What to replace AirPort Extreme with?

[westtra]

So had a openreach modem and air port Extreme for a while now and the extreme is starting to get a bit temperamental

Looking for recommendations on a different router with some decent qos so I can prioritise stuff connected to it.

Have been looking and not sure if I will ditch the standalone modem at the same time but finding modem/routers with more than 4 ethernet ports is expensive.

[CoupeTeddy]

Could you use one with four Ethernet ports and add a cheap network switch?

[westtra]

Already have a switch to expand the available ports on the express but with the airport express getting flakey and requiring regular reboot to connect to the net or even connect to it I am looking to replace it.

So looking for either recommendations for a straight swap to a different router i.e. Asus ac88u or netgear x8 or x10 which will get rid of the need for the switch or the other option of an all in one modem/router with >4 ports and combine 3 boxes in one.

[westtra]

Anyone got any recommendations ?

[clockworks]

Speak to your ISP, get whatever they currently supply, and use it with your switch. If they try to make you pay for it, threaten to switch suppliers.

[westtra]

The bt hh5 is the whole reason i went down the openreach modem/airport extreme route. The router signal was crap and it dropped the BB connection so often my speed dropped beliw infinity 1 speeds where i am now constant around 66/67 MB/s. So wont be going back to bt's offering.

Running multiple devices that needed open nat for gaming was a nightmare as well and another reason i got rid of it.

[ladderino]

I've just partially switched from Airports to Unifi Ubiquiti.

My Airport Extreme is currently still providing DNS and PPPOE, with the Ubiquiti stuff now doing the wireless (and a hell of a better job than the Airports were doing). However I'm aiming to ultimately replace with the Unifi Security Gateway and switches.

I found this blog useful - https://scotthelme.co.uk/my-ubiquiti-home-network/

[westtra]

As good as the ubiquiti equipment looks its a bit ott for our needs looking at it.

[Bikerjon]

Draytek 2860 has 6 ports and VDSL built-in. It's a world away from an Airport extreme in terms of ease of use, but once setup they are usually rock solid and have a load of options if you like to tinker.

[westtra]

I like the look of the dratek but a couple orreviews about slow wifi at times puts me off

[dmsims]

Asus + Merlin firmware

[jamoor]

westtra said:

As good as the ubiquiti equipment looks its a bit ott for our needs looking at it.

I thought that, but totally worth it.

Installed an erx and AP in the ceiling at the highest point in the house.

[dmsims]

and if you want to ditch the modem....

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php?topic=14436.0

[Bikerjon]

westtra said:

I like the look of the dratek but a couple orreviews about slow wifi at times puts me off

I would go for the cheaper non-wifi model anyway and then use a separate AP. A single Ubiquiti or even the BT mesh wi-fi if you have a slightly larger house.

[weeboot]

westtra said:

As good as the ubiquiti equipment looks its a bit ott for our needs looking at it.

I wouldn't say that was the case. I have a pair of UAPs in my small 1880s terrace, but the wireless signal is super and speeds are great. IIRC I paid about £120 for the two. Oh, and the PPPOE side of things is a BT HH6. (although DNS/DHCP et al are covered off by an HPE Microserver running Ubuntu 16.04)

[westtra]

So if I get this right as looking at the ubiquiti kit in more detail.

I would go

openreach modem -----> Unifi security gateway ----> UniFi Switch 8 -----> UniFi AP AC Pro + UniFi Cloud Key + other items I have on my switch at the moment.



With this set up I would still need 3 x sockets so there goes the reducing clutter.
UniFi Switch 8 could get away with only the 4 POE switch? as it's £100 ish cheaper. And would only need to power the key & AP.
Do you need the cloud key for access from home only? As I can't see much times when I would need to control/access the set up when I am not at home.

[weeboot]

westtra said:

So if I get this right as looking at the ubiquiti kit in more detail.

I would go

openreach modem -----> Unifi security gateway ----> UniFi Switch 8 -----> UniFi AP AC Pro + UniFi Cloud Key + other items I have on my switch at the moment.

With this set up I would still need 3 x sockets so there goes the reducing clutter.
UniFi Switch 8 could get away with only the 4 POE switch? as it's £100 ish cheaper. And would only need to power the key & AP.
Do you need the cloud key for access from home only? As I can't see much times when I would need to control/access the set up when I am not at home.

You could do that, if you want to...
The APs come with their own PoE injector, so a PoE switch isn't 100% necessary.
My setup is simple netgear switches, 2 downstairs, one in the study, with the unifi APs hung off the back of those. The controller is running on my server.

[Zod]

If it's just the wifi element of the Airport Extreme that is temperamental, turn off its wifi and add a couple (or more if your house is big) of Google Wifi APs. I did that recently and it has transformed our wifi. We get a full 75Mbps everywhere in the house with no weak spots anywhere. If the Airport is temperamential more generally, still get Google Wifi, but add a simple router without wifi.

[westtra]

weeboot said:

You could do that, if you want to...
The APs come with their own PoE injector, so a PoE switch isn't 100% necessary.
My setup is simple netgear switches, 2 downstairs, one in the study, with the unifi APs hung off the back of those. The controller is running on my server.

Do the POE injectors need a power supply? As I am looking to de clutter the area all our network stuff sits.

at the moment in the server cabinet(cupboard) there is theopenreach modem, airport, 8 port switch, hive hub, sonos hub. I was initially looking to see if there is anything simpler where I could get rid of the openreach, airport and switch to combine them.
Worst case I was for clutter looking at keeping openreach and buying a separate router but have started looking at the ubiquiti stuff now and it looks good.

Essentially what I want is a future proof is network as we already have 12+ items on the home network at the moment(as much on wired as I can get with hopefully more soon) and with 2 kids getting to the age where they want tv's, xboxes etc. I want to have something that can handle all that but give me quality of service control(so I can steal all the bandwidth).

Zod said:

If it's just the wifi element of the Airport Extreme that is temperamental, turn off its wifi and add a couple (or more if your house is big) of Google Wifi APs. I did that recently and it has transformed our wifi. We get a full 75Mbps everywhere in the house with no weak spots anywhere. If the Airport is temperamential more generally, still get Google Wifi, but add a simple router without wifi.

Unfortunately its the whole thing as wired to tv and couple other things require a power cycle to get it working again.

[weeboot]

westtra said:

weeboot said:

You could do that, if you want to...
The APs come with their own PoE injector, so a PoE switch isn't 100% necessary.
My setup is simple netgear switches, 2 downstairs, one in the study, with the unifi APs hung off the back of those. The controller is running on my server.

Do the POE injectors need a power supply? As I am looking to de clutter the area all our network stuff sits.

at the moment in the server cabinet(cupboard) there is theopenreach modem, airport, 8 port switch, hive hub, sonos hub. I was initially looking to see if there is anything simpler where I could get rid of the openreach, airport and switch to combine them.
Worst case I was for clutter looking at keeping openreach and buying a separate router but have started looking at the ubiquiti stuff now and it looks good.

Essentially what I want is a future proof is network as we already have 12+ items on the home network at the moment(as much on wired as I can get with hopefully more soon) and with 2 kids getting to the age where they want tv's, xboxes etc. I want to have something that can handle all that but give me quality of service control(so I can steal all the bandwidth).

The injectors do need their own supply, but you can deliver that close to the AP rather than in the server cupboard.
I've ditched my sonos bridge having moved to a much better wireless solution and have no issues.
I suspect that you may struggle to find a combined router/switch with sufficient ports to cover off what you need.