Wireless issues, considering a Ubiquiti system

[boomhower]

Maybe I am over thinking this a bit. How about just adding another switch and a centralized AP? With the way my house is wired the easiest way to accomplish this is to add a switch in my master bedroom and the AP from that. So linksys->switch->switch->AP. AP would be dead center in the house. Bad idea?

 

[mxnerd]

Why don't you just move Linlsys AC1900 to the dead center of the house and see what happens?

 

[sdifox]

Maybe I am over thinking this a bit. How about just adding another switch and a centralized AP? With the way my house is wired the easiest way to accomplish this is to add a switch in my master bedroom and the AP from that. So linksys->switch->switch->AP. AP would be dead center in the house. Bad idea?

Should be fine, gives you better wifi coverage. Do a channel scan to see which one is less congested.

 

[boomhower]

Well I got highly irritated today and went to BB and bought a $16 10/100 switch and stuck it in the bedroom. Shocker TV works without issue. As much as I hate to physically do it I am going to run hardwire to the bedroom. 16 port switch in the living room and five port switches in each of the three bedrooms. I'm not seeing the need anymore of managed switches unless there is a very compelling argument. With this many switches that is going to be a steep proposition. I am not married to a Ubiquiti AP and am open to other suggestions, particularly since it's looking like December until you can easily get one.

 

[sdifox]

Well I got highly irritated today and went to BB and bought a $16 10/100 switch and stuck it in the bedroom. Shocker TV works without issue. As much as I hate to physically do it I am going to run hardwire to the bedroom. 16 port switch in the living room and five port switches in each of the three bedrooms. I'm not seeing the need anymore of managed switches unless there is a very compelling argument. With this many switches that is going to be a steep proposition. I am not married to a Ubiquiti AP and am open to other suggestions, particularly since it's looking like December until you can easily get one.

How many switches are you getting? and unifi is abailable from amazon now.

 

[boomhower]

How many switches are you getting? and unifi is abailable from amazon now.

One 16 port for the living room and a five port for my sons bedroom. I'll put the current 8 port in the master and the junk 10/100 in my daughters room.

So buying two but will have four all together.

The new ones aren't available yet on amazon. Can get them on eBay but they are the work versions and not US versions.

 

[sdifox]

One 16 port for the living room and a five port for my sons bedroom. I'll put the current 8 port in the master and the junk 10/100 in my daughters room.

So buying two but will have four all together.

The new ones aren't available yet on amazon. Can get them on eBay but they are the work versions and not US versions.

Which one were you eyeing?

https://store.ubnt.com/unifi.html

 

[boomhower]

Which one were you eyeing?

https://store.ubnt.com/unifi.html

Click Me

Should be in the neighborhood of $100 when out in the wild.

 

[kevnich2]

As someone that has many devices AND one that has an all ubiquiti network, I'd highly recommend ubiquiti. Very easy to use products and enterprise reliability.

For residential use, go with the ubiquiti edgerouter 5 port POE and two ubiquiti unifi ac lite, placed in the corners of the house to provide the best coverage. I have around 20 devices running with this and zero coverage issues in a 2400 sq foot house. It will require running a few cat5e cables to whatever room you place your edgerouter though.

 

[mxnerd]

I wonder whether OP hide Linksys WRT1900AC behind something.

With a 1500 sqft house and new 1900AC router with 4 antennas, the signal shouldn't this bad.

 

[kevnich2]

As far as the poe, the pro units are the only ones that use 48v active poe, the others use 24v POE. The edgerouter comes with a 48v adapter and can power both units. But either way, the AP's come with the proper adapter with the AP so I never understand why some people get all bent out of shape about the 24v POE.

 

[boomhower]

As someone that has many devices AND one that has an all ubiquiti network, I'd highly recommend ubiquiti. Very easy to use products and enterprise reliability.

