New router or Ubiquiti Lite/LR?

Megahackerd · 10 Oct 2018 at 12:41

Hello,

just had sky installed and the wifi speed is terrible- can only get 35mpbs with one device connected on the 5ghz connection. Wired is able to get full 75mbps, and was wondering if it is worth it to get a new router or just an access point.
If i went for the ubiquiti is it worth the extra £15 for the LR rather than Lite as from what i can see it the only difference is the 6db antenna rather than 3db
If i went for a router should i go for a modem/router combo or just a router
Budget around £80, might stretch to £90 if it is worth it

daz.rathbone · 10 Oct 2018 at 14:42

I recently changed to sky broadband - already had sky q. With the Q hub, and a repeater upstairs, and the main q box + q mini upstairs, forming the whole mesh was awful. Problems with lots of speed drops, issues with iphones in particular but generally poor and inconsistent coverage around the house. Got online and read about countless others with same problem.

I got an openreach modem, bought an AC LITE, and borrowed a friends Edgerouter X.... wow, the setup was so so much better. A single AC Lite, even with the thick ex-council house walls, was just miles better than the whole Sky mesh (or the previous Homehub 5 which wasnt too bad). I got a USG to replace the Edgerouter (as I wanted all my stats in one interface) and run a Raspi as my Unifi controller. Very pleased with the setup.

Megahackerd · 10 Oct 2018 at 15:45

daz.rathbone said:
I recently changed to sky broadband - already had sky q. With the Q hub, and a repeater upstairs, and the main q box + q mini upstairs, forming the whole mesh was awful. Problems with lots of speed drops, issues with iphones in particular but generally poor and inconsistent coverage around the house. Got online and read about countless others with same problem.

I got an openreach modem, bought an AC LITE, and borrowed a friends Edgerouter X.... wow, the setup was so so much better. A single AC Lite, even with the thick ex-council house walls, was just miles better than the whole Sky mesh (or the previous Homehub 5 which wasnt too bad). I got a USG to replace the Edgerouter (as I wanted all my stats in one interface) and run a Raspi as my Unifi controller. Very pleased with the setup.

I do not have sky q TV, although I will be getting it later on as they dropped the price after I bought the broadvabr and after calling them today they offered me a great deal with the TV included

Is the USG worth it? I do have a raspberry pi b+ laying around so I might use it
What made you go for the lite rather than lr version?

daz.rathbone · 11 Oct 2018 at 07:04

Lite vs LR - honestly, I went for the lite as I could get it next day rather than wait a couple of days

But also a friend had the lite and raved about it's range, plus reading a ton of reviews (no doubt you're doing the same) I thought I would need the LR especially with our thick walls - I was wrong, Lite does perfect job better than any router's wifi signal I've had.

The USG is great if you want everything in one dashboard, but if you're happy with Unifi stuff (AP) separate from router, then at around £50 get the Edgerouter. Almost identical on the inside and a superb PoE router for that money.

Read about lots of issues trying to get any Sky router configured as just a modem, so getting an openreach one is the way to go. Setup on either USG or Edgerouter is a piece of cake (just a quick CLI edit so make sure you've got Putty installed). If you go this route and have any issues then PM me and I'll be happy to help.

Megahackerd · 11 Oct 2018 at 17:07

daz.rathbone said:
Lite vs LR - honestly, I went for the lite as I could get it next day rather than wait a couple of days But also a friend had the lite and raved about it's range, plus reading a ton of reviews (no doubt you're doing the same) I thought I would need the LR especially with our thick walls - I was wrong, Lite does perfect job better than any router's wifi signal I've had.

The USG is great if you want everything in one dashboard, but if you're happy with Unifi stuff (AP) separate from router, then at around £50 get the Edgerouter. Almost identical on the inside and a superb PoE router for that money.

Read about lots of issues trying to get any Sky router configured as just a modem, so getting an openreach one is the way to go. Setup on either USG or Edgerouter is a piece of cake (just a quick CLI edit so make sure you've got Putty installed). If you go this route and have any issues then PM me and I'll be happy to help.

Unfortunately the USG or edgerouter is out of the budget

if i use the sky as just a modem, ie disable the wifi, will there be any problem in terms of performance?
thanks for the help

bremen1874 · 11 Oct 2018 at 17:11

Sky router with wireless off + UniFi AP will be fine.

BTW disabling the wireless doesn't turn it into a modem.

