WiFi : Netgear Orbi or Ubiquiti UniFi

[PerryGunn]

After a few years of having multiple wireless APs (single SSID) around the house, I've been looking at options such as the Netgear Orbi RBK50/RBK53 and the Ubiquiti UniFi AC Pro kit (also their AmpliFi Mesh kit) - I have the infrastructure and technical background to setup and manage these but I think Ubiquiti may be a bit OTT for home use.

I don't necessarily need wireless backhaul as I can provide wired gigabit ethernet backhaul connections so I'm quite flexible regarding other options but I'd like transparent handoff to the strongest/fastest AP as I move around the house (as opposed to my current multiple independent AP setup where clients tend to retain their connection to their current AP even if a faster one is available)

Opinions/comments welcome, especially from anyone who has real-world experience of these system and how transparently they handoff between APs when moving between rooms/floors

 

[MrPT]

For what it’s worth, I went with Ubiquiti for my single AP setup based on feedback from work. I have a deep technical background too, just not in wireless, so went with the consensus from a few guys that do. I got the impression that UniFi is a proper contender in the pro AP market against the likes of Meraki etc, but usually at a lower price point and with fewer bells and whistles. Ubiquiti have a £70 AP now so I went for it and it’s been rock solid for weeks. It was dead easy to set up and PoE is a nice bonus.

I don’t have an experience of the higher end Netgear stuff and I’ll freely admit that my view of them has been tainted by using many sub-£50 products of theirs over the years, ranging from terrible to ok, but never exceptional.

Incidentally, we have Cisco kit in the office and the handoff and client capacity (we have gone IoT crazy) are amazing, but you’re talking megabucks.

 

[Adam D]

A single ubiquiti ac pro installed in the loft covers my 4 bed house, great piece of kit and very stable.

 

[PerryGunn]

Thanks for the replies people

MrPT - I tend to agree about NetGear products and, although the reviews have been positive, I'm a little concerned about NetGear's commitment to their products as they have a habit of stopping provision of updates soon after a product goes out of production.

Adam D - thanks for the info on real-world coverage (does your house have solid or studwork/dry-lined internal walls?)

Looks like I'll be going for the Ubiquiti AC Pro then. As it's likely to have better range & performance than my current APs, I think I'll start with a single unit and add a second if my solid internal walls make it necessary.

 

[Adam D]

Solid walls, previously I tried a netgear nighthawk D7800 and found it unable to reach the rear rooms upstairs.

Mounting the access point up high in the roof gives full coverage for house, garden and a reasonable distance away.

 

[bradz]

I have installed Fortinet & Ubiquity AP's in some pretty big places in the UK including Manchester Arena and Bridge Water hall.

The Fortinet stuff is superb but expensive, With external aerial the range and strength is superb!

I love the Ubiquity stuff though, The controller is superb and easy to setup, the cost is very reasonable compared to cisco etc, I run this at home AC -Pro with 2x AP's - Love the way you can move between two AP's seamlessly.

Excuse the half finished job @ Bridge water hall.


Adam

 

[pvr]

You mean something like this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UBIQUITI-NETWORKS-UBI-UAP-AC-PRO-5Ghz-1300Mbps/dp/B016XYQ3WK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523523838&sr=8-1&keywords=Ubiquiti+AC+Pro

Seems very cheap though, I have great difficulty in getting WiFi everywhere and have about 6 APs at the moment that still do not reach all areas.

 

[PerryGunn]

You mean something like this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UBIQUITI-NETWORKS-UBI-UAP-AC-PRO-5Ghz-1300Mbps/dp/B016XYQ3WK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523523838&sr=8-1&keywords=Ubiquiti+AC+Pro

Seems very cheap though, I have great difficulty in getting WiFi everywhere and have about 6 APs at the moment that still do not reach all areas.

That's the one - although I've ordered from broadbandbuyer as I'd rather pay a little more and get it from somewhere I've used before and trust

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/23765-ubiquiti-uap-ac-pro/

 

[pvr]

Might add one of those to test, I have a PoE switch available so see how it goes. My £300 Dlink job is huge but has poor range (but is stable, never needs rebooting). The Apple ones - pure cr*p, needs a reboot every week.

Would you add a number of those to cover various areas or go for the cheaper AP?

 

[PerryGunn]

Might add one of those to test, I have a PoE switch available so see how it goes. My £300 Dlink job is huge but has poor range (but is stable, never needs rebooting). The Apple ones - pure cr*p, needs a reboot every week.

Would you add a number of those to cover various areas or go for the cheaper AP?

I'll add more Ubiquiti APs if I need them - easier to manage that way as they all share a single controller application that keeps settings synced between APs...

The model I linked comes with a PoE injector, you can get a model without the injector (the UAP-AC-PRO-E) but it's only about £5 cheaper - even if you have PoE switches, it's always worth having spare power injectors and you can't buy decent ones for a fiver.

Nice home-biased review here even if it is over two years old and there have been a number of firmware/software updates since then

 

[MrPT]

Reading all of this, its actually starting to annoy me a bit that half the country is using crappy BT, Sky or Virgin Media APs which need restarting every five mins and a range extender so that you can browse Z4 forum on the can. Under £100 could make most people’s issues go away.

 

[pvr]

Very useful thread for me and thanks for the info guys, it is something that I have struggled with over the years as well buying various units that usually are not up to the job.

 

[Ducklakeview]

Fancy the Ubiquiti Pro myself, nightmare getting good wireless here, especially with the kids battering it. Think when I last checked we had 30 devices connected

Mike

 

[markalp]

Fancy the Ubiquiti Pro myself, nightmare getting good wireless here, especially with the kids battering it. Think when I last checked we had 30 devices connected

Mike

30!!!! That would be your free loading neighbours

 

[Ducklakeview]

Fancy the Ubiquiti Pro myself, nightmare getting good wireless here, especially with the kids battering it. Think when I last checked we had 30 devices connected

Mike

30!!!! That would be your free loading neighbours

Lol, its just our devices, have had the "checking mac addresses" thing..

Mike

 

[sp3ctre]

I use the Ubiquiti USG and the UAP-AC-LR (long range).... I was going to add another but the fact that you can put it wherever you have network (centre of the house for me) means I don't need another. Previously my ASUS router struggled as it was in one corner and I'd get drop-outs in the opposite side of the house.

 

[pvr]

I just counted, I have 7 wireless APs in the house and still have dead spots all over the place as every internal wall is double brick. I do think having a Ubiquiti upstairs might be better as it would beam down through the floorboards better than going sideways through walls.

Am I correct in assuming that the handover is better? I have terrible trouble that between the house and my office I have dead spots where it hangs on for dear life on the house wifi whilst the office wifi is in reach and much stronger at that point, but it will not switch unless I force it.

 

[pvr]

I have bought 3 of them now to see if they can replace my 7 existing ones.

Thanks again all for the very useful info in here.

 

[sp3ctre]

The UniFi stuff is a geeks paradise... they keep adding new features week by week, and it does IPS, IDS, guest portals (charge you guests for WiFi, LOL!), VLANs, not to mention all sorts of metrics about your connection and what's going on on your network.

 

[PerryGunn]

Got my Ubiquiti AC Pro configured and installed today. Mounted it at the apex of the attic (as per Adam D ) bit of tweaking and performance is very nice. Been playing with all the additional information screens in the management software - very nice.

No doubt there will be more tweaking to be done over the next few weeks - may not need a second AP, but I might get one anyway just to play with some of the roaming functionality :roll: