Home Wi-Fi Solution

wildest_jjk

wildest_jjk

wildest_jjk

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Hi all,

Looking to drastically improve wifi coverage in my home. I've tried old ISP routers and configured them as AP's but then there always seems to be roaming issues (probably due to lack of a controller).

A popular option seems to be Ubiquiti AP's but I'm not sure on the ease of installation/how many I would need?

One 'simple' solution could also be the BT whole home wifi system. But that's new and I'm unsure how well that will work...

Any help will be great :)
 
There's lots of people jumping on the 'whole home Wi-Fi' bandwagon at the moment - at least they have stopped claiming that one box can cover an entire house.

BT have theirs which hasn't launched yet, Google have Google Wifi, there's Eero, and Netgear have Orbi.

The problem I think they are going to all suffer from is that they use the client radios to bridge to each other, which is going to limit the throughput on the network. So you might get great coverage and a nice stable connection, but don't expect anywhere near the same throughput you'd get from an AP that's backhauled over a cabled link.

Ultimately if you're considering Unifi and can run cables to the AP locations and ceiling mount them properly then you will be happier with that setup. If you're in a rented house or don't want the faff of cabling everything then give it a few months until you have some options this side of the pond - I doubt the BT option will be the best.
 
Caged said:
There's lots of people jumping on the 'whole home Wi-Fi' bandwagon at the moment - at least they have stopped claiming that one box can cover an entire house.

BT have theirs which hasn't launched yet, Google have Google Wifi, there's Eero, and Netgear have Orbi.

The problem I think they are going to all suffer from is that they use the client radios to bridge to each other, which is going to limit the throughput on the network. So you might get great coverage and a nice stable connection, but don't expect anywhere near the same throughput you'd get from an AP that's backhauled over a cabled link.

Ultimately if you're considering Unifi and can run cables to the AP locations and ceiling mount them properly then you will be happier with that setup. If you're in a rented house or don't want the faff of cabling everything then give it a few months until you have some options this side of the pond - I doubt the BT option will be the best.
Click to expand...

I completely agree regarding the throughput and that's what does worry me about that option!

What are the Ubiquiti AP's that most people tend to go for? Do they need to be ceiling mounted?

Thanks :)
 
You'd be looking at the UAP-AC-LITE, UAP-AC-LR or UAP-AC-PRO.

What's best isn't completely clear cut. For home use I'd personally use the UAP-AC-LITE and be prepared to add additional APs if you find that need additional coverage.

You'd usually mount them to a wall or ceiling. There's no sensible way to use them freestanding (although there's nothing to stop you just sitting one on the top a set of cupboards or other out of sight position).
 
I had wifi probs in my kitchen and solved it with a wifi powerline adapter (e.g. dLAN® 550 WiFi Powerline adapter). This extends the wifi network via a hi-speed powerline link. Works well for me. Same name / password for wifi - just passes from router to remote wifi device. you can see signal begin to drop and then suddenly increase to 100% as remote wifi device takes over.

Mel
 
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You might be able to adjust your clients so they change APs more frequently. It's sometimes called Roaming Aggressiveness.

Sounds like you need APs that will force hand over. Ubiquiti keep promising this but not sure if it's possible yet (they have zero handoff but that's a bit different, see EricE's posts here).

We have Cisco (Meraki) products at work but they're probably a bit pricy for home.

Caged said:
The problem I think they are going to all suffer from is that they use the client radios to bridge to each other, which is going to limit the throughput on the network. So you might get great coverage and a nice stable connection, but don't expect anywhere near the same throughput you'd get from an AP that's backhauled over a cabled link.
Click to expand...

They're for the average customer though, and the average customer just needs enough throughput for a bit of web video. A minority will want to saturate their 30-60 Mbit connection e.g. downloading a game. Only a really tiny minority do the kind of LAN transfers where they'd notice the shortage of throughput compared to ethernet networked APs.
 
I am aware of the market they are aimed at - as soon as the OP mentioned looking at Ubiquiti hardware and posted it on a technical forum I figured that it was worth mentioning the potential pitfalls.

