Using enterprise AP at home

[xiaofan]

Very interesting video talking about the pitfalls of using Enterprise APs at home.

Enterprise AP has different design goal compared to home wireless routers.

 

[xiaofan]

I am in the view that majority of the people do not need to use Enterprise APs (eg: Aruba, Meraki, Ruckus, etc) at home.

This does not include small enterprise gears like those from Ubiquiti Unifi and TP-Link Omada.

 

[Apparatus]

Yah, how many 10G home users' home setup use corporate products?

Just stick to home consumer/prosumer products will do

 

[TanKianW]

Very interesting video talking about the pitfalls of using Enterprise APs at home.

Enterprise AP has different design goal compared to home wireless routers.

Get one to try it out and you probably have a better idea (and feel) of it?

Sometimes Youtubers tend to over-simplify to explaining complex equipments and their use cases just to cater to the majority of consumer viewers. Most of it I do not even see them as "pitfalls" but more of "not suitable" for home consumer use case, and how user look at or understand "wifi speed and capacity". Such as do we really need 1-2G wifi? But each with their own views and use case so I am not challenging that.

As the video says, if you are not mainly running production (or work critical), not someone who tinkers and understands networking extensively (unless you willing to learn), does not need the advanced functions and features, just stick to home consumer gears. This I agree.

However, he did not elaborate much on the self-healing capability and stability of enterprise APs, and how tweakable WiFi signal strength, etc. could be. Enterprise APs can also penetrate walls and penetrate them well, unless you leave everything to default settings. Enterprise APs these days don't just serve "flat" office space, Yeah?? In an enterprise environment, there are also hard to reach end devices (Eg. IIOTs) with layers of walls in between. In fact, a lot of IT people/users I come across, do not even know that a capable and reliable enterprise AP published their antenna pattern to aid you in your set-up and AP location planning.

Just to be clear, not promoting people to install enterprise APs in their home. For tech-savvy home users, If you like to tinker and learn, feel free to give it a shot. But don't just scratch the surface but be prepared to do more reading. If you just want to set and forget, and cannot commit to spending time learning and tinkering, just stay with consumer APs/routers. ​

 

[xiaofan]

The reviewer is actually an expert in Enterprise APs. He uses Enterprise AP gears at home but not recommended to other users.
https://www.youtube.com/@oldhan1m9

 

[xiaofan]

The reason of this post to warn the users not to be attracted by the Enterprise APs. If they want to tinker, Ubiquiti Unifi or TP-Link Omada may be sufficient already.

But if you are dealing with Enterprise AP stuff at work, then of course it is fine to use that at home. Or if you get the stuff very cheap like @firesong, then of course that is another story.

 

[TanKianW]

The reviewer is actually an expert in Enterprise APs. He uses Enterprise AP gears at home but not recommended to other users.
https://www.youtube.com/@oldhan1m9

Then perhaps I got to learn a few tricks from him too. (just to be clear, not trying to be sarcastic. I am really going to check out on his channel more, since I am not an expert yet. )

Actually, I do find him a bit 矛盾 and not explaining the full story of enterprise APs. I would rather he title his video as "the difference between enterprise and home APs" instead of “不要在家用企业AP了“, kind of click bait and misleading.

Anyway, if you do not have a more advanced use case with high demand for stability, sticking to consumer APs is good enough. If you need more, such as segmentation or VLANs with the growing IOTs in a smart home, requires 24/7 stability, more flexible deployment, then feel free to explore into enterprise APs for your use case.​

 

[buttertrade69]

actually it is similar to CPU. Intel Core vs Intel Xeon. Intel Core higher speed less features lesser core. and Intel Xeon lower speed, more features for enterprise usage and more cores. That is how company try to cater for different market segment.

 

[d3adc3II]

At work, running ~25 Ruckus ( mixture of r350, r620, r750) , having good experience of Unleash feature sets. Brought home 1 R320 to use in standalone mode, cant say I like it. Without Unleash, its so different, I dont really see the point of using it at home.

But I still prefer enterprise products even at home, recently testing out Huawei AirEngine 6776-57T , and im impressed , its enterprise product but is cheap enough to use for home. .

 

[hwzlite]

Just to be clear, not promoting people to install enterprise APs in their home. For tech-savvy home users, If you like to tinker and learn, feel free to give it a shot. But don't just scratch the surface but be prepared to do more reading. If you just want to set and forget, and cannot commit to spending time learning and tinkering, just stay with consumer APs/routers.

