- #MIKROTIK AP INSTALL#
- #MIKROTIK AP PASSWORD#
- #MIKROTIK AP PLUS#
- #MIKROTIK AP SERIES#
- #MIKROTIK AP WINDOWS#
So I creating the heat maps using my Nexus 5X using the
#MIKROTIK AP WINDOWS#
(I usually use Nirsoft WiFi Information View on Windows for pretty low level details of access points, but it doesn’t do heatmaps. I decided to create some heat maps of signal strength for my old access point and new, to see if that would help answer these questions.
Oh, and one other: should a create different SSIDs for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, or just let my devices roam between them as they see fit? (As a side note, Gigabit ethernet does not suffer from this problem because of high performance network switches which magically make sure packets going to and from each device never collide).Īnyway, back to my problem at hand: which networks, which devices, which channels? This means to get the best out of WiFi, you should run separate networks on separate radios and separate frequencies (which is kind of like running separate wires for separate networks).Īn article on Ars Technica goes over this in great detail. It’s like 10BASE2 ethernet using the old coax cable which I remember from the mid and late 1990’s at LAN parties - there is only one wire shared between all devices so only one device can send at any one time. If two devices attempt to send at the same time, their packets literally colide in mid-air (well, OK, they collide the in receivers radio circitry) and must be re-sent.Īlso, it’s half-duplex, which means you can’t send and receive at the same time: one device sends while another receives, then the roles are reversed. I’ve highlighted the key words shared medium because it means only one device can send to one other device at any given time. The 5GHz situation is less complex as I only have a single 5GHz radio.īut it does remain: should all networks run on 5GHz, or just some?Īn important piece of theory at this point: WiFi uses a shared medium to send and receive data called the “radio spectrum” (aka “the air”). That is, I have two 2.4GHz radios on two devices (each of which can occupy 2 usable channels out of a possible 3) and four networks I’d like to run.
It’s also installed in a more central location than the RB2011, which is located at the far end of our living room.Īt this point, I’m ready to configure the access point for real use.īut there’s a question bugging me: which networks should be hosted on which devices? I used double sided tape to attach to the wall and installed it up-side-down.Īnd I think the end result is pretty discrete. The access point has various mounting options from a desktop stand to wall mount to mast mount. Mostly, this involves me drilling holes in my ceiling and cornice, and pulling ethernet cable through my ceiling cavity. Once I confirmed I can use WinBox to access the device, it’s time for physical installation.
#MIKROTIK AP PASSWORD#
Then, got the access point to check for updates (confirming its network configuration is good) and installed said update.įinally, I changed the default access points to grant-new24 and grant-new5, and gave them both a password - in preparation for some later tests. I configured a static IPv4 address and set DNS and the default route to my router. Which means I don’t need a power point near the access point itself, only near my router.
#MIKROTIK AP PLUS#
The wAP is powered via power over ethernet, delivered by a magic injector plus plug pack. Unbox the wAP and plug it in to configure core LAN settings. Side note: last time I tried to make VLANs work I failed miserably.
#MIKROTIK AP INSTALL#
So the goal of this exercise is to install and configure my shiny new wAP access point, and keep my 4 separate WiFi networks isolated. To keep this isolation happening, we need to use VLANs to create… well… virtual LANs for my virtual access point. Installing an access point is usually nothing complicated.īut I run a total of 4 virtual WiFi access points, for various isolated networks.
This is a WiFi access point with single gigabit ethernet port, 2 channel 2.4GHz and 3 channel 5GHz WiFi. So, when my parents asked me what they could buy me for Christmas, I asked for a Mikrotik wAP ac. Specifically, the RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN - which has 5 gigabit ethernet ports, 5 fast ethernet ports, and 2 channel 2.4GHz WiFi.Īt the time, I had exactly one device which was 5GHz WiFi capable, so the lack of 5GHz 802.11ac support wasn’t a problem.įast forward to 2017 and 5GHz support on client devices like phones and laptops is pervasive (every new device we acquired in 2017 supported 5GHz 802.11ac).Įven more pointed is that my wife’s Acer Spin 15 has no wired ethernet port at all it’s WiFi all the way (or a USB ethernet adapter), so having a 5GHz access point is now quite desirable.
#MIKROTIK AP SERIES#
Several years ago (2014), I got on the Mikrotik bandwagon via an RB2011 series router. Install a separate access point with isolated networks.