I regularly have guests in my house who stay only a limited time. I want to have presence detection without requiring them to link some bluetooth or even install an app. So the best way is probably to identify them on my router.
I have an internet connection (T-Mobile fiber) which requires outside support for VLANs. T-Mobile sends TV signal on one VLAN and internet on the other.
So I want to replace the internet router and use something which is supported with Home Assistant. I tried a TP-Link router, but then I need to install some alternative firmware and that firmware doesn’t support VLANs.
Question: Does any one know a good alternative router with Wifi, guest Wifi, VLAN and Home Assistant support. Preferably not too expensive?
Mikrotik. Question is what do you expect by ‘Home assistant support’ .
There is available mirotik integration:
“The mikrotik platform offers presence detection by looking at connected devices to a MikroTik RouterOS based router.”
However, I wanted to use wifi connection as “presence detector” and for that I have to write script on mikrotik router/access point. Finally, I managed it to work, and now my access point(s) recognizes wifes and my phone presence, send information to HA via http, and further HA use this in automations.
Do you need a new router? I use monitor.sh for this purpose. You would need to get the real bluetooth mac from what ever you wanted to track. No additional apps but they do need bluetooth to be on.
This includes watches, fitness bands or anything else that has a bluetooth address. You send a message via mqtt with the mac and it adds the client.
Pretty easy and you’re looking at $30 for a pi zero/power supply/sd card and case.
I have no control over their devices or their bluetooth settings, so that is not an option. The only thing I know for sure is that they have Wifi enabled and they are connected to my guest network when they are present in / near the house.
Cisco (RV160) can support only a single VLAN on the WAN port. As I wrote in the description, my provider sends two VLANs, so I need to be able to configure the WAN port as a VLAN trunk port. That makes the RV160 a no-go.
I can not find any VLAN documentation on the Mikrotik website.
If your guest VLAN is routed to the VLAN where your HA resides then you could use the NMAP device tracker which would not require you to purchase a new router.
I use this for someone who still has a Windows phone (don’t ask) meaning they can’t run the Companion App, it creates a tracked device that you can link to a person in the UI to show when they are home.
This works best if you can bind MAC addresses to IP addresses in the router meaning that the user is easily identified by the IP address you set in the NMAP configuration.
Ruckus h510 unleashed. Under $250. Note there are 2 versions, you are looking for the 9U1-H510-US00.
The other version needs a separate controller, about a $100 cheaper.
I ‘replaced’ my router with Ubiquity EdgeRouterX, as it was too slow for fiberglass.
I say ‘replaced’ as i still use my old router for wifi (AP only) as EdgeRouterX comes without wifi, but it is cheap, rock steady and fast and fully integrated with HA.
