I’ve got a remote location in which wired (Ubiquiti) AP supporting both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands are installed.
I a couple of spots where I can’t easily extend current cabling but have weak Wifi signal issues.
I’m looking for Mikrotik device that will work as a repeater/extender/whatever, connecting wirelessly as a WiFi client while simultaneously offering a local WiFi downlink.
Ideally, for a better throughput, both uplink and downlink WiFi should work in 5 GHz (if radio conditions allow it) but in different channels. I don’t know if devices with dual 5 GHz radios still exist. If not, I think I would use 2.4 GHz for uplink and 5 GHz for downlink to avoid interferences.
My requirements:
dual wifi radio 2.4 and 5 Ghz
very sensitive radio or detachable antenna connector
at least one Ethernet port
budget 60 to 100 Euro, without VAT
Options:
a second Ethernet port
a reset button (to recover from config errors)
Audience has dual 5GHz radio (operating in different parts of 5GHz band) … with explicit intention for exactly such use. It fails half of requirements though.
But yes, wiring would work so much better.
Beware that bridging possibly won’t work nicely between Ubiquiti AP and MT “repeater”, so you might have to resort to routing on mikrotiks. Or, if it would suit you, use either Ubiquiti devices as repeaters or replace Ubiquiti with MT device (e.g. Audience) as AP.
Not as good as real ethernet cabling but if really required, it can be a better option then a wireless backhaul.
Be advised though there are some caveats:
your powerline connections which need to work together all need to be on the same phase of your power network (not sure how it goes in other countries but in Belgium we can have single-phase (230V in) or tri-phase (380V in, 3x 230V further on) installations. Obviously those powerlines need to be on the same phase in order to work together.
depending on the equipment you have on your installation, there can be minor, huge or VERY huge interference (e.g. motors but especially look at DC/AC convertors typically used for solar installations)
I’ve used powerlines (TP-Link) for quite some time between my home office and router. In the beginning it was about 200Mb throughput internally (I only had 200 down / 20 Up from ISP so no issue for me) but when a solar installation was placed, it dropped to 80-something Mb.
The harmonics needed to create AC sinus-waves really are devastating to a powerline connection.
That’s when I decided to pull a real CAT6-cable (now I get close to 1Gb internally).
Or, in case there are suitable unused coaxial (TV antenna) cables installed, MoCA or G.hn adapters … These work similarly to HomePNA (can create a mesh network), but using coaxial cables … which easily support rates exceeding 1Gbps (over coax cables that is).
Unfortunately, I can’t use powerline nor coax on this location.
I ordered an OpenWRT-powered tri-radio router,(65 Euro without VAT) without detachable antenna, hoping its range would meet my requirements.
Audience would have been perfect except for its price.
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