Since I am moving to a new place I figured that this would be the best time to upgrade from my dinky all-in-one WIFI router to something more substantial, but I’m having trouble putting together a budget for it with all of the options available online. The new place has a gigabit fiber connection so the setup I’m foreseeing is router-POE Switch with ~6 ports and 2 APs. Moving is already a expensive process, so I don’t want to overspend on the most future proof equipment, just want to take advantage of the fiber connection on a budget. Can anyone help me figure out a realistic budget for this, or point me to a solid resource for budget friendly networking gear?

  • Godort@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    This is highly dependent on your use case.

    Do you want a decent plug and play consumer router and switch that you don’t need to finagle much or do you want something more enterprise grade?

    Do you just want gigabit speeds for your LAN or do you want 2.5 or 10?

    For a good consumer router with gigabit ports you’re looking at ~$200*. For something more enterprise with 2.5Gbps ports it’ll be closer to $800.

    For a good PoE switch you’re looking at ~$150 at gigabit and ~$250 for 2.5Gbps. if you want a managed switch then that will also be closer to $300. Access points are similarly priced.

    *Prices in CAD