I need dual bank recommendation

On 6/9/19 8:59 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 8 Jun 2019 19:34:44 -0700, T wrote:

I find dual band routers all over the map when it comes
to reviews. I can't tell the fake reviews from the
real ones.

Does anyone have a recommendation of a dual band router
suitable for both residences and small businesses?

I was changing out my friends and customers Linksys EA2700 style
routers with Asus RT-AC66u. The problem was that the Linksys EA2700
could not handle 100 to 150Mbits/sec throughput required by the
current crop of DOCSIS 3.0 routers. That's on the gigabit ethernet
ports. The EA2700 worked just fine at DSL speeds, but does badly
above about 50 Mbits/sec. (No, it's not jumbo packets).

I was using AsusWRT-Merlin firmware because I wanted the latest bug
fixes and some better monitoring features on the assumption that Asus
would not update their older models.
https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca
Wrong. The recent discovery of some serious exploits resulted in the
release of security upgrades for some of the low end routers,
including the RT-AC66U. So, now I'm swinging back to the stock Asus
firmware. Indecision is the key to flexibility.

Last year, the author of AsusWRT-Merlin decided to no longer support
the lower end of the Asus router series. The RT-N66U, RT-AC66U, and
some others that I'm too lazy to lookup. So, I've switched to the
RT-AC68U.
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTAC68U/overview/
The problem here is the large number of used T-mobile TM-AC1900
routers on eBay. It is possible to install Linksys or Merlin firmware
on these, but it's tricky.
https://www.bayareatechpros.com/ac1900-to-ac68u/
https://lazymocha.com/blog/2018/04/16/flash-t-mobile-cellspot-tm-ac1900-to-asus-rt-ac68u-p/
I managed to brick one last week while trying to be creative with the
instructions. So, if you avoid the TM-AC1900 model and get the real
RT-AC68U, you should be ok. The bad news is that they're about $150
new. The good news is that they're quite reliable, will easily route
at Comcast cable modem 150MBit/sec download speeds, are quite fast to
laptops and desktops that can do 802.11AC (5GHz only), and seem to be
quite reliable. I'm still playing with the built in mesh networking
(AiMesh) which seems to be useful.

Currently, I have only one business and three residential
installations using Asus wireless routers. Also, my next door
neighbor and myself which is where I run my tests and experiments.
That's not really enough history to make a proper recommendation, but
if you're not sure what you, these would be a good start.

Ubiquiti appeared in this discussion. I have 5 point to point
wireless bridges build with various Ubiquiti radios. These are a mix
of LocoM2, BulletM2 and M5, and Litebeam M5 models. Other than some
performance optimization and some firmware updates, I haven't had to
touch these after installation. The bad news here is that much of the
used Ubiquiti hardware sold on eBay are early version hardware that
cannot be updated to the latest firmware. It still works, but not
very well. I got stuck with a pair of Bullet M5 radios with this
problem. Since then, I've been buying new radios.

While setting up an Asus router is fairly easy using their built in
setup walk through, Ubiquiti is not easy. The settings are all there,
but often scattered on different pages, or well hidden. For example,
the wireless password is a tiny "?" icon next to the SSID box.
Fortunately, there are a fair number of walk through videos and web
pages that will help. Nifty built in features, like a spectrum
analyzer to find empty channels and interference.



Thank you! I will give ASUS a look!

On Sun, 9 Jun 2019 17:38:15 -0700, T wrote:

On 6/9/19 7:13 AM, nospam wrote:

Your date is in the future. It's 10/6/19

synology, asus and ubiquiti amplifi are good choices. netgear and
linksys/belkin not so much.

I sell the Netgear WNR3500L100NAS, but it is 2.4 Ghz only.
And it is the ONLY netgear product I will sell. As
far as I can tell, the netgear stuff my customer's buy
on their own and have me set up is total crap.

The last one, I could log into the router but not get out to
the Internet. I thought something was weird when I could
update the firmware on the router. Then I tried attaching
over the wireless and out on the internet I went. Total
crap!

Lynksys/belkin "not so much" is a good description. "Almost"
has to apply.

I have had the WORST dealings with Ubiquiti.

I will check out asus and synology.

Thank you!

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nospam wrote:
[...]
in general, i've found contacting tech support to mostly be a waste of
time no matter what company it is. the front line people know nothing
and read from a script, and that's if they even understand the problem.

I remember the days before UBNT had that real-time support; and the
posts of "professionals" complaining they needed realtime support(tm).


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In article , wrote:


Oh they supposedly have a nice "Wizard" to set them up.
But they do not ship them with the firmware that has the
wizard. And they won't update. And there are no direction
on line to do it manually. They way to use the "Wizard".

the wizards are included in the stock firmware, plus there's plenty of
how-tos online, from ubiquiti and others.

It should only take me five minutes to set up a router.
Lan network: network, mask, IP address, DHCP server,
DNS. Wireless: security, SSID, key. Reboot.
Ubiquiti ain't it.

that takes less than 5 minutes, and most routers don't need a reboot to
take effect.

On 6/10/19 6:35 AM, nospam wrote:
the wizards are included in the stock firmware, plus there's plenty of
how-tos online, from ubiquiti and others.

Not when they ship you out of date firmware that the
wizard does not exist in and the firmware won't update.

