This WAP321 thing has proven to be bulletproof. Since I wrote my initial article, the WAP321 hasn’t failed once. It hasn’t needed rebooting in over a year. It also turned me into a convert – I’m a big fan of lifetime warranty business-class networking equipment now.
Bulletproof: WAP321 Access Point
To be clear, if you read my first impressions of this device, I had some problems initially. This turned out to be no fault of Cisco’s. We ended up having a network security appliance that was leaking transient voltage into our improperly-grounded server rack. This server rack had a ground point where our uninterruptible power supply was connected, and the POE injector for the WAP321 was plugged into the UPS. It was “only” about 0.1 Volts difference at rest, but during a power surge it apparently spiked and killed the WAP321’s POE injector. It also put our 25-year-old voicemail system over the edge, too, but no one’s really complaining about that!
Go for Enterprise-worthy Networking Equipment
As owner of a pretty small business, I don’t have a ton of network throughput requirements, but I do have a severe shortage of spare time. To me it’s worth it to spend more up front for a piece of equipment (such as the WAP321 ) that simply doesn’t go down. Even if it doesn’t have a lifetime warranty, most business-class networking equipment is designed with such reliability in mind. More to come in a separate article dedicated to this topic.
First Impressions aren’t Always Accurate
**INITIAL ARTICLE** We have a Wireless Access Point (WAP) at work that failed yesterday as a result of a power outage, despite being plugged in to our UPS (uninterruptible power supply). If the power indicator on the Cisco WAP321 blinks red, that seems to indicate that the “Power Over Ethernet” or “PoE” power injector has failed. The blinking red power indicator was not designated as a troubleshooting option in the administration manual. Upon plugging the device into a functioning 12-volt, 1.5-amp, +tip power supply, the WAP turned on and began blinking green. Since it’s a small business WAP, it’s covered by a limited lifetime warranty. We’ll soon find out how easy / hard it is to actually cash in on this.