Hi, I’m new here.
I’m interested to buy a mikrotik router for my home and I want to know if is a good choice.
I have a fiber connection and not a lot of devices connected: a Mac, a Phone, a tablet, a printer, 2 webcam, a printer, a Chromecast and a paytv decoder.
All is connected thru WiFi. In most cases I’m able to connect in 5ghz but for ex. the printers uses only 2.4ghz.
My home is small and on one level.
I’m using internet just to navigate, email, social and streaming (for ex. paytv, football, etc). No gaming.
I’m interested in hap ac2 (I don’t want to spend a lot and the lite version is not gigabit, and the mini version is monoband, so I think i’ts a good choice the ac2 version).
I saw a lot of discussions about weak performance on wireless…are those problems solved with the latest version of routeros?
Do you think it’s a good choice? (I know, we are on mikrotik forum so… )
Many answers for many questions…but first, in resume.. OF COURSE mikrotik is a super option for router, maybe the best… but remember this…
A normal router from the ISP is the following devices..
GPON (in FTTH)/MODEM (in ADSL/VDSL) + Bridge + Router + Switch + AP
Mikrotik don’t do/make directly GPON/MODEM. Forget this
In bridge/router is the BEST, but is not the easiest… This a FULL router where you have CONTROL of EVERYTHING, but is not a click click click router.
Switch Is easy and very good, even, they are ALL layer2/3 switchs
AP = They are good, but not the best, they are NOT focused on making home AP device, even, the 2 bands AP are new in mikrotik products… and my personal recomendation is to have always a separate AP.,.. because if you spend in a gigabit router, it could be for years… but the ap could be changed when exist new bands, speed, protocols… etc etc etc…
They are many router WITHOUT AP.. only doing the best they know how to do.
ok, thanks, the connection I want is something like this:
ftth–>ont–>wifi router (the supposed to be Mikrotik hap ac2)
the first two are already in my home, I need the third one.
the mikrotik has to be configured with a V-Lan (835) on the Wan port and with a ppoe connection (that’s what the ISP told me to be mandatory and I know it’s possible with hap ac2)
and, of course it have to be a dchp.
by contract it’s a gigabit connection (downl/up)
I also have a VPN connection but I prefer to manage it from the mac because it frequently happens that the public IP used by the VPN is banned on some sites. I use the vpn only to watch maybe foreign television, etc…so it’s easier to deactivate from Mac Os instead to access the router every time.
I saw the hap ac2 in sale at 60-65€ and I think it’s fair (I don’t want to spend more and to have a lot of devices but I perfectly understand your suggestions)
the alternative is a Netgear AC1600 R6260 at the same price.
Good. Then you need a PPPoE auth. Is a recourse usage protocol.
Tell me, is really 1 Gbps up/down
It could be “difficult” for getting this speed with a PPPoE encapsulation with THIS hardware.
And after you learn how to work with RouterOS.. you will be do all in the router, even the VPN
you can create specific routes for certains “exits”.. I have many VPN simultaneous and the routers, and directly when I try something in X country, the package goes in the correct way jejejeje
As you don’t need an ONT and the handover interface between the ISP boxes and your router is copper Ethernet, the hAP ac² seems to be a suitable choice interface-wise.
So the only question open remains the WiFi interworking with various devices, as you’ve identified yourself. With your variety of devices, you cannot completely exclude some of them to perform worse than expected, but there is no way to know than by trying. And then opening a ticket with Mikrotik and providing them with all information they ask for to fix the issue for that device.
OK. Instead of “you don’t need an ONT” I probably should have written “you don’t need the ONT functionality to be provided by Mikrotik as you already have an ONT from the ISP” The second part of the sentence was “the handover interface between the ISP boxes and your router is copper Ethernet”, so I thought it was clear enough. My fault.
Ok. I understand and sorry for my bad english, is not my native language…
And “normally” (he doesn’t say in that country is and the ISP) the ONT are only bridging, and in “many” times, the PPPoE is always in the router side, two or three times I saw the ONT doing like a router and giving ab “internal IP” in the eth side…
yes, I can confirm that the ONT is provided by ISP (just to “translate” the fiber to the ethernet), so I don’t need ont functionality IN the mikrotik.
I don’t know if it’s an effective gigabit connection, and, honestly, I don’t care. I think that even if it is not 1000 but 100mbps, but REAL 100, it’s suitable for most of daily activity.
the important thing is that the mac goes at full speed, maybe also my phone and paytv.
The printer or the cameras can go also at 5mbps, I don’t care
What I had in mind when asking about uplink bandwidth was that there is little point in having the WiFi connection faster than the WAN one unless you have a lot of local traffic (streaming video from a local NAS to a mobile device, for example). But as your uplink is a 1 Gbit/s one (or at least the ISP says so), the difference between a 100 Mbit/s wireless connection and a 600 Mbit/s wireless connection may be significant if several devices need to donwload at the same time, causing you to wait for your videos to start playing for some fractions of a second longer if you have only 100 Mbit/s over the air. And this is where some devices’ wireless chipsets used to cause some trouble to hAP ac². It’s improving constantly so I have no idea whether that will affect your particular devices or not.
But know for you is IMPORTANT you uplink/downlink REAL speed, because WE (all together) need to measure which one kind of CPU do you need for handling it.
For example, look in this forum: movistar spain ppooe and you will find a lot of issues reaching 300 Mbps with certain equipment, because the encapsulation USES a lot of CPU and sometimes the mexium reacable speed was around 100 o 120 Mbps..
Then, you can apply fast track and other things..
please, inform your real SPEED… I need to know if the equipment is capable of encapsulate it at your maximum speed.
And yes, the port is gigabit, but the problem is not the LINK, the problem is you need to “convert” every package!
the isp says 1000/300
and, granted, 300/200
I’m not yet at home so I can not tell more …
I live most of the time alone, so I use one device at time (well, I can watch a football match while I’m using Facebook, but it’s not relevant I suppose)
I do not have a NAS.
chromecast streams for ex. a youtube video at max 1080, the paytv streams directly from their server in full hd (it can reach up to 4k indeed, but my television is not 4k capable, so i watch in 1080p)
and also my imac is not 4k capable.
You are right… but I didn’t want to explain so much,…
the problem is the ONT from the ISP has the authentication in ONT, and you need to “hack” the original ONT, serials, etc etc etc and create a firmware for the mikrotik ont or something like that. Is not just plug the fiber and getting the internet.
Remember, the normal FTTH system are point-multipoint and ALL the fibers are enabled and “working”.
For that the ISP has their own auth in the ONT…
In the fiber box in your building, is a passive device and it has service… is impossible for stopping the service in an end…
This is the “medium” explaining… do you understand me?
I’m not from Mikrotik but I’ve done a measurement specifically targeted to performance when PPPoE is used, together with firewall in different level of optimization. I’ve provided the link to the results in my post #7 above. So yes, hAP ac² does handle 1 Gbit/s bidirectionally over PPPoE with fasttrack, spending about 30% of total CPU capacity on it; without fastrack, it is at slightly above 1/2 of that throughput, and the CPU load is at about 1/2 of the totally available capacity.
So really, my only concern would be the wireless compatibility.
)
The second part of the sentence was “the handover interface between the ISP boxes and your router is copper Ethernet”, so I thought it was clear enough. My fault.