Help with my first Ubiquiti setup

[Synboxin]

So I came here a while back asking for suggestions on a "gaming" router. Everyone suggested me an Ubiquiti setup. I'm a little confused on what all I'll need. I know I'll need the edge router and then the UniFi. I just don't know which  ones would be best and what not. Can anyone throw me some suggestions and which ones they have and are using? Is there anything else that's special I may need? My current setup is a normal 32 channel mode and then a Nighthawk x4 router.

[Unhelpful]

4 minutes ago, Synboxin said:

So I came here a while back asking for suggestions on a "gaming" router. Everyone suggested me an Ubiquiti setup. I'm a little confused on what all I'll need. I know I'll need the edge router and then the UniFi. I just don't know which  ones would be best and what not. Can anyone throw me some suggestions and which ones they have and are using? Is there anything else that's special I may need? My current setup is a normal 32 channel mode and then a Nighthawk x4 router.

What's your budget and how much space do you have to cover?

 

An Edgeroute Lite and a UniFi AC-Lite fit a lot of peoples needs. I have an Edgerouter PoE and UniFi AC-Pro because... Reasons.

[Synboxin]

10 minutes ago, JoeyDM said:

What's your budget and how much space do you have to cover?

 

An Edgeroute Lite and a UniFi AC-Lite fit a lot of peoples needs. I have an Edgerouter PoE and UniFi AC-Pro because... Reasons.

I don't really have a budget. As for space I would say atleast over 2000 sq ft. I was looking at the Edgerouter Lite but I need more than 3 ports, atleast 4. So I'm considering the Edgerouter PoE? It seems the same as the Lite but with 2 more ports. What's the difference in the AC-Lite vs AC-Pro?

[MysticalGnome]

19 minutes ago, Synboxin said:

I don't really have a budget. As for space I would say atleast over 2000 sq ft. I was looking at the Edgerouter Lite but I need more than 3 ports, atleast 4. So I'm considering the Edgerouter PoE? It seems the same as the Lite but with 2 more ports. What's the difference in the AC-Lite vs AC-Pro?

Does this 2000 sq ft need Wifi coverage seems like a big area to cover, you would need at least 4 access points, depending on the placement maybe more.

I would also consider a POE switch in that case, the Unifi Switch 24 port switch (US‑24‑250W) would be fine for that.

The main difference between the AC Lite and Pro is that the Pro supports POE(+) and the Lite requires a passive 24V POE adapter also the Pro has an additional wifi channel which means it should have a better throughput on the 5GHz band with multiple clients. Range wise the Pro is on par with the AC-LR.

[Synboxin]

4 minutes ago, MysticalGnome said:

Does this 2000 sq ft need Wifi coverage seems like a big area to cover, you would need at least 4 access points, depending on the placement maybe more.

I would also consider a POE switch in that case, the Unifi Switch 24 port switch (US‑24‑250W) would be fine for that.

The main difference between the AC Lite and Pro is that the Pro supports POE(+) and the Lite requires a passive 24V POE adapter also the Pro has an additional wifi channel which means it should have a better throughput on the 5GHz band with multiple clients. Range wise the Pro is on par with the AC-LR.

Yeah I would like it to have a pretty decent wifi coverage throughout it all. How come you recommend the switch? If I was to get the Edgerouter POE it comes with 5 ports and I'll need atleast 4. Is there something about it I'm not understanding? Are all 5 of the ethernet ports not used for wired connections? Also clear up the PRO vs Lite, with the pro supports POE+ and has an extra channel. So it would be better to get the PRO for the extra channel for better 5GHz. Which access points would you recommend? How much coverage would you say the PRO covers alone?

[rockking1379]

the lite over PoE variant gets recommended because of the CPU throughput.

 

personally i opted for the PoE variant anyway and i have been really happy with it. but my ISP connection also cant saturate it and anything i do for LAN communication dont hit the router (pretty sure thats how that works anyway if both devices are on the same switch).

[MysticalGnome]

1 hour ago, Synboxin said:

Yeah I would like it to have a pretty decent wifi coverage throughout it all. How come you recommend the switch? If I was to get the Edgerouter POE it comes with 5 ports and I'll need atleast 4. Is there something about it I'm not understanding? Are all 5 of the ethernet ports not used for wired connections? Also clear up the PRO vs Lite, with the pro supports POE+ and has an extra channel. So it would be better to get the PRO for the extra channel for better 5GHz. Which access points would you recommend? How much coverage would you say the PRO covers alone?

I recommended the switch in case you should decide to connect more than just the access points, seeing as you want decent WiFi coverage 4 ap's would be recommended leaving you with no free ports for other devices. There is also a 8 port switch variant which has 4 POE ports if a 24 port is to big for your needs.

 

I have the AC Lite and it gets about 600-700 sq ft coverage (WiFi congested area), within 20 feet of the AP I get 150-280Mbits on my phone for instance, but on the edge of coverage I barely get 15-20Mbits.

