Adding Ubiquiti to my network

[Firegoose]

Hi everyone,

 

Im trying to fix the poor wifi coverage in my house and bought a Ubiquity AC AP Lite to add to my existing network. I want to know if there is a way to set it up so it would just be part of my same network.

 

The one side of my house and outside even out  into the garage is handled nicely by my linksys ac1900.

 

So is there a way to configure the new WAP so that everything is just one network as we move through the house?

[Electronics Wizardy]

you can set it up with the same ssid and password, and devices will switch to what has better strength, but if your moving around a lot, there is a disconnect and reconnect that you could remove with a full unifi system.

[Firegoose]

can I set that up with the 2.4 and 5 bands since my linksys seperates the 2? (same name one just has a _5ghz after it)

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 minutes ago, Firegoose said:

can I set that up with the 2.4 and 5 bands since my linksys seperates the 2? (same name one just has a _5ghz after it)

you can, but its normally best to have one ssid for both

[brwainer]

44 minutes ago, Firegoose said:

can I set that up with the 2.4 and 5 bands since my linksys seperates the 2? (same name one just has a _5ghz after it)

Unifi doesn’t make that particular config easy. The only option they provide for separating the names is to add a suffix to the 2.4GHz network. To accomplish what you want, create two WLAN groups, each with a copy of the SSID in it, and then assign the radios on the APs to the different WLAN groups.

[Alex Atkin UK]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you can, but its normally best to have one ssid for both

As someone who has used WiFi since before 5Ghz was even an option, my experience is the opposite.  Clients are not intelligent and may connect to 2.4Ghz because its a stronger signal when 5Ghz will actually achieve a better speed.

If you are adding Access Points to improve coverage, the goal is to never fall back onto 2.4Ghz anyway.

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 hours ago, brwainer said:

Unifi doesn’t make that particular config easy. The only option they provide for separating the names is to add a suffix to the 2.4GHz network. To accomplish what you want, create two WLAN groups, each with a copy of the SSID in it, and then assign the radios on the APs to the different WLAN groups.

You can actually have unique names for both, its just rather complicated and may require using a Unifi Controller to set it up rather than the built-in web interface.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

As someone who has used WiFi since before 5Ghz was even an option, my experience is the opposite.  Clients are not intelligent and may connect to 2.4Ghz because its a stronger signal when 5Ghz will actually achieve a better speed.

If you are adding Access Points to improve coverage, the goal is to never fall back onto 2.4Ghz anyway.

I have had pretty good luck o my unifi system with auto switching to run devices on 5ghz unless there low on signal. You can also tell it to prefer devices on 5ghz and it will redirect device to 5g. Id try putting one ssid first as I have found it to work well with all the unifi installs ive done.

[brwainer]

4 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

You can actually have unique names for both, its just rather complicated and may require using a Unifi Controller to set it up rather than the built-in web interface.

Yes.... you have to create a separate WLAN Group and assign a different WLAN group to the 2.4GHz radio than the 5GHz radio. Which is exactly what I said before. Unless you know an easier way?

[Alex Atkin UK]

31 minutes ago, brwainer said:

Yes.... you have to create a separate WLAN Group and assign a different WLAN group to the 2.4GHz radio than the 5GHz radio. Which is exactly what I said before. Unless you know an easier way?

I guess I misunderstood what you meant, as you said "The only option they provide for separating the names is to add a suffix to the 2.4GHz network" that contradicts the fact you can override that in WLANS.

Both mine are the same WLAN Group, the SSID is overridden in the config of the Access Point under WLANS.  Its so convoluted I can't remember exactly how I did it.

I'm honestly not a fan of their interface and will probably switch to Zyxel when I move to WiFi 6.

[brwainer]

11 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I guess I misunderstood what you meant, as you said "The only option they provide for separating the names is to add a suffix to the 2.4GHz network" that contradicts the fact you can override that in WLANS.

Both mine are the same WLAN Group, the SSID is overridden in the config of the Access Point.  Iits so convoluted I can't remember exactly how I did it.

I'm honestly not a fan of their interface and will probably switch to Zyxel when I move to WiFi 6.

by "they provide" I meant a non-hackish workaround, but I take your meaning. Zyxel seems interesting, but I've gotten sick of half-baked networking and decided that I can't settle for less than enterprise networking, so I'm going for Ruckus.

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 minutes ago, brwainer said:

by "they provide" I meant a non-hackish workaround, but I take your meaning. Zyxel seems interesting, but I've gotten sick of half-baked networking and decided that I can't settle for less than enterprise networking, so I'm going for Ruckus.

Zyxel do enterprise gear, its what I was meaning.

[brwainer]

33 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Zyxel do enterprise gear, its what I was meaning.

I’ll have to look into it then. All I’ve seen are the Powerline kits and small business switches, which were good. But I’ll personally probably stay with Ruckus because I use it professionally and know it.

[Alex Atkin UK]

21 hours ago, brwainer said:

I’ll have to look into it then. All I’ve seen are the Powerline kits and small business switches, which were good. But I’ll personally probably stay with Ruckus because I use it professionally and know it.

A perfectly fair reason, if you know it works then no reason to complicate things.

I'm only thinking Zyxel because it was suggested its not much more expensive than Ubiquiti for a better hardware build.

[Firegoose]

so i have it up and running and he range seems alright for the 2.4g but my s8 cant pick up the 5g just down the hall from it. Speeds arnt very impressive either with 30 and 60 for the two bands. is there a setting that i need to change or something i should be doing to improve this. Ill admit it is better than what i was getting from my powerline adapters but not by enough to make it worth it.

[scottyseng]

8 hours ago, Firegoose said:

so i have it up and running and he range seems alright for the 2.4g but my s8 cant pick up the 5g just down the hall from it. Speeds arnt very impressive either with 30 and 60 for the two bands. is there a setting that i need to change or something i should be doing to improve this. Ill admit it is better than what i was getting from my powerline adapters but not by enough to make it worth it.

Did you leave the radio strength of each band on auto? Also which channel and what width you use greatly affects what speeds you get. Make sure you choose a channel that is as empty as possible without overlap interference from neighbors. I don't have a lite myself, but I get 150/150 from my AC Pros pretty easily.

 

On 8/3/2020 at 8:38 PM, brwainer said:

by "they provide" I meant a non-hackish workaround, but I take your meaning. Zyxel seems interesting, but I've gotten sick of half-baked networking and decided that I can't settle for less than enterprise networking, so I'm going for Ruckus.

I love ubiquiti as quirky as their UI can be at times, but I can't deny that Ruckus probably makes the best WiFi Access Points from a signal perspective. I wish I could get some to play with.

[Firegoose]

4 hours ago, scottyseng said:

Did you leave the radio strength of each band on auto? Also which channel and what width you use greatly affects what speeds you get. Make sure you choose a channel that is as empty as possible without overlap interference from neighbors. I don't have a lite myself, but I get 150/150 from my AC Pros pretty easily.

 

I love ubiquiti as quirky as their UI can be at times, but I can't deny that Ruckus probably makes the best WiFi Access Points from a signal perspective. I wish I could get some to play with.

yes they are set to auto. the channel seems clear and they are set to 20 and 40

[TubsAlwaysWins]

On 8/3/2020 at 4:28 PM, BlueScope819 said:

The term you are looking for is "network meshing". I'm not sure if Ubiquiti supports that. (between non-ubiquiti stuff)

Unifi does not support meshing with other products