Re: PCI AP card recommendations

On Jul 25, 2010, at 5:10 PM, Beach Geek wrote:

> Looking for feedback from people using FreeBSD v8.x as access points.
> We will be using Pentium 3 boxes with 8-STABLE as APs.
> Each box will have a unique SSID and use WPA2-PSK.
> Each AP will be linked back to 2 gateways.
>=20
> I'm looking for AP card suggestions and any helpful hints as far as =
the
> APs.   Looking for card models, not chipsets.
>=20
> Looking forward to hearing your experiences.

I've been using a D-Link DWL-G520 PCI card in my FreeBSD access point =
since at least 6.x. It sports an Atheros 5212 chip and uses the ath =
driver. The card supports 802.11b/g as well as the "Turbo" 108Mbps mode.

My current setup is FreeBSD 8.1-PRERELEASE with two vap's. The first is =
bridged with my LAN ethernet device and uses WPA-PSK. The second is for =
guests and has no security. The latter is firewalled off from the LAN =
and everything on the host except DNS. It's also bandwidth-controlled =
using dummynet.

This is a small network and rarely has more than 8 or so wireless =
clients.

A couple years ago I added a better external antenna (D-Link ANT24-0700, =
still available) and saw a noticeable range increase.

I've been wanting to upgrade to 802.11n but to my knowledge there is =
still no rate algorithm so even supported cards will only operate at "g" =
speeds.

Aside from that I've had no complaints whatsoever with my FreeBSD AP.

I very much doubt my specific card is still available new. I don't have =
any experience with the newer card models but it's not unlikely they =
still make a similar card.

JN

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