This is why 802.1x and RADIUS are key. I used to maintain the RADIUS servers at an ISP and dealt with the craziness that were the initial implementations of 802.1x, and to this day I keep finding corporate networks that do crazy things like rotating standard WPA Wi-Fi passwords via policies instead of just setting up 802.1x properly.

Of course, vendors don’t help here. Spending six digits on Cisco gear to get “out-of-the-box” end-to-end authentication (that then is weirdly inflexible in hooking up to your corporate AD) is certainly not on most small companies’ radar, especially when they get cheap APs that “work”.

For home use, I’ve bee looking for decent APs (_not_ proprietary fancy mesh setups) that support 802.1x and don’t cost an arm and a leg, and I’ve been seriously considering ripping out my Airports (which are amazing Wi-Fi gear, and sadly discontinued) and going with a combination of OpenWRT gear and an embedded RADIUS server.

But I’ve been wondering if there are decent SOHO solutions out there for 6-12 APs and up to 50 users — it would be great for small companies/startups.