I think an admission that whole-house coverage requires multiple APs is a good thing - it's still a developing area though, but the downsides of the way that these systems work is also important to know for people looking to purchase.
 
wildest_jjk said:
How does the controller aspect work for these? Do you log into one of them or something like that?
Click to expand...

You don't even need to use the controller you can set it up via mobile app. You only need to run a controller full time if you are using some of the fancy features or want to collect stats. I have my AP mounted on the underside of my desk with some self adhesive velcro.
 
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joeyjojo said:
You might be able to adjust your clients so they change APs more frequently. It's sometimes called Roaming Aggressiveness.

Sounds like you need APs that will force hand over. Ubiquiti keep promising this but not sure if it's possible yet (they have zero handoff but that's a bit different, see EricE's posts here).

We have Cisco (Meraki) products at work but they're probably a bit pricy for home.




They're for the average customer though, and the average customer just needs enough throughput for a bit of web video. A minority will want to saturate their 30-60 Mbit connection e.g. downloading a game. Only a really tiny minority do the kind of LAN transfers where they'd notice the shortage of throughput compared to ethernet networked APs.
Click to expand...


They have minimum RSSI which will force a client to disconnect at a desired SNR. ZHO is depreciated and no longer supported i believe.
 
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Ive got the lite, it's excellent.

Incredibly simple setup, great software, good coverage and speed. One unit does our whole house but it's not massive.
 
Interesting an early post says "people realise they need more than one access point"
Guess it all depends on size of house, wall construction etc.
I have a single Ubiquity LR access point that provides WiFi to the house and half way down the back garden.
If I decided to add a second at the bottom of the garden (potentially) that would cover the only dead area we've got.
 
Thanks everyone for all of the responses.

We've got a fairly large 4 bed 1930's style semi house, would it be unrealistic to expect on of these AP's to provide good enough coverage in all rooms?

Would it be best to switch off the Homehub wireless as well?

Thanks :)
 
wildest_jjk said:
How does the controller aspect work for these? Do you log into one of them or something like that?
Click to expand...



Basically..

You can install the controller on your pc, set your SSID and password. Then connect up your AP to the router. The AP will get an IP from the router and then in the controller software, it will show the AP.

You then click 'Adopt access point' and it will upload the SSID/password settings to the AP. If you then want to add a second AP, it's the same procedure.

Don't need to have the controller running all the time to make the APs work. Unless you set up a landing page etc (ie Coffee Shop wifi)



You want to run a network cable from the router/switch to each AP. The APs come with a PoE brick, so the AP is powered by the same cable that provides data to it.

ie..

data cable from router to brick
power able from wall to brick

cable from brick to AP now has data and power (this can be up to 100 metres long)
 
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wildest_jjk said:
Thanks everyone for all of the responses.

We've got a fairly large 4 bed 1930's style semi house, would it be unrealistic to expect on of these AP's to provide good enough coverage in all rooms?

Would it be best to switch off the Homehub wireless as well?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

You need 2 minimum was the walls are no doubt mostly brick downstairs.
 
Not long purchased a UAP-AC-LR myself. I've fitted it to the ceiling above my staircase. It's not fully connected to my network yet but a quick test using some homeplugs show that it gives a stronger signal to my laptop downstairs than my present ASUS router does in the room next door.
 
I'm a big fan of the Ubiquiti unifi range, it's also worth looking at the TP-LINK EAP series - both should be more than suffice for home use ;)

joeyjojo said:
Sounds like you need APs that will force hand over. Ubiquiti keep promising this but not sure if it's possible yet.

We have Cisco (Meraki) products at work but they're probably a bit pricy for home.
Click to expand...

We haven't long gone through a wireless refresh at my work, I went with Aruba and ClearPass Policy Manager (AAA) instead of Cisco Meraki or Ruckus. I can't see many people needing the likes of certificate based authentication for the house though :p and I doubt OP will see the benefit of seamless roaming between APs, I only see occasional roaming issues with VDI and VOIP environments?
 
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Proper roaming support is going to become more important as VoLTE is turned on and then enabled on Wi-Fi calling.
 
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