT: I guess then if that is the case I can deal with a 150mbps network, right now I'm at 54Mbps.  Just keep the internal network 1+ gbit.  Has anyone bonded a dual gigabit card for 2GB connection ?  Not sure how much benefit I would have from doing this.. I plan on adding a dual gigabit NAS so maybe I can bond those 2 together and plug those into the dual gigabit intel card and just use 2 other ports for LAN & WAN to the switch.

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Bonding two links like that is only any use if the traffic over it is made up of multiple connections. The maximum single connection speed, say copying a file, will still be 1Gbps. But yes you can do it.

                  Steve

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                  • S
                    stryfe
                    last edited by

                    I know what I'm saying doesn't make sense lol.  I have the idea drawn out in my head just trying to figure out the best way to do it.  But if people are not able to get their chromecast working with this router software I may just stick to what I got till there is support for it.

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Well, like I said I can't see how/why pfSense should prevent Chromecast working. We have one report of someone having a problem and nothing else to go on. I still suspect an issue with the AP in that case.
                      However I understand your lack of enthusiasm for spending money with an unknown outcome.  ;)

                      Anyone else using Chromecast behind pfSense?

                      Maybe this question needs asking somewhere else, twitter perhaps?

                      Steve

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                      • S
                        stryfe
                        last edited by

                        Yeah, maybe so if that's the case and it's the AP then I'll just stick with an internal wifi device and just live with 54mbps. :)  That should be plenty of bandwidth to stream with, as I just realized I've been running at that speed since I've setup my wireless.  Maybe someone can confirm they got theirs working with an internal wifi card.

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                        • S
                          stryfe
                          last edited by

                          Now that I have thought about it we have some old p4 "server/workstation" machines at work just siting around I think I'll end up getting a couple of those..  I'm thinking that should be plenty of hardware to support gigabit lan and 100+ mb wan.  As my connection is 105Mbps with spiking to 130Mbps.  Then I'll just add a 802.11g network card on top of it and that should be plenty.

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                          • N
                            NOYB
                            last edited by

                            I'm using a NetGear WNDR4500 in AP mode.

                            A few main features:

                            • Dual Band 2.4/5 GHz

                            • Guest WLAN

                            • Client Isolation.

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                            • S
                              stryfe
                              last edited by

                              That's an entire router..  I'm looking for a b/g PCI network adapter to install in an old PC.

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                              • N
                                NOYB
                                last edited by

                                @stryfe:

                                That's an entire router…

                                Not when it's in AP mode.

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                                • S
                                  stryfe
                                  last edited by

                                  Yeah mine can do that too..  I'm trying to get rid of all extra hardware :)  Thanks though.

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