Underwhelmed by Unifi AC Lite

paintguy

paintguy

paintguy

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Joined
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Sheffield
I'm a networking novice but was looking to improve the wifi signal in my house compared the the Virgin SH3. I've been looking at Unifi products for along time so when they came into stock at OCUK I decided to take the plunge.

I don't know what I was expecting but I can't say that I've seen much of an improvement. Running the two networks side by side (on different SSID) the signal strength on both seems pretty similar, with the SH3 slightly ahead in some areas of the house. The Unifi wins hands down upstairs, but on the extended downstairs layout of our house the far corners still have a poor signal and slow speeds.

Now I admit that the AC Lite isn't in the best place, sited in the ceiling of an understairs cupboard, but is reasonably central in the house and has the same brick walls to penetrate as my SH3 (under my desk at the moment)

Have I been naive? Was I wrong to expect a much stronger signal and better transfer speeds from the AC Lite or is it more a case of it's designed to handle multiple devices much better than something like my SH3.

Or am I doing it wrong? :p
 
All wireless needs to comply with the same rules for their power levels.

Walls will stop the signal from an UniFi AP just as well as they'll stop the signal from the SH3's wireless.

Much of the benefit comes from being able to install them it more optimal locations and being able to add and manage additional units if required.

You may find that it works better installed to an upstairs ceiling. Get a long Ethernet cable and try it in different locations.
 
Thanks. I was definitely expecting too much then.

I'll try different locations and see how it fares. I'll try it upstairs too but with the downstairs being more than twice the area of the upstairs and a ceiling made with multiple layers of foil backed insulation (that even kills a mobile phone signal) I was hoping the lower position would skim underneath it.

9x5XrDc.jpg


I may end up having to add another unit in the extended area, probably near the doorway between kitchen and utility room. There are only stud walls in that area so I'm guessing the signal will pass through them more easily. Plus I'd rather not have AP's visible in the main rooms but the utility room is just that so I'm not too bothered.
 
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In fairness from what you’ve said, you knew the install location was less than ideal, the layout/construction is such that it’s going to cause issues and you were always going to struggle. This seems to be one of those cases where whatever solution you try and deploy is going to struggle without some time spent surveying and testing.
 
They have small aerials, I have just purchased a MikroTik wAP AC RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD not received it yet but they have very good reviews, I used to use Mikrotik routers so it should be easy to set up for me.
 
Silicon Si said:
They have small aerials, I have just purchased a MikroTik wAP AC RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD not received it yet but they have very good reviews, I used to use Mikrotik routers so it should be easy to set up for me.
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Good luck with that. They have a lot of problems. I advocate Mikrotik every time I can but for wireless APs I advise staying clear of them.

The UAPs need correct placement but like Bremen has said, they aren’t a magic bullet. Glancing over your diagram I’d have been tempted to spec 2 for really good coverage. One of the plus points of using a system like UniFi is the fast roaming from one to another.
 
Silicon Si said:
They have small aerials, I have just purchased a MikroTik wAP AC RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD not received it yet but they have very good reviews, I used to use Mikrotik routers so it should be easy to set up for me.
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I have no issues with Mikrotik, generally it’s very good (and cheap) kit. I do question your ‘small aerials’ comment. The physical size is less important than the antenna design at this end of the market. And I’m sure you’re aware that the wAP is tiny. It’s about 19cm long and 6cm wide but only half the casing has anything in it. The other half just allows for waterproof connectivity for the cables. The cAP range is the Mikrotik equivalent of Unifi which makes the ‘size’ statement even more odd.

It’s definitely the case that buyers are obsessed with transmission and they forget about reception. Any wireless access point needs to be able listen better than it can shout, which is why so many users opt for the Unifi AP-AC-LR. You have to step up to an AP-AC-NanoHD before you get similar reception characteristics.

And Unifi is definitely over-hyped on here. The best domestic desktop combination router/modem/Access Points are every bit as good as Unifi until you want to have two or three of them. Or 250. Then Unifi just does it all for you.

And Mikrotik have a similar system called cAPsMan which also works well, it’s just not as pretty as Unifi.
 
