Ubiquiti - UniFi Express 7

If that's the case get a ubiquiti Unifi system. Gateway plus access points. Best performance per dollar with a wired backhaul

I bought 3 for a mesh system in a 3100 SF trac home. Only unboxed and setup two of three. With two just downstairs the coverage was really weak and the speeds were low. After tinkering with them for a week I sent all 3 back. They couldn't out perform the TP Link XE75 Pros, or TP Link BE63's. Tested Eero 6 and finally settled on a two pack of the Asus BT10's. Two BT10's both downstairs cover our entire home, garage and large backyard. Wasn't impressed.

Unifi gear is not cheap. But I highly recommend it. I installed a wifi 7 pro AP the other day and it's fantastic. Their gear is great but the price tag reflects it. Highly recommend.

You can use the Express 7 as a tabletop AP very easily. I got 3 and run them like that.

Unifi is no easier/harder than Omada. I'd steer clear of Mikrotik for Wifi unless you *really* know what you're doing.

Ubiquity hands down. Their WiFi 7 gear is reasonably priced too

UniFi is the most solid networking platform.

Recently got a Dream Router 7 and while it's just the router all their AP's are mesh capable. Now it's above the mark you're going above but I wish I had gotten the UniFi Express 7 which is essentially the same with less ports. I misunderstood something so 70 dollars probably wasted although I ended up using the porta. Depending on your internet speeds it may not be enough. This is the misleading part. It has a 10Gbps port but its IDP is like 2.4Gbps so you will never get 1oGbps from it but if your Internet is under 2.5Gbos it's fine. The great thing to me was their software. It's stupid easy and I used everything from PFSense to WRT to Cisco CLI. Any AP can be a mesh AP or independent. It suggests stuff like iot VLAN's and makes it simple so while not cheap you're paying a lot for the software and future software support. The one thing disappointing I found out after was for MLO to work, the main benefit of WiFi 7 were it uses all the bands as one "pipe" requires WPA 3. I've been meaning to mess around with VLAN's but it appears to be a per router/AP setting which sucks because I think my Pixel 8a support WPA 3 but most my 5Ghz stuff doesn't so that's going to be an issue with any WiFi 7 mesh system. I did get noticeably higher internal (LAN) transfer speeds when using it so it works. EDIT: see below and it's a network wide WiFi setting [https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/s/qXrsjaMuRO](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/s/qXrsjaMuRO) https://preview.redd.it/v2lx4as0mscf1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=b542fc1ec84cd08901689b85afea01768521168a

Juuust switched to Unifi few days ago. Blown away. Ive seen you ask a few people here what there setup is.. whats your current setup? I.e. how many nest wifi points do you have, and are they meshed wired or over wifi?

First, mesh is bad without a wired backhaul ( [https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/189h7um/mesh\_wifi\_much\_slower\_than\_main\_router/](https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/189h7um/mesh_wifi_much_slower_than_main_router/) ). Just something to know going into it. You really should have all of your APs (access points, the things that send out the Wi-Fi) wired back to a central or "home" controller. If your home has coax or ethernet already run, then get non-mesh wired APs instead. If you're getting mesh, I would look at the Ubiquiti UX7. They are scalable, small, have Wi-Fi 7 at a reasonable-ish price, and can easily do all of the things you mentioned except custom firmware. Not sure what the need is for point 4 in your case.

I dropped off my orbi 970 at UPS today to be returned in favor of my new UniFi stack. It's no comparison.

Get omada or unify. Either will make you happy. One ssid for users, one for guests.

Just tossed my netgear stuff for Ubiquity and couldn't be happier. My devices no longer connect to whatever random access point it happens to see even if there's a better one closer. Then they would get stuck on that one even after rebooting. So frustrating.

UniFi has all the blocking and other features that you'd want. I have not tried it but it now also has ad blocking. At this point, I would never change. It's easy to maintain and upgrade etc. If something does fail, it's pretty simple to replace the component and keep moving. It's got a lot of enterprise type features that I like.

You'll need to buy piecemeal, I'll leave required equipment below for what I'd do. https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/u7-lite https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/ux7 https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/usw-lite-8-poe You'd only need about 1 UX7 and 1-2 U7 Lites. I'd do 1 U7 Lite and see how that performs, you can scale up easily if needed.

Unifi mesh is one of the best implementations I have ever seen, not that my experience is massive. It does handoff fairly well and doesnt completely kill the speeds amd bandwith of the network. Most of the people I know with UI mesh setups are very happy with them. Hell, I know a couple of them who had a cable problem and didn't even realize they were on a mesh network for quite a while.

Don't listen to him. He doesn't know. A Unifi Express 7 cost 179€ and include the Wifi AP, the Unifi controller (brain) and connect to your modem. This is all you need and much cheaper that two Deco 50 !

Believe me, I tried them all. Unifi is the best, easiest, fastest, most reliable solution for Wifi. You can start with a simple Unifi Express 7 : https://eu.store.ui.com/eu/en/products/ux7 Warning, you may end up with a home full of Unifi products and a beautiful rack.

Ubiquiti unify is your best bet for a great mesh system. I have it on my small holding and have good coverage over 2.5 acres

Same here. Moved from Orbi mesh which was unreliable at best. UniFi system easily lets you set up separate SSIDs with whatever channels you want to assign. A lot of the access points can even adjust power and detect the best channel to reduce interference automatically. I haven't had to think about it since upgrading to this system.

The express is designed to mesh with other expresses. Ive installed a few for people that wiring is not an option.

If this is for just a single office and there's not a dedicated IT person with experience to manage it, then Unifi is a great entry level option that is relatively easy to configure and manage.

Hmmm fair. My experience with Unifi has been good (other than initial speed issues with IoT). What ive noticed is the wifi broadcast is fairly powerful, definitely more so compared with Nest wifi pro. I was running 2 nest wifi pros either end of the house. Ground and first floor. Ive now placed one UDR7 fairly central in the house and I great speeds in all rooms. That being said, if you have 3 points you should really wire the points together. I had lots of speed and stability issues at my parents who have a fairly "long" 3 story house with lots of walls. Depends on placement too, the main point was furthest, then another point to the middle, and the last point at the other end of the house. Nest is supposed to mesh to any point, but for some reason mines kept looking for the main point. Wired them up (nest to unmanaged switch, ethernet to each point) and that solved speed and stability issues. Major benefit is it doesn't need to use wireless backhaul (which research at the time suggested takes up a significant enough portion of bandwidth and processing power). Honestly, rather than buy a different system, I would put some effort in and wire the points. Once done, it will definitely be faster but you've also opened yourself up to lots of options (not just unifi kit, but also opportunity to wire more devices as you can place switches at the end of each run).

I've had UniFi stuff in my house for 5+ years, and yeah, WiFi issues aren't a thing at my house, and there are no dead zones. I was a bit strategic around where I placed the APs, and I ran Ethernet to all of them except the one in the shed quite a ways from the house (that one is on mesh). I have solid signal anywhere on my property, and haven't had any issues in the entire 5 years. Haven't had any "need to reset the router again" moments at all with this. My parents have a UniFi setup as well, and no issues there either.

If your FTTP NTD is stuck in the garage, don't expect one giant router to cover the whole property. Even a high-end unit like the ASUS GT-AX11000 Pro will choke once you add 20+ meters, two walls, a wardrobe, and three doors. Wi-Fi 6 is good, but it can't bend physics. What actually works: Stay ASUS: Another GT-AX11000 Pro in AiMesh mode with 5 GHz-2 dedicated to backhaul. Identical hardware syncs better and avoids a lot of the "AiMesh nightmare" stories. TP-Link Deco X95/X90: Very solid tri-band Wi-Fi 6 kits. Great balance of throughput and reliability. Eero Pro 6E: Simple and stable, though be aware that features like advanced parental controls, ad blocking, and network security sit behind a paid Eero Plus subscription. Stock Eero hardware still covers fine, but the extras aren't free. Ubiquiti UniFi: Fantastic when you can run wired backhaul. Pure wireless uplink works, but it takes more tuning and often won't outperform a well-placed consumer tri-band mesh system. Placement > hardware. Don't leave your main router in the garage. Pull a short Ethernet run inside (adhesive raceways look tidy) and put your main node on the first interior wall. Add a second node halfway to the far corner, and if it's still weak, a third to finish the chain. On a 1 Gbps NBN plan, a good tri-band mesh should still give you ~400-700 Mbps at the far end. With one lonely router in the garage, you'll likely see <100 Mbps and dropouts. (Side note: I run FixIT Computer & Tech, a small IT shop in Port Angeles, WA. I see this exact situation all the time-new house, NBN box in the garage, and Wi-Fi disappointment. The fix is almost never "buy the most expensive router," it's smart mesh placement and making the backhaul work for you.)

I would return the dream router get the Unifi express series either the regular or the 7s. put one in the cupboard and put another in the house they mesh.

Yes they can he was asking about a router. The expresses are meant to be meshed together like the tplink decos.

Unifi is great. Complete control over your whole network.

Unifi by a country mile, and it's not even close.

Sorry it wasn't obvious. Anyway the important fact is that he only need an Unifi Express 7 and it's damn cheap to step in the Unifi universe of good reliable internet like no other that hypnotise all their clients for life.

Uniform UX7s ensure no weak links in your mesh. Saving on AP costs now can cost you in performance later.

