Question 2,000 sqft coverage plus backyard

[Thedrewster]

Hi all.
Helping my cousin figure out the best setup for their home wifi.
It's a 2,000 sqft 4 bedroom house. They have a backyard with a pool. The outside walls of the house are block.
Basically they are wanting to blanket the entire 1/3 acre property with wifi.
They have gigabit internet and they want to have as much bandwidth as possible for the entire house and backyard.
They are currently using the Cox 360 solution with 3 nodes in a triangle type configuration. This is not good enough as the backyars only gets about 19Mbps and it's not at all stable.

Any advice would be amazing.

 

[DaaQ]

They will need to spend some money. I'm not trying to be smarta either. I'm sure you will get some solid recommendations, but realistically they will need to spend around 500 if they go the DIY route.

The Cox360 solution is using moca most likely and will be limited to about 600Mbps using MOCA 2.0 devices. Probably not relevant.

 

[Thedrewster]

They will need to spend some money. I'm not trying to be smarta either. I'm sure you will get some solid recommendations, but realistically they will need to spend around 500 if they go the DIY route.

The Cox360 solution is using moca most likely and will be limited to about 600Mbps using MOCA 2.0 devices. Probably not relevant.

$500 is their soft max for the budget right now.
The layout of the house is a simple design. Front door opens to living room. To the right are the 3 bedrooms. To left is the kitchen and dining room. Kitchen back door leads to the backyard that has an AC cooled "shed" used for arts and crafts and a Guy cave. Backyard has a pool with a wifi controlled unit.

Basically looking to cover a 2,000 sqft house that at any given point there would be 2 to 3 walls the wifi needs to get through. The shed is 90% wood with insulation for cooling.

 

[mxnerd]

Ubiquity Indoor/Outdoor AP/ mesh?

Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Ubiquiti UAP-AC-M-US Unifi Mesh Access Point, White

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Ubiquiti UAP-AC-M-US Unifi Mesh Access Point, White at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users.

www.amazon.com

Access Point AC Mesh

Outdoor-ready, dual-band WiFi 5 access point with detachable antennas. Features: 2.4/5 GHz WiFi 5 bands 1.1 Gbps aggregate throughput rate (1) GbE RJ45 port (PoE In)* (2) RP-SMA connections for use with third-party antennas Managed with the UniFi Network application...

store.ui.com

* 5 packs do not come with PoE injectors. *

Access Point AC Mesh Pro - Ubiquiti Store

Indoor/outdoor WiFi 5 AP with 6 spatial streams and extended signal range for maximum coverage.

store.ui.com

No personal experience.

It's still best to connect all AP / mesh points. Wired is always > wireless.

Don't expect great speed if the device is far from the AP/mesh point.

If you can connet AP via ethernet, you don't really need mesh system, however.

 

[mxnerd]

Join their forum and ask away. https://community.ui.com/

 

[Muadib]

I had a chance to play with the Alien. I used my iphone & 802.11ax laptop, and the coverage was great. Setup is easy, and he can get the 2 pack.

AmpliFi Alien Router

Experience out-of-this-world WiFi range and performance with the world's only 16-stream WiFi router. Features: WiFi 6 16 spatial streams 280 m² (3,000 ft²) coverage 120+ connected devices (4) GbE LAN and (1) GbE WAN port 4.7" LCM touchscreen Learn more

store.amplifi.com

 

[Genx87]

Backyards are easy. Nothing blocking signal. 2000 sq foot home + backyard should be covered pretty easily with 2x Ubiquiti AC Pro's.

 

[mxnerd]

Not directly related with outdoor wifi, but a very good read.

The Ars Technica semi-scientific guide to Wi-Fi Access Point placement

The Ars Technica semi-scientific guide to Wi-Fi Access Point placement

Wi-Fi is like real estate—the secret is location, location, location.

arstechnica.com

 

[mikegg]

I would:

- Use ISP's router to save money
- Buy a $50 PoE switch
- Buy a UniFi nanoHD for inside the home for $150.
- Unifi AC Pro for outdoors for ~$130.

That's $330.

Outdoors is easy. Indoors is a bit harder and may require a second nanoHD. That'd bring the total to $480 before tax.

Unifi AC Pro can be used outdoors. It's not as fast as the nanoHD but in the outdoors, you probably don't need speeds that fast. Indoors, the nanoHD should help reach near gigabit wireless speeds.

 

[mxnerd]

I would:
- Unifi AC Pro for outdoors for ~$130.
Unifi AC Pro can be used outdoors.

This one?

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512

It's not waterproof unless you use it under covered patio.

==

And this one has been discontinued.

Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Unifi UAP‑AC Outdoor Wireless Access Point (UAP-AC-OUTDOOR): Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Unifi UAP‑AC Outdoor Wireless Access Point (UAP-AC-OUTDOOR): Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

 

[mikegg]

This one?

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512

It's not waterproof unless you use it under covered patio.

==

And this one has been discontinued.

Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Unifi UAP‑AC Outdoor Wireless Access Point (UAP-AC-OUTDOOR): Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Unifi UAP‑AC Outdoor Wireless Access Point (UAP-AC-OUTDOOR): Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

Ah, good point. Yes, it seems like they'd have to shield the AC Pro from water. It's a good option if they can do it.

Otherwise, the outdoor Mesh AP can replace it. Mesh AP seem to be slower than the AC Pro though. They seem to want to get as close to their gigabit connection as possible.

From my experience, the AC Pro doesn't max a gigabit connection either. It maxes out at around 500-600mbps.