Avalon said:
In fairness from what you’ve said, you knew the install location was less than ideal, the layout/construction is such that it’s going to cause issues and you were always going to struggle. This seems to be one of those cases where whatever solution you try and deploy is going to struggle without some time spent surveying and testing.
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Yeah, I guess I just thought the Unifi was a more powerful unit that would bust through the walls better. That assumption was shot down in the first words of the first reply. I guess I fell for the hype.

Would the two work well together? SH3 in one area and Unifi in another, on the same SSID? Or am I asking for problems trying to get different bits of kit to play nicely? I have plenty of spare cable runs in the house so could site another Unifi in the utility room and one on the upstairs landing if needed, but would rather not just plough money into it if I'll get little benefit.

As you guys have said, I think I need to spend some time testing.
 
paintguy said:
Would the two work well together? SH3 in one area and Unifi in another, on the same SSID? Or am I asking for problems trying to get different bits of kit to play nicely? I have plenty of spare cable runs in the house so could site another Unifi in the utility room and one on the upstairs landing if needed, but would rather not just plough money into it if I'll get little benefit.
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You are better off buying another AC lite than using the SH3 WiFi. With a second UniFi AP you will get fast roaming between them.
 
paintguy said:
I have plenty of spare cable runs in the house so could site another Unifi in the utility room and one on the upstairs landing if needed, but would rather not just plough money into it if I'll get little benefit.
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If you add one or more APs and in good positions then you will get the benefit. This is where APs that can be positioned anywhere and are affordable for multiple use at home (such as Ubiquiti) can work so well. You'll get better coverage and fast roaming between APs and yet still easy to configure.

For my WiFi I went from an Asus £250 all in one and a £200 extender which provided average coverage and horrible configuration to 4 AC-PROs (Lites or LR would be fine, I was just after 48v at the time). The reason is my house is extended front and back so some previously external brick/block walls are now internal. I have one on each floor of the main part and one in each extended part loft space and I run them with low or medium power settings to avoid interference. The coverage is now excellent everywhere (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) and yet trivial to configure from both controller and client perspectives.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I guess if I ignore the numbers and look at real life usage then things aren't so bad. Everything is wired wherever possible, with only tablets, phones and Kindle relying on wifi, and none of us download or stream very much on those at present. My son is on the cusp of teenagehood though so I'm sure that'll change quickly! Just wanting to try and get ready for the inevitable, but since he spends 90% of his time in his bedroom already I could probably just add another AP Lite right in his room and he'd be sorted!
 
Most points have already been raised, but just to add a couple more:

1) If you wanted maximum range and power you'd have been better with a new HD model, not a Lite. The name is apt. It's smaller (aerial size) and has fewer transmit and receive antennae. Again, as said earlier your installation location makes a big difference also. Have you set the channels up properly by choosing a free range of channels, optimised the channel widths per band, and played around with power levels? There's a big difference between 20MHz and 80MHz widths for example.
2) As was mentioned earlier, all wifi is capped in transmit power by law. You pretty much already guessed in your OP, but the main advantage of a more prosumer/entry-level enterprise AP is in its ability to handle masses of traffic and many users without crapping its pants and falling over. Try pushing traffic for 50, 100 or 200 users through a Superhub 3 and see what happens. The Unifi range also has a lot of features (captive portal included) that the SH3 and other all in one commercial router/APs don't.
 
Rainmaker said:
Again, as said earlier your installation location makes a big difference also. Have you set the channels up properly by choosing a free range of channels, optimised the channel widths per band, and played around with power levels? There's a big difference between 20MHz and 80MHz widths for example.
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I'm not knowledgable enough to have messed around with most of the settings, although it is running on the least congested channels (2.4 is very busy around here!)

Time to get clued up I think.
 
paintguy said:
I'm not knowledgable enough to have messed around with most of the settings, although it is running on the least congested channels (2.4 is very busy around here!)

Time to get clued up I think.
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Once you place the AP's on the map in the UniFi controller there's an auto channels button that then attempts to determine the best settings to use.
 
pcfarrar said:
Once you place the AP's on the map in the UniFi controller there's an auto channels button that then attempts to determine the best settings to use.
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Thanks, I've just been playing around with the map after seeing this.

I'm not sure how accurate the coverage plots are but I've really nerfed the AP by placing it in that cupboard!

5wYrqfU.png
 
I don't think that's accurate. I'd expect an ap with the lite power to be able to penetrate 2 internal walls (construction materials depending)
 
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