I also use the AC Pro at the office (3 of them) and they will give you better speeds and a bigger coverage area about 1000 sq ft.

If you have allot of WiFi devices (more than 5 clients per access point) I would opt for the AC Pro otherwise the AC Lite will do fine.

 

I have included an image to make it more clear (hopefully :P)

[Unhelpful]

6 hours ago, MysticalGnome said:

Does this 2000 sq ft need Wifi coverage seems like a big area to cover, you would need at least 4 access points, depending on the placement maybe more.

I would also consider a POE switch in that case, the Unifi Switch 24 port switch (US‑24‑250W) would be fine for that.

The main difference between the AC Lite and Pro is that the Pro supports POE(+) and the Lite requires a passive 24V POE adapter also the Pro has an additional wifi channel which means it should have a better throughput on the 5GHz band with multiple clients. Range wise the Pro is on par with the AC-LR.

What? My parents' ubiquiti AC LR covers easily 3300 sq ft no problem. 1400 sq ft property and most of their yard. And the Pro is NOT quite on par with the LR. They're not drastically difference, but the LR is longer range.

 

He might need 2 APs. But "at least 4" just seems insane unless he has brick dividers in his house.

[skywake]

7 hours ago, Synboxin said:

So I came here a while back asking for suggestions on a "gaming" router. Everyone suggested me an Ubiquiti setup. I'm a little confused on what all I'll need. I know I'll need the edge router and then the UniFi. I just don't know which  ones would be best and what not. Can anyone throw me some suggestions and which ones they have and are using?

Honestly unless you have a really awesome internet connection you can probably get away with your ISP provided router for routing. When most people say that their "internet sucks" what they mean is that their WiFi coverage is poor. That's probably your biggest bottleneck. So what I'd suggest is getting one or two either AC Pros or AC Lites, run ethernet to them and strategically place them in your house. Ideally on your ceiling or high up on your wall and in the centre of the area you want to cover. Go with the Pro if you want to really take advantage of the 5Ghz band, the Lite is fine for general internet usage and Netflix etc.

 

47 minutes ago, JoeyDM said:

He might need 2 APs. But "at least 4" just seems insane unless he has brick dividers in his house.

Even for a difficult house 2 is pretty decent. Brick house with two slightly less than ideally placed AC Lites here and I don't really have any connectivity issues at all. If I was super pedantic then sure 5Ghz coverage isn't perfect with just two AC lites when you have brick walls everywhere. But even in that room if I run a speedtest between a tablet and the Unifi Controller I'm still getting 50Mbps throughput and 7ms ping. With an AC Lite, in a brick house.

edit: Testing this now I can actually walk a good 10m from the back of the house and comfortably watch a BluRay rip from my NAS without issue. As long as you don't walk into the shed because then it's starts dropping frames left and right.

[MysticalGnome]

4 hours ago, JoeyDM said:

What? My parents' ubiquiti AC LR covers easily 3300 sq ft no problem. 1400 sq ft property and most of their yard. And the Pro is NOT quite on par with the LR. They're not drastically difference, but the LR is longer range.

 

He might need 2 APs. But "at least 4" just seems insane unless he has brick dividers in his house.

Do note that like I stated I am in a WiFi congested area so I am giving the range that I am able to attain so pretty much worst case scenario.

My walls are made from bricks and stone floors so my AP will have a harder time going far certainly on the 5Ghz band.

So It really depends on how his house is build what the placement will be and if there are allot of concrete walls/ceilings.

If there are concrete walls and ceilings you will definitely want one downstairs and one upstairs.
The garden and maybe a shed would also need coverage so at bare minimum one in the back, and then there is no guaranty that you would have full coverage.
So while four may seem much it really depends on the placement and what speeds he is hoping to attain.

 

Alternatively he could buy one for starters and strategically place it in the house probably in the middle and do some measurements with speedtest and wifi analyzer.
Then walk around till the point that he thinks the signal is to weak/slow and place it over there and repeat this process until he has the coverage he wants.

[Unhelpful]

8 hours ago, MysticalGnome said:

Do note that like I stated I am in a WiFi congested area so I am giving the range that I am able to attain so pretty much worst case scenario.

My walls are made from bricks and stone floors so my AP will have a harder time going far certainly on the 5Ghz band.

So It really depends on how his house is build what the placement will be and if there are allot of concrete walls/ceilings.

If there are concrete walls and ceilings you will definitely want one downstairs and one upstairs.
The garden and maybe a shed would also need coverage so at bare minimum one in the back, and then there is no guaranty that you would have full coverage.
So while four may seem much it really depends on the placement and what speeds he is hoping to attain.

 

Alternatively he could buy one for starters and strategically place it in the house probably in the middle and do some measurements with speedtest and wifi analyzer.
Then walk around till the point that he thinks the signal is to weak/slow and place it over there and repeat this process until he has the coverage he wants.

God damn, that's brutal.

 

Yeah, I'd go with buy one for starters and do some measurements rather than buying several right off the bat.