Advice on selection of APs for SOHO environment.

MagSett

Hi!
newbie here. I am coming from a consumer grade network equipment and intend to replace this something similar to the NWA/WAX range. 

I am seeking your advice on which of Zyxels APs which would be best value  for my conditions and needs (as below).

Needs;
a) Stability
b) Well functioning quick hand off of wireless devices between APs (without VPN disconnects)
c) QoS capable as 4K-stream video is going to be parallel to work related video conferencing (over vpn) and gaming (that's life w kids).
d) must support multiple SSIDs & VLANs as IoT, guest networks etc shall be separated
e) must be supported by vendor post sales with focus on resolving issues w functionality as well as security.

Conditions;
1) 2800 sqft (260m2) house, (approximately 50x30 feet), 2,5 floors, armoured lightweight concrete outer walls (lower floor) & between floors.
2) incoming fiber - center of one of the shorter walls (eg not centered but one side of house).
3) Fiber 250/250, 1.3ms lag.
4) Some 40 wireless devices majority is AX/AC but still some 802.11n. Increasing amount of 2.4band IoT.

Thank you very much in advance.

Zyxel_Dick

Hi Mmagsett,

Welcome to Zyxel community.

Zyxel is devoted to providing stable and well-performing products.

We are experienced in each field solution. 

Based on your Needs and Conditions, I want to promote NWA210AX/NWA610AX/WAX630D-S/WAX650-S for you.

These 4 APs support 4x4 on 5G band and 2x2/4x4 on 2.4G band, you can select the models based on IOT usage.

And both WAX630-S and WAX650-S support smart antenna which optimized patterns and focus RF energy to target clients.

Easy to increase capacity supports more clients.

And one important thing, all of the above APs support Nebula Control Center.

You can easy to manage and configure your devices, and realize the client status.

For more information, please refer to the below link.

https://www.zyxel.com/products_services/NCC-Nebula-Control-Center/why-nebula

Thank you.

BR, Dick

PEACEkeeper

Hi @Zyxel_Dick,

I used three NWA50AX for a setup like @MagSett describes. The differences are, that I have only a 125m2 area and 6 SSIDs.

But I have massive connection problems with some IoT devices:

• iRobot i7
• Reolink E1 WLAN Cam
• Reolink E1 Zoom

All of these devices lost the connection and are not able to reconnect for a while. And then, without any changes ore interactions, the devices are connected.
The problem doesn't affect all devices at the same time. It's more like russian roulette.

Is it possible that the NWA50AX are not suitable for this application?

MagSett

Dear @Zyxel_Dick!
Thank you very much for your proposals. 

My network today has a 2x2 AX fronthaul and a 4x4 AX Wi-Fi backhaul. In a setup with Zyxel I would be looking for Ethernet backhaul from APs.

Why is the NWA210AX a better option than for example the 50ax/90ax in a home environment? Grateful for your support.


@PEACEkeeper have you tried to optimize the channel selection and signal strength of your network vs you neighbors?
Have a look at this video - it offers a good explanation to how to proceed irrespectively of brand.
https://youtu.be/iHBCWy6qDBs

Zyxel_CSO

PEACEkeeper said:

Hi @Zyxel_Dick,

I used three NWA50AX for a setup like @MagSett describes. The differences are, that I have only a 125m2 area and 6 SSIDs.

But I have massive connection problems with some IoT devices:

• iRobot i7
• Reolink E1 WLAN Cam
• Reolink E1 Zoom

All of these devices lost the connection and are not able to reconnect for a while. And then, without any changes ore interactions, the devices are connected.
The problem doesn't affect all devices at the same time. It's more like russian roulette.

Is it possible that the NWA50AX are not suitable for this application?

NWA50AX is suitable for the small business environment, it might have other reasons that caused your station to disconnect, like DCS... We can check the logs page and based on the station MAC to check why it disconnected. Of course, if you keep facing this issue and cannot resolve it by logs, please collect the diag-info file and send a private message to me. I am glad to help you to clarify the root cause. 

Zyxel_CSO

Hi MagSett,

We recommend the NWA210AX/NWA610AX/WAX630D-S/WAX650-S for you because you have many IoT devices and require higher quality video streaming, 4X4 (smart) antenna provides faster Wi-Fi speed, more consistent connections for every user. 

Thank you.
BR, Dick 

PEACEkeeper

@MagSett

Thank you for your suggestion. It seems that the affected devices where switching between two APs. I didn't understand why, because they are all located near one of the APs and have a great connection.
But after switching to the other one, which is much far away, the connection gets weak.
It seems that the switch happens every few seconds/minutes

MagSett

@PEACEkeeper You could play w Unifis Design Center tool and upload your floor plan. 

Once there try to add three u6 lite’s on the locations you currently have your APs and select to show the 2.4 band only. This will give you the opportunity to see if you should dial back the signal strength on all three APs, if you should have the two outer APs to broadcast 2.4 so you can adjust the overlap signal strength between the two.

As clients typically hand off to the next AP at -70dbm you need to be careful so you don’t have three 2.4 channels “screaming” across causing your clients to be confused.

Worst case you could disable 2.4 on all but your center AP and then run that on full signal but I would try to avoid it as then you might not have good Wi-Fi in your garden or to Wi-Fi cameras etc.

Hope there is nothing wrong with the devices and all my best for you in being successful solving the issue.