The wizards are nice, if you can get access to them
and can figure out their weird/cumbersome way of doing things

On 6/9/19 10:54 PM, nospam wrote:

[nip]

in general, i've found contacting tech support to mostly be a waste of
time no matter what company it is. the front line people know nothing
and read from a script, and that's if they even understand the problem.

it's usually a *lot* more productive to do a search for whatever the
problem is, and chances are someone else also had the same or similar
problem, along with assorted solutions. a lot of companies have their
own forums, which can also be useful.

True. I have seldom contacted tech support unless it was for a service,
and the problem is likely to be on their end. Some (the last one was
Karma, https://yourkarma.com) but many have been unhelpful.

[snip]

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Sensible men no longer believe in miracles; they were invented by
priests to humbug the peasants." [King Alfonso]

On 6/9/19 11:35 PM, T wrote:

[snip]

I concur, especially with East India based support.

me. may I describe the problem?
them. no, i have to ask you some questions first
me. do ahead
them. it your computer turned on?
me. yes.Â* may I describe the problem?
them. no, is your monitor on?
you get the picture

That's the kind of thing I got when I called support for one hotspot I
had (company name starting with "V" and not Verizon). The person ignored
90-95% of what I was saying (and, as expected, assumed "Lubuntu" was
some kind of Windows).

BTW, I do get good tech support occasionally, like from Karma (as I
mentioned in a previous post), where the technician solved my problem in
a few minutes.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Sensible men no longer believe in miracles; they were invented by
priests to humbug the peasants." [King Alfonso]

In article , wrote:

the wizards are included in the stock firmware, plus there's plenty of
how-tos online, from ubiquiti and others.

Not when they ship you out of date firmware that the
wizard does not exist in and the firmware won't update.

that must be *really* old firmware. the wizards have been there for
years.

why won't it update?

worst case, download the firmware via another computer and update it
directly (also not specific to ubiquiti).

The wizards are nice, if you can get access to them
and can figure out their weird/cumbersome way of doing things

for edge products, it's in the wizards tab in the top right corner, and
much easier than dealing with their web ui.

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nospam wrote:
In article , wrote:

the wizards are included in the stock firmware, plus there's plenty of
how-tos online, from ubiquiti and others.

Not when they ship you out of date firmware that the
wizard does not exist in and the firmware won't update.

that must be *really* old firmware. the wizards have been there for
years.

anything older than the ER-X ships with 1.2 (IIRC). Wizards are a 1.5
or 1.6 addon, though they're kinda bad til 1.8 or 1.9.


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On 6/10/19 2:12 PM, nospam wrote:
why won't it update?


Beat me!

worst case, download the firmware via another computer and update it
directly (also not specific to ubiquiti).

That is what I did

On 6/10/19 2:24 PM, Dan Purgert wrote:
anything older than the ER-X ships with 1.2 (IIRC). Wizards are a 1.5
or 1.6 addon, though they're kinda bad til 1.8 or 1.9.

If memory serves me, both the new and the repaired unit
were on 1.2. 1.3 would not install from a local
downloaded file. Time to pitch in the trash.

On 6/9/19 6:32 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , wrote:


I am surprised no one said anything
about "dual 'bank'"

the price of some routers will require at least that.


Dual band routers, with gigabit ports, can be had for $60

https://www.amazon.com/MikroTik-RBD5.../dp/B079SD8NVQ

It hardly qualifies as breaking the bank..

I'm currently using this one at home:
https://www.amazon.com/MikroTik-Clou.../dp/B00N9ZIIFC

Mikrotik classifies it as a switch, but it has full routing functions
and you can group the ports into whatever combo you want. You could have
dual WAN inputs, or triple WAN inputs, etc.. You can combine 3 ports
into a group for one lan and combine a couple more into another group
for another lan (lan segmenting), etc..

I've got mine set up with a dual WAN configuration so if one input fails
the second will automatically take over. Redundancy is awesome!

On 6/9/19 8:54 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , wrote:

So far I have recommended customers pitch their Edge Routers
into the trash. I replaced them with something else.
Problem solved.

pitch them this way. edgerouters are great. they're inexpensive and
*very* capable.

however, they're not consumer products and not easy to set up for those
who aren't network gurus. the true power is via the cli.

Blah. Edgerouters suck.. Ubiquiti trying, and failing, to produce
something approaching the functionality of Cloud Core Router

On 6/9/19 9:53 PM, Lucifer wrote:
On Sun, 9 Jun 2019 17:38:15 -0700, T wrote:

On 6/9/19 7:13 AM, nospam wrote:

Your date is in the future. It's 10/6/19

snip

No.. In the US we write it as 6/10/19.. Month, Day, Year...

I much prefer the European method of Day, Month, Year as it makes
computer lists sort in a much saner way, but......

On 6/11/19 12:05 AM, Johann Beretta wrote:
On 6/9/19 9:53 PM, Lucifer wrote:
On Sun, 9 Jun 2019 17:38:15 -0700, T wrote:

On 6/9/19 7:13 AM, nospam wrote:

Your date is in the future. It's 10/6/19

snip

No.. In the US we write it as 6/10/19.. Month, Day, Year...

I much prefer the European method of Day, Month, Year as it makes
computer lists sort in a much saner way, but......

We write it the way we say it: October sixth, two thousand
and nineteen