Home network setup

[tikker]

Since the router part of my ISP's provided modem/router combo is a piece of crap and the WiFi is super unstable at times, I'm planning to set up a little bit of a better network, but networking isn't my strong suit. My subscription is a 100/10 Mbps up/down.

 

Currently I'm looking at Ubiquity gear as it seems nice and was thinking the following:

1. EdgeRouter X - put ISP unit in bridge mode and have this do the routing
2. UniFi Switch 8-60W - will replace living room Netgear GS305
3. Unifi AP-AC Lite - living room WiFi; PoE provided by Switch 8

If I'm not mistaken the order would then be modem > EdgeRouter X > through wall ethernet cable > Switch 8 in living room > AP-AC Lite with PoE. Am I getting that right, will this work together?

[Falcon1986]

5 minutes ago, tikker said:

If I'm not mistaken the order would then be modem > EdgeRouter X > through wall ethernet cable > Switch 8 in living room > AP-AC Lite with PoE. Am I getting that right, will this work together?

That’s fine.

 

Although, if your only PoE device will be the UAP-AC-Lite, the PoE switch might be overkill. A simple unmanaged switch will work just fine; you’d just need to plug the UAP-AC-Lite into the unmanaged switch and power it using its PoE injector.

[tikker]

8 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

That’s fine.

Cool.

35 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

Although, if your only PoE device will be the UAP-AC-Lite, the PoE switch might be overkill. A simple unmanaged switch will work just fine; you’d just need to plug the UAP-AC-Lite into the unmanaged switch and power it using its PoE injector.

Fair point on the overkill. I needed to upgrade the switch anyway as it's fully occupied now, so there's no room for the AP. Going with PoE I can prevent adding another power chord as well. The Switch 8 with just one PoE port is only €10 cheaper, so I figured I may as well invest a bit.

 

Anything I'm missing out on by going with the ER X versus something of the UniFi line like the USG?

[Falcon1986]

On 11/17/2020 at 4:23 PM, tikker said:

Anything I'm missing out on by going with the ER X versus something of the UniFi line like the USG?

If you can find it, the UniFi Switch Lite 8 POE is the new generation of the small UniFi POE switches and it costs almost the same as the previous generation. Heard that power supply issues were fixed.

 

A USG is not absolutely necessary unless you want the dashboard of the UniFi Controller to be complete. While the ER-X doesn't integrate with the UniFi Controller, it works with UNMS and is quite a powerful and versatile router for its size/price. Keep in mind that a lot of features are only accessible through the CLI on the ER while the USG tends to have more of the common stuff in a nice GUI.

[tikker]

9 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

If you can find it, the UniFi Switch Lite 8 POE is the new generation of the small UniFi POE switches and it costs almost the same as the previous generation. Heard that power supply issues were fixed.

 

A USG is not absolutely necessary unless you want the dashboard of the UniFi Controller to be complete. While the ER-X doesn't integrate with the UniFi Controller, it works with UNMS and is quite a powerful and versatile router for its size/price. Keep in mind that a lot of features are only accessible through the CLI on the ER while the USG tends to have more of the common stuff in a nice GUI.

Ah ok. Well I don't mind CLI interfaces at all so that's no problem. I couldn't easily get the Lite 8 here or it was more expensive so I stuck with the normal 8.

Looks they tick all my boxes so I've ordered the stuff. Thanks for the insights.

 

[tikker]

Well oops. Didn't research well enough... The Switch 8 outputs 48 V PoE and the AP Lite requires 24 V so one more power cable after all. Yes I should've read detailed specs better, but sorry Ubiquity I'm going to slam you for this one: your PoE is a mess with stuff in the same lineup switching between 24 and 48 V.