I love new technology and trying out new products, but for some reason Wi-Fi routers fail to excite me. All I expect from them is good antenna coverage, decent transfer speeds and basic routing functionality with minimal hassle. Simply put, they should just work. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a router that has met these simple requirements, lasted more than a year or two without dying or hasn’t required regular power cycling to function. Enter Ubiquiti UniFi.
Recently my TP-Link C5400 router had some sort of a reboot loop issue that I was unable to rectify. Up until its demise, it was pretty stable, but its coverage left a lot to be desired. It was set up in our centrally located home office but provided little to no signal across the house in the family room or upstairs in the master bedroom which are obviously not ideal places to be without Wi-Fi. The boot loop induced death of the TP-Link meant that it was once again time for a new router.
DISCLOSURE: I PAID FULL RETAIL PRICE FOR ALL OF THE PRODUCTS MENTIONED WITHIN THIS POST AND RECEIVED NO COMPENSATION IN ANY FORM FOR WRITING THIS POST
My research led me to three different options for a replacement: mesh Wi-Fi systems (Eero, Velop, Google Wi-Fi, or Orbi), enterprise / prosumer level networking products or the same old garbage consumer/home Wi-Fi routers. I had previously installed a Netgear Orbi system in a large home with pretty good results, but I was worried that it didn’t offer the ability to grow and support my networking needs in the future. In the end, I decided to try a more robust system geared towards homeowners or small business owners that require more out of a network.
ENTERING THE WORLD OF UNIFI
Ubiquiti Networks is an American technology company founded in 2005 in New York City. Among its many lines of products is the UniFi system which is described as, “expanding to a full Software Defined Networking (SDN) solution with seamless integration of hi-performance switching, gateways and more.” This really means that the UniFi system requires a bunch of different components that work together to create a Wi-Fi network for your home or office. It provides a powerful and robust network, but also requires a little bit more networking/tech know-how to get installed and configured.
To get started, I purchased the bare minimum components required to create a small Wi-Fi network which included a gateway, controller, switch, access point and a few CAT6 cables that would be used along with my existing TP-Link cable modem.
This would be enough to determine whether or not UniFi was the right solution for my home and networking needs.
NETWORK REQUIREMENTS
Since my wife and I had only recently moved into this house, there weren’t a ton of devices on the network, but I had plans for quite a bit of expansion that this new system would have to accommodate.
- Coverage: 2-stories and a basement for about 4,000sq-ft plus the backyard patio and pool area
- Usage: Internet for phones/computers/tablets, media streaming, printing, home automation (IOT) and a security/surveillance system
This would require multiple gigabit switch ports for hardwired devices (some of which would need to be POE) and multiple access points for Wi-Fi devices.
NOTHING BETTER THAN UNBOXING NEW TOYS
Two days after clicking the ‘Purchase’ button on Amazon, I came home from work to boxes full of UniFi goodies and got started with the installation. I’ll briefy describe each device and its function without all of the boring details and specifications.
UNIFI SECURITY GATEWAY | MODEL: USG | $107.76
This is a very simple box that contains a dual-core, 500 MHz processor inside, four Ethernet ports on the front and a power connection on the rear. Most users will simply connect their modem to the WAN1 (wide area network) port and their network switch into the LAN1 (local area network) port.
Key features:
- Support VLAN’s (virtual LAN’s)
- Secure communications via VPN (virtual private network)
- QoS (quality of service) for VOIP (voice over IP – phones)
UNIFI MANAGED SWITCH | MODEL: US-8-60W | $113.97
This device is a managed switch with eight total Ethernet ports on the front and a power connection on the rear. It is basically used to direct traffic to its intended destination and provides additional ports to add devices.
Key features:
- 60W of total power
- (8) total 10/100/1000 data ports
- (4) of the eight ports are auto-sensing 802.3af POE (power over Ethernet) ports providing up to 15.4W to each one
UNIFI ACCESS POINT | MODEL: UAP-AC-PRO | $130
This access point falls in the middle of Ubiquiti’s lineup as far as features and price go. It mounts to a ceiling or wall and provides 802.11ac wireless access to the network for all of your WiFi devices.
Key features:
- 3×3 MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) technology in 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands
- Optimal RF performance, spectral analysis, band steering and airtime fairness
- POE 802.3af or POE+ 802.3at powered
- (2) 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports Speeds: 450Mbps @ 2.4 GHz and 1300 Mbps @ 5GHz
UNIFI CLOUD KEY | MODEL: UC-CK | $78.50
Think of this tiny device as the brains of the operation. The Hybrid Cloud Device Management key features a quad-core processor that runs the UniFi Controller software and is conveniently powered via POE. It’s not completely necessary because the software could be run on a server, PC or even a Raspberry Pi computer, but it is very convenient and isn’t overly expensive.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
With the exception of the Cloud Key, none of the components come with the necessary category cables so be sure to have a few on hand. Since this setup was only going to be used for testing purposes initially, I installed all of the devices on my desk in the office including the access point (far from the optimal location or orientation).
I setup the network using CAT6 interconnection cables as follows:
Gateway
- WAN1 – cable modem
- LAN1 – port 1 on the network switch
Switch
- Port 1 – gateway
- Port 2 – office desktop computer
- Port 3 – Sonos Boost (connects wirelessly to multiple speakers)
- Port 4 – MFP printer
- Port 5 POE – Cloud Key
- Port 6 POE – UniFi access point
- Port 7 – office server Port 8 – unused for now
PLUG AND PLAY, RIGHT?
If you are unconformable with anything up to this point, the UniFi system may not be right for you. Installing the components is pretty easy and straight forward, but configuring the system proved to be a bit tricky and required some patience and technical know-how. The included instructions tell you to connect to https://unifi.ubnt.com via the Chrome browser, but that didn’t work for me. If that doesn’t work, it tells you to connect using the fallback IP address of 192.168.1.30 which of course didn’t work for me either. After a little bit of investigating, I was able to get a return ping from 192.168.1.7 which then allowed me to set up the controller. I also didn’t have to go through the firmware update process that it described. It’s possible that the Cloud Key had been configured previously and returned or something like that, but it certainly took a little extra to get started that others may not have been able to overcome.
Network configuration and Cloud Key settings is beyond the scope of this article which has actually become longer than anticipated already. This setup illustrates the very bare minimum Ubiquity UniFi network that could be used in a home or small business. It’s been up and running for a couple of months now and has never required a reboot or any other tinkering. In other words, once setup it’s been rock solid. The Wi-Fi coverage from a single access point is amazing. I am able to get 5GHz coverage around a good portion of my home while the 2.4GHz extends even past my property line outside. Adding another two or three AP’s would certainly extend the 5GHz signal everywhere I’d like to have it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There are still plenty of changes/upgrades to go for this network in the near future including a UPS for all of the networked equipment, configuration of QoS and VLAN’s, 16 port POE switch, additional access points, home automation and other network devices, networked DVR with POE cameras, media streaming from the server, etc., but the system has already proven itself to be fast, flexible and reliable which is exactly what I required. I can easily recommend the Ubiquiti UniFi system to anyone with such a networking need and the required know-how to install and configure it.