It looks at first glance I am having great results with a netgear A6210 over a 20 meter amplified usb cable and a self powered usb 3 hub.
I am considering adding more of those as this seems to me soo much easier to maintain than having seperate openwrt instances spread around the premises.
Is there any tests I can run to make sure things are working as they should be so that we can finally start recommending setups like this in case it works out?
Only time will tell, personally I remain to be very sceptical towards this aproach.
Let's take a look at it:
stability/ reliability… probably like wet string
performance… crap.
--> ~115-120 EUR, per 'AP' (and still 'just' 2x2 802.11ac), you could get professional 4x4 802.11ax APs and cat-6 cable/ sockets for that money, probably even PoE…
An enthusiast's proof of concept build, maybe - a recommendation for others to follow, certainly not.
Is there any recommendation for a wireless USB network adapter (ideally with with an external antenna connection) which works fine as WiFi client?
I would like to hook up an external antenne to connect to a wifi over a long distance (WAN via beam antenna) and I would like to create then a new WiFi (LAN) with the OpenWRT device where the clients can connect, both in 2.4Ghz.
Or is there any OpenWRT hardware which supports two separate 2.4Ghz WiFi and at least one of them with an external antenna connection?
Have you considered an outdoor access point.
To get the myth out of the way: It's possible to run your WiFi via USB.
I'm running a 5Ghz (COMFAST CF-WU782AC) and 2.4Ghz (AWUS036ACHM)
My 2.4Ghz (N) network has better reach then my TP-Link Archer (V1) router. I'm quite impressed.
Checkout this great resource with lots of information on them: https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi
that's almost as expensive as an SH router like TP-Link Archer
What about power use? That's a factor to consider.
I don't have the datapoints but I can produce them soon. (I have a TP-Link Archer- it's less then 30 watt, I think a USB stick would be less)
i think the difference is less then 10w so not a good argument
You are right that it's a small difference, adding some datapoints:
I thought this is an interesting comparison to share given the conversation above.
Setup 1, TP-Link consumes about 2.62 W.
Setup 2, consumes about 7 W.
your setup-2 not good for long-term operation, it likes a prototype set, ugly.
try to find an all-in-one openwrt router meets your requirements. Wifi will be better, lower power consumption....and no more complex USB adaptor problems.
Could you perhaps elaborate why that setup would not be good for long term operation?
I for one do not mind how a setup looks. I mind mostly what I can do with it and how easy it is to maintain and upgrade and such.
bud, your barking at the wrong tree here, if you want to manage 7 APs easily, just get ubiquity or omada or something similar, those products have a app that can basically manage all the device and perform firmware upgrade, change SSIDs/passphrase in single click.
Great link, thanks!
You realize that we're seeing devices like dap-x1860, covr-x1860, wsm20 for around 15 EUR these days…?
Connect via ethernet, plug into the wall, done - 2x2 802.11ax (4x4 DBDC), full speed.
I see, I never realized ubiquity or omada run OpenWrt. I assume they do otherwise you would not have suggested that on the OpenWrt forum.
ohh wait.
You see, I prefer to run OpenWrt as a KVM VM. And use the spare processing power for other tasks. all in an effort to consolidate as much as I can in a low power setup. OpenWrt works best for me.
Also the ease of backups and restore when using VM's Yeah nah. No Ubiqu