Avalon · 11 Oct 2018 at 17:12

You can’t (easily) ‘use the sky as just a modem’, for what you want a UniFi will give you better Wi-fi performance, but you will want to hard wire it and locate it centrally - remember it needs a PoE injector.

Megahackerd · 11 Oct 2018 at 17:31

bremen1874 said:
Sky router with wireless off + UniFi AP will be fine.

BTW disabling the wireless doesn't turn it into a modem.

sorry, messed up on the wording, i meant router with no ap

Avalon said:
You can’t (easily) ‘use the sky as just a modem’, for what you want a UniFi will give you better Wi-fi performance, but you will want to hard wire it and locate it centrally - remember it needs a PoE injector.

i am planning to hard wire it, although it wont be centrally located as i dont want to run new cables around (new build), and openreach engineer that installed said that sky dont allow them to do extensions. Anyway from the reviews it seems that it will have no problem having around the house- the current superhub 3 that sky is replacing can reach 75mbps on a 108mbps on the garden.

it is shame that the best deal vm can offer is £48 for 108mbps with anytime calls- my current deal with sky is 75mbps, anytime calls and entertainment package for £35pm + £100 giftcard, although a 3/4 of the speed it is a significant saving for that loss of speed

from the looks of it i should not bother with another router like archer c7 ac1750? and also how is the bt mesh wifi (2 disc) compared to the ubiquiti lite?

thank you very much for the quick reply

WJA96 · 12 Oct 2018 at 21:03

In your situation, I’d be looking at the Mikrotik RB4011iGS+5HacQ2HnD-IN.

https://mikrotik.com/product/rb4011igs_5hacq2hnd_in

Caged · 12 Oct 2018 at 21:32

Do they have an OS that can fully utilise the wireless radios they put in their gear yet? I read somewhere (probably their forums) that RouterOS can’t run MU-MIMO Wave 2 AC radios properly.

WJA96 · 12 Oct 2018 at 21:49

Yes, it’s easily as fast as a Unifi AP-AC-HD.

Megahackerd · 14 Oct 2018 at 14:50

WJA96 said:
In your situation, I’d be looking at the Mikrotik RB4011iGS+5HacQ2HnD-IN.

https://mikrotik.com/product/rb4011igs_5hacq2hnd_in

thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately it is out of the budget

but it does seem like a cheaper option than ubiquiti lite + edgerouter

anyway i have received my ubiquiti ac lite and after figuring out why it was connecting at 100mbps rather than gigabit to the sky q hub (spoiler: the hive hub supplied cable is not a cat5e cable as it is missing wires).
the wifi signal seems to be good, and currently set the 5ghz to channel 104 and no problems so far -my neighbours annoyingly have their 5ghz set to 80mhz so they take the non dfs channels

thank you very much for everyone's help

Steveocee · 14 Oct 2018 at 18:33

Not all end user kit and devices can use band B. Even though neighbors are in the channel space, using a 20Mhz band A is a much more sensible option than going higher up.

Megahackerd · 25 Oct 2018 at 20:33

daz.rathbone said:
Lite vs LR - honestly, I went for the lite as I could get it next day rather than wait a couple of days But also a friend had the lite and raved about it's range, plus reading a ton of reviews (no doubt you're doing the same) I thought I would need the LR especially with our thick walls - I was wrong, Lite does perfect job better than any router's wifi signal I've had.

The USG is great if you want everything in one dashboard, but if you're happy with Unifi stuff (AP) separate from router, then at around £50 get the Edgerouter. Almost identical on the inside and a superb PoE router for that money.

Read about lots of issues trying to get any Sky router configured as just a modem, so getting an openreach one is the way to go. Setup on either USG or Edgerouter is a piece of cake (just a quick CLI edit so make sure you've got Putty installed). If you go this route and have any issues then PM me and I'll be happy to help.

last few days i have been trying to get the Sky Q tv box to connect to the AC-Lite. Every time after connecting to the 2.4ghz (5ghz is not enabled for non sky access points) it just just disconnects after a few minutes and never reconnects again. It connects just fine to the Sky Q hub
I have tried to copy the SSID for the ACLite to the SKY Q hub and connect it by WPS and then disabling it (btw i did change the channels to non dfs for this) but it does not want to connect

AMDPower · 25 Oct 2018 at 20:37

Personally myself, i would stay away from ubiquiti, their products are just not stable specially their newer stuff. They have constant issues, what is stable become unstable after updates and ect. Weird disconnection and connection issues and unless you are a network expert and willing to constantly fiddle with these things then just stay away. Having said that they are quite willing to help with issues and are constantly rolling out updates. So be prepared for issues and to spend lots of effort solving them.

