*** Official Ubiquiti Discussion Thread ***

RSR said:
No, you'll still require a Modem as nether the Edge Router or USG have one built in.

If you looking to down the UniFi route, you'll require the following:

  • Ubiquiti UniFi Security Gateway
  • Ubiquiti Unifi Cloud Key or Pi or Windows / Linux Server running the UniFi software.
  • Ubiquiti UniFi 8 Port 150W PoE Switch or Ubiquiti UniFi 8 Port 60W PoE Switch - or you have the option to use PoE injectors.
  • Ubiquiti Unifi UAP AC Pro 1300 Mbps AP/Hotspot X3

The Edge Router setup would be more or less the same but changing out the USG for the Edge Router X or EoL / PoE
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Make sure there is an UPS too - You don't want to be getting a bricked Edgerouter, USG or flaky Cloudkey.
You can also ditch the cloud key or pi and use an Amazon EC2 and set the inform url of the devices to that - if thats up your street.
Lites are more than adequate for home use - Chris from Cross talk solutions explained it quite well that LR's are pretty much mehhh.
 
Lite or Pro are the ones to pick, if you think you need the HD then you probably want to get a professional to do a site survey and talk about your requirements.
 
RSR said:
Do you have the link to where its been pulled please? I'm probably being blind on the UniFi forums.

I was under the impression, 5.5.X stable releases are all officially supported should you need support and 5.6.X is/are the beta current software. The Cloudkey will always be the last device to get the updates as it runs the LTS releases. I use the UniFi stuff for my home network and not work production environments as that's all Cisco/Fortinet/Juniper based.
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It's never actually been released to the repos. This stuff about LTS is nonsense. The first time anyone mentioned UCK and LTS was about the 7th of July when 5.5.19 didn't show up in the repos as promised. To say that you can use UBNTs own hardware solution with the latest supposedly stable version of the software is just flim-flam.

And someone pointed out on the UBNT forums this morning that UBNT LTS is 6 months so they've actually missed the LTS transition point if that is the case.

As for official support - I've been trying to get "official" support for my US-16-XG issues for weeks. And there isn't any. You actually get told to post on the forums if you contact UBNT "support".
 
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AS_Platinum said:
Lites are more than adequate for home use - Chris from Cross talk solutions explained it quite well that LR's are pretty much mehhh.
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I wouldn't disagree that Lites are more than good enough for home use but I do take issue with the comments in that YouTube video. The LR has a more sensitive listening antenna than the Pro. Chris from Crosstalk asks why not just add more amplification to the standard antenna but if the antenna doesn't pick up a signal then boosting nothing is still nothing. A more sensitive antenna gives you a signal to work with. And then he makes my point by saying that your handheld/mobile device still has to be heard by the antenna in the AP. That's why I typically use the LR because it's the best compromise for phones and tablets. I've also got HDs simply because they give you truly heroic test results with a new Apple laptop.

I do think it's amazing that people seem to think UBNT access points are better than other access points or even the best combination AC modem/router/APs. I'm not sure they are. They are subject to the same legal power output restrictions as other APs, they are incredibly sensitive to mounting location (High on a wall or on the ceiling) and they're buggy as a very buggy thing until they've had a few firmware updates. What they are AMAZING for is wher you have multiple APs on a network and you want to update them all. You make the change in the controller once and everything gets rolled out as they provision.
 
I have just received a bunch of ac pro's

Figuring out where to place them for best coverage for the house, is proving to be a challenge.
I have uploaded plan's of the building to the controller, and set the scale of the map, and placed the ap's on it, however just one AP shows full coverage over the whole building, where infact in reality it will go past 1 room, which is understandable due to thick stone walls.

I thought It would be intelligent, and work out the actual coverage by allowing me to say walk about with a phone/laptop connected to the wifi and then report back and adjust the map's overlay showing how the actual coverage is in reality of each location.
However it appears that is this feature is no better/different than ms paint.

Please tell me I am wrong.
 
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I found it best to look at the 5g coverage and treat that as though it's 2g coverage, although some trial and error was needed to get the best locations. Each building is different though, an office environment might for example have a metal structure creating to some extent a faraday cage.
 
You need to use a proper wifi analyzer, something like this:
https://www.netspotapp.com/netspot-windows.html

Setup the access points in some initial place, do a full survey of the house (you need to upload floor plans and walk around the house with the laptop), then adjust the locations of the APs according to the results you find, do another full survey, and repeat until you're happy.
 
