NETGEAR WAC505-100NAS - Discontinued by Manufacturer

I have a WAC505 and two WAC510s in my house, which is 2200 sq. ft. + basement. I could have gotten by with two APs, but with three I get 300-600Mbps throughput over the entire space. All things being equal, I would choose the WAC505 over the WAC510, as it is less expensive. and seems to have about the same performance as an AP. The limitations I can see to the WAC505 are that it does not have a router mode and there is no LAN port.I chose to manage my APs locally through the web browser interface, which works well. Basic setup is easy to do, and more advanced options can be left safely at defaults. The AP does seem to take awhile to register changes and reboot when necessary.I would recommend that you upgrade the firmware before you do much else, as there are quite significant differences between versions. I don't know why, but I actually had to upgrade twice to reach the current version, which is 9.0.0.21 as of early Oct. 2020.As far as I'm concerned, one of the key advanced features to the firmware is the option for load balancing based on client RSSI, along with the option to "Force sticky client to dissociate". As I understand it, these settings allow the AP to reject a client that tries to associate if its RSSI is below a specified level, and to disconnect from a client that tries to remain connected even though the signal strength of the connected AP is poor, and there are APs with stronger signals available. This helps assure that clients are always connected to the AP with best signal as they roam. This seems to work very well in my setup.Overall, I can only say good things about the WAC505 as well as the similar WAC510.

As a network engineer by trade, I've become spoiled to the luxury of controller-managed WAPs across the enterprise. Now I get to experience the same luxury at home. It's simple, it's fast, and I love it!UPDATE: Put simply, the online dashboard for insight doesn’t work. Not a huge deal because the app does everything I need it to. But just to note.Also BUYER BEWARE if you buy USED. I bought a slew of these, used, to upgrade an entire campus while saving money, and I had to return about 3 or 4 of them because they were already registered to a Netgear account and weren’t properly removed before being returned. When this happens, THEY ARE EFFECTIVELY USELESS. Fortunately, Amazon returns are super easy. Simply say it isn’t working as the return reason and they’ll take it back. Sure it’s a hassle, but at the time I saved close to $40 per AP.

The advantage of this access point is that by using the Neatgear Insight app from the Apple store it can be monitored and configured from anywhere there is an internet connection. For example the devices logged into the access point are visible, along with traffic statistics for the last 24 hours and a history of all events that occur. So, Wi-Fi is visible to track what is going on when not at home. Also, the access point can be re-booted or taken off line remotely.I’m using this in an area of my home where my main wireless router has a weak signal. The power can originate from either PoE or an external adapter. I used an adapter, plugged it into a wall outlet and then connected it to a wired Ethernet switch being used with a Blu-ray player, a printer and an audio/video receiver.When all the LED lights glowed on the top of the device I started the app on an iPhone, followed the steps in the installation guide and it worked immediately. There are two network options a 2.4 GHz and a 5 GHz. Although both can be used concurrently, I chose the faster 5 GHz and configured it through the app. At that point the name I selected for the 5 GHz network was visible on my Wi-Fi devices.I connected my smart phone and tested the speed using a Speedtest app I already had loaded. I compared the results from this access point which is rated as AC1200 (1200 Mbps maximum network speed) and my main router which is an AC2300. With this device the download speed averages 40 Mbps while my main router averages 225 Mbps. Then I connected my Windows 10 laptop and the results were similar.My hope was the device would provide about half of the speed of my main router instead it produced less than a quarter of the download speed. Of course, individual results will vary based on numerus conditions like network congestion, type and number of connected devices, etc. But, after a week of use the signal on my phone is consistently excellent with no dropouts, so although performance is less than expected it is adequate for my needs. And, the benefit of controlling the device remotely is a significant feature not available with my main router.

I bought this to replace a couple of TRENDnet units that were unreliable. This thing works perfectly. It has a strong signal and maintains connections with no issues. I have it mounted high on a wall in the middle of my house, and I'm getting in the neighborhood of 350-430 Mbps over WiFi, depending on how far I am from the unit. I'm using the optional AC adapter (sold separately, as they say) rather than POE, which I haven't tried. If you're looking for a unit to mount on a wall or ceiling, this is the one to get.

Used this to replace my old AP when it went end of life. Range is amazing and the signal is always strong.

The install went pretty smooth, but the performance is not that great.I get better signal with my basic router, and the cloud features seem half baked. I would't recommend this guy.