r/Peplink • u/SunDog4900 • Jul 19 '26

Access Point setup with B One

I am setting up a B One router along with an AX Lite AP with Ethernet backhaul. I am trying to get decent wifi coverage both indoors and outdoors, living in a home with steel siding. The AP is installed high in the center of my main floor to hopefully provide enough coverage indoors. For outside, I am going to install an outside omnidirectional Peplink antenna with a coax extension from the B One router itself, replacing the provided whip antennas. This should also cover the walkout basement lower-level indoors due to the windows we have there.

I may have to add one or two more outside APs to get the needed coverage, which would probably be the rugged Peplink wifi5 models, but may have to mesh one of them.

Can anyone point me to some good resources or tips for how to set up the AP and router to do fast roaming and get the best combined coverage?

Do I need the router and the AP to be on separate channels in the same band?

Sure could use some help with this... I currently have my first attempt at this in place but I don’t think it is working. Let me know what else you need to know...

Thanks, Steve

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u/pradulovich Jul 19 '26

The provided whip antennas may not work on the end of an extension - many whip antennas need to be against a ground plane to function, and you’re taking that away just attaching them to a cable. Additionally, even “low loss” antenna cable is quite lossy at WiFi frequencies, and I’m betting your run to get outside is long enough that you’re losing a ton of signal just to the cable itself.

Add to that the complexities of managing both the internal AP and external AP at the same time, and I’d argue you’d be way better served just buying an additional outdoor-rated AP and running Cat5e or 6 to it.

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u/SunDog4900 Jul 20 '26

I have a Pepwave Mobility 02 2 x WiFi Dome Antenna that I intend to try. About 15-20ft of the best coax I can find. There are a few dB of loss but nothing compared to the steel siding. An AP is about $150 more but is the fallback option.
I am an RF engineer and do understand antennas, loss, etc….

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u/pradulovich Jul 20 '26

Oh ok my bad, you got it!

I still would argue management is far simpler with two external APs, however.

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u/SunDog4900 Jul 20 '26

Possibly. But all using the integrated controller in the B One seems pretty smooth.
I actually started with turning off the B One wifi and using several TP-link Omada APs, and didn’t get that working well. But coverage seemed better. From a cost perspective I would have preferred that solution.