MikroTik RouterBOARD hAP AC Lite WiFi 5 Access Point (RB952UI-5AC2ND)

This is a great little router for your home if you typically find yourself happy at a command-line. It can be controlled via a Windows application (Winbox), a web interface, or command-line via SSH/Telnet. The feature I'm most excited about is the power-over-ethernet output which will let us ditch powerline and run a cable to a single AP in the middle of the house (previously a router at one end, and an AP at the other).Great experiences so far:1) unit is small and low power (8W).2) pre-packaged configurations make getting started simple.3) intelligent and helpful answers on the forums.4) measurably better signals at 2.4GHz and 5GHz than the larger and more expensive Linksys EA6350.5) supports LTE modems via USB interface, can be used for mobile internet.6) POE interface works with Unifi Video G3 cameras and others.7) Awesome firewall and NAT8) Super configurableKnown limitations:1) 100Mb/s wired interfaces.2) No friendly consumer UI.3) Needs patience to configure.The limitations don't bother me at all as the internet connection here is only 80/20 Mb/s and we don't spend much time transferring files between machines (use robocopy / rsync anyway for transfers to NAS).Possibly useful when setting up - I recommend having 2 network adapters on your PC. One that can connect to the internet and one to connect to the Mikrotik whilst you get used to the tools (WinBox/SSH/WebUI). I'd also recommend downloading a copy of the RouterOS manual PDFs. There is wiki online, but this is a bit more scattershot than the manual at my level of familiarity (48hours). I've asked some newbie questions on the forums and received good advice over the weekend, it seems to have a community around it.

80% of UK homes have totally useless provider supplied routers which are made as cheap as possible, and firmware programmed by people simply not paid enough to care. Anyone saying 'steep learning curve' is because the user interface is straight to the point with no fancy fonts/graphics/stock images of airbrushed families smiling/corporate branding. These won't ask are you sure? Every time you change something.If there are port forwarding needs it's a one line command. I can configure one of these in 30 seconds. Everything is there on the quickset page. You don't need to know anything else unless you are one of these people that play with stuff and break things.I wouldn't use any other router. Exceptionally stable. WiFi range beats every other, reboot/start-up speed is very good, and only messes me about if I play with it, (and am not sure what I am doing is correct)It's small. Looks insignificant. No aerials or stupid design to make it look like a land mine or a stealth bomber, just a router- a really decent router that runs rings around any Netgear/asus/BT nonsense.It's what anyone who works in IT that loves their job will use.

Works well. You'll need a different model if you need gigabit ethernet but if you don't then this is a good cheap dual band WiFi AP/router. 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios both have good range. RouterOS does have a bit of steep learning curve but once you understand how it works then it is very flexible and powerful.

In 2015 this little device was unimaginable. The raspberry pi of the networking world.A sub £100 device that was so powerful and reliable that even enterprise flocked to it. Routing, switching, access point and even ac wifi. All in one. Completely customizable, could be used as a home router, a dedicated vpn client, a managed switch, a hardware firewall.. your imagination was the limit.It didn't take long to become popular in homes too. Anyone and everyone in the know recommended this for consumers, or fit it themselves, as it's so relaible you could set it up and never touch it again.No more unstable wifi, no more overheating, overpriced cusomer routers. Absolutely brilliant.However whilst this is still an unbelievable device and still has it's uses. At £50 it's just not worth buying in 2020.10/100 mb ethernet ports just don't make sense in a £50 router in 2020. Even cheap Chinese generic brand stuff can be gigabit these days, and for just £10/20 more you can get the MikroTik hAP ac2 which is not just a successor to the HAP AC Lite, but the successor to its non-lite version ( v1 still £130 on amazon!).£60-odd quid for a gigabit Mikrotik device is the steal of 2020. That beats pretty much everything out there. Unify routers devices are nearer the £130 mark.Consumer junk like Asus, Huawei (Virgin Home Hub, BT Smart Hub etc.) are given to you by default but are around £80-£200 to buy new, have countless unhappy customers with huge wifi problems, overheating issues, and so forth. The whole world should be using the hAP AC 2 in 2020.If the price comes down on the hAP ac lite to around £30 and you have no plans to even get internet (or internal network) speeds more than 100 mbps, then the hAP ac lite would be a good buy still (don't get the hAP lite - as without ac wifi it's not worth the savings unless you're connecting your own access point).

I have 2 of these 'Lite' access points and 2 non-lite ones providing good WiFi coverage throughout my house. They are not trivial to set up but once done work very well. They are fine as WiFiI access points but if you want to use the ethernet ports I recommend not getting the 'Lite' version as they are only 10/100Mb/s whereas the non-Lite version has Gbit ports.