hAP ax2 + mAP Lite without cables?

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Hello guys.
I am newbie in Mikrotik.

I currently have a hAP ax2 in my room, but in part of the house the WIFI signal is poor.
I would like to improve the signal diagonally by adding a cheap mAP Lite and connecting it via wifi. I don’t have any twisted pairs at home.
Additionally, it would be nice to connect a PC to the mAP Lite via LAN.

Do you think this will work? Will CAPsMAN make all this possible? How to select the option in the configuration?
I don’t have money for expensive mesh systems.

Graphics to explain

Best regards

2

A couple of things are contradicting here …

Your wifi signal is bad yet you want to use a WIRELESS link to improve the situation ?
And how would that help then ? It will most likely not help.

Secondly, you refer to capsman but your one device is AX-based, the other one is legacy wifi.
No match.

Thirdly, what you want is a device which acts in station mode connecting to another access point. This has nothing to do with capsman.
Also, since one is AX and the other is legacy, it will create some additional struggles for using station mode (not bridged so not on the same subnet)

Is there no way to add an ethernet line to the other room ?
No coax in the walls which is not being used (MOCA adapters can be used then) ?
Or … powerline adapters if the wall sockets are on the same phase of the electrical circuit ?

3

In the room where the PC is I get via 2.4 Ghz 70-80 Mbs. The signal is good there and I want to install mAP LITE there.
Why do I want to install mAP Lite there? Because now I have a USB wifi card and it works poorly. So I have to buy something for this computer…

I thought about a cheap mikrotik to connect a PC and strengthen the range in the next room for wifi calling (ORANGE Iphone 13 pro)

4

If you don’t really need the tiny size and portability of the Map (standard or lite) you’d better get a device using the same kind of wi-fi as your Ax2, which in this case would mean an Ax Lite, a little more expensive than Maps, but this way you will have (besides a much faster transmission and much less headaches with the two different generation of wireless vs. wi-fi settings) a more modern processor and an adequate storage size (128 Mb) that makes it hopefully good for several years of easy updates, as right now devices with only 16Mb storage like the Maps and the older haps are right on the border (depending on complexity of configuration) of needing netinstall when upgrading.
If you have or can procure for pennies an used device is another thing, of course, but buying today new devices with only 16 Mb is not very wise.

5

Ok… hAP ax lite sounds good - still cheap.

Do you think this wireless setup will work? I’ll add that 5Ghz in this room (through the thick ceiling) is already weak.
In my house, there’s no chance of adding a twisted pair, and the power is divided up and down.

Which option to choose in CAPsMAN?

6

I don’t think that a device in the configuration you want/need can be managed via cAPsman, the radio of the Ax lite won’t be an AP (as seen by the main router Ax2), it will need to be configured as station (please read as “client”) to connect to your current Ax2, then a slave interface will be added as AP to serve your clients.

Since the device has only one radio and it is needed as what is often referred to as “wi-fi repeater” or “wi-fi extender” half of the time it will transmit/receive to/from AP and the other half to/from clients, so speed will be roughly 1/2 of the max possible.

Another approach to have better speed (not suitable for your case since you have weak 5 GHz signal) is to use a device with dual radios (such - only as an example - another Ax2) configurinfg the 5 GHz radio as station connected to the “main” Ax2 and the 2.4 Ghz as AP for the clients.

You could try the reverse, having the 2.4 GHz as station and the 5GHz as AP, but then all your clients will need to be 5GHz compatible.

At the end of the day, what is really relevant is the speed/bandwidth you expect from the setup, since you started thinking of a Map Lite, very likely your expectations are low enough, and the single 2.4 GHz radio of the Ax Lite will be enough (in any case it will be roughly 2x faster, being 574 mbps/wi-fi6, than a Map or Map Lite that are 300mbps/Wi-fi4).

As holvoeth suggested, unless your house is very large/has a strange electrical plant[1], a powerline solution should be considered (MOCA adapters, even if you have an unused coaxial would surely go over budget), there are decent powerline adapters (TP-LINK, yes, I know) pairs, one with wi-fi and one without, available for around 70-80 Euros, see this thread:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/extend-wifi-in-small-house/183442/1


[1] the issue with powerline adapters is when the electrical plant is multi-phase AND the two sockets you want to connect the devices to are connected on different phases, this doesn’t usually happen in “normal” houses, only in some cases of very large ones (it depends also on the country, if I remember correctly three-phase plants even in small houses are common in Germany), then - see the linked thread - multiphase powerline adapters do exist, but obviously they are not exactly cheap..

