+12 votes
by (3.9k points)
Anyone able to answer some fairly noob questions about access points?  
Anyone able to answer some fairly noob questions about access points?

8 Answers

+10 votes
by (700 points)
 
Best answer
Most consumer grade APs are limited to 15-20 simultaneous connections. So you could put items on a VPN for separating purposes but as far as I know that doesn’t give you more connections. The connections bottleneck is you AP / router.  
by (3.9k points)
@foredo2221 but adding an AP to my router WILL add at least the extra connections? And I can do those through a unique SSID?  
by (3.9k points)
@foredo2221 I was also reading that openwrt or ddwrt will allow more connections because the physical hardware is capable of more than 15
by (700 points)
I see what you’re saying. Gonna be honest and say I’m not sure there because I don’t know if the connections come from the router or the AP.  
by (3.9k points)
@foredo2221 well since I was given this particular AP I guess I'll just give it a shot on Thursday.  
+10 votes
by (1.9k points)
Dont put them too close together.  
+8 votes
by (370 points)
What's your questions
+2 votes
by (3.9k points)
If I connect an AP to my wifi router, that would then allow me to connect devices to a unique SSID and they would also not cluter up the main router, correct? Example: My main home network consists of a triband wifi router (2. 4 and two 5. 0s) I have ssids set up so the 2. 4 is for echo devices and anything else that is not 5. 0 capable. One 5ghz is dedicated strictly for streaming devices (TV and games) the last 5ghz band is for everything else (phones, laptops, etc). Am I correct in thinking I can add a 2. 4 access point and that will allow me add more 2. 4 devices under a unique SSID and I will not be taking up connection capacity on my router?  
by (5.2k points)
@bcd no, all home internet traffic still has to go through your router. You can have more wifi devices on with more access points though, which is probably what you are asking.  
by (3.9k points)
@balk the devices that are going to connect to this are only things that really should be z wave but are wifi instead. Extremely low data usage but I still think it's best to keep them off the main router
+11 votes
by (3.9k points)
Also, I can't get a clear answer on actual capacity of an access point. Seems that many of the TP Link APs are software limited to 15 but then some say 30. This must be a software restriction right?  
by (1.2k points)
@bcd go with ubiquiti.  
by (3.9k points)
@yerxa I keep hearing that but is that really the only way? I was given a TP Link AP and was really hoping to make that work. It will only be for smart devices that are not z wave
by (5.2k points)
@bcd ubiquiti is solid, not expensive and very reliable
by (3.9k points)
@balk bottom line though is this will work though?  
by (3.2k points)
@bcd Yes you shouldn’t have an issue with the TP Link.  
by (660 points)
OK i can categorically confirm after wasting 3 days and a shit ton of cash that PRetty much any router under £150 will have a max address reservation limit of 32 devices no matter what SSID they connect too, and if you have an access point it needs an IP address so you can make that 31 left for smart devices. ubiquiti is the way forward price wise as the cheapest TP link product that supports more then 32 is the AX50 and is £178 vs around £90 for ubiquiti. in orderto save money what i have done is set up address reservation for all things that need physical internaet access like pcs tvs google homes and phones etc, any smart device is on dhcp and so far the internet is only having to be reset once a week rather than 3 times a day due to device over capacity.  
+8 votes
by (2.4k points)
Not if you don’t want 30 uneducated answers, about 10 decently educated answer, and about 70 biased “what you have is a piece of shit” answers that end with “this is what I have”
by (420 points)
@cavanaugh 60% of the pages I follow at this point
by (3.9k points)
@cavanaugh painfully accurate
+8 votes
by (6.3k points)
If you must use it because you got it but you know it's not the right solution, then at least do a site survey and put it on a different channel with the least interferes for best performance.  
by (3.9k points)
@dispassionate was definitely going to do that no matter what.  
+2 votes
by (1.5k points)
Your network is what almost everything relies on to work well with home automation. Spend your money here first. TP Link isn’t a good start. Minimum Ubiquiti. Except their routers, there’s way better out there.  
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