Question recommended router? please help.

[herm0016]

too many options: 2 people that work from home, we are moving and ill get wired stuff in eventually. service is not great, its a rural wireless system 50 mbps plan. but should be running fiber in the next couple years down this road. qos make any difference? need this by end of the month when we move, so would prefer in stock. im not huge into networking, but do plan on some cams and i have wireless tag sensors for the greenhouse/garden and will also be building a steel building for a shop about 200 feet from the house. i would like as much range as possible on the 5 acers because the cell service is a little sketchy. also considering google mesh. i would need to get a switch to go with it though. we will have whatever the newer samsung phones are in the nearish future.

i was looking at:
linksys ax3200
netgear ax5400
asus whatever.
google mesh

 

[SamirD]

Use aimesh and put them where you need wireless with a wired backbone. Nothing consumer 'big spider' router will ever cover anything that large.

 

[herm0016]

sure, I plan on running something wired to the workshop when I build that, and the solar system and batterys will have monitoring, and something to the front gate, but for now i just need to order something to get us started. we move in a month and have to be up and running that day to work. easiest thing is a wireless router. ill run wires after we are settled.

so go with whatever upper tier ASUS is in stock?

 

[SamirD]

Evenn the biggest ugliest thing Asus has won't be able to cover everything. I would use a few different Asus units in aimesh mode to get what you need and then once you have some wires behind them their performance will improve.

 

[mxnerd]

Outdoor

Amazon.com: TP-Link 5GHz N300 Long Range Outdoor CPE for PtP and PtMP Transmission | Point to Point Wireless Bridge | 13dBi, 15km+ | Passive PoE Powered w/ Free PoE Injector | Pharos Control (CPE510) White: Computers & Accessories

Buy TP-Link 5GHz N300 Long Range Outdoor CPE for PtP and PtMP Transmission | Point to Point Wireless Bridge | 13dBi, 15km+ | Passive PoE Powered w/ Free PoE Injector | Pharos Control (CPE510) White: Electronics - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

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https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-MU-MIMO-Gigabit-EAP225-Outdoor/dp/B07953S2FD

Indoor

Amazon.com : tplink mesh

 

[bigboxes]

I use Asus, but I only need coverage of 1000 sq ft. If you need coverage for the offsite. @SamirD is right about using a pair of Asus routers in aimesh mode.

 

[aigomorla]

but do plan on some cams and i have wireless tag sensors for the greenhouse/garden and will also be building a steel building for a shop about 200 feet from the house.

WRONG GEAR... Consumer gear should not be considered as your wants are very enterprise like.

By definition you need a UDM PRO.
Router + Protect + Access
Welcome to the Ubiquiti world...

Dream Machine Special Edition - Ubiquiti Store

All-in-one, enterprise-grade UniFi OS Console and security gateway designed to host the full UniFi application suite.

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But it can get pricey from here, but blows away all the other recommendation so far given without even batting an eye.
They also need some homework to setup properly, but there are a lot of us on forums who maybe able to help you out if you can not trouble shoot yourself.

But you should be looking at a UDM PRO, as it has everything you asked for in 1 package, and is enterprise grade.

 

[fkoehler]

I disagree with anything Ubiquiti, based on hearsay on a number of forums.
My understanding is that U has taken a big dive in quality and support from where it was just a couple year ago.

Go check the Supported Hardware for router distributions like OpenWRT, DD-WRT, Merlin, etc.
Find something that newer and well supported and forum approved to get the homestead wifi running.

Then, you can either mess around with mesh routing, or run some Cat5e lines to run some POE AP's like Aruba has. You can pay stiff prices for exterior AP's/routers, however I got some tier 1 Aruba Interior AP's dirt cheap on eBay ($30/ea) and am just going to spend $30-40 for nice RF-transparent mounting boxes.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I also tend to agree with fkoehler on this. Ubiquiti was great for a number of years, but seem to be having either a lapse in judgement/quality and a push for higher profit margins at the cost of all else. It is really hard to compete against the likes of DD-WRT, OpenWRT, etc., other than on stability and support, but both those things cost a lot to do well, and consumers just don't see the value of those costs in most cases (i.e. they simply see "latest wifi version XXX support" and grab the lowest cost device).