7

Ok, I checked and it’s better. The iPad mini reached the place where the new Mikrotik would be DL 261Mbs/UL 30Mbs.
I have a FO 500/30Mbs connection.

So if I buy a better Mikrotik downstairs, e.g. hAP AX2, will it be possible to configure 5Ghz as a bridge between them and the new one would broadcast 2.4Ghz to clients?

Will the network “upstairs” with the already owned AX2 broadcast 5Ghz normally?
Will the 5Ghz network be busy for a connection between two AX2?

8

Well, you have to imagine the second AX2 as a “concentrator of clients”.
Simplified you have (say) 10 clients (phone, tablet, PC’s, etc.) all in the range of the old AX2, each draws 10 Mbytes, total 100 Mbytes.
Then you move 5 devices out of the range of the old AX2 and connect them to the new AX2.
The old Ax2 will need to serve the same 100, made of 5x10+50 instead of 10x10.
There will be actually some overhead due to the second AX2, but It should be negligible.
Things are a bit more complicated in reality depending whether your 10 devices use 5GHz or 2.4GHz. If they are all 2.4GHz speed may even get better as the bandwidth will be divided between the two radios.
The worst case would be if you have 5 devices connected to the old Ax2 in 5GHz and the other 5 devices connected to the new AX2 as all the bandwidth of the 10 devices will have to go through the 5GHz radio of the old Ax2.

9

I will have over 10 clients.
including several 2.4Ghz. some of them are stationary (2xPC + 2xTV) but with tablets, laptops and phones they walk around the house.

I still think so, maybe I will be able to run the twisted pair through the ceiling to the corridor (the central point of the house on the first floor). then the range downstairs should improve due to fewer walls and the staircase which is an open space.

I would hang Access Point AX with PoE power supply from AX2 and the matter would be better

the worst problem I have is with one room. Specifically the kitchen with dining room. The wifi there is so bad that it breaks the WiFi Calling connection.

10

Do you have options in a different placement for your existing hAP ax2? If your room is in the corner of the house, then simply placing it somewhere closer to the center might solve the issues. Even positioning matters. Unfortunately, MikroTik doesn’t publish radiation patterns, but some hints could be inferred by looking at the antennae placement on the board (you can search for photos of the inside). You don’t want to turn the “back” of the AP towards your weakest location.

If you can’t move the ax2 because of where the fiber comes in, you could try getting a dedicated AP and put it as close to the house center as you can, even if it’s in the same room. Some APs are better than others for long range. You can get a used enterprise-grade AP for very cheap ($50-60 in the USA).

Regarding the USB adapter—is it one of those flash-drive types? In my experience they are pretty weak, and plugging one into the box of a PC tower makes matters even worse.

11

I can’t move ax2 because FO goes into this room and the router is connected to the PC, TV and PS5 via cable. However, now I’m looking at the house and I have a chance, as you say. To run a twisted pair cable along the ceiling at the central point of the house (on the first floor, but it’s always 2 fewer brick walls). In that case, maybe I would hang wAP AX.
The price is acceptable, it is small and has low power consumption (PoE with ax2 should be enough). In a PC with wifi on usb there is a constant problem with disconnecting or losing drivers. Maybe I will put wifi there via PCIE in the bus.

12

Please be aware that a Cap device (intended for Ceiling mount, but that can also mounted on a wall) has a shape of the emissions that can be imagined as a spherical cap (when mounted on a ceiling omnidirectional in the horizontal plane and downwards only in the vertical plane, see:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/cap-ax-gen-6-mediocre-performance/176254/1

A Wap device (intended for Wall mount) is instead a more directional device projecting most of the emissions in a 60 to 90°, maybe 120° wide sector, see:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/wap-ax-as-replacement-for-old-unifi-ac-pro/180280/1
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/wap-coverage-picture-included/179859/1

In other words, a Cap device should have the best coverage when mounted on the ceiling at the center of the area to be covered, the Wap when it is placed in a corner of a (squarish) area to be covered.

This is in theory (largish empty square area with no obstacles) in practice this is not entirely true inside a house as there are also reflections of the walls, of the floor and of the ceiling, furniture, etc..

13

I know that WDS won’t work with CAPsMAN, but maybe there is an option for EoIP tunneling?

Then I would even connect two “AX2” with a virtual cable and both compatible with roaming