Need AP Suggestions

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XplodingData

Member
Jan 25, 2020
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I apologize in advance, as this is a bit of a "please give me the answer" question.

I just moved into a house and it's a 2000sqft 2 floor, with attached garage on the side. I am planning to put my internet modem (which currently is handling my wifi) in the garage, which is where my rack/file server will be going. However, testing is showing that the wife's office in the far corner of the house, isn't getting a good signal. So I've been forced to put the modem in the living room for now.

I would like to get a decent PoE AP that can handle a handful of users in both the 2.4/5ghz ranges. Our laptops are all 1300mps+ N/AC rated (they are mid-upper range units, new in the last few months). I would like to put the AP in either the crawl space under the house, or the in the attic above the second floor.

I would like to keep the modem wifi for the garage, but have them share the SSID for seamless transition on devices while moving around the house... Possible or do I need 2 APs?

Googling/searching the site found sone recommendations for Ubiquity UAP-AC-Pro, and I also see the "M" series units that appear to be omni directional antennas instead of the flat/panel style.

I also see they have 2x gigabit ports. Is this for redundancy or to increase throughout?

I don't currently have a PoE switch, but am in the hunt for one. So I'd prefer if the AP has an injector with it.

Usage in the house is usually quite light, general office/internet/wireless printer. But I do occasionally use my laptop for moving large video files, so I'd like the speeds there when I need them.

Open to suggestions and comments. What should I be considering? What do I not even know to ask about? I am not afraid of a learning curve to set up the unit.

Thank you!
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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Unifi works well. The UAP-AC-Pro is a solid choice, but is getting a bit "old" now. The NanoHD is nice too, though it has a bit lower performance at 2.5Ghz. They both ship with a PoE injector if you buy them in a single-pack.

Some people have expressed concern about Unifi's recent decision to collect performance data. Sending data "home" to the manufacturer could be troublesome, especially if that manufacturer is in a country people don't tend to trust. But in reality almost everything you own these days does it - your Win10 PC, your iPhone. Just about everything. The bigger problem with Ubiquity is the sloppy way they rolled it out and the fact they they didn't offer an opt-out right away.

I'd normally avoid mounting in the attic due to heat issues. Where is the stairway in your house? Assuming its rather central look at mounting on the ceiling at the top of the stairway, likely right next to the smoke detector (if there isn't one there then there should be - install it at the same time!). That location usually is close to most places in the house and has the fewest walls for the signal to penetrate.

You can set up one SSID for all APs and your device should pick the best one as you move around. There are some vendor specific characteristics that make this work better if all of the UEs are from the same vendor and running common software so there is some chance that it might have some issues with your ISP provided modem/router/AP combo box in the garage.
 

XplodingData

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Jan 25, 2020
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I wondered about heat in the Attic, but I his redid the roof with ridge venting and it's a tall pitch sooooo hopefully not too hot at the lowest point.

I don't think the wife wants to see the AP so ceiling Mount is likely out, but I'd have to buy one and show her what it looks like to hopefully get her on board. Maybe... This is where the Attic/crawl space comes in. Crawl space is clean/dry/heated so no issues with moisture damage, and it won't get hot in the summer since the furnace will be off.

I wondered about the vertical antenna style units because under the stairs is little room where it would be easy to mount one on the wall, and it's very central in the house.

On Sealside's recommendation, I read through that link and it sounds like a lot of positive things for Ruckus, but then I googled pricing and it's 3-4x what the Unifi products are... I can't spend $600USD on an AP for only a handful of devices in a house...
But I'll dig around some more and see what I learn.

Thanks for the input so far
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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They are pretty unobtrusive. The nanoHD has a recess mount so it nearly disappears.

Just tell the wife its an extra smoke detector and required by code...its probably looks better/less obtrusive than the smoke detectors in the rest of house!
 

lambda

Member
Oct 27, 2018
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I wondered about heat in the Attic, but I his redid the roof with ridge venting and it's a tall pitch sooooo hopefully not too hot at the lowest point.

I don't think the wife wants to see the AP so ceiling Mount is likely out, but I'd have to buy one and show her what it looks like to hopefully get her on board. Maybe... This is where the Attic/crawl space comes in. Crawl space is clean/dry/heated so no issues with moisture damage, and it won't get hot in the summer since the furnace will be off.

I wondered about the vertical antenna style units because under the stairs is little room where it would be easy to mount one on the wall, and it's very central in the house.

On Sealside's recommendation, I read through that link and it sounds like a lot of positive things for Ruckus, but then I googled pricing and it's 3-4x what the Unifi products are... I can't spend $600USD on an AP for only a handful of devices in a house...
But I'll dig around some more and see what I learn.

