Anyone got one of these Ubiquiti AirRouters?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Anyone got one of these Ubiquiti AirRouters?

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SumnerBoy

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#471391 19-May-2011 23:52

I was getting the impression from some others that the Rockets might be overkill. Have you had any experience with these newer models - the AirRouter and Power AP N?

Regs

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Snowflake

#471393 20-May-2011 00:05

the rockets are really designed for outdoor and long range AP use. you also have to buy antennas separately as there are none built in.

if i was going to buy a new AP for a new house, based on looks i'd probably go the UniFi ceiliing mounted one (or something similar in another brand). with PoE, all it needs is a network cable and as its ceiling or wall mounted it will be a bit tidier looking - probably looks like a smoke detector when mounted. i have no idea what the performance is like though.

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SumnerBoy

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#471395 20-May-2011 00:10

I was planning to put my AP inside a hallway cupboard in the center of the house - along with the rest of my LAN gear and servers etc. It is a timber framed house so I am hopeful an AP in this location will provide enough coverage to the whole house.

Hadn't considered on of these externally mounted units.

Thanks for your insights into all this!

Regs

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Snowflake

#471396 20-May-2011 00:12

if you are going to do 80% of your wireless connecting in the lounge/dining then perhaps a ceiling mounted one in the same room might be the best option for the best performance. hiding one in the cupboard might not give you optimal results :-)

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richms

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#471398 20-May-2011 00:39

I would really want dualband before putting many APs in a house. remember with 802.11n you really only have one channel in 2.4GHz nomatter how you configure it, unless you cripple it with half width channels which let you get 3 in, same a G.

Using G here and its a nightmare, for some reason ch 1 is totally out of action, leaving 6 and several neighbour AP's, or 11/13 which seems to be even more erratic despite only a couple of APs showing in a scan. If those smoke detector ones did 5GHz too, I would be all over them like a rash on a... well you know ;)

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SumnerBoy

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#471421 20-May-2011 07:55

Yeah I really don't think I am going to need multiple AP's. I am interested to know more about dual band AP's tho. I am a bit green when it comes to this new wireless N stuff.

sbiddle

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#471434 20-May-2011 09:11

I've deployed a large number of Ubiquiti AP's in the last month, a combination of Unifi's and Power AP's across 4 different sites.

UniFi's are good and have great performance, there is a 802.3af dual band verion in development at present.

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SumnerBoy

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#471446 20-May-2011 09:31

Thanks for that sbiddle - would you recommend the Unifis over the Power APs for a simple residential application? My place is two storey but pretty compact. Would one Unifi in the living area reach a bedroom a couple of walls away? Or would the Power AP be better suited?

sbiddle

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#471476 20-May-2011 10:44

Both are probably doing to give similar results. The UniFi has the advantage of being a managed solution that requires PC based software to configure (rather than just a web interface) and can also offer multiple SSID's - something other UBNT firmware can't yet offer from the GUI.

The Power AP has a much higher power output, but this is rather meaningless since your laptop or wifi device will transmit at a much lower power.

SumnerBoy

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#471480 20-May-2011 10:56

Good point re. the transmit power - they are only as good as the transmitter on the device connecting to it - I was getting a bit hung up on that side of things.

So once the Unifi is setup via the PC software it can sit there and function in a stand-alone mode? I.e. it doesn't need any controller software to be running 24/7 to manage the AP?

Are they simple enough to configure for a simple SOHO setup? I am off to download the user manual and have a read now...

nbroad

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#471495 20-May-2011 11:28

SumnerBoy: Good point re. the transmit power - they are only as good as the transmitter on the device connecting to it - I was getting a bit hung up on that side of things.

So once the Unifi is setup via the PC software it can sit there and function in a stand-alone mode? I.e. it doesn't need any controller software to be running 24/7 to manage the AP?

Are they simple enough to configure for a simple SOHO setup? I am off to download the user manual and have a read now...

we have deployed a 3 pack of Unifi's at work.. you need the management software running on a PC to initially discover and configure them but then they will run standalone if you close the software down.
You could just fire up the management software every once and a while as it checks for software and device firmware updates.

raytaylor

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#471754 20-May-2011 21:35

My suggestion is the picostation 2 HP with an omnidirectional antenna purchased off trademe for $20.

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