Weapons-grade home WiFi suggestions

[Gary C]

page3 said:

Most consumers don’t even understand that there’s a difference between wifi and broadband, let alone mesh.

lol, thats true.

And even people with some knowledge don't understand what the term broadband really is, let alone QAM, PSK or QPSK.

Bring back good old baseband comms

[random_username]

jimmyjimjim said:

The caveat - ‡Clients need to support 802.11k/v/r and may require additional set up. Performance may vary depending on the client device.

That's the 'Fast Roaming' option in UI terminology. I've not turned it on for a while, when I did a whole load of IoT type devices kept falling off the network.

[xeny]

random_username said:

That's the 'Fast Roaming' option in UI terminology. I've not turned it on for a while, when I did a whole load of IoT type devices kept falling off the network.

Best practice seems to be to relegate IoT devices to a ghetto 2.4GHz SSID, with whatever compromises are needed to make them work. PMF off is often also required.

[random_username]

xeny said:

Best practice seems to be to relegate IoT devices to a ghetto 2.4GHz SSID, with whatever compromises are needed to make them work. PMF off is often also required.

I have a 2.4GHz 'guest' network for IoT devices - however enabling fast roaming on the 'main' network kicked the devices off the guest network as well - it appeared to be a global setting not a per-SSID one.

Might give it another try, it's been a while and quite a few firmware updates since...

[doolie]

I can recommend the TP-Link Omada gear for a decent home wifi setup. Currently running the following under Omada SDN

EAP225 Ceiling
EAP225 Wall
Omada Software controller docker on an rpi
TL-R605 Gateway behind ISP Modem/Router (the latter for which I'm aiming to swap out for simple bridge setup)

The EAPs are wired in 1Gb PoE and clients roam nicely between the 2

Not dipped into VLANs yet, next step

Edited by doolie on Friday 12th February 16:53

[jimmyjimjim]

"Do I not like that".

In terms of epic pissyness, that was about an 14/10.

You have to configure it as a router to begin with, which upsets a lot of things, then you tell it that its an AP and it reboots into AP mode. This worked (after several reboots), then the AP couldn't be found by the app. Despite it working.

So I attempted to re-provision it, got a solid red light, 'press the reset button' - so I did and nothing happened. Completely bricked.

So, I then set up the 2 remaining in router mode, and switched then into AP mode. One half worked. Then the app shat itself and decided it couldn't connect at all.

So I reverted back to the Ubiquiti. This involved fiddling with power - which killed the socket (previously suspected to be dodgy) powering the modem. Which I didn't notice until 20 minutes of increasingly pissed off trouble shooting later.

I'm going to try to recover the bricked one tomorrow and take from there.

I had such high hopes....

[jimmyjimjim]

Pretty sure that's going back.

I can see me getting an AC Pro to cover that area, on either the same or a different SSID.

'it just works'*


Ubiquiti, that is.

[jimmyjimjim]

random_username said:

jimmyjimjim said:

Standalone; see comment above.

If it's standalone, I don't think you need to do anything with it - leave it as is. If you had chosen to add another Unifi AP you'd plug that in, install the app and then just configure it with the same SSID / security settings and a different set of wifi channels and off you'd go - they'd work as two independent APs, but any clients would still be able to connect to either AP and roam between them with no issues as long as the wireless SSID and security were the same between them.

I think I'm back to this. Will provision it up with the same SSID etc, get it sited where it can be used for most of the house, then recover the old one, and re-adopt it.

I might rebuild my pi-hole first. Had enough wifi for a bit.

[xeny]

jimmyjimjim said:

Pretty sure that's going back.

I can see me getting an AC Pro to cover that area, on either the same or a different SSID.

Unless you really need the extra speed of a Pro, is it worth getting an LR and seeing if that helps with the coverage/reliability issues?

[paralla]

jimmyjimjim said:

I didn't fancy starting a new thread 'decent wifi that isn't a complete pain in the stter to set up and costs both arms and a leg, but does the job'.

Maybe you could start a new thread titled "Enterprise-grade WiFi suggestions"

[random_username]

xeny said:

Unless you really need the extra speed of a Pro, is it worth getting an LR and seeing if that helps with the coverage/reliability issues?

The Pro and the original Lite are getting a bit long in the tooth now, I'd probably either get the new U6 Lite, or a NanoHD...

I think my original Pro is coming up 5 years now, I would imagine it will go out of firmware / Unifi Admin support at some point soon...

[xeny]

random_username said:

The Pro and the original Lite are getting a bit long in the tooth now, I'd probably either get the new U6 Lite, or a NanoHD...

