OK, so placing it upside down on a desk will give suitable coverage, no? Looks like there's even some stands that can hold the AP up off the desk slightly and look like a cool UFO. It's upside down, but if the beam pattern is like a lampshade, upside is better than wall mount, yes?
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This would work but not sure I’d buy it. The dedicated access points (correctly mounted) are where systems like this come into their own. Some people posted up their experience using the express in this thread, do a quick search in the thread for some real world reviews.
The same physical setup to what you have now is to use U6 mesh devices for WiFi, they are 4X4 access points and about as good as you can get.
This option makes no sense, you don’t really need the gateway ultra.OR splash more cash and get a Cloud Gateway Ultra too, using the two Express as APs, though that'll bring the total up to nearly £350 plus whatever a 4-8 port PoE switch costs. That total is starting to feel frivolous for what will be a little bit more wifi/network segregation and scratching a little nerd itch
You want to pair 2x U6 mesh with the gateway ultra and a Switch lite 8 Poe (or switch 8 ultra with AC adaptor). That would be the ‘full home set up’.
OK thanks. I'm starting to think this is going to be a pointless endeavour
the full home setup as suggested is now pushing £550; I can't justify spending that much just for me to have a try of some UniFi kit.The idea was to take the load off one of the Expresses if you're saying people have found them to be a bit slow/laggy with all features turned on, plus I'd get the IDS/IPS that the Express alone isn't capable of.
Any particular reason? I have no issue with coverage or speed right now, at all. I get the full 500Mbps pretty much everywhere in the house, except the farthest opposite corners to the current APs, but even there is still 250+Mbps. I don't do massive data transfers over the network, my home lab has Jellyfin but I've used it three times
I'm honestly really not a heavy user, and my partner says she doesn't notice any difference from her old house which had 30Mbps internet Am I really not going to be OK with two Expresses, just to dip my toes into UniFi?I have excellent coverage throughout the whole house. I don’t need any convincing nor a proper fit
That was the principle on how I placed mine. It’s on a stand on the ground floor of my house. It’s been working perfectly for months with no dropouts or slow speeds on any of my various devices
It’s not that you’ll not be OK, it’s basically it’s a product that’s a jack of all trades and master of none. The dedicated APs are better APs, it’s very restricted as a controller, it’s restricted as a router as you’ve already noted. If you decide you want to materially expand the system, you quickly have to ditch them for something else.Any particular reason? I have no issue with coverage or speed right now, at all. I get the full 500Mbps pretty much everywhere in the house, except the farthest opposite corners to the current APs, but even there is still 250+Mbps. I don't do massive data transfers over the network, my home lab has Jellyfin but I've used it three times
In reality, two of them in a 3 bed property with a wired backhaul will probably be fine and you’ll not notice any issues for the deployment that you are considering.
However, Ubiquiti is an expandable system (that’s where they get you
), you are kind of stuck with a product that’s quite limited.If you just want to try it, have you tried looking at used kit? Don’t like it, shift it on without losing any money.
You can get an old USG (router) is going for about £30 in my area on Facebook. The USG is a dead end product but it’s routing capabilities are not dissimilar to the express (I’m sure @WJA96 will correct me if I am wrong there).
Some people are selling off their older U6 access points to upgrade of the new U7 Pro. As others have said, dumping a disk on a desk is not ideal but it can work.
You’ll just need a POE switch which I’m sure you could also pick up used, a new one starts at £100.
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Where a switch isn’t needed let alone a PoE one, you can get PoE adapters so you can plug the AP into the mains. You still need to plug a network cable in between the AP and your router but it saves having to splash out on a PoE switch. Older (AC class I think) APs included a PoE adapter but AFAIK, the newer ones don’t.
In reality, two of them in a 3 bed property with a wired backhaul will probably be fine and you’ll not notice any issues for the deployment that you are considering. However, Ubiquiti is an expandable system (that’s where they get you
You’ll just need a POE switch which I’m sure you could also pick up used, a new one starts at £100.
A TP-Link Gigabit 8-port PoE+ switch is <£50 at various online retailers. Surely I don't need to be buying a Ubiquiti PoE switch too?!
Given the expandable/upgradeable nature of the system, it honestly feels like 2x UX is a good start? If I find that the UX set as router etc is lagging, I could add in the UCG-Ultra a bit later. That also then gives me a good starting base if I wanted to switch up to U7 APs in the future (zero point doing this now as I have no WiFi 7 devices and don't even take advantage of the WiFi6 speeds I have now
). Even if I don't materially get better coverage or speeds over the current setup, I'll still get access to the more advanced features to cut my teeth on?Please understand I'm not trying to write-off or ignore any of the great advice you and @WJA96 are handing out, I'm just setting the expectation that I'm really just looking to dip my toes.
