4 ms·

This article has motivated me to do this for my parents. They are plagued by wireless reliability problems. I added another WiFi router at the other end of the

This article has motivated me to do this for my parents. They are plagued by wireless reliability problems. I added another WiFi router at the other end of the house and bridged over Ethernet (it was a PITA to configure bridging in the extension router's firmware). I'm not even sure if it helps, though I did ensure that the two APs are operating on the two least-noisy channels. I regularly have connectivity problems when I visit, and feel bad that they have to deal with it on a regular basis. Updating to newer consumer routers has only offered marginal improvements. Their house actually has acquired quite a bit of CAT 5E runs to the far corners, so I'm thinking about getting them a router (small x64 machine as described in the blog post), a gigabit Ethernet switch, and some Ethernet-connected WiFi APs around the house. Does anyone have experience with Ubiquiti APs? They seem to understand that they exist primarily to bridge WiFi and Ethernet, not solve every networking related problem on Earth. I have to say, my WiFi experience at the office improved dramatically after the AirPorts and Cisco APs were tossed for Ubiquiti...

lstamour 11y ago
Can't speak to the APs as I was waiting for a month for them to come back in stock (the AC Pro variant) but I really like my little EdgeRouter X. Doesn't fully cover fair QoS to prevent bufferbloat since it can only handle about 200Mbps in software and the hardware doesn't kick in unless QoS is disabled, afaik. But you practically have to pay a thousand bucks or build your own router to get that these days, I just wanted something simple, fast, secure and cheap and the EdgeRouter X fit the bill. Attached a Google OnHub when those went on sale back in December. Edit: By simple I mean advanced but with um, guided templates. Unlike Ubiquiti, the OnHub is actually simple.
NickNameNick 11y ago
We used them at work, huge improvement over what we had before. And our office ops guy decided to buy one for home.
voltagex_ 11y ago
It doesn't make a lot of difference to the deployment, but I don't think the situation in http://libertybsd.net/ubiquiti/ http://libertybsd.net/ubiquiti/ has changed Edit: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/review-ubiquiti-unifi-made-me-realize-how-terrible-consumer-wi-fi-gear-is/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/review-ubiquiti-unifi... is a pretty great review, though.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
robocat 11y ago
> Does anyone have experience with Ubiquiti APs? Great article: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/review-ubiquiti-unifi-made-me-realize-how-terrible-consumer-wi-fi-gear-is/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/review-ubiquiti-unifi... - we use a Unifi AP Pro at work, and it has been superbly reliable (no weird connection dropouts or resets, unlike various expensive consumer routers we previously tried). - you need the Controller software installed somewhere permanent (it contains a db of configuration settings for the APs). On Windows the software has an ugly dependency upon Java (ouch) and I couldn't quickly get it to run on Windows 7 (wouldn't start) or Windows 10 (crashed) so ended up installing it on OSX. - you need your own router (they are only an AP).
- throwaway7767 11y ago
  > - you need the Controller software installed somewhere permanent (it contains a db of configuration settings for the APs). On Windows the software has an ugly dependency upon Java (ouch) and I couldn't quickly get it to run on Windows 7 (wouldn't start) or Windows 10 (crashed) so ended up installing it on OSX. Just a small correction: you don't need the controller software running permanently. Unless you're running a paid hotspot, you only need it for changing configuration or performing firmware updates. Once the configuration is applied to the APs, they retain it in flash and you can shut down the controller until next time.
- mshook 11y ago
  I was about to get some Unifi gear for my personal use but decided against it when I read about the GPL problem they have...
qb45 11y ago
> I'm not even sure if it helps, though I did ensure that the two APs are operating on the two least-noisy channels. It may help in noisy neighborhood, though your post sounds like you may not be aware that WiFi channels partially overlap. Which they do, see Wikipedia or something for details if unsure.

lstamour 11y ago

Can't speak to the APs as I was waiting for a month for them to come back in stock (the AC Pro variant) but I really like my little EdgeRouter X. Doesn't fully cover fair QoS to prevent bufferbloat since it can only handle about 200Mbps in software and the hardware doesn't kick in unless QoS is disabled, afaik. But you practically have to pay a thousand bucks or build your own router to get that these days, I just wanted something simple, fast, secure and cheap and the EdgeRouter X fit the bill. Attached a Google OnHub when those went on sale back in December. Edit: By simple I mean advanced but with um, guided templates. Unlike Ubiquiti, the OnHub is actually simple.

NickNameNick 11y ago

We used them at work, huge improvement over what we had before. And our office ops guy decided to buy one for home.

voltagex_ 11y ago

It doesn't make a lot of difference to the deployment, but I don't think the situation in http://libertybsd.net/ubiquiti/ http://libertybsd.net/ubiquiti/ has changed Edit: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/review-ubiquiti-unifi-made-me-realize-how-terrible-consumer-wi-fi-gear-is/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/review-ubiquiti-unifi... is a pretty great review, though.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

robocat 11y ago

> Does anyone have experience with Ubiquiti APs? Great article: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/review-ubiquiti-unifi-made-me-realize-how-terrible-consumer-wi-fi-gear-is/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/review-ubiquiti-unifi... - we use a Unifi AP Pro at work, and it has been superbly reliable (no weird connection dropouts or resets, unlike various expensive consumer routers we previously tried). - you need the Controller software installed somewhere permanent (it contains a db of configuration settings for the APs). On Windows the software has an ugly dependency upon Java (ouch) and I couldn't quickly get it to run on Windows 7 (wouldn't start) or Windows 10 (crashed) so ended up installing it on OSX. - you need your own router (they are only an AP).

throwaway7767 11y ago
> - you need the Controller software installed somewhere permanent (it contains a db of configuration settings for the APs). On Windows the software has an ugly dependency upon Java (ouch) and I couldn't quickly get it to run on Windows 7 (wouldn't start) or Windows 10 (crashed) so ended up installing it on OSX. Just a small correction: you don't need the controller software running permanently. Unless you're running a paid hotspot, you only need it for changing configuration or performing firmware updates. Once the configuration is applied to the APs, they retain it in flash and you can shut down the controller until next time.
mshook 11y ago
I was about to get some Unifi gear for my personal use but decided against it when I read about the GPL problem they have...

qb45 11y ago

> I'm not even sure if it helps, though I did ensure that the two APs are operating on the two least-noisy channels. It may help in noisy neighborhood, though your post sounds like you may not be aware that WiFi channels partially overlap. Which they do, see Wikipedia or something for details if unsure.