Hi all, I run OpenWRT on a router (NanoPI R2S) and have two old Asus RT66Ns in AP mode in the house (all on wired backhaul). And I am looking to upgrade those, specifically because currently I do not have 'roaming' and clients getting 'stuck' on the wrong AP is starting to bug me. Also I would like to move to OpenWRT for the APs as well.
I am currently thinking of 2x TP-Link EAP225v3 simply because:
These seem to score well in tests/reviews on bandwidth/throughput, leading me to conclude that the radio hardware is of good quality;
OpenWRT support is good (question: are we able to achieve closed firmware speeds? A few years ago I had a TP-Link WDR3600 which performed a lot worse on OWRT compared to stock);
OpenWRT allows roaming / mesh;
In the NL market, they are affordable (€70 per AP).
Please validate my assumptions, challenge my thinking etc. many thanks for your insights!
Good point, thanks, my thinking was: all we have at home are laptops with 2x2 so I thought a 2-stream 5GHz would be more than enough. But I must admit I do not know if a 3 stream AP somehow would be of benefit even if all clients are 2 stream STAs. Also, looking at our use case, we would favor stability and range over theorical single room high speeds, as critical devices are wired.
[In a slightly simplified way] Having more streams supported by the router is beneficial whenever there's more than one client (STA) active at the same time.
Are you using the same SSID name for each AP? I do and my Apple products seamlessly manage to pick up the strongest connection, therefore no need for a "mesh" network.
Also, I seem to remember reading that most current wifi drivers have the same capability today. Not positive on that though and you'd have to research your device support.
many thanks for your insights!