Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC Reviewed

[John Kotches]

Steve:

Thanks. I spend my time dealing mostly with servers and that's either a copper or glass world.

Cheers,

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Beware the unbalanced-link problem with high power routers and APs. The client-to-access device direction is much lower power.
"I can hear you but you can't hear me (or hear me well enough)."

Analogy: Rock band on a stage with 1000W amps versus person in the audience's voice.

I frequently read that warning all around....have read/heard it since the early days of MIMO wireless back in the "G" days. And I understand the implied logic.

Yet...my experience is that..."it works". Areas that did not have coverage before...now work. I get the concept that the AP "may not hear the voice in the audience"...to continue your analogy. But I've yet to see, in the real world, that bad thing happen. Last week I forgot to snag a file from our servers utility directory to take onsite with me...I had already hopped into my truck to go onsite to a client to work on their server. I flipped open my laptop...and thanks to the great range now...was able to copy that file down to my laptop. Prior to that...wouldn't have had the signal strength...would have had to get out of my truck, enter the building, go upstairs. While I'm not in a wheelchair yet and I could have done that..it was still nice to be able to hear those 1000w amps on stage from my truck!

 

[stevech]

Try measuring, carefully, the up vs. down speeds, vs. different clients.

 

[milkmandan]

I spoke with Ubiquiti on Thursday and they are sending another sample that I will retest. I have also shared all my test data with them, which they are reviewing.

Any news or new results on the retest?

I am building a new wifi network for a new house my parents are moving into, and I really want a single solution I can place down for all their wireless needs. I've been hearing great things about Ubiquiti APs and this one was in my spotlight, but after reading the review (http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32153-ubiquiti-uap-ac-access-point-reviewed), I am now questioning the range (5Ghz) on this device. :\

If I can easily just go to Amazon and pick up a RT-AC66U for sub $180 (much less than $300), and the RT-AC66U offers even better performance, why don't I just go with the router and run it in AP mode? Would that be a cheaper, more powerful, farther reaching solution than the $300 Ubiquiti AP AC?

I find it interesting, because looking at the technical specifications for the Ubiquiti AP AC, it touts 28dbm for 2.4 and 5Ghz. Isn't that more than most routers? Anyone know what the dbm is for the RT-AC66U routers?

 

[thiggins]

Ubiquiti has released 3.1.4 beta, which is supposed to fix some performance problems on the UAP-AC. Retest will be sometime in the
next week or so.

When setting up multiple APs, it is not necessary to have high transmit-power APs. In fact, it can mess you up with too much signal overlap.

 

[milkmandan]

Ubiquiti has released 3.1.4 beta, which is supposed to fix some performance problems on the UAP-AC. Retest will be sometime in the
next week or so.

When setting up multiple APs, it is not necessary to have high transmit-power APs. In fact, it can mess you up with too much signal overlap.

Thanks. Looking forward to it. Is there a chance you guys might review the UAP-Pros in the future?

 

[thiggins]

Thanks. Looking forward to it. Is there a chance you guys might review the UAP-Pros in the future?

Ubiquiti sent one in the review package. But we had severe problems getting our ASUS PCE-66U draft 11ac test client to link to it, so skipped it. Could be newer firmware addressed the problem. But no plans in the near future to review.

 

[cowboyzx6]

Seamless wireless

I'm actually very interested in the "Zero-Handoff" roaming capability for my townhouse.

I currently have 2 routers (one of which is setup as an AP via DD-WRT). As I wander around my house, my cellphone (Samsung Galaxy S3 and my iPad) will connect fine and then re-connect when needed to the best AP. However, the reconnection will take some time. And often times, the device will hold on to a very weak signal until I force a WiFi reconnect. Very annoying and impairs me using my devices (especially annoying since I use my devices for all my home automation/music/tv control). And sometimes, the devices will connect to the AP that has the weakest signal for some reason and be pretty much unusable.

Anyone know of any other solutions that do this seamless networking without the requirement for a software component? Though it sounds like the software can be set up and then not worry about it too much.

 

[thiggins]

Anyone know of any other solutions that do this seamless networking without the requirement for a software component? Though it sounds like the software can be set up and then not worry about it too much.

The UniFi controller is needed only for set up. Once you have things the way you want them, the APs take care of themselves. Think of it like running Apple's AirPort Utility.

I know of no other product at this price point that has this feature.

 

[sfx2000]

interesting article
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-24/robert-pera-the-kid-that-bought-the-grizzlies

Ok, so the guy likes basketball - shows he knows teamwork, at his level, that is essential.

sfx

 

[sfx2000]

Apple Airports - when set up correctly, also do fast handover across different AP's.

So does Cisco for some of their gear in the enterprise space, and have been doing that for a long, long time.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/access_point/12.2_15_JA/configuration/guide/s15roamg.html

http://blogs.cisco.com/wireless/fast-roaming-with-802-11r/

I wish Aruba did - there are times where I'm on VOIP at the office, and the handover doesn't...

 

[thiggins]

Apple Airports - when set up correctly, also do fast handover across different AP's.

what is the "correct"setup?

 

[sfx2000]

what is the "correct"setup?

Good place to start is here:

Extending the range of your wireless network by adding additional Wi-Fi base stations

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145

Three approaches - Roaming is connecting them via ethernet (Preferred), "Extended" networks for their 802.11n gear, and WDS for their older 802.11g based units.

In a nutshell - one router, the rest are in bridge mode with common SSID's - keeping in mind that fast handover is a MAC (IEEE, not Apple) layer handover, the upper layers are not affected as long as you maintain the same SSID association. Keep credentials and SSID's common is the key here, along with one master controller for the network connectivity.

This actually should work for most AP vendors... Apple just makes it a bit easier than many.

sfx

 

[thiggins]

No magic there, I guess.

 

[NetCHEIF]

Typo

There's a small error in the 1st paragraph of the retest article - it should be 3.1.4 and not 3.4.1.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32202-ubiquiti-uap-ac-access-point-retest

 

[thiggins]

Thanks. Fixed.

 

[mackintire]

Just asking, did you ever test this with the 2.4.6 firmware? I'm asking because the 3.0 series is still considered beta.

 

[mackintire]

If you sign up for beta access on the Ubiquity forum you can download firmware 3.1.19 which is, at this point, close to the end of the beta firmware series.

 

[elpibe10]

If you sign up for beta access on the Ubiquity forum you can download firmware 3.1.19 which is, at this point, close to the end of the beta firmware series.

Even with the latest Beta 3.1.9 firmware, a few of the 'major' features (specifically ZH) still aren't available for the UniFi AP-AC.

I was keen to pick up a few units but delayed my purchase due to that reason.

IMO, the AP-AC is still a 'work in-progress' product.

I currently have 3 UAP + 1 PicoStation M2-HP on Zero-Handoff Roaming.

 

[axiomatic]

Got my Unifi AC a month ago.

I got my Unifi AC a month ago and its my favorite WAP to date. It replaced an ASUS RT-AC66U that had performed well but I didnt really need the router part for my network. I run a VMWare ESX server with ClearOS and a couple of DNS servers and I was using the RT-AC66U in WAP only mode but did not like the fact that the consumer grade wireless uses separate SSID's for the wireless channels. Enter the Unifi AC and I love how that the switch between WAP's and radio frequencies at different ranges is seamless. So far I am sold on this device being superior to any/all consumer grade wireless.