Source
r/HomeNetworking•
lcourage

Recommendations for router with ability to create separate VLANs.

Greetings,

I'm helping a friend who has quadruplets and a multitude of IoT devices in his home. I want to help secure his home network as he does high end banking and his kids all have several devices. Right now he only has the Xfinity XB6 (arris CGM4140COM) all-in-one modem/router. He has a 2.5 story home and only uses WIFI. There are no wired devices except for an IoT hub which plugs into the router for controlling lights and other smart devices.

The two main goals are:

  1. Create a setup where he can have a separate VLAN and SSID for his smart devices.
  2. Find a way to get the WIFI to reach his detached garage where he doesn't want run ethernet for an AP.

Requirements:

  1. Budget of $200-300 USD for all equipment.
  2. Must be able to be able to create at least two separate SSIDs. One for personal devices and one for IoT. Separate IP ranges, etc.
    1. might need to create a 3rd SSID for kid devices and guests.
  3. The only ethernet port used is for the IoT hub for his lights, etc but I need a way to make the VLAN only connected to the IoT SSID if possible.
  4. Some kind of wireless mesh or extender I can put in his kitchen so he can use WIFI in the garage.
  5. Devices that are easy to update the firmware a couple times a year. I frown on remotely as I'm trying to increase security.
  6. Built in firewall that is easy to configure out of the box.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Posted Feb 4, 2020, 10:27 PM UTC

15
MoenkopiSandstone•

Unifi Dream Machine, then add in mesh points as needed.

3
rtayy•

That alone consumes the entirety of his budget...

1
MoenkopiSandstone•

It looks like you are shadow banned, your comment never showed up.

1
Incrarulez•

Budget. Bzzzzzzzt.

0
Celebrir•

How much do you or he know about networking? If none: get a router which hs a guest wifi and then put all iot stuff on it. That'll work if the router also supports a guest lan port.

Else, get something like an edgerouter and a good access point. Either tp-link EAP225 or unifi ac AP pro. These two are quite similar from the range and should cover it. I'm not sure about the detached garage though because you provided too little information.

Edit: both unifi ac AP and tp-link EAP series support a wireless node (=mesh). For optimal handover you'll need the controller software running on a device. These can be bought "cloud key"/"oc200" or run on a machine of yours. They also support multiple SSIDs and a scheduler so the kids wifi can be turned off at night for example. Also on the tp-link you can easily block single devices from accessing the internet and unblock them again for example if the kid refuses to come to dinner because he's watching something. (I do that to my sister, lol)

The edgerouter firewall is a bit tricky at first but once you got used to it it's easy. There are good official example configurations and docs and also a good support at r/ubiquiti

For the APs I'd go with tp-link as a preference because it's cheaper and still has the same features. Advantage of the unifi APs is that if you get the cloud key or a controller software you can have one single interface for the router and the APs. It comes with a greater price tag though.

So yeah, it ticks all your requirements.

0