hello all mikrotik users
just wondering

hows the wifi coverage for mikrotik? decent like usual routers out there? or better?

mostly no comes with athenna, so just curious

and will there be hap ac2 model coming to malaysia?

This post has been edited by squall0833: Mar 16 2018, 04:45 AM

mostly they use internal antenna, wifi coverage ok.

for home usage, can get a decent router like hEX, but u need pair it with another wireless ap like tm router for wifi.

or just get other model like hAP ac lite/ hAP ac which can function as all in one device.

thx for the info

i wonder when will hap ac2 coming to malaysia,

that one looks like the one i need

Yeah, this new model is looking good, at least on paper. A quick comparison.

hAP ac Lite: Low power. Only single chain 5GHz. It barely covers my entire house with 2.4GHz.
hAP ac2: Latest. High power. Dual chain 2.4 & 5GHz but not available here yet. This looks good. Even the CPU, at least on paper, is as good as the hEXr3.
hAP ac: CPU not as strong as the ac2. High power and triple chain for both 2.4 & 5GHz therefore the fastest Mikrotik AP.

I think the hAP ac2 will be quite good for someone who just wants an all-in-one WiFi router. Have to wait for the local pricing. Maybe around RM350.

so, for area that's not in coverage, i can use any AP or RP to extend right, as long they are connected to mikrotik, all are controlled by mikrotik right ?

Yes, hAP ac2 is a good aio device.

To extend WiFi coverage, can add another ap or use WiFi repeater, also can use homeplug that come with wireless capabilities.

the internal antenna is good but it wont beat external antennas. A lot of mikrotik routerboards have slots for external antennas though which can greatly increase the range. Since Malaysia isnt strict on wifi transmit powers and frequencies, if we can get a routerboard without a locked wifi firmware it would be good as it would let us use the full tx power (1.5W is huge, most consumer routers dont exceed 500mA) and mikrotik lets you also pair it with an antenna of your choice. Part of the wifi performance/range is down to the rf design of the AP and a match antenna which is why you dont see consumer routers with gigantic or crazy antennas.

High dB antenna is good for 5Ghz. too much 2.4Ghz coverage is a bad thing. Although i dont use mikrotik for wifi i use a lower tx power for 2.4Ghz and highest for 5Ghz as this gives better performance on both bands when having a multi AP setup, and its also good for your neighbours too (your neighbours should also use the same setup).

There are also antennas like directional antennas. Directional antennas with 120 degrees can be used if wifi coverage can be localised if need to go through walls and floors, though directional usually focuses it to 1 level. Not good for a multi story house.

Although ubiquiti indoor APs beat mikrotik in coverage with internal antennas, mikrotik APs are less likely to crash under load with the indoor APs being able to handle hundreds of simultaneous clients which is something ubiquiti indoor APs cannot do which makes mikrotik indoor APs great for halls where less coverage is needed but many many simultaneous clients. Mikrotik indoor APs with external antennas have very good range, just make sure to match up the right antenna and not choose one that has too low or too high dBi.

Mikrotik can control itself and similar devices via dude, which requires setting up and a compatible routerboard/PC as the dude server. It cant control which clients connect to which wifi AP but it can help managing many devices and monitor them. I myself use it for its pretty graphs and monitoring.

This post has been edited by System Error Message: Mar 16 2018, 07:06 PM

Yeah, any AP or repeater will do. Doesn't have to be Mikrotik. Use any old wifi router you can find to save cost. Also check garage sales. At one time I was using a TM-supplied RGX4400 which I bought from GS for RM50. The routing/control of traffic is all done by the main Mikrotik router. The APs aren't actually controlled by the router in any way. Unless you're using Mikrotik APs and CAPSMAN then the Mikrotik APs are managed by the main router.

If possible avoid wifi repeaters and use wired APs. Even using homeplugs are better than a wifi repeater. But I know, sometimes you just can't avoid it.

