At this point, I have four routers. Two Beryl AX, an unopened Opal 1200 and an unopened Slate AX. I was able to get the two Beryl AX routers up and working - one server, one client using Wiregaurd VPN to mask my location. Some questions and concerns:
I tested the Client Beryl at a friend’s house and it wouldn’t connect to her Wi-Fi normally, only worked via Ethernet cable. That makes me nervous for obvious reasons. I did drop this Beryl from a height of about 5 feet though… could that have frigged it up? I haven’t upgraded to 4.2.2 yet - would that solve some problems?
Should I bring a backup router with me just in case? If I were to set up a second client/server vpn config at a friends house, should I leave Opal there and take Slate with me or other way around? Not sure which combo would throttle the speeds least. The biggest bandwidth thing I’d need to do is have smooth meetings and screen sharing. I could then connect both client routers to both server routers and vice versa. Extra insurance! Any drawbacks to this?
The Server Beryl is working as expected and connected to my home router via Wi-Fi repeater. I’m wondering if I should switch over to the Ethernet connection or do both just in case? I’d have to create a port forwarding address to the ethernet connection in that case too, so two port forwards to the same router is ok?
Okay, right off the top: you’ve got numerous devices here… wow; what a nice collection. Juggling their various changes are going to be a task unto itself. You’re going to start wanting to keep a log for ea. of them.
Document their respect MAC address (see box/bottom of ea. device); those can act as the conceptual ‘serial numbers’ of them. Tag their power cords, if any, so they’re kept as a match set. You’ll save yourself massive headaches in the future when troubleshooting if you start date/time logs of what you do on ea. of them now. Afterwards:
Out of the box, upgrade their firmware via the GL GUI as needed. Don’t bother setting them up/‘deploying’ them for regular service until so. What might be encountered in an old version as a bug could have already been fixed.
Install LuCI on ea. of 'em; GL GUI → System → Advanced Settings … then LuCI → System → Backup / Flash Firmware → Backup is going to become your best friend… don’t forget to include the MACs in the filename least you restore the wrong zip to the wrong device.
My ‘rule of thumb’ is GL GUI for firmware updates, LuCI for backups.
Onto your questions:
1. I tested the Client Beryl at a friend’s house and it wouldn’t connect to her Wi-Fi normally,
You should be able to find a free ‘Wi-Fi diagnostics’ app to check BSSID, SNR, etc., to help troubleshoot that suspected Beryl.
Yes; take both Beryls or other units w/ you; it’s unlikely both are going to exhibit the same issue.
2. Should I bring a backup router with me just in case?
Yes; take both Beryls or other units w/ you; it’s unlikely both are going to exhibit the same issue.
The Slate is, as I’m sure you know, the most powerful of the collection. Which one you travel with depends on what you’re going to be doing with 'em (eg: running a WireGuard-based ‘VPN Server’ → ‘VPN Client’ (aka: ‘VPN Cascading’) is going to need more preformance than just a VPN Client connection.
Re: Speeds. Are you self-hosting the video conference server or are you using something like Zoom? Check their support docs for bandwidth v. client count requirements.
Re: Speeds. Check the specs listed for ea. device. If you’re going to be the one administering/hosting the most of the video conferencing for a self hosted server setup, the best preforming WG device is the one to have for yourself. The Slate AX = 550 Mbps max. WG but I’m sure it’s even faster than advertised over Ethernet (note I didn’t say Wi-Fi) per my testing of a now discontinued GL device (advertised 50, but near constant 85 Mbps WG Client over Ethernet).
Keep in mind Netflix advertises they push 15 Mbps/stream for 4K. Other services may be different. Are you doing 4K? Check their support docs for bandwidth v. client count requirements.
3. The Server Beryl is working as expected and connected to my home router via Wi-Fi repeater.
Ethernet over a proper Cat 5E/6/7+ cable will always outperform Wi-Fi. It’s not the bandwidth, it’s the addition latency that Wi-Fi adds to pack up the packets pre-transmission. For Internet, Wi-Fi is only as good as the WAN port’s speed, anyways.
‘Repeater’ mode chops 50% off the Wi-Fi, right off the top, to establish a link upstream to your primary Wi-Fi device/base station… even if it’s not used. If you insist on using it, pair the 2.4GHz radio to link as the upstream for ‘backhaul’, keeping all connected client devices (eg: phones, tablets) on the 5GHz. It’s highly dubious any one of your connected 5GHz clients is even going to come close to using the max. bandwidth advertised by 5G/ac/ax. There’s too many differences in the performance/quality of the manufacturer’s embedded radios.
Seriously though, for future proofing high speed LAN cabling that outperforms home Wi-Fi, Cat 6 or WTF.
Thank you so much for your detailed and informed response! I’ve connected my Beryl Server via Ethernet and the upload/ download speeds are much faster. I’ll go through the other steps you listed to further improve my setup. If I set up the Opal as a Server, and use the Slate AX as a client, will the slower performance of the Opal negate the speeds of the Slate AX?
Yup; you’re only as fast as the worst bottleneck. … but keep in mind VPN Policies, found under GL GUI → VPN → VPN Dashboard → Global Policy can allow considerable flexibility. Example: you know the domains &/or IP addresses of everything your work-related software uses. I do mean everything. That information can be added to ‘Based on the Target Domain or IP’. Thereafter just that traffic goes through your VPN, leaving you to surf everything else in the ‘raw speed’ of your local (relative to your location) ISP’s bandwidth.
You would have to be really sure you’ve got all those domain names/IPs, though… least one sneak through, giving away your real IP/location.
I would put that Slate AX as the Server connected to whatever network resources you wanted to share out to your Clients. For example, if you were self-host a video conference platform like Jitsi on a machine in your LAN (traditional server role), the Slate AX’s advertised 550 Mbps WG speeds is going to be need much more to move that data in/out than just one feed/person as a client watching & interacting from the Beryl.
Also once setup don’t forget to back up all your devices: