Noob + Ubiquiti - What can go wrong?

[IzZzy]

So, in short, I'm moving next month to a double story house.

To describe it best - the top floor (bedrooms) has a walk-way from 1 bedroom to the other two. At the bottom of this walk-way is the lounge (lounge is a double volume ceiling), with the tv room next to the lounge.

The area is fibre enabled and I'm arranging for it to be installed on the day I move in.

I'd also like to set up a Ubiquiti UniFi AC PRO on the ceiling above this walk-way in the hope that its signal could be received in the bedrooms at the top, as well as the lounge and tv room at the bottom.

My plan is to run shielded Cat5e cable from the study (which is in turn off the tv room, one room further away) where the CPE will be installed, outside along the wall into the ceiling, and then down to the walk-way. Then I plan to fit the AP there.

So I have a few questions - while I may generally understand the stuff, at the extent of failing miserably, is there an installer that could run the cable, fit the AP and test and ensure all is in order?

If not, just how difficult is it to configure the AP? Will I need to get a POE device as well? Or is it all pretty much plug and play?

Would appreciate any assistance and tips!

 

[Sinbad]

The aps come with poe injectors if I remember right.
Is not hard to set them up at all.
You'll just need the unifi app on your phone and you can set it up standalone, as I understand it. (mine are done with a dedicated controller)

 

[IzZzy]

The aps come with poe injectors if I remember right.
Is not hard to set them up at all.
You'll just need the unifi app on your phone and you can set it up standalone, as I understand it. (mine are done with a dedicated controller)

Ok thanks! What is the extent of the setup required? If it goes into details other than WIFI name and password, I may be lost at sea.

I assume then that the POE will need to connect to a wall socket and then to the AP? How is this usually done with a ceiling installation?

 

[Peon]

The AC PRO's work well. Dont need to worry about shielded cat5e because the cable wont be outside.

Ive setup ubiquiti unifi's in Waterfall Estate and Copperleaf Estate. Works well.

Big misconception clients have is that they assume 1 AP is enough to go through all the walls and reach an entire area.


You might get 2-3 bars signal for example. But if you running like 100Mbps fibre then you will bottleneck on your wifi.

 

[rorz0r]

Ok thanks! What is the extent of the setup required? If it goes into details other than WIFI name and password, I may be lost at sea.

I assume then that the POE will need to connect to a wall socket and then to the AP? How is this usually done with a ceiling installation?

They do indeed come with Poe injectors. It's a little box with 2 network ports and a power cable. You'd plug it in generally near your switch and have a short cable between the box and the switch then a long cable going up in the roof to the AP.

 

[IzZzy]

The AC PRO's work well. Dont need to worry about shielded cat5e because the cable wont be outside.

The cable will go along an outside wall for about 3 to 5 meters and then into the ceiling.

They do indeed come with Poe injectors. It's a little box with 2 network ports and a power cable. You'd plug it in generally near your switch and have a short cable between the box and the switch then a long cable going up in the roof to the AP.

Ok that makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Peon]

The cable will go along an outside wall for about 3 to 5 meters and then into the ceiling.

Ah ok.

 

[HeftyCrab]

Im using cat 6 between two windows, for about 3-4 meters. Havent *noticed* any degrade in performance. My 2c.

 

[sajunky]

Get two AC-LITE units for nearly the same price as a single PRO and reduce transmit power. You will get lower total radiation, faster speed and almost seemless transition between AP's.

I installed AC-LITE in the 3-storey house. Two AP's cover the entire house. Walking around the house with VoIP phone or Whatsapp breaks voice conversation for a maximum 1/3 second when changing AP's.

 

[irBosOtter]

Get two AC-LITE units for nearly the same price as a single PRO and reduce transmit power. You will get lower total radiation, faster speed and almost seemless transition between AP's.

I installed AC-LITE in the 3-storey house. Two AP's cover the entire house. Walking around the house with VoIP phone or Whatsapp breaks voice conversation for a maximum 1/3 second when changing AP's.

Good advice this, the Pro version only costs more and will not help for home use, rather get two AC-Lite units

 

[IzZzy]

Get two AC-LITE units for nearly the same price as a single PRO and reduce transmit power. You will get lower total radiation, faster speed and almost seemless transition between AP's.

I installed AC-LITE in the 3-storey house. Two AP's cover the entire house. Walking around the house with VoIP phone or Whatsapp breaks voice conversation for a maximum 1/3 second when changing AP's.

Thanks - makes sense to go with two instead of pinning the hopes on 1.