Recent content by tgl

UniFi can do mesh (a/k/a wireless backhaul). But their heart is not in it. There's not a spare radio for the backhaul channel, so you're taking about a 2x performance hit compared to gear that is designed for the case. There are other things about the software that aren't really ideal IMO...

I had an Orbi system about 4 years ago (RBR850 + 2x RBS850). Did not like it. Clunky GUI, difficult to configure the way I wanted --- not least because it required a full reboot after even minor config changes. Required cloud management, which was free but still meant Netgear had control over...

I believe a cable shield is supposed to be grounded on one end but not the other (else you risk a ground loop). So it depends on how you have the far-end connections set up.

No idea. If you want that level of expertise with Ubiquiti gear, you'd be way better off asking over at the UI community forums. Lots of helpful, knowledgeable people over there.

Best to avoid mix-n-match AP sets. The main thing you lose if you do that is that the units will not support 802.11k/v roaming between APs from different manufacturers ... and in a multi-AP household, you really do want smooth roaming. There should not be any problem with continuing to use the...

Ubiquiti has a reputation for building products that run hotter than people expect: that's a common theme across many of their products. They do not have a reputation for building products that fail, so apparently their thermal engineers know what they are doing. Personally I'd avoid putting a...

I used an EdgeRouter X for several years, and quite liked it ... but it is tough to recommend buying one in 2025. Ubiquiti has put next to zero effort into firmware maintenance for it for years now, and all the signs are that it will soon be EOL. Also, I recall the initial learning curve to...

It'll work, but you're giving up most of the security benefit of WPA3 when you do that. (If there's a nearby hacker trying to break into your network, he'll just ignore the WPA3 option and try to crack the WPA2 passphrase.) Perhaps you don't care about that scenario. But if you do, best...

My take: security in the current world is less about which equipment you buy than about how faithful you are about installing software updates. You don't want equipment for which the manufacturer doesn't issue security updates promptly, but then it's on you to install those updates before...

Could be a matter of one or the other's antenna gain pattern better fitting where your clients happen to be. Nobody builds routers with perfectly isotropic signal in all directions, and there's often an intentional bias in certain directions.

I don't believe that's correct. AFAIK, the 5GHz/6GHz channel bonding hierarchy described in that wikipedia page is required by the wifi standards.

Right. My point is that wide channels in 2.4GHz are the wild west: everybody can choose their own random frequency range, and pretty much guarantee that they're overlapping with all their neighbors not just some neighbors. This doesn't matter if you're in the boonies with no visible...

@ColinTaylor is right, but it might also be worth noting that this applies for the 5GHz band. 6GHz has similar rules about ganging channels in a specific pattern, but 2.4GHz does not --- if you choose a 40MHz channel there, you just spill over onto adjacent channels in both directions. That's...

Really not enough information here to offer good advice. What are you hoping to get from switching to UniFi? Easier configuration/management? Better monitoring? Better wifi performance? Depending on your goals, it might make more sense to replace the wifi end of things first and keep your...

You have to remember that UniFi's APs are designed to be used in multiples, perhaps even one-per-room, while consumer gear such as ASUS really tries to be one-per-household. (Yes, I'm familiar with AIMesh. Never worked that well for me.) That accounts for a number of differences, such as...