No but if you want to do Vlans etc, then you’ll need a managed switch like the entry level Ubiquiti ones.
Like the above poster said and I said previously, you could also use a PoE injector if you don’t need an extra switch.
Given the expandable/upgradeable nature of the system, it honestly feels like 2x UX is a good start? If I find that the UX set as router etc is lagging, I could add in the UCG-Ultra a bit later. That also then gives me a good starting base if I wanted to switch up to U7 APs in the future (zero point doing this now as I have no WiFi 7 devices and don't even take advantage of the WiFi6 speeds I have now
Please understand I'm not trying to write-off or ignore any of the great advice you and @WJA96 are handing out, I'm just setting the expectation that I'm really just looking to dip my toes.
As mentioned what you have proposed will work, I’m perhaps applying too much emphasis on my personal buying methodology. I just don’t like spending money on a product which could end up being a stop gap solution and ultimately replaced.
Even in my relatively small deployment at home, the 4 device limit in the controller is insufficient. So I’ll already be looking to offload that functionality. Buy cheap, buy twice and all that.
I’d also encourage you to re-consider a single ceiling mounted access point in the centre of your upper floor. It really is the way forward for best performance and you ultimately need less access points.
The single AP upstairs isn't always the way forward, certainly doesn't work well for me.
Even now my landing ceiling AP has TX retries at near 28%.
My U6 mesh sat next to the TV in my living has better performance and range.
I'd say try the ap in a few locations before fixing it in place.
I'm going to eventually put the U6 Pro into the garage door garage and garden coverage and move the U6 mesh into the back bedroom, once the U7 Mesh is available that I will then put into the living room at the front.
Yes of course the individual house matters but small modern 3 bed house will have paper thin stud walls upstairs supported by a couple of thermolite block walls downstairs which might as well be made of Swiss cheese. As long as they are not foil lined, a single central AP is a good starting point, particularly for the upper floor.
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Ah, fair; I hadn't considered this. I actually have nothing wired right now that would be segregated by VLAN but I guess casting an eye to the future for this may be prudent. Would I need a proper switch to cover the APs if I was using VLANs for multiple wireless networks, or does the AP do that all internally? At a guess the AP would need a trunk port?
Is the expectation this would cover the entire house including downstairs?
Here's the layout of my house (ignore the photos, the floorplan is correct). I currently have X20s in the bottom right of the Living Room, and top left of Bedroom 3 if this helps visualise what I'm working with. I also need coverage outside the house in front of the living room for my Tesla and at the front door for Ring doorbell coverage.
As best I can tell, the entire house is timber frame, so all internal walls (I think) are stud, except maybe those around the garage (which has been converted to another living room).
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Unlikely to be timber framed IMO, as this is still a non-standard construction method in the UK
It's way more popular than you think. I know my home is timber-framed, as I can see the same housebuilder constructing the same layout across the road from me. It's timber-framed entirely, with a brick skin on the outside.
In fact, the builder has had to do inspections of tens of thousands of their timber-framed houses as it seems they didn't install some cavity barriers properly.
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Soldato
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Hi
I'm looking for a UDR and a UDM in the Uk. Stock seems non existant. Anybody know why or where I might be able to find one?
Cheers
I'm looking for a UDR and a UDM in the Uk. Stock seems non existant. Anybody know why or where I might be able to find one?
Cheers
You’d create an additional SSID and put that on another VLAN rather than the access point itself but you’ll not be able to put any wired devices on a VLAN without a managed switch.
In principle, yes.
I think timber frame means you are will have a vapour barrier between the plasterboard and the insulation to keep the timbers dry. This could be foil but it’s normally only used on external walls as inner walls are ‘warm’.
If you get good coverage outside, then it’s probably not foil and is probably plastic.
The spanner in the works is the WiFi reception on Tesla’s is notoriously rubbish. You could experiment with your existing setup, turn off the WiFi on your downstairs node, mode the upstairs node to the middle of the house (as high as you can reasonably get it) and check the coverage.
Soldato
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Yeah. I'd take a UDM if I could find one, but a UDR was the 1st option.
I can't seem to build one cheaper either using a gateway, stand alone ap and switch with a pi for unifi. 4 boxes rather than 1. It's frustrating.