For residential use, go with the ubiquiti edgerouter 5 port POE and two ubiquiti unifi ac lite, placed in the corners of the house to provide the best coverage. I have around 20 devices running with this and zero coverage issues in a 2400 sq foot house. It will require running a few cat5e cables to whatever room you place your edgerouter though.

Going all ubiquiti and doing hardwiring is an expensive proposition. Would need an 8 and 5 port switch in the living room plus three more switches for the bedrooms. Add a router and AP and you've spent a ton of money but am I getting enough in return? I am streaming internet video and gaming, not maxing the bandwidth in a production environment. Their is high quality 1080P local video used but maximum one stream at a time.

I wonder whether OP hide Linksys WRT1900AC behind something.

With a 1500 sqft house and new 1900AC router with 4 antennas, the signal shouldn't this bad.

Nope, it is an open backed and glass front entertainment center. Given the size of the house I am not seeing the need of two AP's, one centralized should easily do the job.

Here is an ugly ugly heat map. Congestion isn't an issue, just plain lack of coverage.

 

[sdifox]

Click Me

Should be in the neighborhood of $100 when out in the wild.

Call your local reseller?

 

[boomhower]

Call your local reseller?

Pre-order, not set availability date but $89 plus shipping. If these perform they are going to sell like hot cakes.

 

[kevnich2]

Going all ubiquiti and doing hardwiring is an expensive proposition. Would need an 8 and 5 port switch in the living room plus three more switches for the bedrooms. Add a router and AP and you've spent a ton of money but am I getting enough in return? I am streaming internet video and gaming, not maxing the bandwidth in a production environment. Their is high quality 1080P local video used but maximum one stream at a time.

I never recommended going hard wired all throughout the house. I'd say go hard wired to two Unifi AP AC Lite access points and skip the small switches all together. I have one main switch in my office closet with my edgerouter and NAS that connects two computers in my office. Everything else is completely wireless off the Unifi AP's. One centrally located one should easily provide coverage, but a properly designed wifi network always consists of multiple AP's for better roaming, etc, especially when dealing with 5ghz. Two work perfect for me and provide coverage to my back patio and pool area.

 

[boomhower]

Going all ubiquiti and doing hardwiring is an expensive proposition. Would need an 8 and 5 port switch in the living room plus three more switches for the bedrooms. Add a router and AP and you've spent a ton of money but am I getting enough in return? I am streaming internet video and gaming, not maxing the bandwidth in a production environment. Their is high quality 1080P local video used but maximum one stream at a time.

I never recommended going hard wired all throughout the house. I'd say go hard wired to two Unifi AP AC Lite access points and skip the small switches all together. I have one main switch in my office closet with my edgerouter and NAS that connects two computers in my office. Everything else is completely wireless off the Unifi AP's. One centrally located one should easily provide coverage, but a properly designed wifi network always consists of multiple AP's for better roaming, etc, especially when dealing with 5ghz. Two work perfect for me and provide coverage to my back patio and pool area.

Fair enough. I'm thinking two are overkill for me. They give a 400' range and my home is likely around 75' wide. Haven't broken out the tape measure but at 1500sq/ft it can't be much more than that.

Two options:

All Ubiquiti hardware. Would need $100 router, $170 8 port switch for living room, and $80 switch for the bedroom. Bedroom has to have a switch due to the camera system. ~$250 for the hardware and basically all wireless system.

Hardwired but cheaper system. $100 switch for living room and $40 switch for a bedroom. $140 in hardware plus labor from me for running wires. Add in wiring, wall plates, crimping tool, tester and it'll be a wash in cost. Gain here is less stuff running on wireless.

Basically do I want wired or wireless?

 

[kevnich2]

Fair enough. I'm thinking two are overkill for me. They give a 400' range and my home is likely around 75' wide. Haven't broken out the tape measure but at 1500sq/ft it can't be much more than that.