Wow..... Ruckus BeamFlex+ smart antenna array itself already ahead of competitors no horse run liao... quoting from Enterprise Grade Home Wi-Fi: Ruckus Unleashed vs. Ruckus One :

.....
In stark contrast to the cheap sheet metal Ubiquity antenna design, Ruckus employs a highly complex and active antenna design. This patented antenna design (coupled with sophisticated software) is called BeamFlex+. It features on-the-fly antenna reconfiguration and transmission policy management per packet, per flow, per receiving device. You can see the massive antenna difference in the photo below of a Ruckus R770 (Wi-Fi 7) AP.

BeamFlex® is a combination of multiple high-gain polarized antenna elements and patented software algorithms that are combined in real time to offer an exponential increase in performance. With up to 21 high-gain, directional antenna elements, a BeamFlex smart antenna offers more than 4,200 unique antenna patterns to optimize the reception of a given client.

 

[lobukong]

At work, running ~25 Ruckus ( mixture of r350, r620, r750) , having good experience of Unleash feature sets. Brought home 1 R320 to use in standalone mode, cant say I like it. Without Unleash, its so different, I dont really see the point of using it at home.

But I still prefer enterprise products even at home, recently testing out Huawei AirEngine 6776-57T , and im impressed , its enterprise product but is cheap enough to use for home. .

Could you advise how to purchase AirEngine 6776-57T, couldn't find it on lazada/shopee.

 

[sglandscape]

Am in the camp of using semi-entrprise AP for home use, but I prefer stability over peak speed, and do make use of WPA Enterprise and VLANs.

For most home users I highly recommend not to go down this route unless they know what they are getting into. The ability to log activity or push it in or a sink makes it easier to see what's going on in your network.

 

[xiaofan]

Am in the camp of using semi-entrprise AP for home use, but I prefer stability over peak speed, and do make use of WPA Enterprise and VLANs.

For most home users I highly recommend not to go down this route unless they know what they are getting into. The ability to log activity or push it in or a sink makes it easier to see what's going on in your network.

Just wondering what kind of semi-Enterprise APs you are using at home.

I think it is perfectly fine to use small enterprise gears like those from Ubiquiti Unifi APs and TP-Link Omada APs.

It will be quite a niche use case to really use Enterprise APs (eg: Aruba, Meraki, Ruckus, etc) at home.

 

[sglandscape]

Just wondering what kind of semi-Enterprise APs you are using at home.

I think it is perfectly fine to use small enterprise gears like those from Ubiquiti Unifi APs and TP-Link Omada APs.

It will be quite a niche use case to really use Enterprise APs (eg: Aruba, Meraki, Ruckus, etc) at home.

Using Omada. The use of Ruckus would require licensing if you're pairing it with a controller.

 

[TanKianW]

Using Omada. The use of Ruckus would require licensing if you're pairing it with a controller.

Welcome to Unleashed.

 

[sglandscape]

Welcome to Unleashed.

It is very tempting

 

[d3adc3II]

Could you advise how to purchase AirEngine 6776-57T, couldn't find it on lazada/shopee.

I got it from a local MSP vendor for office use, they quoted me HUAWEI AIRENGINE6761-21T for 550 at that time. If you interested, pm me for contact.

 

[lobukong]

I got it from a local MSP vendor for office use, they quoted me HUAWEI AIRENGINE6761-21T for 550 at that time. If you interested, pm me for contact.

If I'm purchasing only 1 AP without the WAC, I should be using it as FAT AP right?
May I know if I can configure VLAN for FAT AP mode?

 

[d3adc3II]

If I'm purchasing only 1 AP without the WAC, I should be using it as FAT AP right?
May I know if I can configure VLAN for FAT AP mode?

Yes, Fat for standalone mode AP, vlan also support in FAT mode.

 

[TanKianW]

A more holistic review and introduction to enterprise routers/APs for home use. Look no further for someone interested in demanding for a much more "stable" upgrade for your home wifi and internet. If you are confident that you possess the knowledge and know-how to set it up, 2nd hand enterprise appliances/equipment are a good buy. And trust me, after you start using it.....you could no longer go back to consumer equipment, that is "IF" you set it up correctly.

As I shared earlier, most do not need >1G wifi (maybe only for speedtest bragging rights?). Stability and consistency are much more noticeable for most users. Huge file transfer should have been just using wired, instead of wireless.

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