Home Setup Advice - Ruckus R510 vs R550 with or without ICX 7150-C12P

[dmoorthi]

I am a home owner with very basic network skills. I have to replace my existing wifi network hardware because of end of life for the wifi router and to improve seamless roaming in the house/better signal coverage.

Existing set up:

• House: 3 floors or levels [one basement, first floor and second floor] each with roughly 1800 – 2000 sq ft.
• Internet connection: Fiber, 500 Gb internet ONT enters basement but terminates in the “first floor”. This is connected to a D-Link AC3200 wifi router in the first floor. This is located just off center of the middle of the house.
• Switch – Unmanaged HP Procurve 1410-24G, J9561G, located in the second floor network closet.
• Current network cable setup – ISP enters basement but instead of connecting to a router in the basement it is connecting to the D-Link wifi router in the first floor and then running to the network hub in the second floor [for ease of troubleshooting internet connection issues, like restarting modem etc]. This router is then connected to the HP Procurve in the second floor network closet on the opposite side of the house from here the rest of the house is hardwired, including a line to the basement where the ISP/router was originally conceived to be setup.

Given this setup if I want to use Ruckus unleashed what hardware do I need?

• Two R550 one in the first and one in the second floor at each end of the house powered by Poe injectors and connected to existing HP switch?
• For router can I use the existing D-Link router with the above or do I need to buy a new router? If so which one?
• Do I need the ICX 7150-C12P switch or can I use my HP switch and poe injectors?
• Is there a recurring maintenance/licensing cost for using the R510 or R550 or is it a one time purchase cost?

Please suggest a cost effective way to get good signal through out my house? If R550 is an overkill then can I use R510?

Thanks.

[dmoorthi]

Since I have a lot of ethernet connections, I can connect the R510 or R550 with ethernet instead of as a mesh of this will improve connectivity.

[dave_raines_86z]

First, go with the 550 / 650 / 750. My company (we do IT and ONLY sell Ruckus) are only using Wi-Fi 6 Access Points.  It's the only way to go these days.  Yes, they are more money, but every device these days is coming with Wi-Fi 6 cards in them.   Secondly, to answer your question about the router, do you have FiOS or another fiber provider?  The Verizon FiOS Router is actually quite good and I would suggest you use that if you aren't planning on doing any VLANs.  Otherwise we use SonicWALL, but those can cost a few bucks to get the model that supports the bandwidth you need (TZ-600).  For switches, if you want the best bang for your buck, look at the Netgear POE+ switches (you'll need POE+).  GS108PP is our Swiss Army knife.  Again, it's unmanaged.  Otherwise us Ruckus.  For your setup it doesn't seem that you need any complex networking, so your network is flat.  In summary,  use one of the Wi-Fi 6 WAPs, the ICX 7150-C12 is nice if you have the budget for it, you can use injectors if you must, but you can find low cost 8 Port switches as mentioned above that are compatible.   Unleased will be great for you.  Make sure that you set the radios to "optimize for performance" so you get the expanded 5GHz channels. 

[dmoorthi]

Hi Dave

Thanks. My fiber provider does not give a router. It terminates in a device called ONT. My questions are:

1) Do I need to buy a new router like Edge router 4 or lite? Or can I use my existing D-Link AC3200 wifi router, but turn off the wifi?

2) Thanks for the info on Netgear Poe switch.

3) Once I deploy the R550, do I need to pay any on going maintenance fee or is it a one time cost to buy the equipment?

4) I read in some threads that the ICX 7150 can be deployed as a router, is this true?

Thanks.

[dave_raines_86z]

If you are seeing a full 500MB on your D-Link when hard wired, there is no reason to get rid of it.  Yes, turn off your Wi-Fi.    It's a one time cost after you buy the R550.   

Technically, you can route in the ICX, but it is really difficult to do so if you aren't an expert.