Ubiquiti UniFi vs UniFi Long Range (UAP-LR)

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Ubiquiti UniFi vs UniFi Long Range (UAP-LR)

myfullflavour

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#157675 9-Dec-2014 12:54

In a recent (now locked thread on a different topic):

richms: Yes 2.4 only. And not the pointless long range model.

I've got a client who's looking at putting UniFi in on every floor of his building (7 floors).

A local IT provider has quoted him the Long Range model - but I'm keen to see why Rich (and anyone else who has experience with these) would stay away from the LR?

wasabi2k

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#1192155 9-Dec-2014 13:12

I haven't seen anyone say much positive about the LR model either here or on the ubnt forums.

Seems to be similar range to the stock ones.

richms

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#1192197 9-Dec-2014 13:47

Because when its on high power, the signal goes too far and devices cannot talk back to it, when you change it to low in the management interface, you have just paid more money for higher power that you are not using.

Also 2 of my LR ones make noise, none of the low power ones do.

Richard rich.ms

jnimmo

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#1192245 9-Dec-2014 14:37

I've had two LRs die, stick with the standard or the Pro because of what richms said
Having said that having some real problems with the Pro at the moment.

chevrolux

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#1192353 9-Dec-2014 19:13

The UAP-LR's had a firmware issue back in v2.something.

But yea the nice thing about UAP's is they are super cheap so I tend to think it is far better just to spec an extra UAP to get coverage rather than trying to fill in the gaps with high power AP's.

TBH though I would be hesitant in spec'ing just standard UAP's these days. With more and more stuff coming out with 5GHz built in it seems silly to sell thousands worth of AP's just to come back in a year or two and tell them 'all the new stuff' is 5GHz. UAP-Pro would be my choice. Yes they are twice the price but do it once, do it right I reckon.

The downside of UAP-pro is no band steering so you need to run a secondary SSID for the 5GHz interface but I really don't see the issue. I just tell people if they can see the "SSID_5" network then choose that over of the "SSID_2" one.

eXDee

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#1194866 10-Dec-2014 13:46

I know nothing of the details of this particular model. I do know however that multiple APs > higher transmit power. The further the way you are the worse the experience is going to be, doesn't matter how loud your AP is yelling back.

Get multiple (dual band) APs put on each floor where necessary, eg in areas which would want extra capacity for the amount of users, or due to the physical layout of obstacles/rooms and the like.

sbiddle

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#1195019 10-Dec-2014 16:25

If you think that a "long range / high power" access point is a solution for a problem then you shouldn't be installing WiFi gear. That's a problem in itself, not a solution.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#1195047 10-Dec-2014 16:58

richms: Because when its on high power, the signal goes too far and devices cannot talk back to it

The LR model has marginally better receive sensitivity, so can in theory at least cover a longer range bidirectionally than the standard model. In practice, it likely won't make any difference, and if things are marginal, you'd still be better off running multiple APs.

I have one of each. I've not had any issue with either. If I were buying now, I'd be looking at the AC model, although I've heard there are some issues with those.

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darylblake

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#1205993 30-Dec-2014 12:51

FYI I just bought a UniFi AP (not the LR model) because my fritz box's wifi couldn't cover the whole property. To be quite honest the wifi range on the fritz box is quite terrible.

The range on this standard model is awesome. I don't think you would need to bother with the LR. I got a 700 SQm section and i can get about 4/5 bars signal nearly everywhere on the property. If thats not good enough get 2 AP's and the unifi controller will do the rest.

Also, if you have the $ you might want to consider the Pro 5Ghz models instead of the one I got. They are over twice the price, but they are dual band, and if you got a LOT of devices in a smaller area having some on the 5Ghz and some on 2.4 would be better from a noisy spectrum point of view, (the newer devices should connect up to 5Ghz and the older ones to the 2.4Ghz).