Discussion
At the basic level yes. I wouldn't worry about the LR units unless you are trying to cover a warehouse. The lite units will cover the average house unless you have walls that really impact signal strength. If you want the extra speed or you have a lot of wireless devices go for the pro. I have 2 AC Lite models covering 3 floors around 3000 square feet. I did have to add a third for outside the front due to the foot thick stone walls.
Turn off the sky wifi then use the unifi mobile app or windows/mac software to setup the access points.
Then in a few weeks you will want to play with more features and install the controller on a raspberry pi.
Give that a few weeks and then you replace the router totally with a unifi security gateway, then one switch and another a short time after that.
Turn off the sky wifi then use the unifi mobile app or windows/mac software to setup the access points.
Then in a few weeks you will want to play with more features and install the controller on a raspberry pi.
Give that a few weeks and then you replace the router totally with a unifi security gateway, then one switch and another a short time after that.
I had 2 Unify AC Lites configured just as you propose and it turned my poor flaky Wi-Fi into something that we just never had to touch.
This was with a plusnet router configured to do the dhcp but with its Wi-Fi interface switched off.
I now have 4 AC Lites and a PoE switch (netgear) next to the router to do this and we get whole home (and garden) coverage and 200/200 on Wi-Fi with ~30 devices connected and Vodafone fibre behind it.
Getting the cables run is the tricky but if you can go up into the loft and pop out in the ceiling in a couple of places, it'll be fine. I use off the shelf pre made cables (cat5e) for this.
This setup has been great for me and I wouldn't go back to using the supplied router as a Wi-Fi AP again.
This was with a plusnet router configured to do the dhcp but with its Wi-Fi interface switched off.
I now have 4 AC Lites and a PoE switch (netgear) next to the router to do this and we get whole home (and garden) coverage and 200/200 on Wi-Fi with ~30 devices connected and Vodafone fibre behind it.
Getting the cables run is the tricky but if you can go up into the loft and pop out in the ceiling in a couple of places, it'll be fine. I use off the shelf pre made cables (cat5e) for this.
This setup has been great for me and I wouldn't go back to using the supplied router as a Wi-Fi AP again.
lightweight73 said:
...I wouldn't worry about the LR units unless you are trying to cover a warehouse. ...
This.I bought LR units thinking they would be a bonus, but they are an edge case product really. The devices that will be talking to them also require powerful radios, and often on consumer grade kit that is not the case.
Buy more standard units and you'll get better overall coverage.
(NB LR units will function as well as standard units...you just don't need the expense - I am talking as someone who bought 4x LR units before I understood the above!
).LR's AIUI have better antenna's so Ubiquiti says you should get better range even with a standard client.
They make the same point you do, which is typically it is the AP hearing the client that is the limiting factor, especially as phones and tablets tend to have limited space for Wifi aerials, as well as power constraints due to being battery powered.
The 5GHz transmit power is the same for the AC Pro and LR according to the datasheet, and I believe in UK specific config they're both limited to 20dBm anyway, which is the same as the Lite.
They make the same point you do, which is typically it is the AP hearing the client that is the limiting factor, especially as phones and tablets tend to have limited space for Wifi aerials, as well as power constraints due to being battery powered.
The 5GHz transmit power is the same for the AC Pro and LR according to the datasheet, and I believe in UK specific config they're both limited to 20dBm anyway, which is the same as the Lite.
wjwren said:
This is for my father in laws bungalow which is internal brick wall and approx 4ksqft. Would 2 long range be ok placed either end? He isnt a heavy internet user just wants to be able to use the laptop around the house.
I'd suggest putting then in a bit from the ends rather than at the absolute ends - think about a circle around each AP - there's no benefit having half the circle outside the house and a bit of a gap of weaker coverage in the middle..If there's a hallway that runs the length of the building, consider putting any APs along that - the fewer walls they have to go through the better.
wjwren said:
Quick question, my sky router is a bit pants. If i buy 2 of these long range units, do i just plug them in to the back of the sky router and use the poe injectors that come with them?
