Home network advice - spec me better wifi coverage than my Superhub 2

dav3evans

dav3evans

dav3evans

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Joined
4 Jan 2011
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2,196
Good day folks! I'm after some assistance if possible please.

We've currently got a BT Smart Hub 2 that for the most part works fine, but the distance it needs to cover leaves some areas a bit lacking. Here's the useful info:
  • Distance between Superhub and furthest point that needs wifi is 14m away (2 brick walls, 2 plasterboard walls in between
  • We have an ethernet connection between the router and my PC, which is in the middle of the two points listed above
  • We've got an MT992 that could be paired with a separate router if that's a good option.
  • We're open to a mesh setup and turning the Superhub wifi off altogether.
Devices:
  • 8 Alexa devices
  • 2-3 bulbs per echo
  • A few wifi 6 devices around the house, phones, laptop, console
  • Couple of smart TVs

Grateful for any recommendations based on the above. A friend just kept yelling UBIQUITI at me, which you're welcome to do also! :D I'm just not sure if my setup requires it.

Happy to answer any questions that the above doesn't provide, and take on any knowledge you'd like to pass along. Thanks!
 
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Install a Unifi Access Point upstairs on the ceiling and you'll likely find your whole house is covered, unless you live in a mansion. Getting the POE network cable to it is the challenging part but actually quite simple to do neatly if planned well.
 
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3 storeys but definitely no mansion!

So based on what you're saying, as the ethernet that runs to my office is already directly connected to the router, I could hook that up along with the purchase of a PoE injector and that should just be sorted?

2 questions of the back of that:
  • the wireless AP will just work without any additional Ubiquiti kit, just need the app to connect to it for setup?
  • The NanoHD and the U6 Long range seem to be the easiest available - I assume long range is overkill and meant for big multi floor office spaces etc...?
 
Yes you either need a POE switch or use the injector off a normal switch port. @WJA96 will be able to advise more on the specific AP to get, I have a Nano HD but it's a few years old now. Do you have any Wifi 6 devices, and how many IOT (Alexa, Hive, Hue etc) devices do you have?

You can set it up using their controller on your laptop or phone. They're generally a set up once and forget type of device. If you do go for it, don't forget to turn off the WiFi on the SH2 if you can and put the SH2 details in for the AP to use as its default gateway.
 
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I had poor WiFi in parts of the house (3 storey edwardian so thick walls). I added a couple of BT Whole Home WiFi discs around the house and it solved the issue. They don't have an ethernet backbone so not as good as proper solutions such as Unifi. But they create a mesh around the house. It worked for me.
 
ChrisD. said:
Yes you either need a POE switch or use the injector off a normal switch port. @WJA96 will be able to advise more on the specific AP to get, I have a Nano HD but it's a few years old now. Do you have any Wifi 6 devices, and how many IOT (Alexa, Hive, Hue etc) devices do you have?

You can set it up using their controller on your laptop or phone. They're generally a set up once and forget type of device. If you do go for it, don't forget to turn off the WiFi on the SH2 if you can and put the SH2 details in for the AP to use as its default gateway.
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Was definitely planning on turning off the wifi if I did that, although I hadn't thought about the default gateway part!

Devices added to the original post.

Hades said:
I had poor WiFi in parts of the house (3 storey edwardian so thick walls). I added a couple of BT Whole Home WiFi discs around the house and it solved the issue. They don't have an ethernet backbone so not as good as proper solutions such as Unifi. But they create a mesh around the house. It worked for me.
Click to expand...

I'd thought about looking at these as well, given that they'd just interface easily with the current hub. Glad to see there's a similar use case for these solving the issue - did you do any speed tests to see how they perform?
 
dav3evans said:
I'd thought about looking at these as well, given that they'd just interface easily with the current hub. Glad to see there's a similar use case for these solving the issue - did you do any speed tests to see how they perform?
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My broadband isn't particularly fast. I can only get 36mbps max down according to various availability checkers. In the kitchen I used to get frequent dropouts and very slow internet. Now with one of the discs in the kitchen (front of the house), connected to the primary disc in the office at the back of the house, where the router is, I still get 36mpbs. So it's not causing any drop in speed for me as I'm still getting my maximum possible throughput in a location that used to be bad. I can't say what would happen if my actual broadband was much faster; maybe it would introduce some restrictions at higher speeds. I also can't check ping compared to a wired connection as nothing is currently hard wired. But I don't recall it getting significantly worse when I moved to it (I'm no longer a hard core gamer though). I imagine there must be an increase in ping compared to a hard wired ethernet connection, especially if you're a hardcore gamer where every ms counts.