Thanks for the input so far
You could get a Ruckus R600 from ebay for much less than $600 such as this:
Ruckus R600 Dual-band Wireless Access Point | eBay

Here is the R600 data sheet:
http://a030f85c1e25003d7609-b98377a....rackcdn.com/datasheets/ds-r600-unleashed.pdf

I just recently purchased four R500 from this seller:
a lot of 4 Ruckus ZoneFlex R500 Dual-Band Wireless Access Point 190801045284 | eBay

Ruckus All The Way :)
 

XplodingData

Member
Jan 25, 2020
66
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You could get a Ruckus R600 from ebay for much less than $600 such as this:
Ruckus R600 Dual-band Wireless Access Point | eBay

Here is the R600 data sheet:
http://a030f85c1e25003d7609-b98377a....rackcdn.com/datasheets/ds-r600-unleashed.pdf

I just recently purchased four R500 from this seller:
a lot of 4 Ruckus ZoneFlex R500 Dual-Band Wireless Access Point 190801045284 | eBay

Ruckus All The Way :)

Ok, that's a much more manageable price point! Any firmware or hardware revision caveats I should be aware of?

I'm at work so when I get home I'll do more research on the laptop. Much easier than the phone.
 

lambda

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Oct 27, 2018
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Ok, that's a much more manageable price point! Any firmware or hardware revision caveats I should be aware of?]


Since I am a newbie to Ruckus AP, I will let others who have much more experience answer your questions.
 
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XplodingData

Member
Jan 25, 2020
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It all depends on how much geeky you feel like you want/need. I went with mid-route with AC-Pro mentioned above - they work great. I do have some of PoE ports and some using PoE injectors. Mounted on the ceiling they are easy on the eye.
Good read on WiFi placement:
The Ars Technica semi-scientific guide to Wi-Fi Access Point placement
Thanks, that was a good refresher on radio signals and learned a few new things as well! Excellent!

I'm definitely down with the cabled backhaul, but still need to do some digging for the right solution for my AP...

As for the "smoke detector" scam, she's smarter than that. lol
But some of them do look pretty sleek so it's possible she'd go for it. Have to catch her on a good day with a little bit of inception play. :)
 

XplodingData

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Jan 25, 2020
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I am still slightly confused on these APs that have 2 ports on them. Are they meant to be used in parallel to increase throuput to devices (and does there need to be complicated setup at the switch to make that work) or is it just for mesh/bridge mode, which a lot of these seem to support?

I do like that the ruckus seem easy to power up via DC power adapter until I get my PoE in place... I just moved in so there's a lot of things to buy, and the budget doesn't really allow me to just giv'r and get it all in one shot. So AP first so my WiFi will at least work, run a couple cables to my basic service-provider-issued modem, then find myself a nice server rack to mount my gear in, and finally a good PoE switch. I've already got a basic gigabit switch, so the transition to PoE will mean I can ditch the DC adapters on any APs i put up, plus power up my security cameras... oh yeah... that's on the list too... But those I already have, just need the PoE switch and time to run the cables/mount them.
 

XplodingData

Member
Jan 25, 2020
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OK Last inquiry for the evening.

if I go for the Ruckus units that lambda has linked to (the R500 is priced nice and 867Mbps is probably good enough for me for now), could I wall mount them and does the signal only effectively radiate from the front of the panel, or would there be signal 360degrees around it? I know, newb question - sorry. I'm thinking I could get away with one mounted in the little room under the stairs (like I had originally thought about) for the main living area, and then another one on the ceiling of the garage to pickup my workshop area and the mudroom...

This way I can turn off the modem's wifi and just use the ruckus units for what i'm understanding to be a much better experience, and seamless transition as i move around the house.
 

lambda

Member
Oct 27, 2018
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PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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I am still slightly confused on these APs that have 2 ports on them. ...
They are intended for additional performance. In most cases you'd have to have many dozens of connected devices in order to get any benefit using N or AC devices. Maybe more interesting when we get to WiFi 6.

For home use just connect one link.
 

XplodingData

Member
Jan 25, 2020
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Ok thank you for the link and answer about the port.

If I'm understanding the pdf correctly, my plan to mount the AP at ceiling height on the wall in the under-stairs closet is a decent one. Minimizes walls to one or two, and distances to less than 8M for 90% of the floor plan. A second one in the garage should pickup the slack on the edge of the house and out in the yard/driveway.

To be safe, I think I'll loosely run a cat5 cable to the location and try it before I spend the time burying cables in the walls.

I googled and saw that it's not hard to convert a non-unleashed unit to be an unleashed one. Just a firmware update?
 

lambda

Member
Oct 27, 2018
34
12
8
Ok thank you for the link and answer about the port.

If I'm understanding the pdf correctly, my plan to mount the AP at ceiling height on the wall in the under-stairs closet is a decent one. Minimizes walls to one or two, and distances to less than 8M for 90% of the floor plan. A second one in the garage should pickup the slack on the edge of the house and out in the yard/driveway.

To be safe, I think I'll loosely run a cat5 cable to the location and try it before I spend the time burying cables in the walls.

I googled and saw that it's not hard to convert a non-unleashed unit to be an unleashed one. Just a firmware update?
As far as I know, just a firmware update. I am still waiting for my 4x R500 to show up.