Sonic(AT&T) fiber + AirPort Extreme in bridge mode: replacing the apple router

Internet access discussion, including Fusion, IP Broadband, and Gigabit Fiber!
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by cfritze64 » Sun Oct 10, 2021 10:32 pm
We have a two-story home with (BGW210) router in the basement towards the back of the house. Wifi from the router serves the back of the house well, plus we have an Ethernet cable connection serving a switch in our TV room and main office that has the most demanding network use in that space. The front of the main floor and upstairs bedrooms are served by an Apple AirPort Extreme in bridge mode that is also connected by Ethernet cable to the main router in the basement. I've read that it's advisable to replace the Apple router with something current, as the network software for the Apple router is now many years out of date. Question is, what to replace it with? An Eero system is probably overkill as I've already got several key points in the house hard-wired to the main router - so do I just want a decent quality router that I again put into bridge mode? Thx.
by ngufra » Mon Oct 11, 2021 9:23 am
I have had success with Engenius access points. e.g. eap 1300 or eap 1250.
They can be powered through POE or with a power adapter and look like a smoke detector.
You can find them used on ebay or amazon for about $50.
You can specify one or multiple SSID, you can authenticate with radius or just a shared password.
You can have a guest network with host isolation
You can specify vlans (for example to have security cameras to connect to and have access to a camera server or the web but not your other devices)
Can be managed with an app.


The other way is to use a router switch wifi and disable everything except the wifi.
by js9erfan » Mon Oct 11, 2021 6:09 pm
I would replace that Apple router with an access point and forget about bridging. Ubiquiti APs have been solid in my experience and they recently released some WiFi 6 APs: https://store.ui.com/products/unifi-ap-6-lite & https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi- ... cess-point

If you don't have a POE switch you can power it with a POE injector. These APs are fairly easy to configure via UniFi's software (mobile app also available). They're mostly set and forget aside from firmware updates, etc. Speaking of firmware, these APs will be supported much longer than most consumer grade equipment so there's that too.
by cfritze64 » Mon Oct 11, 2021 11:26 pm
Thanks ngufra and js9erfan for the assist. Wireless access point seems like the way to go.
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