Ubiquiti - AC Mesh Series

I had phone jacks and was able to convert enough of them to Ethernet to get a great Ubiquiti system set up. One u6 in wall, one u6 pro ceiling mounted in a utility closet, and one u6 mesh outdoors. The phone wiring was daisy chained and only some were cat5. But I got 2 working jacks out of it, plus mounted one AP outdoors. And 3 APs is plenty for a ~1800 sq ft house even with old construction and suboptimal AP placement. It’s also possible to fish wires through walls but may be difficult depending on your house. If your basement is unfinished or you have an attic might be easier. If you do have to go mesh without wired backhaul I’d probably just get eero or one of those

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.

I have had both Unifi and Omada. You can't go wrong with either. I switched from Omada because Unifi had cheaper 2.5gb switches at the time. The Unifi controller is a little better than the Omada one.

Problem 1 you are using the ISP wifi. Those are usually crap and don't allow you to update settings much. Problem 2 the extenders are like mesh in that they are using your own wifi to resend signals. Info to consider: Are you using 5ghz or 2.4ghz signals? Everyone wants the faster 5 ghz but don't consider that these are more affected by walls. If you can use the 2.4ghz your signal will be better. Second you don't want a bunch of your bandwidth eaten up with "back haul" so you need your remote AP(access point) hardwired back to the router. I am a believer in putting the ISP system in passthrough and using your own router/wifi. Option 1 consumer grade. Asus. Get 2 put one at each end of the house. Run a wire between them, one will be your router, the other will be converted to just be an access point. You can set them up in mesh so it's one wifi network and devices can hop as needed. You cannot buy just an AP from Asus, but can get a better and lower cost device. TP link is also good. I avoid everything else. Option 2 Prosumer Get a Ubiquity unifi system. There can be set up simple or go full on and power a football stadium. For home you can get a single unit as the router or one that is router and wifi AP built in, then get a separate dedicated AP for other locations. You can update the AP s as new tech comes out without replacing the working router. GL

I wasn’t overly impressed with the Unifi mesh performance in my house, this was years ago though when it first came out

Still the best pro-sumer hardware out there. Good out of the box configs, but also lots of configs to tune the device to fit your needs.

Brother in law upgraded his old nest to the new, both were flaky and dropping connected units. I gave him my deco X55 ax 3000 three piece set and he hasn't had any trouble, nor did I. I upgraded to unifi system for extra control/features.

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.

I'll give a nod to the UniFi AC-Mesh - a little old school with "rabbit ear" antennas, but it's a real performer. I had just one inside a 2400 sf house, and it covered all of it plus an outbuilding about 30 feet away. I now have a full UniFi setup, but I still use that AP and bought another one for use on a wall in the house.

I have the same problem. There is form insulation everywhere, I can’t punch new holes in the walls or ceilings. I deployed the In-Wall 6 and Mesh 6s. The in wall in the office and primary bed room. Two Mesh 6s in the living room front of the house. Blanket coverage.

Unifi is not the way for WiFI mesh and even if you don’t need mesh it’s not for the average joe either. They are expensive but the easiest setup and most feature rich for the average consumer is ASUS.

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.

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.

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

I use 2 U6 Meshes specifically for their tabletop form factor and the number of 5GHz spatial streams. When I first set them up, they were both meshed and everything was fine. Interference was a bit high. I've got one wired now and it happens to do most of the heavy lifting in my house. The second one is meshed to the first and performs well but typically there are less than 10 devices connected to it. FYI the U6 Mesh APs do get hot to the touch.

Switch to unifi if you can. My set up has been really good since I switched. I have 3 access points in my home with full WiFi coverage. I also split networks and moved everything HomeKit to a 2.4 IOT network.

Unifi has nothing that compares to actual wireless mesh by the home router competitors. Their accessible products like the DR7 and UE7 don’t use 4x4 antennas, 6ghz or MLO for backhaul which significantly decreases bandwidth. They also don’t have any products with a band for dedicated backhaul, they have absolutely nothing that can compare to a full WiFi mesh from competitors like ASUS, Tplink, Eero or netgear.

I think you’ll be most happy with UniFi. There’s a lot more option in the way of hardware within that line (wall mount and desk mount APs for instance) and if you ever want to expand into cameras or access control, you’re in the eco system. Eero is great but you’ll be stuck with a desk unit and a very “on rails” app experience

>I want them to be connected in to a seamless mesh network for seamless roaming. So, "mesh" has become an obtuse word in home networking. It's really just wirelessly uplinking to access points when cable can't or won't be used. Seamless roaming is built into wifi, it's not something that is only available in mesh systems - marketing hype has steered the understanding that way. You could set up three access points independently, with the same parameters (SSID, passphrase, security method) and your clients will roam amongst them as needed, seamlessly (meaning, no intervention required by the client to move). What mesh systems do bring is a unified management of access points which allows for certain enhancements to improve roaming (sometimes known as "fast roaming"). It's not super beneficial to home networks, but it's there. So if you're not buying a mesh system, using Ubiquiti UniFi or Omada - which both have a central "controller" - will provide those same features (and arguably better in some ways). Both of these are "prosumer" - a large step up in quality and features. Avoiding "the cloud" is maybe a good thing or maybe bad. With UniFi, you can set up access points standalone with an app that communicates directly with the hardware. Or, for a better setup, you would need the controller which allows more control and statistics. You also need to set up a userid with them, but you do not have to manage your network via, or have it connected to them - you can run it standalone. There are some benefits to the cloud access such as remote access to your controller. I run a full UniFi stack and it's been super reliable and easy to work with. I have a Dream Machine Pro, 5 switches and 4 APs. Since you mentioned PoE also, that's the way to go. I have my setup on a UPS, and everything is powered by a 16-port PoE switch. If the power goes out, everything keeps working off the UPS. The remote switches are also PoE powered, which is quite nice. Edit: spelling and some minor clarification

