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Wireless Access Point Reliability?
darrelld2 asks: "I'm having problems finding a low cost access point that is reliable. I started searching the web; however, I can't find anyone who has done independent research on access points to find which one is the most dependable. I have had several different brands; Cisco, 3Com, and Netgear. The only one that has lasted more than 6 months was the Cisco. What are other Slashdot users seeing?" Just as an added datapoint, I've been using my Cabletron Wireless AP for well over 2 years, and aside with a (repairable) problem with the power supply, it is still going strong. What have your experiences been with wireless APs?
I'm just wondering what you've been doing with those AP's that make them die so easily.
I've got a Linksys, it's been working fine for probably a year now. At work, we use Cisco AP's and they've been running strong for well over 2 years.
Do you leave it outside in the rain, drop it in the mud, or kick it?
I've had no problems with it so far. I believe I've had it for a year.
I've had an AirPort since shortly after it came out, and it's been running nearly continuously since then. I had the capacitor failure that a lot of the early ones had, and swapped them out myself. I also added a Lucent range extender antenna to boost the signal around the house. but it's been running virtually trouble-free since.
I don't know about the newer versions, but the original Graphite base station has worked great for me. There are Windows and Java-based configurators available for the older Graphite and Snow 802.11b models. I'm not sure about the Extreme (802.11g) version, though.
A base station of any brand shouldn't fail as quickly as you are experiencing, I think. If they die quickly, they may be getting too hot or perhaps they're getting really crappy power that stresses the power supply beyond what they're spec'd for.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
When you talk about 'reliability' it sounds like you are talking about longevity. In addition to hw failures you also have to worry about the AP's ability to be upgraded to keep up with new authentication/authorization methods and other such software/firmware improvements. That is the biggest difference between the low end and the high end APs. We use Cisco APs and bridges for this very reason. We were steered this direction because we are a Cisco shop, so I'm not by any means trying to steer people towards Cisco APs. That being said, we have been happy with them, but I also know of people who have AP installs using other 'high-end' APs with similar success.
At my home I have a Linksys box (one of the gateway/wireless/4 port hub boxes) and it has been working alright for a couple years now. With earlier firmware revs the wireless would occasionally drop, but with the later revs its been pretty good.
I had a funny problem with my Netgear ME102 at home. The connection gradually got less and less reliable over distance, finally it could sustain a connection (to a Netgear MA401 802.11b PC card) for no more than a couple of minutes at a time. But the status lights on the WAP itself were showing it was fine. The problem was the power supply - it had failed in such a way that the ME102 could still power up, yet it could not run the radio link. It took 6 weeks or so dealing with Netgear's frankly useless tech support organization to diagnose this. I don't just mean that their people are clueless (altho' they are) and that they barely speak English. Their call centre technology is poor - for example, every time I called, I gave the ticket number the last one had given me, but it wasn't recognized and I had to almost start again from scratch each time. There also appears to be no link between their email and phone tech support groups.
Nezt time, I'll pay the extra money for Cisco.
At home I have a Linksys WAP51AB dual band AP. I've had one or two times where the box has frozen and one time where the A radio froze, but the B didn't. Overall, it's a reasonably good product other than the A radio having disappointing performance and the fact that it seems to have marginal support since the intoduction of the B+G products.
FWIW...the 2-3 years before I got the Linksys, I had a Nokia 11b AP (only 1MB, though, and no WEP...not exactly featureful) that ran flawlessly.
Hey there,
Well I've been using both Cisco and D-link AP's for a few years, and have had neglible problems with either of them.
In our house we are heavy wireless user's and there are times I'm streaming heavy video to one device or another, and have never had much degredation, or packet drops.