I am currently going crazy trying to sort some issues out with my unbiquiti AP's and switch.

AMDPower · 25 Oct 2018 at 20:45

Megahackerd said:
last few days i have been trying to get the Sky Q tv box to connect to the AC-Lite. Every time after connecting to the 2.4ghz (5ghz is not enabled for non sky access points) it just just disconnects after a few minutes and never reconnects again. It connects just fine to the Sky Q hub
I have tried to copy the SSID for the ACLite to the SKY Q hub and connect it by WPS and then disabling it (btw i did change the channels to non dfs for this) but it does not want to connect

Have you done a RF scan to see what your RF environment is like?
With 2.4ghz you dont want it on high power, take it off AUTO and make it low power or medium. Choose a Chanel that is not used by other devices near you . Also make sure you have disabled Connectivity monitor and also turn off band steering currently.

oh and stay away from the Unifi AC HD, its has terrible range just terrible. To be fair its not designed for range but even then its just subpar performance if you house has solid walls. The unifi products are generally less range but better client load and bandwidth handling hence stability. I am not sure why they are so broadly recommended for home use there are really better stuff out there for home users.

DIABLO · 25 Oct 2018 at 21:31

AMDPower said:
Personally myself, i would stay away from ubiquiti, their products are just not stable specially their newer stuff. They have constant issues, what is stable become unstable after updates and ect. Weird disconnection and connection issues and unless you are a network expert and willing to constantly fiddle with these things then just stay away. Having said that they are quite willing to help with issues and are constantly rolling out updates. So be prepared for issues and to spend lots of effort solving them.

I am currently going crazy trying to sort some issues out with my unbiquiti AP's and switch.

A very broad statement you are making there, many people have a basic Unifi setup including myself and it works flawlessly for months on end..

I have heard the software ain't there for the HD AP's but AP's like the LR/Lite are considered rock solid even the USG though lacking some features in the controller software is a very stable Router.

AMDPower · 25 Oct 2018 at 21:44

DIABLO said:
A very broad statement you are making there, many people have a basic Unifi setup including myself and it works flawlessly for months on end..

I have heard the software ain't there for the HD AP's but AP's like the LR/Lite are considered rock solid even the USG though lacking some features in the controller software is a very stable Router.

I appreciate that and to my defence i did say their newer stuff generally their equipment is just rushed to sale while leaving many waiting months for stable software update or firmware although they might get mostly there still people are having strange issues with their equipment. Just look at their support forum. I cant even begin to count the issues they have, most of it is software related. This is poor from a company that promises enterprise reliability. The current HD and nano HD i have are just not stable products and it frustrates me that I spent so much on equipment that is just not 100% ready. So many issues it stresses me thinking about it. Anyhow I don't want to hijack another persons thread.

Caged · 25 Oct 2018 at 21:52

You get what you pay for to an extent, and Ubiquiti has traditionally been cheap and offered a good percentage of the functionality you might be looking at bigger vendors for. The EdgeRouter line is almost unmatched in the bang for buck department (Mikrotik are the only other player I can think of, and I prefer the Ubiquiti community and the Vyatta base), though they have been creeping the prices up recently for things that just don't seem to be worth it.

I'd never touch their switches, I have no reason to move away from Aruba for Wi-Fi, and don't really do much point-to-point radio stuff. But there's a niche they fit into quite nicely. I don't think I'll ever understand the obsession that exists for trying to buy as much Ubiquiti stuff as possible because their IP cameras, solar, LED lighting stuff is all garbage.

WJA96 · 26 Oct 2018 at 20:46

Megahackerd said:
last few days i have been trying to get the Sky Q tv box to connect to the AC-Lite. Every time after connecting to the 2.4ghz (5ghz is not enabled for non sky access points) it just just disconnects after a few minutes and never reconnects again. It connects just fine to the Sky Q hub
I have tried to copy the SSID for the ACLite to the SKY Q hub and connect it by WPS and then disabling it (btw i did change the channels to non dfs for this) but it does not want to connect

What is your DTIM set to? The recommendation is usually 3 for Apple devices but I find 1 can be essential for some IoT devices that need to be constantly awake.