I'm not pretending it will be as good as a proper setup with hard wired backbone. But it's good enough for my family's casual use around the house and was plug and play with no need to route cables. I think finding the right placement of the discs is key (I seem to recall there is a phone app to help check the signal strength the disc is receiving at each location, so you can move it to the best place). I still have a spare one so if I did find another dead spot I could just add that somewhere to fix it. I kept meaning to put it in the garage to extend range down the end of my garden.

Roaming around the house isn't perfect. It often takes a while for my phone, etc, to realise there is a nearer disc with a stronger signal. e.g. if I am connected to a disc downstairs and then walk upstairs it tends to want to hang on to disc downstairs before eventually deciding to swap to the nearer disc after a while. But that might be my phone more than the discs themselves.

EDIT: There is a phone app where you can check which devices are connected to each disc - and block them if you want (e.g. block a device immediately or set active/inactive times for particular devices such as blocking a childs internet during an overnight window).
 
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There's a standalone mode in the phone app so the Unifi APs won't need anything else, more than enough if you're running a single one for home use. You still need the SH2 in router mode however to provide DHCP as the Unifi is purely an access point.

If the price difference is not that big I would be tempted to go for the U6 LR seeing as you mentioned you already have some Wi-Fi 6 devices.
 
dav3evans said:
3 storeys but definitely no mansion!

So based on what you're saying, as the ethernet that runs to my office is already directly connected to the router, I could hook that up along with the purchase of a PoE injector and that should just be sorted?

2 questions of the back of that:
  • the wireless AP will just work without any additional Ubiquiti kit, just need the app to connect to it for setup?
  • The NanoHD and the U6 Long range seem to be the easiest available - I assume long range is overkill and meant for big multi floor office spaces etc...?
Click to expand...

The NanoHD is a very good WiFi5 access point. Probably the best of all of the UniFi WiFi5 access points. The U6LR is currently the “top” UniFi access point in that it’s 4x4 on 2.4GHz and 5GHz AC (WiFi5) and 4x4 on WiFi6 (AX). If you’re not bothered about extracting the ultimate performance out of your WiFi6 devices then the 4x4 NanoHD is good if you can get it cheap. If you’re paying list for it then it’s basically the same price as the U6Pro which is 2x2 on 2.4GHz AC and 4x4 on 5GHz AC and WiFi6 AX. Another option is the confusingly named U6Mesh which is a stand-up version of the U6LR for similar money.

Any of them will be good in your scenario.
 
I think the price of the two APs differs by about £20 at the moment so I'd probably just take a punt on the LR version. I'll take a look at the U6Mesh as well, just in case the form factor has any benefits in terms of install.

All of the above has been really useful so far. Thanks everyone. Interesting to see that Asus AiMesh kit never entered into the conversation!

Given that I can add 1 AP to start with and go from there I'm certainly leaning that way, especially if it means I can add to it later.

One final question - any issue with having 2 Ubiquiti APs and still just using the app and no specific modem - they can be all meshed up without any issues or is that the point where I'm going to want to consider something else?
 
dav3evans said:
One final question - any issue with having 2 Ubiquiti APs and still just using the app and no specific modem - they can be all meshed up without any issues or is that the point where I'm going to want to consider something else?
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I haven't used the app for ages but I see no reason why you couldn't manage both from the app.

Mesh is the term for APs which create a mesh with one another. With UniFi APs, you wire them individually. I've never used more than one but I'm led to believe just put them on the same SSID and disable roaming in the app but my memory could be mistaken. There are a few articles and posts about it so search is your friend.

You'll most likely find that a single well placed AP will be fine, so try the one out and see how you get on.

As for Asus and networking equipment, well, I'd never touch them with a bargepole.
 
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