My suggestion would be to spend about 10-15 minutes researching a wifi router that is very well supported by DD-WRT or OpenWRT and buy one. Heck, I think there are sites that even will sell them pre-loaded (not that I would pay for that service personally), but they can be a very quick way to see what models are well supported...

Also for the people touting mesh, it only works when the devices are well within range of each other (i.e. you want to place them where they still have full bandwidth to another device, which means in many cases 50 feet or less away, which certainly won't help when trying to reach an outbuilding several hundred feet away, since you won't have one sitting outside in the middle of a field somehow getting power to act as a repeater to reach the one in the outbuilding). You are better off running a wire, even inside a home and setting up standard, non-mesh wifi routers in AP mode integrated as a single network. The wifi mesh uses up the limited wifi spectrum that exists to work properly (i.e. it is like having a neighbor's wifi directly in your home, which your devices will have to compete with to find open bandwidth).

 

[aigomorla]

I would honestly build my own router with a fitlet2 or oddessy seed loaded with Pfsense, then ever buy a consumer router even if it was DD-WRT / OpenWRT capable.

And i have had no issues with Ubiquiti.
Infact i went from the Pfsense route to Ubiquiti because i really like the Unifi software.
Sure it can be better, but i like the GUI, and the ability to go console if i really need to fine tune it.

But again, i guess its a statement of how do you like your coffee?
Some like it black and very bitter, while i like mine loaded with creamer and very sweet.
Sometimes too sweet for coffee lovers.

Also you can't tell me the hardware on consumer routers is better then the UDMPro, until we start getting to my top statement.

 

[herm0016]

Interesting arguments. I picked up an Asus router for now, because we need it up and running asap. I'll run some kind of wire to the barn, eventually. Brother inlaw has a bunch of spare cat6, he is an electrician and has offered to wire the place up as a housewarming gift. So that will be great. Any opinion about a rack in the crawl space? It's dry, about 5 feet tall. Hang the rack from the floor joists. House is not very big and I don't want to give up the closet space. Plus it will have great ventilation down there. Easy enough to access as well.

I am considering the ubiquity stuff. This house will be more automated with the greenhouse, animal monitoring, etc.

 

[Fallen Kell]

The biggest issue of using the server rack in a "crawl space" will have to be moisture and insects. It will really depend on the house construction, water table, and climate, but in some it is possible, others absolutely not.

Things to note will be where the vapor barrier is on the house (i.e. modern construction homes will have a sealed air barrier in the living spaces, to control humidity, air temperatures, and even restrict certain off-gasses (such as radon) from the ground from entering the home's living spaces). This is a much newer building technique that has only become more widespead in the last 20 or so years. Older homes were not sealed systems, and instead relied on vast amounts of air movement to be able to dry out the wood/walls as things like air conditioning and the condensation that occurs on surfaces of different temperatures was not originally planned for in the design.

Long story short, if the crawl space is within the vapor barrier to the home, yes, you should be able to do it, with the risk mainly being to possible water infiltration from heavy rain situations. If the crawl space is not contained within the vapor barrier, well, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[herm0016]

The biggest issue of using the server rack in a "crawl space" will have to be moisture and insects. It will really depend on the house construction, water table, and climate, but in some it is possible, others absolutely not.

Things to note will be where the vapor barrier is on the house (i.e. modern construction homes will have a sealed air barrier in the living spaces, to control humidity, air temperatures, and even restrict certain off-gasses (such as radon) from the ground from entering the home's living spaces). This is a much newer building technique that has only become more widespead in the last 20 or so years. Older homes were not sealed systems, and instead relied on vast amounts of air movement to be able to dry out the wood/walls as things like air conditioning and the condensation that occurs on surfaces of different temperatures was not originally planned for in the design.