Two options:

All Ubiquiti hardware. Would need $100 router, $170 8 port switch for living room, and $80 switch for the bedroom. Bedroom has to have a switch due to the camera system. ~$250 for the hardware and basically all wireless system.

Hardwired but cheaper system. $100 switch for living room and $40 switch for a bedroom. $140 in hardware plus labor from me for running wires. Add in wiring, wall plates, crimping tool, tester and it'll be a wash in cost. Gain here is less stuff running on wireless.

Basically do I want wired or wireless?

Skip the hard wired switches in all areas except your main area where your router will be located and your camera system. Run one hard wired cable to a central part of your house and install the AP to the ceiling and other end to where your equipment is located. I keep mine in an office closet so it's out of the way. This will take care of your wifi coverage issue. Then see how things improve and go from there.

I would also recommend the edge router simply because the router is also important and I despise linksys gear but that can also be replaced later on.

 

[mxnerd]

Nope, it is an open backed and glass front entertainment center. Given the size of the house I am not seeing the need of two AP's, one centralized should easily do the job.

Here is an ugly ugly heat map. Congestion isn't an issue, just plain lack of coverage.

Looks like your daughter's devices are located at upper right corner (bedroom corneer).

Since she has worst signal coverage, you should place the AP closer to her bedroom.

==

Why not trying TP-Link Powerline Wi-Fi entenders? Easy & no labor. Each room gets 2 ethernet ports and whole room WiFi coverage. If it doesn't work, just return it.

 

[boomhower]

Looks like your daughter's devices are located at upper right corner (bedroom corneer).

Since she has worst signal coverage, you should place the AP closer to her bedroom.

==

Why not trying TP-Link Powerline Wi-Fi entenders? Easy & no labor. Each room gets 2 ethernet ports and whole room WiFi coverage. If it doesn't work, just return it.

That's the master bath. Hers is the right turn, sons is the left turn. I don't understand why hers is so bad but it certainly is.

 

[mxnerd]

Did you try 2.4G? Maybe it will have better penetration.

 

[boomhower]

Did you try 2.4G? Maybe it will have better penetration.

That is 2.4. 5ghz is essentially unusable outside of the living room. That ok since N easily carries the internet speed but still the coverage isn't sufficient.

 

[ccbadd]

Basically do I want wired or wireless?

If possible, always go wired first and use wireless to make up for hard to reach places and wifi only devices.

 

[cytoSiN]

I have a similar problem as the OP. Considering an EdgeRouter and 2-3 UAP's to cover my space. My issue has been the fact that my house is constructed like a commercial building using cinder blocks and flanged I-beams, which interferes with most signals. I'm considering throwing a UAP on each floor, and hoping for better coverage and speed than I'm getting from my centrally located Netgear WNDR3700v2. Anyone have experience with the range on a setup like this, especially in spaces like mine that have physical line-of-sight obstacles?

 

[kevnich2]

Here's a pretty good, up to date review of the ubiquiti unifi system:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...-realize-how-terrible-consumer-wi-fi-gear-is/

 

[kevnich2]

I have a similar problem as the OP. Considering an EdgeRouter and 2-3 UAP's to cover my space. My issue has been the fact that my house is constructed like a commercial building using cinder blocks and flanged I-beams, which interferes with most signals. I'm considering throwing a UAP on each floor, and hoping for better coverage and speed than I'm getting from my centrally located Netgear WNDR3700v2. Anyone have experience with the range on a setup like this, especially in spaces like mine that have physical line-of-sight obstacles?

Honestly, every environment is different with RF. The best you can really do is buy one unifi AP and test it out in different rooms as a site survey. I've never seen any building that reacts the same way as another with RF. This is why any wireless installer always conducts an on-site site survey to see how coverage is. I've used the unifi systems in about 100 installations, I always carry a few for onsite site surveys before I put anything together. The equipment does work very well though, I have two myself and coverage, speed and reliability are top notch with what I've seen.