it is actually not worth buying a new standalone access
point unless you can install specifically OpenBSD on it, and temporary
reuse of an old access point is sub-optimal now matter what you
(re)flash on it, most firmwares including third party are vulnerable
and suffer from the same reliability and hardware limitations.
There's a difference between a wifi *access point* and a wifi *router*.
You can't install much of anything on an access point, it's basically
just a bridge. They only have one ethernet port on the back and like
maybe a couple megs of ram if that, enough to handle basic
password/encryption and not much else. They have about the same
reliability issues as an unmanaged ethernet switch (ie; not a lot).
As for routers, depending on what you have, it's not too hard to reflash
them into what is basically a wap. The crummy software is the source of
99% of their problems, but if you replace that with a simple bridge
firmware they clear right up. I've never seen even the shittiest of
linksys units fail because of actual hardware issues.
As far as hardware limitations go, you're not going to be getting any
more bandwidth out of a g/n/ac/whatever pci card vs the same class
standalone device. The processor of the wap or flashed router won't be
managing any states or anything, so there's not much of a difference there.
Personally I wouldn't recommend buying a wifi router to turn it into a
wap, but that's because it's a waste of money. Repurposing an old one is
fine, as is buying a new wap. I've seen plenty of people do this and
these things have run flawlessly for years.
