Revision 3 of my network plan

[Zerxal]

Hey again, this is my third (and hopefully final) revision of my home’s new networking plan.

 

Here’s the current plan, I haven’t bothered to update the 2D network planout as if you look at my previous post it’s basically the same but some devices switched out:

• 3x UAP-FlexHD (from Ubiquiti)
• 1x UAP-nanoHD (from Ubiquiti)
• 1x RB3011UIAS-RM (from MicroTik)

Main reason and really the only reason for using MicroTik as the router instead of a UDM-Pro is due to the cost savings. I can’t really afford to add an additional $210, plus the cost of an unmanaged PoE switch since the UDM-Pro doesn’t have PoE. If I could, I would - believe me.

 

3 FlexHD’s will be placed downstairs as none of them will be ceiling mounted. I originally planned to make do with only two but after look at the UniFi design center I thought it would be beneficial and worth the extra $180 to place a third FlexHD downstairs.

 

1 nanoHD will be placed centrally upstairs and mounted on the ceiling in the middle of the hallway. I’ll find a way to run a wire up into the finished attic and then down, I’ve been looking around and it shouldn’t be too tricky.

 

Here’s the signal diagrams from the design center.

 

First floor:

 

 

Second floor:

 

 

I’m mainly just looking for some critique here and if this seems like a solid plan before I pull the trigger on purchasing this all. Yes, I do know MicroTik routers can be quite a bit more difficult than a Unifi one but I will figure it out.

 

Also, should the single PoE switch on my selected MicroTik router be able to power the nanoHD? I’m not that experienced in the different types of PoE.

[brwainer]

17 minutes ago, Zerxal said:

Also, should the single PoE switch on my selected MicroTik router be able to power the nanoHD? I’m not that experienced in the different types of PoE.

The router you mentioned only has a single POE out port (#10) and it only outputs passive POE around 24V. The AP models you listed require active POE (802.3af or 802.3at) which is 48V. https://mikrotik.com/product/RB3011UiAS-RM
 

The “hEX POE” has active POE on all 4 of its LAN ports. https://mikrotik.com/product/RB960PGS
 

I’m not aware of any budget-friendly routers that have more than 4 LAN ports and also have active POE. In other words, there isn’t something like the RB3011 with half its ports as POE, even though that would be great. Ubiquiti Edgerouter has some models with a bunch of POE ports, but they are only passive POE.

 

Remember that each AP, unless you buy a multi-pack, will come with a POE injector. You could use that temporarily until you later add on a POE switch. By the way, if you’re going to buy a POE switch, I wouldn’t go with an unmanaged one, because then you could never do VLANs even just to experiment with.

[Zerxal]

3 minutes ago, brwainer said:

The router you mentioned only has a single POE out port (#10) and it only outputs passive POE around 24V. The AP models you listed require active POE (802.3af or 802.3at) which is 48V. https://mikrotik.com/product/RB3011UiAS-RM
 

The “hEX POE” has active POE on all 4 of its LAN ports. https://mikrotik.com/product/RB960PGS
 

I’m not aware of any budget-friendly routers that have more than 4 LAN ports and also have active POE. In other words, there isn’t something like the RB3011 with half its ports as POE, even though that would be great. Ubiquiti Edgerouter has some models with a bunch of POE ports, but they are only passive POE.

 

Remember that each AP, unless you buy a multi-pack, will come with a POE injector. You could use that temporarily until you later add on a POE switch. By the way, if you’re going to buy a POE switch, I wouldn’t go with an unmanaged one, because then you could never do VLANs even just to experiment with.

Should one of these work fine? https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-16-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Unmanaged/dp/B07G5XBM3V/

 

I need the single PoE port on the router because of the AP on the second floor in the ceiling. I guess I could PoE inject that, but that is going to be a many-foot long run and I don’t think it would be wise to use an injector on something that long - unless if it would be fine? I plan in the future to buy a managed UniFi switch. Really I only intend to use MicroTik for the routing and only the routing. 

[brwainer]

1 hour ago, Zerxal said:

Should one of these work fine? https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-16-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Unmanaged/dp/B07G5XBM3V/

 

I need the single PoE port on the router because of the AP on the second floor in the ceiling. I guess I could PoE inject that, but that is going to be a many-foot long run and I don’t think it would be wise to use an injector on something that long - unless if it would be fine? I plan in the future to buy a managed UniFi switch. Really I only intend to use MicroTik for the routing and only the routing. 

There is no functional difference between the POE provided by the included injector, and POE provided by a switch. The injector which comes with the AP is capable of the full 100m (330ft) max length per ethernet standards. Using a switch is less cluttered, which matters more when you have more than one device being powered from the same location.

 

In general I’m opposed to unmanaged switches because you can never see anything about its functioning. I recommend at least a “smart” switch, which are not usually much more expensive. However an unmanaged switch like the one you linked would work.

[Zerxal]

8 hours ago, brwainer said:

There is no functional difference between the POE provided by the included injector, and POE provided by a switch. The injector which comes with the AP is capable of the full 100m (330ft) max length per ethernet standards. Using a switch is less cluttered, which matters more when you have more than one device being powered from the same location.

