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I'd recommend Ubiquiti's UniFi. I installed three total units (one as base, two satellites). The setup spans 15,000sqft across two stories and split building (c
by vxxzy 10y ago
I'd recommend Ubiquiti's UniFi. I installed three total units (one as base, two satellites). The setup spans 15,000sqft across two stories and split building (connected by breezeway). We get full speed on every corner and crevice. It has a great management interface. The cost was only 199. Well worth it.
- nodesocket 10y agoWhat models did you deploy? UniFi UAP-AC-PRO? Don't you also need to buy a power over ethernet switch to use UniFi?
- dawnerd 10y agoThe single units come with a POE injector.
- hedora 10y agoI just bought one UAP-AC-PRO. The one pack comes with a PoE injector. The five pack does not. I highly recommend it after a week of use. Also, the linked article is wrong. The iphone app is more than adequate for simple home setups (no crazy java pc installation required while you're up on a ladder / in the attic installing it). It wouldn't surprise me if they have a comparable android app. Didn't check. Also Ubiquiti are launching a new mesh networking product this month.
- zippergz 10y agoI use the UAP-AC-PROs in my house (and also an Edgerouter Lite at the border). Great stuff, especially for the price.
- manyxcxi 10y agoI have the UAP-AC-PRO and an Edge Router Lite and couldn't be happier. I tried way more expensive consumer routers (Nighthawk), using a pair of TP-Link Archer C7s (with one in AP mode), extenders, freaking everything. They all had problems that were incredibly painful. The AC-PRO covers my entire house (2 story, 2500+ sqft new construction) and garage with no latency issues or dead spots. There's no handoff issues like having multiple APs/extenders, there's a faster throughput than I was getting with the Nighthawk, and the PoE made it a breeze to install centrally in the house. I'm only upset that I waited so long to just give up on the purely 'consumer grade' crap.
- sumoboy 10y agoThe unifi ac pro's work awesome, consumer routers are kind of mickey mouse after these are deployed. Mounted them in a ceiling like a smoke alarm connected via ethernet, on the other end is an included poe injector unit or just use can use a switched hub with poe ports like ubiquiti edgerouter. The only thing I don't like is the management tool requiring java for the browser but it's pretty simple to figure out. Overall it's cheaper than these other mesh products. If you need a router functionality, get there edgerouter but I'll tell you this, it's super powerful but not something easy to figure unless you have a deeper understanding of network protocols. Great stuff.
- hollander 10y ago> The only thing I don't like is the management tool requiring java for the browser but it's pretty simple to figure out. You don't need Java to work in the browser. The management tool runs on a Tomcat webserver. That requires Java. I don't know if you need to install Java to get that working, or if Java is included in the tool itself. But you don't need the Java plugin in your browser for the tool to work. To test this, disable or remove the plugin and see if the management tool keeps working!
- coffeecheque 10y agoI agree. I've have much success with Ubiquiti - everything from bridges to really solid wifi in the home. And FWIW, they have recently started shipping a UniFi Mesh product called... UniFi Mesh. I haven't used it so can't really speak for it, but its marketing site is here: https://unifi-mesh.ubnt.com/ https://unifi-mesh.ubnt.com/
- danesparza 10y agoWow! That mesh product line looks bananas. Thanks!
- splitrocket 10y agoI had the exact opposite experience. Ubiquiti works well in a low RF noise environment. We have 1k+ unique SSIDs visible throughout our office and I was having horrific latency spikes, lost connections, etc. with top of the line Ubiquiti equipment. Trying tuning them every which way from sunday. No Dice. Spent the money and switched to ruckus and instantly: perfect wifi. Never looked back.
- dawnerd 10y ago1000% this. I've given them my praise before on HN, but can't say it enough. These are best best things you can do for your network without spending tons of cash.
- fishcakes 10y agoI agree completely. I went all in and I have 7x UniFi ap AC in my house (2 per floor over 3 floors and one in the guest house). They are all powered by the switch (power over Ethernet) making it super clean. The software is fine by the big advantage is that it has meraki reliability without the licensing.
- nodesocket 10y agoWhat model number switch did you buy?
- eltoozero 10y agoI deploy a lot of Unifi APs and run them off a controller hosted in AWS which I fire up when I need to monitor or deploy. Be aware with Unifi gear there is no onboard configuration or UI beyond busybox shell via SSH and a basic command line tool. They are intended to be deployed using the Unifi controller which once setup can be shut down, but will be required again to change passwords, etc. Unifi is definitely at the top of my list for multiple AP deployments, I still prefer MikroTik for edge devices though.
