Ubiquiti Unifi home network setup - thoughts?

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I'm looking into a home setup using the Unifi range of products. I'm tired of flaky connectivity and patch coverage so want to do it properly.
Phone point is in the hall, I need a wireless connection to the tv cabinet where I have 7 devices, I also want to ensure good coverage at the other side of the house and in the garage/garden (currently the area that struggles for connectivity.)

Current setup is a mess of
- Open reach modem
- Plusnet supplied modem/router
- ASUS AC router
- ASUS AC AP for tv cabinet.

Plan is to use:
- Draytek Vigor 130 modem
- Unifi ASG Router (This will also have my Tado heating contoller plugged in)
- Unifi UAP-AC-Pro (in hall, run by PoE from the ASG Router)
- Unifi UAP-AC-M Mesh (in sitting room, run by PoE)
- Unifi US-8 Gigabit/PoE switch (in TV cabinet powering the AC-M)
- Unifi UAP-AC-M Mesh (in utility room to support current area of poor coverage, powered from mains.)

The two AC-M units will run wireless uplinks from the AC-Pro.

I know "a little" about networking and setup so I'm concerned this may put me into the dangerous territory of thinking I know what I'm doing! I do have a friend who is very much expert in this area to turn to for help though if I need.

Does this setup sound sensible? Does anyone have experience of the products and opinions on what they are like to work with/setup?

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buggalugs said:

They've been doing some good marketing recently and by all accounts their stuff is good. 7 devices in a cabinet does not scream use wifi to me though.

Devices are:
- Sky box
- TV
- NAS
- Mac Mini
- Apple TV
- Sonos Bridge
- I miscounted, it's 6 not 7!

I don't have a cable run to the TV cabinet that is possible (read allowable by SWMBO) that's my problem. Everything in the cabinet is wired to a switch and most of the traffic is the Apple TV to the Mac and the Mac to the NAS. Backups to the NAS run over night.

I'm trying to think of a way to get a cable from the hall to the loft so I can run a proper cabinet up there with everything in. Just can't figure out a way due to house layout.

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Accelebrate said:

I've been using their stuff for a few years. I had some issues with their previous generation of access points (standard model had low throughput, switched to the pro models and they were good but would randomly drop). Upgraded to the latest pro models about 6 months ago and they've been brilliantly stable (3 installed in an office which peaks at ~100 wireless clients).

I've got a couple of their Edgerouters (one at work, one at home), they've been great, although can require some knowledge to configure.

The AC lite access points look like good value, I'm working up to replacing the aging Apple access points I have at home with a couple.

It's the need for knowledge on router/switch setup that I'm concerned on. I don't do anything particularly advanced at home in terms of setup or usage, so not sure quite how detailed the setup will be.

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George111 said:

I'm an advocate of wifi rather than cabled connections but even I wouldn't run that lot over wifi. I'd stop for the minute before you do anything else and try to work out a way to cable all of that to the router.

If it's a modern house, you can drop a cable down between the two brick walls from the loft space to the floor on the ground floor.

I don't tend to struggle too much at the moment. There is normally only ever one or two of those devices pulling traffic at any one point e.g. Sky box recording, Apple TV streaming.

We will be building an extension this year or next and I will factor in proper cable runs at that time.

It's and oldish house so brick walls with plaster. It makes it far more work to do anything like that.

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To update, been speaking to my friend/ex-colleague who has set up similar for several people now.

I'm going to go for the setup listed initially with him doing the initial config for me. He has an AWS setup for the controller and will set it all up and test it, then I'll install at home. I've then got the safety net of him knowing what he's doing and I can switch to a CloudKey or have it running on my Mac server if I want/when I'm more confident.

re: running a cable to my TV point. I will do it, just far easier for me if I do it when I have builders/decorators coming in anyway. I want to factor in a proper comms cabinet with the extension so channeling cables in now when they may be redundant in 6 months isn't worth it. Plus, the current AP setup copes with my demands on the whole.

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megaphone said:

Just to confirm, you do not need to have a controller running 24/7, once set up the controller can be disconnected. The system will run standalone, you only really need a controller if you're running controlled access and taking payments etc. The controller can run on a PC/Mac/Linux, once you set everything up it can be switched off.

OP I think your proposed set-up is a bit OTT for a home network, unless you have money to burn! See my post above. The APs work best ceiling mounted in an open area, they work best when cabled. If I where in your shoes, I'd wait until you have the building works , then get some cables in to where you need them.

Personally I'd not bother with the AC Mesh units, I'd go for some AP AC Lite , better suited to indoor deployment, they look prettier as well. If you cannot wire them, they will run on a wireless up-link back to a wired main AP, 'wireless uplink' works much the same as the 'mesh' does using 5Ghz to link back to the AP.

Edited by megaphone on Saturday 21st January 16:41

Edited by megaphone on Saturday 21st January 16:42

Thanks for the comments. I will definitely run cable as soon as possible. I know the current setup will be compromised until then too. The Mesh units will be run via uplink from the main AC-Pro.