Thanks, this finally solved my issue. I read your post earlier and understood what you're trying to say but since I was rushing for something, I didn't open Winbox to try. I deleted the IPv6 Pool entry first and then went to DHCPv6 Client and opened the entry and saved without changes. I then noticed a new entry in the IPv6 Pool window so I pinged ipv6.google.com and it replied. Thanks again.

No problem. Happy to hear that. Good practise for me too.

Was thinking to use powerline plug but i heard that might affect radio users,. Not sure if modern powerline plug is still like that or not

First time I heard of that. You mean AM/FM radio? No idea lah since have none of those in the house.

can cause interference noises to am fm radio, and even home theater speakers when near to any power sockets that has powerline network plug active

but not sure, maybe powerline plug nowadays fixes that

well i still need more research if decide to go powerline way, since my house is 3 phase power, might not work if in different phase

feel like just direct ethernet + ap, but gonna need to drill holes :/

This post has been edited by squall0833: Mar 17 2018, 02:42 PM

using the HAP AC at the moment. no complains about the wifi coverage as it's only for my room but I do noticed my Macs would usually connects to the 2.4Ghz SSID rather than the 5Ghz one.
and of course, looking at the logs, 2.4Ghz interface only experienced 24 link down while the 5Ghz experienced 2196 link downs not sure what's the cause, anyone has any ideas?

From my experience with powerline, if you are in a high rise building expect it to not work even if you have the best in class AV2000 or newer as i have a pair and couldnt get it to work. If at home it will work better because the distance between you and a potential source of interference is greater.

Even when it worked for me well, the best i got was 200Mb/s out of AV2000 with MU-MIMO and all sorts of trickery.

You'll do much better using mikrotik with directional antennas and wifi AC to pass through walls and floors than with powerline both in latency and bandwidth. The only time i use powerline is if it works is between my router and modem as long as the internet i use doesnt exceed the practical powerline bandwidth.

The only time you use powerline for LAN is when you have a concrete wall that is either radiation proof or you live in faraday cages because powerline is actually more expensive than wifi and the performance is worse than wireless AC.

That is not normal. Macs are very stable on the wifi side and will stay connected to 5Ghz unless your network had dropped. Could be your wifi is not stable or your Mac is too far away (anything more than 15m) probably, easy to check hold onto the option key and click on the wifi icon to look at the signal strength etc.

just updated the router firmware to the latest. would monitor it for a few days.

unstable due to long distance would be out of the question as both my MacBook are on the same table as the HAP AC (stationary most of the time/"desktop", distance less than 1m).

I just re-configured the TX power too as previously the RSSI for both machines are around -23dBm (Total TX should be around 28dBm). Current RSSI range is around -50~-40dBm (Total RX 5dBm), I guess is pretty fine?

The new RSSI looks more normal numbers, its a false belief that over-powered Tx power is helpful unless the Rx gain can match. Macs stay connected for days if you leave it in the power source. Check your wifi log to see connect time as you monitor.

Yeap,you are right. I purposely dial down the TX power because I’m sleeping directly above the router. The last thing I wanna get is some weird sickness from that.

Hmm, I’ll take note of it, although Ethernet is the primary network interface for both devices. Been uploading/downloading from Google Drive at around 700~800Mbps on average, only Ethernet can sustain near gigabit speed

Indeed, if 3-phase better test first. My house, 1-phase, I can get around 350mbps out of a pair of Aztech AV500 homeplugs. My auntie's house, 3-phase and plug points on different phases, about 20mbps with high packet loss with the same pair of homeplugs. Cannot even use for HyppTV, which requires a only max of 8mbps bandwidth due to the packet loss.

Of course, wired AP is always the best.

If have to use wireless repeater, use something with 2 radios. eg: 2.4ghz for the wireless link and 5ghz for the local wifi. This way you'll get the full speed from the link but you'll lose 2.4Ghz wifi.