Small buisiness Network Upgrade-Not sure what to buy??

[DaveWorkshopLC]

Hello LTT,
Love the channel, we are big fans!

 

My wife and I run a small learning center in Ohio. Well, it was small at one time. In the beginning we had a small 2,000 square foot building with 2 desktop computers. I ran the whole network off an Asus RT-N66U. We grew and then moved to a larger 7,000 square foot building. We added a few more PCs in the new building. I kept the same RT-N66 in the new building and added a 10 port switch so they were all on the wired network. WiFi was only used for phones. Thought it was a little jank, but we had network coverage all over the building and figured we could always move up later.

 

Today, we have grown even more. Have over 10 employees. Offer everything from daycare, preschool, tutoring to string instrument instruction for all ages. Tech wise, we have 5 PCs and a printer on the wired network. Then 4 laptops, up to 5-10 tablets and many more phones all on the RT-N66U. Also, since Covid happen we are now doing some kindergarten and first grade classes remote schooling. So, all those kids have iPads to Zoom with teachers. That means even more wireless devices, and I am already getting calls to tell teachers to restart the router a few times a week. So it is time for an upgrade.

 

My questions are:

Should I get another more powerful WiFi router?

Should I get a PoE wired router with access points?

What should I buy?

 

I am a little reluctant do set up an enterprise level network. I know things, but I am far from a network engineer. I have a day job and not sure I have time to admin the network constantly. So any advice you all can give, would be much appreciated it!

 

Thanks for reading!

[BondiBlue]

While a higher end consumer router would probably do the trick, I don't know that it would be the best choice if you need solid reliability, especially in such a large space. What sort of budget do you have to work with? 

[DaveWorkshopLC]

Thanks for the reply!

 

I agree. Probably just kicking the ball down the road getting another WiFi router.

 

I think we would need to have 3 APs and a router if I went that route. We would like to keep it under $1,000 if possible.

[Electronics Wizardy]

18 minutes ago, DaveWorkshopLC said:

Thanks for the reply!

 

I agree. Probably just kicking the ball down the road getting another WiFi router.

 

I think we would need to have 3 APs and a router if I went that route. We would like to keep it under $1,000 if possible.

Id probably just go unifi here. Pretty cheap(no subscription), good hardware, one management panel. Get something like the UDM, then add a few unifi 6 lr access points.

[DaveWorkshopLC]

As in Unify, you mean the Ubiquity Dream Machine Pro?

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-unifi-os-consoles/products/udm-pro

 

That looks fancy! What would be the difference in that than say this Ubiquity Edge router?

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16833664050

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, DaveWorkshopLC said:

As in Unify, you mean the Ubiquity Dream Machine Pro?

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-unifi-os-consoles/products/udm-pro

 

That looks fancy! What would be the difference in that than say this Ubiquity Edge router?

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16833664050

 

 

Id get the non pro version of the UDM here, has a AP included, and you probably don't need 10gbe.

 

The unifi system all works together, and the UDM has a controller built in. The edge routers are a seperate line, that are managed on their own.

[DaveWorkshopLC]

You mean the little device that looks like a Google speaker?

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-unifi-os-consoles/products/unifi-dream-machine

 

I like that price a little better. Especially since it is an access point too. I am not reading anything if those Ethernet ports are PoE?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, DaveWorkshopLC said:

You mean the little device that looks like a Google speaker?

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-unifi-os-consoles/products/unifi-dream-machine

 

I like that price a little better. Especially since it is an access point too. I am not reading anything if those Ethernet ports are PoE?

There are no POE ports on the UDM models.

 

Yea the the UDM id get here, you don't seem to need the features of the pro.

 

I think the AP single packs come with poe injectors you can use, or get the unifi switch.

[DaveWorkshopLC]

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate you helping with this! I was a little skeptical of this, but read up a little more and feel a little better about it. I do like how I will get the router and an access point in one package.

 

I am having a hard time seeing how this is any different than a WiFi router I would buy for my house. From what I read, the Unify/OS if the determining factor? What would you say makes that so great?

 

[evilcloud]

higher capacity and greater ability to handle traffic from more than a couple of devices is what you will get over a home wifi router.  Imagine the difference between doing a house move in a car, compared to a van.  Yes you can do it in the car, but van is specifically designed for what you are looking for.  Plus you will get greater options to do things like set bandwidth for specific clients / ssids etc.

 

You don't mention what type of connection you have coming in, is it adsl/fibre/cable?

[DaveWorkshopLC]

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

I ended up ordering the dream machine, and should be here in the next few days. Still need to get the APs. Any advice on which ones you would get? Think two of the UAP-AC-PROs should round out the network map. or, do you think it would be worth it to go with The WiFi 6 models?

 

And we  have a business class cable connection coming in. 200 down and I don't really remember how much up.

[evilcloud]

ideally if you can get the wifi 6 models go for that, just because they are newer and in theory should last you longer.