TP-Link OC200 Omada Hardware Controller, SDN Integrated, PoE Powered, Manage Up to 100 Devices, Easy & Intelligent Network Monitor & Maintenance, Cloud Access & Omada App

Anyone who knows about these products and associated equipment know these are great, and very affordable for the small business. Handy cloud connect function allows you to manage away from the location

Simple device, PoE powered, or DC as an option. Does what it says, and allows our PoE AP's to be managed in one place. It's nothing exciting, but works as intended. Not much more to say about a network device.

A great addition to the network to help you manage it remotely

I’ve got this controlling 3x EAP245 V3. Signal quality across the system is excellent throughout the house. Installation was quite straight forward. The user interface is good both using a browser and the iOS app. There are however a few quirks: 1. I was initially using it in a system which included a version 1 EAP245. This meant downgrading the controller firmware as the latest version cannot control a mix of version one and version three EAPs. 2. The downgraded controller meant that it offered a graphical hotspot which was quite cute, overlaying signal strength is on top of your house or office space so you get an idea of the signal strength between each unit which can help with placement. Unfortunately this hotspot graphic is removed when you upgrade back to the latest version of firmware. 3. I eventually moved over to a set of EAP is completely on version three which allowed me to do the latest firmware update. This has the advantage of automatically managing firmware throughout the system, but sadly looses the hotspot graphic functionality. 4. The strangest element I have found to the system is that devices which are located only a couple of metres from an EAP do not connect to it but instead connected to another device which is at the other end of the house. I contacted customer services to ask about this and I didn’t have a satisfactory explanation other than perhaps the signal strength was too strong on the nearby EAP. This seems rather odd response. Notwithstanding this the system seems to function and the devices connect. The system office quite a lot of power for filtering and deciding what can connect. It also means you can monitor usage of the Wi-Fi network in quite fine detail. For £50 controller it is good value for money and I like the ability to monitor both locally and remotely. It’s just a shame it has a few quirks.

I have rebuilt my entire network around the Omanda series and it has transformed my home network performance and stability. Excellent products at a great price. I originally ran the free software controller for a while to get the hang of designing and building the network but moved over to the hardware controller for reliability reasons.

I decided to remake my household internet/WiFi using AP's for the simple reason that it's a better way to get really good WiFi throughout my gaff than the more highstreet options. It is of course a system designed for a more commercial setup such as a pub, office or workplace but if you have a big house and you also want WiFi in your garden for cameras then using access points is the way to go. The downside is of course that you need to connect each unit back to the network switch using a Cat5 or 6 cable. I like that and thankfully during a rebuilding of my house I ran cable everywhere thus making using AP's relatively simple. So, here I am with this small network controller. It's basically a small computer than controls and runs your network locally which, you access using the Omada app. You don't strictly need this to run your network as you can use the app and work through the cloud but this does allow better control and it's part of your own system. It's a small thing that you connect direct into your network switch which if a POE one will negate the need for any outside power. I use an 8 port POE TP Link switch so as to avoid any clashes which, should not happen, but it's IT stuff so not logical. It's plug and play. Connect the unit and then search for it using your Omada app - having already signed up for an account - and then use it to set up all your Omada devices with whatever settings you need. It's simple, intuitive and you don't need to be an expert IT admin to do it. I'm not a complete novice but I'm no expert either and this was easier to setup than making a cup of tea for my wife. Which, I admit is fraught with pain and misery if I get it wrong... Overall, if you are thinking of running in an AP network for WiFi then I cannot but recommend the TP Link system enough. Reasonably priced and easy to set up.

Must have with the omada setup

Excellent kit and with the assistance of the online customer care it was easy to install. Huge thanks to Xxandres within the technical support for their help.