*** Official Ubiquiti Discussion Thread ***

[Kol]

Thanks again @WJA96 food for thought!

 

[Ev0]

Clearly they’ve not been on the UniFi forums recently. There are users on there who’ll tell you it’s a Positìve because it’s an audible alarm that it’s switched on and it’s bound to be made quieter in a future firmware update.

Maybe the bang and sparks that came out the back were a beta feature?

 

[kannanni]

Hi there,

I bought an AC LR access point 4 yrs ago, wanted to ask what do you guys advice; anything better than this on the market at present? Range and stability wise?





The one I bought didn't have more range than my Asus router so wasn't that impressed at the time.

I have on order an edge router X and I'm planning to run my cable router in modem mode.

Asus is gone down the hill stability wise so need to get rid of it.

 

[WJA96]

Hi there,

I bought an AC LR access point 4 yrs ago, wanted to ask what do you guys advice; anything better than this on the market at present? Range and stability wise?





The one I bought didn't have more range than my Asus router so wasn't that impressed at the time.

I have on order an edge router X and I'm planning to run my cable router in modem mode.

Asus is gone down the hill stability wise so need to get rid of it.

In short, no, there is nothing better in terms of range/coverage and stability than the AP-AC-LR right now. In the next 6 months they will be launching a UAP6-LR which is the same access point philosophy with a WiFi6 chipset. That will probably be a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[WJA96]

Double Post

 

[Mikey]

If you want something that has the UniFi ‘feel’ to it then I would suggest Untangle. You need a NUC type device to run it on (or a VM) but in the free version it’s very good and if you pay the £35/year for the home version most VPN options are already built-in.

pfSense is pretty much the default option for ‘alternative’ routing these days. And it’s solid and there a gazillion tutorials about how to do stuff.

Or you could go totally off-piste and put in a Mikrotik. £35 will get you something decent (hAP) and £175-ish will get you an RB4011 which is a VPN monster with specific SoC for IPSec. But if you thought the learning curve on pfSense was steep...

I'm using Sophos XG and Untangle (not at the same time). I prefer the configuration of rules in Sophos XG, but the reporting is pretty good in Untangle. Sophos reports are good once you dig into them. Sophos XG UI is a bit slow if you're running an Atom CPU. I've got Untangle on a Pondesk Atom 4 NIC machine and Sophos XG on a Dell PowerEdge R210 Xeon (25W TDP).

Hah love the ‘test report’ from my RMA of the Dream Machine which went pop

I think that's a fair statement with regards to their Edge product range full stop!​

 

[Mark M]

Are the POE injectors compatible with other Unifi devices? I have a spare LR AP that came with an injector and I’m looking to buy an outdoor mesh AP which doesn’t appear to come with an injector so wondering if I can use my spare one? Both are 24V so hopefully should be fine?

Edit - looking at the UAP-AC-M

 

[Timber]

@WJA96 - you earn't your commission! Thank you (from the other thread)

Following WJA96's suggestion I did go ahead and purchased a Dream Machine, Switch 8 60W and a FlexHD. Setup tonight downstairs, opposite sides of the house and connected via Cat 6 between the two rooms.

Wow...really impressed with the jump up in performance from my old Netgear Nighthawk. WiFi is much better, even upstairs (so I don't think I need an AP up there). Not that the old setup was bad, but this feels like a step up.

The software is easy to pickup. Setup on the dream machine took about 19 mins according their setup app. It couldn't connect Bluetooth first time, and I had to reboot the Virgin Media SH3 (in modem mode) but could connect to the internet after that and downloaded an update. The UDM had a separate UK Power cord from the seller but the Switch 8 included one in the box. However the FlexHD only had a European plug. However some of the existing Cat5e cable I had is working fine with PoE. This cable specifically mentions being verified at 60 degrees (another of my Cat 6 cable says this too) but seems to be providing 4.39w over PoE (although this figure changes).

Everything is a bit of mess atm so need to setup properly. The Switch 8 60W and FlexHD do seem to run quite hot.

One question for the Ubiquiti experts - I have 2 un-managed Netgear GS308 switches leftover from the old setup. Is it unadvisable to use these with my new Ubiquiti setup if I wanted to?

 

[neil_g]

As long as you don't want to pass any vlan tags to the unmanaged netgears should be fine to mix switches.

 

[Timber]

As long as you don't want to pass any vlan tags to the unmanaged netgears should be fine to mix switches.

Thank you.

Tbh if I was to use them I think it would simply be just to grant extra ports for devices that aren't critical but need to be connected, i.e. a Hive home hub, or a Raspberry Pi on retropi etc. Although atm I don't have a need for the extra ports.

 

[WJA96]

Are the POE injectors compatible with other Unifi devices? I have a spare LR AP that came with an injector and I’m looking to buy an outdoor mesh AP which doesn’t appear to come with an injector so wondering if I can use my spare one? Both are 24V so hopefully should be fine?

Edit - looking at the UAP-AC-M

AP-AC-M is 48V so a 24V PoE injector won’t work. But they’re cheap enough. You should be able to pick one up for under £12.

 

[Mark M]

AP-AC-M is 48V so a 24V PoE injector won’t work. But they’re cheap enough. You should be able to pick one up for under £12.

