Sunday, February 14, 2016

Wi-Fi upgrade

For years I've used the built-in wireless functionality of my routers for my house. My preferred router for my home for the past several years is the Linksys WRT54GL, with the custom firmware, Tomato. The router is a nice home router, and with the custom firmware, has a ton of features - way beyond the average consumer/home router.

However, recently, I've been having to power cycle the poor thing. It may be on the fritz...at least the wireless part(s) of it - the router itself is fine - my wired connections still work when I have the wi-fi issues with it.

Instead of replacing the whole router, I decided to try a better solution. I looked into entry-level business Access Points, and Ubiquiti's name kept coming up. They have a ton of wireless products/solutions. After looking into the different options, I decided to go with the UniFi AP ($65).

Installing it was easy, and I love that it came with a PoE injector - those alone aren't exactly cheap. I've only installed it about a month ago as of this writing, but I've had no problem with it. I can't say whether the range is better than my Linksys router because as I mentioned, the Linksys router is in my garage, and I installed the new AP in the middle of my house:


Ubiquiti UniFi AP

As you can see, it looks very nice/modern. Conveniently, it comes with some hardware that allows you to install it on a regular wall, or on a 'drop ceiling' (these are common in offices).

My ONLY complaint is that you have to install their software on a computer in order to set it up and manage it. That obviously wasn't a dealbreaker for me - I can live with that.

Here are some screenshots:

The 'Dashboard'


The 'Devices' list (Ubiquiti devices)


The 'Clients' list - devices connected to the AP(s)


The features in the software are extensive. I have a feeling that the cost of this thing AP just barely covers the cost of the hardware, and the rest goes to the software - the software is amazing. It's definitely overkill for home use, but in a business setting, you'll get more use out of it

No, I do not work for Ubiquiti nor am I affiliated with them in any kind of way. I am just (currently) a very happy customer.

1 comment: