Recommended WiFi 6 hotspot to put behind the Firewalla Gold?
Is there recommendations for WiFi 6 hotspots pair up with the Firewalla Gold?
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If you plan to run the Gold in Router mode
- Any router that does Access Point or Bridge Mode will work perfectly with the Firewalla Router Mode. (Mesh or no Mesh, doesn't matter wifi 6 or no wifi 6). Avoid Google Wifi, it doesn't have AP mode when hookup in mesh mode.
- In general, you do not need a really powerful wifi 6 router; The gold does have a pretty powerful CPU + 4GB of RAM, which is likely far more powerful than your wifi router. By offloading the routing/switching function to it, your wifi router will likely perform better.
Now, all of us here at firewalla like mesh routers, and recently we tested two of these.
TPlink Wifi 6 X60 (around $200 if you get it from Costco)
This unit here performs really well, when paired with the Gold Router Mode in Access Point / Bridge mode. The coverage is decent, speed is also faster than the none wifi 6 routers. The price point is perfect ... (This router doesn't work in Simple or DHCP mode)
Eero Pro Wifi 6 ($500 to $600 Amazon)
This is a fancier unit, the coverage is a little bit better than the TPLink, Signal is a bit stronger than the TPLink. And when run in Bridge mode + Firewalla Gold in Router Mode... it is really fast. (we are still testing this unit in simple mode, and DHCP mode does work)
So, it depends on your taste. we think the TPLink is enough (at least for our setting), and the price point is good. Will it work at your place or not ... it is your call. :)
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There is a newer Netgear Wifi 6 AP, that may work https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wireless-Access-Point-WAX610/dp/B08D3693SV according to the Q&A, it should have VLAN to SSID mapping. The price is pretty decent. (<== we have not tested this)
We have the none wifi 6 version, which can do the mapping.
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How about the
NETGEAR MK63-100NAS ?My use case I will just set VLAN on the port that the nighthawk is plugged into vs setting VLAN on nighthawk itself.
I current have the Verizon FiOS mesh setup and went to get rid of it.
I ordered my firewalla today and need a fast mesh wifi 6 set up.
I was just going to put the entire wifi on its own VLAN. -
I tired the Netgear Pro SRX60 which supposedly supports VLANs and it doesn't actually in AP mode.
I have the Gold product and I'm wanting to upgrade to Wifi6, looking for mesh and vlan support several separate SSIDs in AP mode - use cases include separate isolated SSID and VLANs for Home, Work, Guest, IOT. I would prefer not having to buy multiple mesh routers for these purposes. Any suggestions for products that work in this way?
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So initial testing and configuration results: They're expensive but the Orbi Pro 6 SXR80 (router) and SXS80 (satellite) or otherwise known as AX8000, work for VLAN configurations with segregated SSIDs as long as you turn on network isolation for each VLAN. I have yet to fully test the mesh configuration. There are 4 SSID which can be associated to 4 VLANs. I've used my Firewalla to configure the VLANs all on the same port number. There are a couple of catches: 1) need to have a direct connection to the Orbi router or the VLANs may not be recognized; 2) every Wifi and configuration change take a tonne of time to configure because the units must reboot for every configuration change for every wifi SSID and VLAN change made; 3) performing a complete power cycle might be necessary to reset saved configurations at the end of multiple configuration changes. There are some configuration details that include bridge groups, default VLAN 1, and trunk vs access modes that I'm going to retest. I can say though it all seems to work at this point as an AP leveraging the Firewalla as the main router - positive (and it should be for the $$$$).
I'm running in AP mode to be clear, not Router mode on Orbi infrastructure.
Of note, the Orbi Pro 6 SRX60 (note the difference in model) does NOT work in the same way as an AP as the SRX80 with VLAN, SSID network isolation, and mesh enabled.
I need to test: Mesh configuration holds the same SSID isolation and VLANs across both nodes (main router and satellite), performance and range across the Orbi SRX80 platform (initial tests proved impressive for range), other considerations.
So far, positive!
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Speed and coverage are good. Not sure yet about the extra $.
I'm having an issue with the VLAN/LAN connection dropping fairly frequently and sporadically. I looked at the Orbi logs and there's nothing indicative of a problem. I'm suspecting it's either a configuration issue or a bug with my Firewalla Gold. Any articles I can read or steps I can take to check my configuration?
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The Netgear Orbi Pro SRX80 experiment ended with me returning very expensive gear that would enable VLANs but the performance was so poor, unstable, and unreliable with a high % of dropped packets and for the price point, just not worth it. And yes, that's with up to date firmware!
I picked up Ubiquiti HD Nano and what took me hours to setup (because the AP needed to reboot on each screen for each configuration change) took minutes. They also seem solid, and performant with few to no packets dropped. They have VLAN support, multiple SSID capable, Mesh, and decent management console. The catch is that they are only APs, they don't have LAN ports, which is ok, but I'll have to come up with other solutions.
Impressed so far...
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I currently run UniFi gear but if I was starting from scratch, I'd have a hard look at TP Link Omada or Aruba Instant on. If Wifi 6 is not a deal breaker, second hand Rukus AP's and switches (running unleashed) could be really nice too.
BTW... hard wired AP's are worth the effort vs the mesh stuff IMO.
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Going to be running my firewalla purple in router mode with two eero pro 6 in bridge mode - I know the eero doesn’t support VLAN and ssid mapping - so I’m curious what the best solution is to segregate my IoT devices.
Does firewalla allow for me to easily create new networks with different rules?
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Firewalla Gold and purple I believe support VLANs and regular LANs through 5 physical ports. You either need to have switches and APs that support VLANs or you need to add separate and additional APs to support an IOT network. In short, you segregate either physically or logically.
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Mike999,
Thank you first of all. Secondly, does this mean I could setup my network like the following?
[Modem]<—>[FWG]<—>[Unmanaged Switch]<—>[Aruba AP22] then another AP22 access point for wifi 6 and use this as my main network - then plug in my old eero pro into the unmanaged switch. And setup a separate network through eero app for IoT devices?
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For the AP22s that would work.
You’d need a second unmanaged switch for multiple eeros plugged into a different port or plug your old eero directly into your FWG. You’d have to assign separate network subnets and decide on inter connectivity between your main and IOT networks. Firewalla has some good articles on IOT network segregation considerations. -
Mike999,
Thank you again for the great information it’s very helpful.
Just to be clear for myself as I am quite the noob still at networking. I do not need a second IP from my ISP to plug in my old eero to the FWG and use a separate subnet do I?
Also,
Do you have any personal insight on whether to stick with my eeros or ditch them for Aruba or unifi ?
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