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[duckson]

Having updated my router to an Asus RT-AC68U which covers the back of the house nicely (and the front on 2.4GHz) i'm looking to add a Wireless Access point (connected into my gigabit LAN) at the front of the house to give me solid Wireless AC (and N on 5GHz).

I was looking at the http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/products/19748-netgear-wac120-100uks/ but not many/any reviews out there from actual users.

Any recommendations please?

[JamesK]

I can't comment on that particular access point. For only a few £££'s more you could get the RT-AC56U and put it into wireless access point mode. It has the same CPU and memory as the RT-AC68U. The benefit of this is you also get 4 gigabit LAN ports available to you, and should your RT-AC68U go wrong for any reason you can swap-in the RT-AC56U as a spare. Amazon are currently selling the RT-AC56U for £75.

Another benefit is as both devices use the same firmware you can set the Wireless roaming assistant on both. This should allow you to set it so that your wireless devices connect to the strongest signal as you move throughout the house. Will probably take a few attempts to get the values correct, but certainly easier to do if the feature is available on both devices and they're running the same firmware.

[duckson]

Thanks.

That is a good spot! Cracking price.
I have the 68u with latest Merlin fork firmware, tweaked the WiFi signal output to 500mw via telnet.
I'll probably try the access point mode with the same ssid as the 68u as that works fine with my current tp link nano wireless n at the moment although the nano falls over every 24-48hrs.
 

[duckson]

Been using the 56u for the last couple of days and tbh it seems a bit erratic signal (dBm wise using Inssider).
The 2.4GHz is especially poor, with the 68u in the back room (through 2-3 walls) and put back to stock power outputs it sometimes eclipses the 2.4GHz signal strength of the 56u in the same room and line of sight.

The 56u 2.4GHz is up and down, it can drop 10-15dBm in an instant.

I've scoped the channels in the area and there is nothing on the channels (1 or 11) i am using (i'm only near a couple of other houses).

When in the same room as the 68u the signal for both 2.4 and 5 is no more than 30dBm, with the 56u its around 50dBm.
Seems from a quick Google that there is other reports of particularly poor 2.4GHz.

Using Merlin Fork update 5 on both routers.
Thinking i might return the 56u and get another 68u, slight overkill but it should all be good then.....