Network nerds: any FortiAP 221B or 223B experience?

[Albuquerque]

Not sure how many network junkies (or professionals) we have here, but I thought I'd throw this out there...

I recently bought a FortiGate 40C for home use, it friggin rocks for all the absurd crap I do at home, and is infinitely easier (and much more stable) than my prior DD-WRT and OpenWRT escapades. No small part of that is, of course, I'm not shoe-horning in extra features on a commodity, consumer-grade device but instead using features present on a device intended to do all of that work.

Anyway, ignoring all of that, I want to start building out the wireless side. The 40C has integrated AP controller capabilities for any of their FortiAP devices. I'm looking at a dual-channel and simultaneous dual-radio indoor AP, which leaves me with the 221B and 223B as the most reasonable options. They essentially cost the same, the 221 has four internal antennae, the 223 has four external antennae. Otherwise, they look essentially identical.

Just curious if anyone here has any experience with the FortiAP devices, or more specifically the two in question. Thanks for any feedback you care to provide

 

[Albuquerque]

One more bump before I go spend money

 

[Davros]

We will only reply if you buy a killer nic to go along with it

 

[homerdog]

I am a network engineer (small to medium size businesses mostly), but I have no experience with Fortinet products.

My company sells SonicWall products and they work pretty much the same way. The firewall manages the SonicPoint access points, and I have to say it all works quite well.

Soo, I would expect the AP with external antennae to work better than the one with internal... sorry I can't be of any more use! :smile:

 

[Albuquerque]

Well, I bit the bullet and bought the FAP221b about a month ago with a killer discount, it arrived last week sometime. Got the POE injector and fired it up from the same spot as my existing WNDR3700.

The difference is astounding, to be sure. I've now got wireless signal for days; it's absurd how much different my coverage is now from my prior Netgear device -- even when comparing the FAP at half power to the Netgear at full power. It's also nice to have both radios cover a single SSID and use band steering to migrate 5Ghz devices to the 5Ghz radio automatically versus having two separate SSID"s to cover two separate spectrum.

The throughput is also insanely better; I can get very consistent throughput and latency even out of "lesser" connection speeds. In my office, being within five feet of both routers, I could get 300mbps out of each. The difference in total file transfer speed though is at least 30% in favor of the FortiAP unit. At further reaches, such as my upstairs bathroom, I get far better association rates out of the Forti but also WAY more consistent response versus in-and-out latency spikes with the WNDR.

So, yeah, for $500 (or half of that, if you find a hook-up ) the super-expensive AP beats the inexpensive AP. Oh imagine the surprise Still, an excellent way to solve my wireless coverage issues in my house, without having to pull wire through the whole place and set up multiple APs.