MESH replacement options - XenWifi/Unifi/etc

[Tech9]

being somewhat future-proofed

Ask yourself the following questions:
- What are the chances for you to get or need >Gigabit ISP connection for home use?
- Do you need >80-100MB/sec file transfers on your internal network, wired or wireless?
- When this PLA link is going to be replaced? It's currently perhaps below Gigabit, bottleneck for the entire system.
- How many of your current and expected wireless devices will need >Gigabit connection? Exclude all phones/tablets.

Internet browsing experience >100-150Mbps is about the same. Voice/video calls fit in 5Mbps, HD streaming fits in 10-20Mbps, 4K streaming fits in 40Mbps, work from home needs 20-50Mbps unless you are content creator with a lot of traffic.

Decide what you are going to do based on your answers. I personally would purchase the equipment in post #10*. Nothing better is needed nor will be used any time soon. U6 generation APs is more mature, U6-Mesh have 4-streams on the main 5GHz radio (U6-Pro hardware in different shape), come with PoE injectors included, don't require specific mounting, compact size. UCG-Ultra can do Gigabit WAN with IDS, ~500Mbps with QoS, ~500Mbps WireGuard, ~150Mbps OpenVPN.

* - it has one limitation, but perhaps not critical. USW-Flex-Mini doesn't have custom port profiles. It can do all or specific VLAN per port. To make it more clear with example - in a system with VLAN 10, 20, 30, 40 it can pass ALL or let's say 20, but can't do 20 and 40. One of the reasons I personally use USW-Ultra switches.

 

[tgl]

Realised I didn't reply to this. I'm using a pair of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FFBN4MO?tag=smallncom-21 - bought back in 2018. Doesn't seem like anyone's made anything faster since then. Obviously you don't actually get 2Gbps, but you probably get nearly a 1Gbps if the run isn't too long.

Same thing I was using at my old house (well, with US not UK plugs). I couldn't get more than 400-some Mbps out of them. However, this was an old house and the particular power circuit they were on was doubtless a bit sketchy, so maybe under better conditions they'd have gone faster.

I actually have both ends connected to the AC backup sockets for my Solis inverter - so the network connection goes via the inverter. Works just fine - and continues running if I get a power cut!

Now that is really interesting; I'd always figured that you couldn't use these things if you wanted a network that stayed up during power glitches. Are you describing a single power inverter that has output cables leading to both places you need the powerline connections? Because what I understood was you couldn't get the AV2000 signal to pass between input and output of a UPS or inverter.

 

[Tech9]

The PLAs have to go in my opinion or their role has to be limited to WAN connection only with main network equipment in the Office location. Otherwise I'm not sure why we are even discussing equipment with 2.5GbE ports on both sides of the PLA link.

 

[webreaper]

Now that is really interesting; I'd always figured that you couldn't use these things if you wanted a network that stayed up during power glitches. Are you describing a single power inverter that has output cables leading to both places you need the powerline connections? Because what I understood was you couldn't get the AV2000 signal to pass between input and output of a UPS or inverter.

I have a Solis inverter, and its AC backup output runs to a CU unit, from which I have two cable runs each to their own pair of sockets - one in the lounge, one in the office. So I suppose they're more like a tiny ring-main with just those 2 pairs of sockets on them, powered by the inverter. I guess that's why I get decent performance through them. And I guess I see reasonable performance across the PLA network because it's all going through a small, isolated ring that's all been wired in this year with modern cable etc.

Ask yourself the following questions:
- What are the chances for you to get or need >Gigabit ISP connection for home use?
- Do you need >80-100MB/sec file transfers on your internal network, wired or wireless?
- When this PLA link is going to be replaced? It's currently perhaps below Gigabit, bottleneck for the entire system.
- How many of your current and expected wireless devices will need >Gigabit connection? Exclude all phones/tablets.

- Nil in the next 1-2 years, but eventually we'll have to get FTTP because Openreach want to demise the copper infra, at which point I'll get a 1Gbps connection.
- I frequently copy a lot of data around (photographs, and other large transfers etc). So not critical, but would be useful
- Been thinking about that last night, and I'm getting some work done in the next 2-3 months, so might see if I can slip an ethernet cable into the wall when it's being re-plastered, to solve this problem
- Most devices don't need 1Gbit, but the NAS will, and I have five 1080p or higher cameras which need to stream to the NAS, and so not having them impact other bandwidth would be good.

I think at this point, whilst I probably don't need the 7 stuff, the cost differential isn't enough not to just get it. With the equipment list in Post #10:

• CGU + Flex Mini + 3 x U6 Mesh = £626 (inc vat)

For my list:

• DR7 + U6 Pro + Flex Mini 2.5G + U6 Pro Outdoor = £771 (inc vat)

At this point we're talking about +/- £130 which is not enough to be quibbling about - and most of that extra is from the U7 Outdoor Pro which is going to give me far better outdoor coverage than just about anything else, according to the design tool. It's also fewer devices (only one in the lounge) so less clutter.

 

[Tech9]

If you really insist on Wi-Fi 7 hardware even unused for quite some time:

UDR7 and U7-Pro have about the same tri-band AP hardware, U7-Pro-Outdoor AP is dual-band. Check one more time how it looks in UniFi Design Center and go ahead. In case the coverage is not as expected - add another U7-Pro indoors. Enjoy!