Ideal Home Network Setup?

Cadder

Cadder

Cadder

Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2020
Posts
2,548
Hi all,

I like to switch to the best/cheapest deal going whenever I can, but I don't like running round the house updating WiFi passwords.

What is the ideal home network setup that can be unaffected by change in ISP hardware? House size isn't an issue - the WiFi on our current TalkTalk hub reaches everywhere in the house (3 bed semi) so I can't imagine we need anything top end. That said, it doesn't need to be cheap, I'd prefer quality.

I don't know a great deal about networks but I am hoping I can link all of my household devices to one router, which connects to the ISP hardware. When we switch we just change that one ethernet connection and it all runs as normal.

I do have a barely-used UniFi access point too (UAP-AC-LR) gathering dust, if that affects anything.
 
Why are you changing Wi-Fi SSID’s and passwords? Set your desired SSID and password to one of your choosing, and then if you change provider, you change the details on the new router *once*. That of course assumes you don’t use the dedicated AP which negates the need to change them anyway.
 
Avalon said:
Why are you changing Wi-Fi SSID’s and passwords? Set your desired SSID and password to one of your choosing, and then if you change provider, you change the details on the new router *once*. That of course assumes you don’t use the dedicated AP which negates the need to change them anyway.
Click to expand...

Mainly because:

Cadder said:
I don't know a great deal about networks
Click to expand...

It hadn't occurred to me to have a standard SSID and password to assign to ISP-issued routers. It does make sense though.


When I search online, the results suggest the UniFi AP I have isn't the ideal solution and that I need a router, switch and cloud key. Is there any reason they recommend all of this rather than just plugging an AP into a router?
 
I’m a massive proponent for decent networking kit when an appropriate need exists, but absolutely nothing you have said suggests you want or need anything that your existing ISP router isn’t capable of doing with minimal effort on your part. This desire for seamless change will still require a few minutes work every 18 months when you change provider, also some providers use different technologies such as Sky with its MAC encapsulation, various Alt-Net providers using VLAN’s etc, so realistically you would need either a reasonably versatile 3rd party AIO router, or a modem (expect to change it if you change connection standard), a router and an AP. You can still expect to have to manually configure a connection and if anything goes wrong, it’s on you rather than your ISP as they aren’t talking you through fault diagnosis on kit that they haven’t tested/certified and been trained on.

As to why you would need things that have been suggested for other people’s usage scenario, the answer is you don’t. The issue you will have with the UAP is its EoL, support was being dropped in more recent controller versions and no more updates, it’s also not quick by modern standards, but that‘s potentially a moot point depending on what you are doing - I still have legacy Ubiquiti kit installs because they still work perfectly and it’s either disproportionately time consuming/expensive to replace them for the sake of it or the need simply doesn’t exist till fibre is available.
 
Avalon said:
As to why you would need things that have been suggested for other people’s usage scenario, the answer is you don’t. The issue you will have with the UAP is its EoL, support was being dropped in more recent controller versions and no more updates, it’s also not quick by modern standards, but that‘s potentially a moot point depending on what you are doing - I still have legacy Ubiquiti kit installs because they still work perfectly and it’s either disproportionately time consuming/expensive to replace them for the sake of it or the need simply doesn’t exist till fibre is available.
Click to expand...

The OP said they had a UAP-AC-LR which definitely isn’t EoL. It’s still for sale on the Ubiquiti website.

eu.store.ui.com

Access Point AC Long-Range - Ubiquiti Store

Ceiling-mounted WiFi 5 AP with 5 spatial streams and extended signal range.
eu.store.ui.com eu.store.ui.com
 
Cadder said:
When I search online, the results suggest the UniFi AP I have isn't the ideal solution and that I need a router, switch and cloud key. Is there any reason they recommend all of this rather than just plugging an AP into a router?
Click to expand...

Just use the app. It’s the same process as the Cloud Key.
 
If you set up your existing UniFi AP, when you change ISP, you don't need to change your wifi configuration on your devices, if you don't want to use the WiFi built into the ISP provided device ("router"). On the the ISP provided device, depending on it's options, you should be able to disable the wifi built into it - if you want to do such thing.

I'm not sure how often ISP provided devices get updates for security these days but that could be reason enough I supposed to not use it... Could put it into bridge mode, disable wifi and get a dedicated router, switch and access point.
 
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