He doesn't need two AP, he said it clearly. Unifi provide the most stable wifi network for IoT of all the AP on the market, even with one VLAN, even in mesh configuration. On top of this you can setup dedicated IoT VLAN and dedicated IoT SSID, use their new object oriented policy management (unique on the market) for the most complex IoT setups. They went that far to have little icons for every gadget on the market in their interface. I know a bit or two, I have +200 IoT devices in my home from Apple, Switchbot, Aqara, Logitech, Eufy, Hue, Govee, and numerous exotic brands. I have been through hell with solutions from Apple, Orbi, Peplink, Meraki, Eero, Huawei and many many more. And only since I am rocking on Unifi I can open my Apple Home app with not a single device error ! At 179€ the Unifi Express 7 is, by far, the best solution for OP and a damn cheap ticket for discovering the "Apple" of networking.

UniFi object policy management allow you to easily pick devices and create group of them that are accessible by your kids (mobile, switch, laptop, smart tv, ...) then control (block with optional schedules) access to classes of websites (ex. porn), groups of applications (ex. Social media), specific websites (lol) or specific apps (TikTok). I use it with two teenagers (one study computer sciences, the other polytechnic) and it resisted their hacking tentatives until today. On top of this there is an optional subscription that allows to use Cloudflare to go even further in granularity.

Absolutely. Get and try it for a week. You can always send it back if it doesn't fit your need. But I am 100% that you will fall in love with Unifi, like all of us.

All the unifi access points support mesh just fine. You can set "auto" or pick specific address points to use for priority 1 and 2. I have one of 4 APs with wireless uplink, and have no complaints. It's in my shed and has two wired security cameras attached that are constantly streaming. They also all support 802.11r/k/v for roaming and fast switching, regardless of wired/mesh uplink. These protocols make devices seamlessly switch APs as they move around, and without dropping connections. You can be on a video call and walk around without interruption.

Just so you know, mesh doesn't bring roaming to wifi - any APs set up with the same authetication configuration (SSID, passphrase, security method) will allow wifi clients to roam amongst them as needed. Mesh uses what setups like Ubiquiti UniFi and commercial networking hardware use to allow *faster* roaming. UniFi would be my recommendation. It doesn't matter what your brother in law thinks.

../../../../preview.redd.it/zfn21gdqkpje11bcb.png?width=1080&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=d05d67faf408c3803282fe2ee0b6f84b32b6a222 I used to have a tp-link mesh system, which died just after the 2 year warranty was up. When comparing new systems, the Unifi was actually a decent price, way more features and control, plus much easier to expand and can handle hundreds of devices. We use these APs at the office, very stable/reliable. You dont need a switch, you could use poe injectors instead. Biggest draw back is running ethernet cables where you want them

Second this. Unifi's work beautifully with my FWG. Once my FWG goes, I may switch router to them completely.

I second this. Went all in and couldn't be happier. Never had such good coverage and the control you have is insane!

I don't know why availability would be an issue. All the items are in stock. This is what you would need for a "complete" setup. 1. https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/ux7 -- That's your main unit. They are just as plug-and-play as most consumer routers these days. 2. https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/all-wifi/products/u7-pro-wall -- Ubiquiti has a LOT of access points. I'm not sure what your ethernet cable terminates. If it terminates into a wall plate, then you may want one of the nice wall mounted ones. If it terminates in the ceiling or in a cabinet, then maybe you choose a different one. 3. https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/accessories-poe-power/collections/pro-store-poe-and-power-adapters/products/u-poe-plus -- That's the PoE injector for your second access point. To your questions... Configuration and management: Honestly if you're even slightly network savvy, it's so much cleaner and nicer than the other systems. The Asus / TP-Link stuff is now either typically locked in an app or has a crappy web UI with infrequent updates. Google WiFi is fine. I have it for my parents, but you don't get much control. At least it "just works" most of the time. Range: In my experience, much more than the Google WiFi Nest Pro. Similar to you, I installed that at my parents' house. I upgraded them from the previous Google WiFi system, and I found the range got a bit worse, but if you're in range, the speeds are much better. PoE Injector -- Most Ubiquiti stuff is powered by what's called "power over ethernet." It atually sends a DC current over the cable. It provides both power and data to the access point. For homes / businesses that require multiple access points, it's so convenient to just drop an ethernet line where you want to add the access point, versus needing a separate power source. Most mid-range or high-end Ubiquiti stuff has ethernet ports that are already "PoE enabled." With the device I recommended to you, the ethernet port there doesn't have PoE, so you need an "injector" which takes wall power and sends it through the ethernet line. An alternative device is the Dream Router 7. https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/udr7 -- One of the ethernet ports on this device is a PoE port, so in this case, you wouldn't need the injector. BTW - I agree it's awkwardly hard to tell if wired backhaul is working w/ the Google Home app. As I mentioned, I have it set up for my parents w/ 3 nodes, all wired, and I find it so frustrating how NOT intuitive it is. Like, they really hide the visibility of it. That being said, it DOES pretty much "just work" for my parents. You said you "added" the Nest Pro. Google doesn't allow you to run mixed mode. I'm assuming you have swapped both old units out for the newer Nest Pro, right?