- arcaster 10y agoI run a handful of Unifi AP's, I've been running the control panel on a vm on my server for a while, but I really like your idea of running the controller on AWS. I also love the MikroTik router with wifi I have back home though.
- secabeen 10y agoRunning the controller is AWS is good for large installations, but as a Java app, it eats memory, which can be expensive on AWS. For smaller installs, it works fine to just run it as-necessary from a local machine.
- DiabloD3 10y agoThey have a phone app that also can do this now, apparently.
- Godel_unicode 10y agoNot quite, the phone app talks to a controller which configures the AP. You still need to run the controller (Java app) somewhere if you want to change settings or monitor the APs.
- kingcan 10y agoAlso not quite, you can configure some basic settings with the phone app and without a controller. Not all features are available though with only the app. You need to reset the AP if you want to add it to a controller later on.
- newman314 10y agoHave you tried managing your Amplifi through ssh? I wonder how much flexibility there is under the hood or if I should get a USG/Edgerouter instead.
- ascorbic 10y agoAnother happy UniFi user here. I have an 18th century house which isn't large but has very thick internal walls, which makes it a tough environment for wifi. A couple of ceiling -mounted UAC-AC-Lites connected to an Edgerouter X gives me full speed everywhere.
- briandear 10y agoAre your AC lites hard-lined into the router? And if not do you get speed degradation from the hops? My house is 17th century bastide in France which was apparently built to repel canon or nuclear blasts -- my walls are a meter thick in some places and average over a half meter of pure stone. Wifi is a challenge and pulling cable is excruciating.
- ascorbic 10y agoYes. I was renovating so was able to run cat-6 to them, even if it took some quite circuitous routes.
- dsr_ 10y agoOn the other hand, Ubiquiti has been violating the GPL since at least 2013. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquiti_Networks#U-Boot_configuration_extraction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquiti_Networks#U-Boot_confi...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- kenips 10y agoNot sure if you have read the long article but cool to see that they did include a discussion on Ubiquiti even they aren't wifi mesh.
- lars_francke 10y agoOne thing to be aware of with their current setup are major issues with Apple devices: https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Wireless/Intermittent-connectivity-loss-with-UAP-AC-PRO/td-p/1431847 https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Wireless/Intermittent-co... The thread's been going for a while but the problems persist.
- JustSomeNobody 10y agoOh, that's very sad. Was recently looking at these because my wife and I have been having connectivity issues with our old netgear router. Figured I'd just use it as an excuse to get permission to upgrade. Guess I'll hold off.
- owenwil 10y agoI have the latest Unifi system and a similar about of devices/hardware: the problems have been resolved, and a known fix is to disabled forced band steering. It all works great.
- Gruselbauer 10y agoUsed to work for a WISP. Got to know Ubiquity through their rock solid backhaul radios. Was hyped when they released the Unifi. Utterly and totally agree. Three UAC-AC-Pros over two stories deployed here, homeplug AV1200 for their uplinks and local PoE. Controller running on my VM server. Being at other people's homes has become amusing, link outage when you close too many doors and no coverage in front of the house? I remember that, but not fondly. The Archer C7 the article recommends is solid, too. At least when flashed to OpenWRT, stock firmware is horrible.
- feld 10y agoThe AirFiber backhaul radios are good, but the rest of their product line is not very reliable IME. Cambium is much better performing and more reliable.
- Gruselbauer 10y agoYup, was thinking mostly of those. The AF5x was giving us more trouble than it was worth, too.
- sathackr 10y agoI am curious as to what issues you had with the AF5x. I've personally deployed about 50 of them with nothing but overwhelming success. The entire AirFiber line is some of the best equipment I've ever worked with.
- Gruselbauer 10y agoMostly interference, even by our own equip. We operated in an area that has multiple other WISPs and the last network step to our customers was entirely 5ghz, so almost all bands all across our network had at least some interference. And with the competition we could not ask to please not use 50mhz channels everywhere even when unnecessary. I guess I should have said that right away. If interference or false DFS positives aren't an issue, they're excellent radios and with the 34dbi antenna dish UBNT offer you can potentially bridge unbelievable distances. For LOS Backhauls I'd always go for the AF24HD unless the steep price is an issue. Then again, the license for 18ghz radios alone costs more in Germany and tbh I haven't seen any interference ever with 24ghz, even if it is a free band.
- machbio 10y agoare you talking about Unifi Mesh - https://unifi-mesh.ubnt.com/ https://unifi-mesh.ubnt.com/ or the Unifi AC Pro Products(require Ethernet)
- cleeus 10y agoOne thing to note: usually there is no OpenWRT support on UniFi hardware. I tend to go with TP-Link and flash.