I think my original Pro is coming up 5 years now, I would imagine it will go out of firmware / Unifi Admin support at some point soon...

I've got a 6 Lite and I don't like it as much as the AC Lite it replaced. The Nano HD seems aimed at higher densities than a typical domestic environment, and I've seen grumbles about 2.4GHz range. I'd consider a 6 LR possibly.

They're only just dropping support for the original green ring 2.4GHz only units, so I'd imagine you've a good few years yet. I think if it is going to get WPA 3 support with the rest of the range for example

[jimmyjimjim]

paralla said:

Maybe you could start a new thread titled "Enterprise-grade WiFi suggestions"

I think I need to start a thread 'how to get wifi without wifi'.

[jimmyjimjim]

xeny said:

Unless you really need the extra speed of a Pro, is it worth getting an LR and seeing if that helps with the coverage/reliability issues?

Good call. Checked what microcenter have in stock, and that's a good price, and available for pickup.

[Gary C]

doolie said:

I can recommend the TP-Link Omada gear for a decent home wifi setup. Currently running the following under Omada SDN

EAP225 Ceiling
EAP225 Wall
Omada Software controller docker on an rpi
RL-605 Gateway behind ISP Modem/Router (the latter for which I'm aiming to swap out for simple bridge setup)

The EAPs are wired in 1Gb PoE and clients roam nicely between the 2

Not dipped into VLANs yet, next step

RL-605 ?

Do you mean the TL-R605 ?, just bought one of those to replace the BT Smarthub router . Its great and stops BT from messing

[doolie]

Gary C said:

RL-605 ?

Do you mean the TL-R605 ?, just bought one of those to replace the BT Smarthub router . Its great and stops BT from messing

I did indeed! I'll update the post

[jimmyjimjim]

So why did I bother with the TP-Link monstrosity? Got back from microspender ($108), slapped the AC-LR on the shelf, powered it up and connected it, adopted it, flung the same settings as the other AP on to it, with a channel on the other side of the spectrum, provisioned and upgraded.
Warned the wife there might be some disruption like the other night - 'how long will you be?' - 'done' - 'oh'.

Pissed about with it a bit, then flattened and readopted the AC-Lite. Same settings as before, and done.

Honestly, for a simple network, it's a damn sight easier than most other things. It remains to be seen how it performs, but it seems to be doing the trick right now.

[Lucas Ayde]

seveb said:

You think ? Anybody into gaming will notice a massive difference and why slow down and spoil your wifi experience when there is another possibly cheaper option that will work way, way better ? Always start with the solution with the best outcome, not the worst.

I can see I'd not be employing you in an IT business

You seem to be conflating the needs of a business with the needs of someone living in a house - two different scenarios.

If you have wired available around the house, you're already going to have your gaming PC/console plugged into it.

That's the way I've got my stuff set up - anything that stays in one place (mostly) and has an ethernet connection gets plugged either into the router if it's close enough, or a Powerline link if it's in another room.

Wifi is just for mobile devices and as long as it can give me full speed from my internet connection wherever it is in the house, and is reliable, then that's a win. Mesh is perfect for that, even with wireless backhaul. I could get some more powerline adaptors and wire my 2 additional BT mini discs in for that tiny bit of extra performance I'll not use, but I don't see the point in wasting money making the system more complex when it works just fine with wireless backhaul for my Phone, tablet, laptops and Chromecasts.

Now if it was a busy office or public space, different story. But for home, letting the mesh run wirelessly is generally good enough.

[Digger]

Can someone explain (for a domestic/home setting) what Backhaul is, & the difference between wired & wireless Backhaul. Have done a quick google but getting mixed messages!

If I had to guess ... wired Backhaul is when devices are connected directly to the router via Ethernet?

[Lucas Ayde]

Digger said:

Can someone explain (for a domestic/home setting) what Backhaul is, & the difference between wired & wireless Backhaul. Have done a quick google but getting mixed messages!

If I had to guess ... wired Backhaul is when devices are connected directly to the router via Ethernet?

Backhaul is the link between the various boxes/discs in a mesh system and the router.

Wired to the router is the best solution (but you need to have an ethernet connection to each mesh point). That way, each point talks direct to the router - fastest possible connection with no hopping around between mesh points.

Wireless uses some of the available wifi bandwidth to set up links between the mesh points, they talk to each other and route wireless traffic back to the point that's directly connected to the router. Theoretically slower and higher latency, but a doddle to set up and no extra ethernet connections needed.

In practice, you almost certainly won't care in a typical home situation. Especially since a lot of mesh access points include an ethernet link that you can hang a nearby wired device off of, cutting out its own initial WiFi hop to the mesh.