Long story short, if the crawl space is within the vapor barrier to the home, yes, you should be able to do it, with the risk mainly being to possible water infiltration from heavy rain situations. If the crawl space is not contained within the vapor barrier, well, I wouldn't recommend it.

fair enough. its slightly humid in the crawl space, but we live in a very dry climate. its less humid in our crawl space than in most places living spaces. if that makes sense. we run a humidifier in the house about 9 months per year to keep it above 30%.

I am fairly well acquainted with topics in the realm of building science. house is 2005 built. I don't see any rodent evidence in the crawl space, it is insulated around the perimeter and i will be installing a radon system. so it will be vapor sealed from the dirt floor.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Usually with a radon system, a barrier will exist that covers the floor and is connected to a barrier that extends up the walls with a vent to carry the gases trapped by the barrier up and out through a pipe (the vent may or may not have a fan depending on how much radon is detected in the area). Typically this will mean the basement/crawl space is then within a vapor barrier of the home, so, yes, at that point, you are usually much more likely to be safe to put something like this in that space as a working vapor barrier usually also keeps most of the things out of there that would pose a real issue.

Insects can still be a problem depending on how well things are sealed, so you might need to watch for ants and spiders that would love to take advantage of the warm air and/or lights that attract other flying insects to the equipment. Depending on how much equipment you are looking at in the rack, you can simply get one of the 20-30U racks and just put your equipment at the top (with some weights at the bottom to prevent easy tipping). No need to try and attach it to the floor joists (and no need to have to worry about that hanging load from the joists which were most likely not designed for it).

I have something like this in my basement (under my basement stairs):

Amazon.com: iStarUSA WN2210-EX 22U 1000mm Depth Rack-Mount Server Cabinet (146865A) : Electronics

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It is not the exact model as mine has different cable management passthroughs on the top and bottom (this is a circular grommet type, but mine has full length rectangular cutouts with nylon broom-bristle style grommet). I think I managed to get mine for about $300 shipped.

Make certain that whatever rack you pick has proper industry standard mounting rails (and not some cheap non-standard item needing their specific mounting hardware as many rail kits won't work with a non-standard setup). The other thing to watch for is a proper rack depth. Many of the smaller racks will cheap out on this, having fixed depth (i.e. you can't reconfigure the mounting rails forward or back) and can go deep enough to fit the equipment you are looking to put in it. A good rule is to have 1000mm depth, which should work with most things (however some multi-GPU servers will need 1200mm due to additional fan requirements).

 

[herm0016]

attaching something like a 15u rack to the floor joists will not be a problem. even if i end up with a few hundred lbs in it, which is unlikely.
I am well versed in building science, structural engineering, floor systems design, etc.

probably just be a dream machine or something like it, a switch, a ups and maybe an NAS. ill look for something that has good grommets and brush seals, screen on the vents.

I will def. never need a multi gpu server that needs 1200 mm of depth. i have run into very shallow racks though, when i was working in a large theatre with the audio and lighting equipment.

this is not going to be running an isp in my crawl space. its going to be simple, otherwise I could not manage it. reliability will be key. all in support of other pursuits, none of which are really tech focused. i am planning on using more robust systems than i have currently to run all of my automated crop watering, greenhouse temp control utilizing solar collectors with tracking parabolic reflectors and burried geothermal tanks, fans, pumps and monitoring systems. right now its a bit of a mishmash of systems, but i have learned enough from that to really know exactly how i want it all to work.

 

[fkoehler]

This needs to be a Sticky, everyone and their mother are lately recommending people to set up a mesh as if its a magic cure-all.

Also for the people touting mesh, it only works when the devices are well within range of each other (i.e. you want to place them where they still have full bandwidth to another device, which means in many cases 50 feet or less away, which certainly won't help when trying to reach an outbuilding several hundred feet away, since you won't have one sitting outside in the middle of a field somehow getting power to act as a repeater to reach the one in the outbuilding). You are better off running a wire, even inside a home and setting up standard, non-mesh wifi routers in AP mode integrated as a single network. The wifi mesh uses up the limited wifi spectrum that exists to work properly (i.e. it is like having a neighbor's wifi directly in your home, which your devices will have to compete with to find open bandwidth).