 

In general I’m opposed to unmanaged switches because you can never see anything about its functioning. I recommend at least a “smart” switch, which are not usually much more expensive. However an unmanaged switch like the one you linked would work.

If the PoE injector would work on my run then I’ll just use that for now and then move to a UniFi PoE switch later down the road. Is there any reason why you need managed switches to use VLANs?

[Lurick]

55 minutes ago, Zerxal said:

If the PoE injector would work on my run then I’ll just use that for now and then move to a UniFi PoE switch later down the road. Is there any reason why you need managed switches to use VLANs?

You need managed switches to configure VLANs. If you're not interesting in changing VLAN tags then you can use a unmanaged switch to passthrough the VLAN tags.

[Zerxal]

30 minutes ago, Lurick said:

You need managed switches to configure VLANs. If you're not interesting in changing VLAN tags then you can use a unmanaged switch to passthrough the VLAN tags.

Do you think in this current setup call drops would happen if you’re on WiFi calling and roam between access points? My home has no cell service, so we rely on WiFi calling when at home with our mobile phones and our current xFi pods drop calls when switching between pods.

[brwainer]

31 minutes ago, Zerxal said:

Do you think in this current setup call drops would happen if you’re on WiFi calling and roam between access points? My home has no cell service, so we rely on WiFi calling when at home with our mobile phones and our current xFi pods drop calls when switching between pods.

If you enable the “Fast Roaming” feature in Unifi then it should work seamlessly - that’s the point of the feature.

[Zerxal]

15 minutes ago, brwainer said:

If you enable the “Fast Roaming” feature in Unifi then it should work seamlessly - that’s the point of the feature.

Any disadvantages with using "Fast Roaming" - any reason why it's not enabled by default?

[brwainer]

6 minutes ago, Zerxal said:

Any disadvantages with using "Fast Roaming" - any reason why it's not enabled by default?

I believe is it enabled by default nowadays but “defaults” don’t matter to a technical person who goes through every setting every time like I do. Early on there was issues with devices that didn't support 802.11r with the setting enabled, and also issues with roaming between the APs made using different chipsets (the models you’ve picked are Mediatek, but all the earlier APs were Qualcomm). That is resolved nowadays, and the second wouldn’t affect you anyway.

[Zerxal]

15 minutes ago, brwainer said:

I believe is it enabled by default nowadays but “defaults” don’t matter to a technical person who goes through every setting every time like I do. Early on there was issues with devices that didn't support 802.11r with the setting enabled, and also issues with roaming between the APs made using different chipsets (the models you’ve picked are Mediatek, but all the earlier APs were Qualcomm). That is resolved nowadays, and the second wouldn’t affect you anyway.

Is there any place you would recommend for buying these parts? The Ubiquiti store is out of stock of nanoHD’s, but if you buy from a reseller on Amazon they’re there.

 

Also, should there be any issue with signal interference with having a FlexHD point blank behind a TV?

[brwainer]

4 hours ago, Zerxal said:

Is there any place you would recommend for buying these parts? The Ubiquiti store is out of stock of nanoHD’s, but if you buy from a reseller on Amazon they’re there.

 

Also, should there be any issue with signal interference with having a FlexHD point blank behind a TV?

If buying from Amazon, it must say "Sold by Amazon" for Ubiquiti to honor the warranty.

Otherwise, go to one of the authorized distributors/resellers. I prefer Baltic Networks and Streakwave, but the full list is here: https://www.ui.com/distributors/

 

Try to have a few feet between an AP and anything that is made of metal or wood (other than sitting it on a wood shelf/table for the FlexHD). Metal reflects the signals in bad ways, and wood absorbs signal very well. But if you can't help it, having the AP behind a TV is better than not having an AP there at all.

[Zerxal]

1 hour ago, brwainer said:

If buying from Amazon, it must say "Sold by Amazon" for Ubiquiti to honor the warranty.

Otherwise, go to one of the authorized distributors/resellers. I prefer Baltic Networks and Streakwave, but the full list is here: https://www.ui.com/distributors/

 

Try to have a few feet between an AP and anything that is made of metal or wood (other than sitting it on a wood shelf/table for the FlexHD). Metal reflects the signals in bad ways, and wood absorbs signal very well. But if you can't help it, having the AP behind a TV is better than not having an AP there at all.

Alright, how well do you think the 1st floor AP’s would penetrate into the basement? We don’t actively live down there, it’s a guest suite and a workout room. It only needs usable speeds for some video streaming. Should I be good with this?

[brwainer]

3 hours ago, Zerxal said:

Alright, how well do you think the 1st floor AP’s would penetrate into the basement? We don’t actively live down there, it’s a guest suite and a workout room. It only needs usable speeds for some video streaming. Should I be good with this?

I think in this regard you will be fine.

[Zerxal]

22 hours ago, brwainer said:

I think in this regard you will be fine.

Thank you for your help throughout all of my threads. I went out and purchased everything today. Wire running and UniFi setup awaits me!