Small business network

[fordracing19]

Right now I am using a $50 Netgear wifi router and have to reset it every few days and also need to move the wifi into the dining room instead of the network/electrical closet. It currently feeds a 10/100 24 port switch and we have quite a few wifi users at a time. We have one of the fasted connections in the area at 50/25 fiber. I know DFW have faster for dirt cheap. Should I be looking at a wired router then I can use an AP for the dining area? Could one of you network guys recommend some products from Newegg? Tia

[ceyko]

Cisco ASA 5505 - 50 User Bundle...include VPN bundle if desired...etc

Cisco Autonomous AP off one of the POE ports

Hang your 24 port switch off one of the 10/100 ports of the 5505

Questions:
1. What do you mean by "Quite a few WIFI users at a time"?
2. Just to be sure, is 1 AP enough? The ASA 5505 has 2 POE ports available - up 15W each I believe so keep that in mind when choosing a Cisco AP.

Just need to be sure you connection is bridged to your device. (Which it sounds like it is...) Who is your Internet provider?

Alternatively, you may wish to check out the Meraki MX60W. The 5505 is going EOL/EOS in the relatively near future. These Meraki devices are cloud managed and rock solid. I personally don't have hands on experience but we sell these to SMBs. The guys I work with that deploy them say they are rock solid. Customer satisfaction is high for these in that arena. In theory one and done for you. I believe there is a yearly subscription, but you get a lot of features in one little box.

https://meraki.cisco.com/products/appliances/mx60w

This is HW only...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2GW0YK7757&cm_re=mx60w-_-9SIA2GW0YK7757-_-Product

Can save about 50 dollars on the HW on cdw.com - then add on the subscription.

[Ratt]

Meraki is good, but if you don't pay the license fee on time, they will shut your shit off. Like brick it. Straight up.

[fordracing19]

Quite a few =15 maybe. More than a normal house. Internet provider is Nortex from Muenster.

[fordracing19]

Would something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833150357

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=22Z-000K-00001&ignorebbr=1

and this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0ED-0005-00014&ignorebbr=1

not work?

[ceyko]

Quite a few =15 maybe. More than a normal house. Internet provider is Nortex from Muenster.

Yeah, you're similar to me - then all the new devices are wireless in my opinion the SOHO devices just are not capable of handling that load.

Would something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833150357

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=22Z-000K-00001&ignorebbr=1

and this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0ED-0005-00014&ignorebbr=1

not work?

I avoid the small business stuff altogether from Cisco. Every time I've made an exception to get a deal it has ended up making my life suck. They tend not to run IOS/or any good cisco variation of that (NX-OS...etc) and are only marginally better than an off the shelf consumer product.

I am not really familiar with the Ubiquiti product line at all, so personally I am no help there. I have a buddy that sell Fortinet, I could check with him. They tend to have all in one boxes - if interested - check out their page and let me know. I can put you in touch with him or facilitate that. However, to get reliable service it's not SOHO/Consumer level cheap. The gear will last a while though.

For ease of use the Meraki line is going to be the winner. The ASA will be set and forget, but tends to be difficult for non-experienced people to manage/setup. Also it is being EOL'ed in favor of their new product line which does not really have a small business device as of this time.

[fordracing19]

I am reading about the Cmx line now. Customers would have to check in on Facebook to access.

https://meraki.cisco.com/solutions/cmx

[ceyko]

Out of curiosity I'm checking with him anyway for my own knowledge. I tell ya though, ease of use will likely fall under Meraki or Fortinet. That's going to be clutch for you. Initial setup if you keep it informal maybe doable with a case of beer or two as opposed to the 200-250 an hour bill rates. However, you're not going to want to have to call someone every time you want a NAT/PAT statement done, firewall rule changed...etc...etc.

[ceyko]

I am reading about the Cmx line now. Customers would have to check in on Facebook to access.
https://meraki.cisco.com/solutions/cmx

That's for guest access specifically. The goal behind guest access is Inet access only and sometimes throttled Inet access. NO access to internal resources. Employees/consultants/trusted people would still log in and receive normal access.

[fordracing19]

With commercial stuff there is a yearly fee? I don't understand why you pay for equipment then a fee. What does this do different than my $50 wifi router besides have less resets? I really dont need any other options.

[ceyko]

With commercial stuff there is a yearly fee? I don't understand why you pay for equipment then a fee. What does this do different than my $50 wifi router besides have less resets? I really dont need any other options.

Cloud based services will always have a yearly fee.

Non-cloud based hardware can have a yearly maintenance (i.e. support/warranty fee) fee or you can not pay it just configure/support/fix problems yourself. However, if the HW fails (Electrical problem...etc) you're on your own.

i.e. you can buy the ASA and be done with it. No yearly smartnet services...etc. Or you can pay yearly smartnet and get technical support and HW replacement in the event of a failure.

Also, generally speaking Cisco TAC is NOT like what you're accustomed to for tech support. This is a huge selling point for us, since most of their tech support are highly certified, they have SLAs, wait times are low to non-existent, you work with the same engineer throughout the problem and there is escalations in place.

I could spend an hour or two doing a huge write up, but consumer based HW is crap compared to even the SMB commercial equipment being shown. You either want that reliability and performance or you do not, but it's not cheap admittedly. So, that's where you need to decide how much that reliability and performance is worth to you.

Remember, the solutions being shown are what we will show to SMBs. Some SMBs are loaded and these costs are low for them but they have shoestring IT budgets. However, we can never position equipment that is not reliable and won't perform.

Below these - honestly - you may as well find the best reviewed SOHO products and be done with it. The choice is yours. Another option is if your wireless areas are large, get two 5ghz APs, put them on different channels, install them in physically diverse areas and then at least your APs are not saturated with clients.

Remember that old saying in cars/racing? cheap/fast/reliable can only have 2 of 3...or something like that. Same applies to technology. I have no idea what your budget is and your usage of the gear...etc, I was just showing you what works at low price points.

[fordracing19]

Thanks for the help

[Ratt]

I will mirror what he said about Cisco SMB stuff. Stay away...at any and all costs. Cisco is getting back out of the SMB game after so many issues with their SMB stuff, and they've sold off the Linksys brand to help them do that. We've had nothing but trouble with our Cisco SMB wireless access points.

If you can afford the Meraki yearly fee, and can pay the bill on time, they really are the best option out there for what you want to do.

[Unicorn Jeff]

So for $650 and $150 a year of the License you can have the best AP on the market?

[ceyko]

OP

http://www.fortinet.com/sites/default/files/productdatasheets/FortiGate-60D.pdf

My buddy says that will run you around 6-800 bucks. All-in-one sort of box.

UJ, if you google the models, they are a bit more than APs. That's IPS...etc as well.