Some of you must work in corporate IT or for a company that services other companies. What router do you recommend for a small business of about 50 users with the resulting laptop+smartphone+tablet culture associated with that many users?
Our office is about 100 feet x 50 feet and has a ton of concrete columns and partitions (aluminum stud/drywall).
Don't bother with wireless use cat5 cables .
Wifi is shitty when it comes to passing trough walls
Depends on the type of business. What is the importance of security to you. If it's high, then I don't recommend Wifi. If not then there are a variety of models to go through.
One router is not going to cut it
>>51631593
My company uses cisco meraki stuff. But thats overkill for your place.
>>51631643
we have both (two 25 port ethernet switches in the server closet), but sometimes we have randoms come into our office and sit in our conference rooms etc., and people want it on their phones/tablets. Also when we are working with a boss at their little tables.
>>51631653
we have an amazing checkpoint firewall and the wireless network is hidden. we also can enable a checkpoint splash screen that requires a login password (I hate that shit though, going to disable it on the next router)
I just dont know how to shop for this shit. Seems like every review website is just an advertisement for the highest bidder. I was hoping /g/ might have experience with a particular router they recommend. hoping there is no such thing as a 'router shill'.
are all these 'gamer' shits placebo? or are they better? Is tri-band really better than dual-band, or is it marketing bullshit? these are the kinds of questions /g/ excels at answering so I appreciate your responses. bros helping bros is why I love this board.
>>51631659
ok, how do you set up more than one router to use the same SSID, or would everyone just need to add multiple 'connect-automatically' SSIDs?
any links to tech or systems I seem to not be aware of?
>>51631742
Look up "multiple router ddwrt"
I would recommend a hard line connections at the desk for the laptops and and a separate sandbox solution for the tablets and smart phones with interconnection via secure VLAN.
Cisco has Wifi routers/AP with built in security features, but your going to need at least two or more depending on the number of devices each person has.
Tie them together at a single point for outgoing traffic that can be watched easily.
Once again, keeping wifi separate from your core network is key, especially in cases of drive by sweeps.
>>51631706
Avoid the gaming shit.
Focus on function. Cisco or any other professional AP/routers with integrated encryption and other security solutions is the way to go.
Pay for function not flair.
>>51631593
I would recommend hiring a consultant to do the job RIGHT (security, capacity, etc)
>>51631818
thanks, looking into this now
>>51631773
thank you for the tips. the sandbox solution for smartphones makes a lot of sense since they don't have any reason to access the file server.
>>51631770
thank you for the advice. A number of posters have recommended Cisco no, so thats where I'll focus my shopping.
Thanks again to all posters
>>51631593
Go to a university surplus auction, see what you can get for infrastructure. Nothing foundational as it may not work
>>51631593
https://www.ubnt.com/products/ or Cisco equipment use APs instead of build in wifi shit.
most good equipment use command-line to get the most out of it desu, there are alot with web interface but CLI will have the most options.
get a few of those ubiquity frisbees
>>51631860
I work in real estate like my colleagues, it's just I know how to clean viruses, upgrade peoples laptops (thinkpads), and google shit better than others so they put me in charge of IT stuff. I figured I could just ask some actual consultants on /g/.
I've been doing for 6 years now and have been getting by quite successfully just implementing your recommendations. :^)
>>51631593
Look at routerboard.com for Mikrotik routers and access points. They are pretty beefy and most of them have 1W tx power. also I have one AP that burns it's pcb if you dont have antennas connected to the pcb. That tells you a little bit about the power.
>>51632126
>I've been doing for 6 years now and have been getting by quite successfully just implementing your recommendations. :^)
Wait... /g/ can give actual helpful recommendations?
>>51631593
ubiquity pro
/thread
I work in a small IT business that does general networking admin shit for SMB. We use drayteks unless they are in finance and then we use £3000+ sonic walls. For wireless access points
--->>51632781
ubiquity unifi's are solid and never fail.
1. You don't want a router, you want an AP. Do you even know what a router is?
2. You just set them to have the same SSID and security settings.
>>51632758
>realize /g/ has helped someone
>brain explodes
>>51632040
Not OP but...
>Go to a university surplus auction
Holy fucking shit why did I not know about these sooner?
The fucking deals I'm seeing...
I knew about police auctions (and I'm very wary of buying any computer parts from those) but not about uni ones.
>>51633088
try booting into a live Linux USB, obviously if that works it is not the mobo but the windows install.
>>51632908
when i say router, I mean AP.
when I say switch, I mean router.
>>51633011
>>51632758
one girl at the office makes 100's of thousands a year and is still using a T400 thinkpad that I keep replacing parts for. the boss fuckin loves me, the girl fuckin hates me.
pfsense box with switches?
>>51635483
That's what you should be using for a home network too. My LAN is so much faster and more stable than when I was shoving everything through one router/AP.
>pfSense on a PC-Engines apu board
>proper gigE switches and wires to all the fixed-location devices
>WAN port of the pfSense box connected to a cable modem I own outright
>one port on one switch is dedicated to the AP, which is an old DDWRT'd router in dumb AP mode
>everything just fucking werks