Just checked the unifi store and it says 24v? https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-access-points/products/unifi-ac-mesh-ap

 

[WJA96]

Just checked my Gen2 (that's critical because Gen2 can't do 24V) and it's 48V on both of mine

 

[Mark M]

Just checked my Gen2 (that's critical because Gen2 can't do 24V) and it's 48V on both of mine

Second picture isn’t loading but I’ll have to check and see what exact version they are supplying and what power it needs.

 

[WJA96]

I’m 99.9% sure they come with an injector in the box anyway.

 

[Kol]

My AP-AC-M came with an injector, though it’s sat in the drawer as my USW powers it. It’s one of the white ones that it came with.

If it doesn’t, you’re welcome to it.

 

[GregI]

Sorry for the noob questions but I want to be sure before spending on this. I'm looking to improve wireless in a 3 storey house and it seems like these might be something to look into.

1: Are the products like the UAP-AC-LR just basically a glorified wireless transmitter to replace routers with bad wireless? Surely there is a router with built in wifi that beats this or atleast equal?

2: Is this a flow chart that would be commonly used or am I completely wrong? Phone line > Some Openreach modem > EdgeRouter X? > UAP-AC-LR

3: How do you actually power these? I read stuff about injectors or something so I basically have to run an ethernet cable into an injector and another ethernet cable into the actual device? Is there no just wall socket power supplies you can get?

 

[BigT]

Sorry for the noob questions but I want to be sure before spending on this. I'm looking to improve wireless in a 3 storey house and it seems like these might be something to look into.

1: Are the products like the UAP-AC-LR just basically a glorified wireless transmitter to replace routers with bad wireless? Surely there is a router with built in wifi that beats this or atleast equal?

2: Is this a flow chart that would be commonly used or am I completely wrong? Phone line > Some Openreach modem > EdgeRouter X? > UAP-AC-LR

3: How do you actually power these? I read stuff about injectors or something so I basically have to run an ethernet cable into an injector and another ethernet cable into the actual device? Is there no just wall socket power supplies you can get?

1. All things that provide wireless access have to work within the same parameters. That means that they can only transmit at so much power and follow the laws of physics. While there’s some variation in how good they are, Ubiquiti is no different and the main benefit comes from physical placement and using more than one if necessary providing increased coverage with seamless roaming.

2. You’re right. You could use a different modem (not much point) and router choice is based on personal preference and features required, but an edge router will work fine

3. An injector does plug into a power socket. It works as you describe and can be placed at a break point convenient to you to combine the network feed and power into one Ethernet cable for its final run to the access point. Again, the benefit from something like the UAP-AC-LR is gained in part from correct placement and that means on a ceiling. Most people don’t have power sockets on their ceiling hence it being more convenient to inject power somewhere else on your network cable’s journey from router to access point. It’s also easier and neater to just route one cable through tricker bits that are inevitable in your ceiling.

 

[WJA96]

1: Are the products like the UAP-AC-LR just basically a glorified wireless transmitter to replace routers with bad wireless? Surely there is a router with built in wifi that beats this or atleast equal?

There is nothing glorified about it. It’s just a wireless transceiver that is designed to be placed in big offices where one router wouldn’t reach. There is no magic in these things. They will usually not outperform a normal home router if you put it in the same place. What makes them special is that you can have lots of them and they all work together like your router did actually cover the whole house.

The other thing that is special is you can’t log into them, you have to communicate with them through the UniFi controller software. You only need this to get them up and running but a lot of people leave it running 24/7 on a Raspberry pi or UniFi Cloud Key. That lets you collect some data about what your users are doing. You can also securely log into it from anywhere and control your network as if you were there.

If you look at the screenshot in post 4913 in this thread you can see what the interface looks like. I have the UniFi Security Gateway, the UniFi PoE switch and another UniFi switch and 4 access points. Two that cover the inside of my home and one each for the front of the garage and the back garden.

And yes, there is a router with built-in WLAN that does this. It’s called the UniFi Dream Machine.

2: Is this a flow chart that would be commonly used or am I completely wrong? Phone line > Some Openreach modem > EdgeRouter X? > UAP-AC-LR

Yes, but I would swap the EdgeRouter X for a UniFi Security Gateway. It’s easier to set up and it’s integrated with the UniFi controller so any changes you make just ripple through all the devices.

3: How do you actually power these? I read stuff about injectors or something so I basically have to run an ethernet cable into an injector and another ethernet cable into the actual device? Is there no just wall socket power supplies you can get?

You can power them off a PoE switch like I do (the cheapest one is the UniFi Switch US-8-60W although any 802.11af switch will do or you can use the PoE injector in the box. And that is the same as a wall socket power supply.

One challenge you definitely should be aware of is that if you don’t intend to ceiling mount an AP-AC-LR it might give you really awful wireless coverage. And I do mean shockingly bad. If you want something you can just plonk down on a table or bookshelf you want the UAP-FlexHD. Or the UniFi Dream Machine.

 

[GregI]

Thanks for the replies. Some more questions now based on info given, sorry.

So basically a Security Gateway + UAP-FlexHD = Dream Machine? I take it if I did need better wireless coverage I can add either a UAP-AC-LR or a UAP-FlexHD to compliment the wifi range of the dream machine?