Just installed my AP-AC-LR (the upgraded PoE version).

Seems to be working fine, but it is not any faster (and from my testing slower) than my RT-N66U.

Edit: Maybe I should have gone with the pro... oh well, next time!

Signal strength seems to be solid, but top end performance seems to be lacking... (40Mhz channels as the performance with 80mhz channels tanks like no tomorrow...)
 
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rotor said:
You need to use a proper wifi analyzer, something like this:
https://www.netspotapp.com/netspot-windows.html

Setup the access points in some initial place, do a full survey of the house (you need to upload floor plans and walk around the house with the laptop), then adjust the locations of the APs according to the results you find, do another full survey, and repeat until you're happy.
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That looks good. I take it you use one of the paid versions as the free version doesn't allow that, right? Which version do you use? The home one or something greater?
 
I used the free one at the time, worked fine. Not sure if they've removed any functionality, but give it a go.
 
Aye, they appear to have removed it from the free version. Still, even the free version is good for checking congestion of channels etc.
 
FreeStream said:
Just installed my AP-AC-LR (the upgraded PoE version).

Seems to be working fine, but it is not any faster (and from my testing slower) than my RT-N66U.

Edit: Maybe I should have gone with the pro... oh well, next time!

Signal strength seems to be solid, but top end performance seems to be lacking... (40Mhz channels as the performance with 80mhz channels tanks like no tomorrow...)
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What were you expecting? There are clearly unfulfilled expectations in your post.

Possibly you're trying to compare two different things. A too-end home device and a cheap-and-cheerful enterprise class access point. The LR is maxed out at 867Mb on 5Ghz. But that's under perfect conditions.

If you only have a couple of clients and you're within 5m of the access point the BT Home Hub 6 or whatever they call it now is the fastest wifi access point on the market. That's a fact. And yet, everyone agrees it's pants.

How far away from the AP are you when testing the speed?

If you go outside and do your speed test is the LR still slower than the RT-N66U? I suspect not. I suspect you won't even get a signal. If you get the 250 users that the LR is rated for on your network, is the RT-N66U faster? I doubt it will handle more than 50 connections and it will be overwhelmed pretty quickly. Unifi isn't designed to compete with the RT-N66U. It's for people who need to have wifi across huge buildings and who need to centrally control 10-250 access points all from one place. It's enterprise kit. So you shouldn't expect it to be the fastest thing out there. What it is, is stable and it has massive capacity.

And yes, on paper the Pro does 1300Mbps and the HD 1733Mbps but the truth is, if the AP can't see your phone or your tablet, it's useless at any speed. The LR might not be as fast on paper, but it will hang onto the signal longer and deliver a useful user experience.
 
WJA96 said:
What were you expecting? There are clearly unfulfilled expectations in your post.

Possibly you're trying to compare two different things. A too-end home device and a cheap-and-cheerful enterprise class access point. The LR is maxed out at 867Mb on 5Ghz. But that's under perfect conditions.

If you only have a couple of clients and you're within 5m of the access point the BT Home Hub 6 or whatever they call it now is the fastest wifi access point on the market. That's a fact. And yet, everyone agrees it's pants.

How far away from the AP are you when testing the speed?

If you go outside and do your speed test is the LR still slower than the RT-N66U? I suspect not. I suspect you won't even get a signal. If you get the 250 users that the LR is rated for on your network, is the RT-N66U faster? I doubt it will handle more than 50 connections and it will be overwhelmed pretty quickly. Unifi isn't designed to compete with the RT-N66U. It's for people who need to have wifi across huge buildings and who need to centrally control 10-250 access points all from one place. It's enterprise kit. So you shouldn't expect it to be the fastest thing out there. What it is, is stable and it has massive capacity.

And yes, on paper the Pro does 1300Mbps and the HD 1733Mbps but the truth is, if the AP can't see your phone or your tablet, it's useless at any speed. The LR might not be as fast on paper, but it will hang onto the signal longer and deliver a useful user experience.
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I was sitting in the same room, about 2/3m.

Testing using MBP/iPhone.

In all honesty I was expecting give or take the same, given their top end ratings.

But yes the range is certainly better and it looks much neater sitting on my ceiling than the Asus does sitting on the sideboard!
 
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