In theory yes, but there are caveats. I bought an AC Lite to dip my toe in the water before i bought a lot of ubiquiti kit and im having lots of wierd issues with client disconnects on that AP.Seems im not alone -> https://community.ui.com/questions/All-clients-ran...
The UI on the controller is pretty buggy too.
I really wanted to like this kit and i'll spend more time to solve this issue before calling it a day, but so far, am somewhat on the fence.
I’ve not used any of these yet, but I’d be tempted to consider a couple of the newer flex HD units: https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-... and put them in the 2 or 3 rooms he uses most (every one of their APs I’ve had to date it’s possible to turn off the led so it’s not lighting up a bedroom). All though they’re cylindrical a really neat ceiling mount that would mean, in a bungalow, you could canoe easily from the loft space like you would a conventional ceiling mounted AP.
Wouldn’t put APs in a hallway unless unavoidable as generally it just results in weaker signal in the room you actually want to use your devices in.
Wouldn’t put APs in a hallway unless unavoidable as generally it just results in weaker signal in the room you actually want to use your devices in.
LooneyTunes said:
Wouldn’t put APs in a hallway unless unavoidable as generally it just results in weaker signal in the room you actually want to use your devices in.
My reasoning is that as long as you've got enough signal strength to get decent throughput you're fine, and wifi goes through doorways pretty well unless you go in for steel internal doors, so signal strength doesn't tend to be a problem. The AP in every room approach gets painful pretty quickly with running out of non overlapping channels unless you turn the AP signal strength right down, and at that point it feels as if you're spending money on APs for the sake of it.
I would imagine that in a bungalow, a single one in the roof space would cover the whole house. The thing that kills WiFi is RSJs. We have two massive steels at one end of the house, and that bit is like the Bermuda Triangle for WiFi.
Ubiquiti kit is good, but it is a “system”, you need lots of it to really get the benefit. A single Ubiquiti AP will be no better than any other AP without any of the management tools and devices.
Ubiquiti kit is good, but it is a “system”, you need lots of it to really get the benefit. A single Ubiquiti AP will be no better than any other AP without any of the management tools and devices.
rxe said:
I would imagine that in a bungalow, a single one in the roof space would cover the whole house.
This. Do not be afraid to try the access points in unconventional locations. We have two UniFi access points and the range was disappointingly short until we moved them in to the loft, attached to the rafters pointing down at a 45 degree angle. Result is full house WiFi to all floors.Unifi stuff is like crack cocaine. You buy one AP to see what it's like and to fix your wifi issues and then a year later your house is wired up like a medium-sized business, you have enough hardwire to run GCHQ and you spend your life tweaking it - although it already works perfectly.
Allegedly.
Allegedly.
Tlandcruiser said:
I’m interested in this for my bungalow, what model would I need? I take it, it’s just like a WiFi extender??
Not really a wifi extender. They are WiFi access points, AP's. They need an ethernet cable running from the router, usually the existing wifi on the router is switched off. troc said:
Unifi stuff is like crack cocaine. You buy one AP to see what it's like and to fix your wifi issues and then a year later your house is wired up like a medium-sized business, you have enough hardwire to run GCHQ and you spend your life tweaking it - although it already works perfectly.
Allegedly.
a lifetime of tweaking for what is essentially white goods sounds like a fault to me!Allegedly.
As i said above, i've got a controller and AP, and its been very flakey. I have it in the attic pointing down at a 45 degree angle 1m above the room it services. That room has a reasonable signal, but one of the 3 SSID's broadcast by that unit bobs up and down like a yo yo. That wouldn't be so bad, if the SSID was constant (just not use it) but sometimes its SSID1, othertimes SSID2.
I used to design and build rogue AP detectors and wifi analysers, including writing firmware, so am not a complete noob either.
Just to add my experience, this week we had two AP Lites installed. Supremely easy to set up - all I did was disable WiFi from my router, and changed the SSIDs and passwords on each AP so that they are the same. I now have 50-150Mbps WiFi everywhere in the house, whereas previously I had parts of the house where we would only get 2Mbps. We are in a relatively small three bed end terrace (around 1200 sq ft), but with thick walls that kill wifi.
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