I'm not sure how I could move the router higher in the cabinet without having to rewire the whole cabinet or have 5 Ethernet cables running up to the router at the top which would be messy. Is it likely that moving the router up higher would have a big impact (still in enclosed cupboard)? The router downstairs is also in an enclosed cupboard under the TV, but I could potentially put a U6 Mesh on top of the TV unit as it doesn't look too offensive. I bought a U6 Mesh but didn't install it as I assumed I would return it given the UDR7 didn't have better range than the Asus.

I have a similar setup at home. I have a U6 Mesh connected to a USW Flex that is housed in a Flex Utility enclosure. I needed several ethernet ports for the devices i have in an outside gazebo and this worked great. The Flex Utility is waterproof and supplies power to the Flex. The Flex has PoE to power the U6 Mesh. The U6 meshes over 5ghz to another U6 Mesh i have in the house about 50 ft away. I get about 150Mbps to the devices connected to the Flex which is more than enough for what i needed. If i was doing it now, i'd probably go with U7 Outdoor but still use the USW Flex to power it and leverage for more ethernet ports.

Unifi is the best. But TP link deco is a good option. Most of Dubai villas have Ethernet cables in every room. So you will need to get a unmanaged switch (a cheap tp link or any brand one will be good) to make one of the tp link nodes as the main, and then the others as satellite nodes. This way all of them will have one ssid and the mesh network will work in a way where when you walk from one room to the other your device will automatically and seamlessly switch to the strongest signal node. You can turn off the WiFi on the ISP modem and just connect all the nodes directly to it too (and avoid using the switch). There are several YouTube videos and guides online.

https://preview.redd.it/zfn21gdqkpje1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&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

Unifi sounds like a good option in this case. Being able to pull out your phone anywhere and see everything that is going on down to the individual port and connected device level is worth the price of admission, even though hardware would be overkill for what they need. The consumer grade mesh systems available simply don't give you that kind of control and visibility. Wired is always better, but for their simple needs, you probably wouldn't notice the difference being on WiFi mesh. Cloud gateway ultra and maybe consider U6- mesh? They have lots of mounting options and work well inside and outside if needed.

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!

UniFi - reliability, self-hosted, no cloud, no subscriptions etc.

Here's the thing, people forget or don't know in the first place that it's not just about how strong your access point is.. The signal coming from your phone or whatever wireless device you're using has to be strong enough to penetrate through walls or whatever and get back to the access point. In other words, a phone can hear a Wi-Fi signal from really far away.. but whatever is generating that signal might not be able to hear the phone. It would be like two people on opposite hilltops.. one has a megaphone and one doesn't. The person without the megaphone can hear the person with the megaphone just fine. However, the person with the megaphone might not be able to hear the person without the megaphone at all. I only need one u6 mesh access point in my house. It's a smaller two bedroom house. Even though my phone can hear the access point out in the yard.. the access point can't hear the phone. Which is why I have a second u6 mesh access point mounted outdoors but the power doesn't need to be nearly as high. I think it's turned down to maybe 30%. I don't really want or need any of the indoor Wi-Fi devices trying to communicate with the outdoor access point. The outdoor access point doesn't have any walls to blast through so it doesn't need nearly as much power to get to the phone and the phone doesn't have any walls to blast through outside so the access point can hear it just fine. Ubiquiti isn't the only company that has hardware like this but it's also very useful in some situations to be able to bind certain devices to certain access points. All my outdoor cameras that aren't wired, are bound to the outdoor access point. That way I don't even have to worry about them occasionally stupidly connecting to the indoor access point and having a weak signal. Kind of went on a FYI rant there lol.. I guess what I originally should have just said was, I do suggest mesh but it needs to be configured properly and the right equipment needs to be installed for the right location. If you have any questions you think I can answer, feel free to ask..

Oh, I mean they operated completely fine as meshed units. I have been very happy with them. I have plans to run POE to the second one but haven't had the time and the priority is low since they operate just fine for home networking as mesh units. To be clear, any of Unifi's APs can work as a meshed device as long as you are getting power to it using a POE AC Adapter. 20/20 hindsight, it was super easy to run POE for the one on my first floor and I wish I had gone with a U6 In-Wall because I now have a need for additional ports.

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.

Unifi is great. Complete control over your whole network.

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.

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’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.

How technical are you vs not? If technical get UniFi. If not just get eeros.

I use a Ubiquiti UniFi mesh system and it works very well for me

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

You dont need mesh if you can get cables everywhere. Unifi can also work as mesh though.

It's the way to go. I have 4 unifi aps in my house, a couple in the garages, a couple outside. All hardwired though, no lossy meshing. No kids and wife complaining about wifi.

Absolutely true. I just removed 4 Deco X75s (had zero issues with them - just wanted a more advanced setup with VLANs for a hybrid personal/business network) and 3 Google WiFi pucks (had some issues with these). Everyone talks about issues but I haven’t had any with UniFi or with Tp-Link.