New Network Design

[therealdkc]

Hey everyone,

I'm building a new home and thinking about networking. I've been playing around with the Ubiquiti planning tool and wondering if anyone has any good experience with the tool and the brand. Ultimately, my goal is to have efficient coverage to cost ratios. I don't really care about 6 vs 7, but after putting some 6s in place in the tool, it seemed like I could get more efficient coverage with 7. For the basement I have a U7 Pro and for the main and upper I have a U7 LR

Anyone have any thoughts, tips, tricks or anything else they can share? I really appreciate it and happy to document my setup if it helps anyone.

Basement 2.4GHz Coverage

Basement 5GHz Coverage

Main Floor 2.4GHz Coverage

Main 5GHz Coverage

Upper 2.4GHz Coverage

 

[Tech9]

This floor heatmap with a single AP doesn't look right to me unless the house is really built from very RF transparent materials. I don't see the dimensions, but seems like the walls on upper floors don't even exist for Wi-Fi. Are you sure the wall materials selected in planning are close to the real materials used? Otherwise the planning tool is quite accurate when the input data is accurate.

The APs can't be placed one on top of the other on different floors. They will be too close to each other. Must be placed diagonally on different ends of the house. The signal goes through floors as well. If you don't care about Wi-Fi 7 go with known working well Wi-Fi 6 APs. Preferably Qualcomm based hardware, do your research. Set realistic expectations, don't overpay for hardware.

 

[therealdkc]

Thanks for the reply Tech9. The basement is about 750sqft, the main floor 1004sqft, and the upper is 1303sqft. All interior walls are 2x4 stud with drywall, save for the stairway which I believe is 2x6. In the planning tool, I drew the interior walls as Drywall. Should I also draw a Wood wall along the same line as well?

 

[Tech9]

Conservative planning is good. Start with 2x APs on the upper floors close to far ends of the house, if possible. I personally like U6-Mesh APs and use them everywhere because they are small, omnidirectional, with good range, high wife acceptance factor and can be placed on a desk or shelf, mounted on a wall or ceiling, even placed outside for outdoor applications. They also have nice RGB ring and it may be important for someone. My wife wants bright white light so they look like light fixtures.

Access Point U6 Mesh - Ubiquiti Store

Sleek, indoor/outdoor WiFi 6 AP with 6 spatial streams designed for mesh applications.

store.ui.com

The hardware inside is equivalent to U6-Pro. The specs and real performance are very close. Just different shape and size.

 

[degrub]

5Ghz will go through 1 wall of studs and drywall. Sometimes, it will penetrate 2 walls but signal will be greatly reduced. It will penetrate 1 floor wood framing, wood flooring. HVAC ducts will block the signal. 2.4 GHz will get through 2 drywall walls. You will eventually have house stuff on/near those walls so the attenuation is higher. Better to reduce the power on the APs and add more APs to the system to get good coverage.

Try placing one AP centrally on the ceiling every other floor. Otherwise too much overlap. Look at the polar plots and the azimuth plots for the AP radios in addition to the heat maps. The plots assume air only environment, but will give you an idea of the shape transmitted by the radio.

More importantly, the client devices likely have weaker radios and will only get through 1 wall or floor.

 

[Tech9]

I have some clients behind two walls with -65dBm signal. Two walls is acceptable for base calculations even without the planning tool, but the angle of the walls relative to the AP is important as well. For this area and based on description I believe 2x APs are good starting point, perhaps 3rd added later on and all on lower power. I personally like all APs the same model and type. I have 4x APs in ~6000sqft house in CA region, but 2x APs in 1800sqft in EU region. So the region is important too.

 

[Tech9]

Anyone have any thoughts, tips, tricks or anything else they can share?

Quite a bit of threads on SNB Forums about Ubiquiti and other low cost SMB options, actually. From small home setups to larger business sites. Tips and tricks how to make Wi-Fi better with multi-AP system were also shared and discussed. Search around.

 

[therealdkc]

Thanks for the responses so far. I will do some added research. I want all the APs to be ceiling mounted and I will use PoE to connect them all so ideally I get the plan sorted out without the need to add down the road. I suppose more APs is the best bet to ensure that happens and I wasn't too sure on the reliability of the planning tool. I also don't have an unlimited budget so AP choice/location is something I'm trying to pay close attention to. I also intend to have 3-4 VLANs and require VPN as well which is primarily what drove me to Ubiquiti. Excited to plan this all out and appreciate everyone's input.

 

[Tech9]

Well... 4x U7-Lite ($99/each) are just a little more expensive than 2x U6-Mesh ($179/each). If you like guaranteed coverage go with more lower price APs and adjust the system in software after. U7-Pro is dual-band, has 2.5GbE uplink port and 2-stream radios with up to 24dBm on 5GHz with 5dBi antennas. I think you'll be swimming in Wi-Fi on full power, you have to reduce it for optimal Tx/Rx links. For switching something like USW-Flex-2.5G-8-PoE ($199) is a good match, it can power 4x U7-Lite and has all 2.5GbE ports + 2x 10GbE for uplink. For gateway the new UCG-Fiber ($279) has the most capable hardware, but UCG-Max ($199) may be good enough. What you get is 2.5GbE wired network and about Gigabit wireless per AP (to Wi-Fi 7 client).

If you have 2x 80MHz non-DFS channels available in your region this system may get close to 2Gbps aggregate throughput on wireless. If you don't need high speed on wireless but prefer less interference and lower latency (like me), dropping channel bandwidth to 40MHz may work good for you and with ~3db better signal to clients (better range). You can do whatever you want configuration with the above setup on wired and wireless, just don't expect stellar VPN speeds from an ARM CPU based hardware. UCG-Max can do about 150Mbps on OpenVPN and 500Mbps on WireGuard, UCG-Fiber perhaps more, but nothing will do 2.5Gbps. For this you need x86 hardware gateway and it won't be cheap and won't be integrated into your UniFi setup.

 

[therealdkc]

I like the U7-Lite idea and did a re-plan based on that (see below with 2.4GHz/5Ghz). I'm not in need of 2Gbps in any specific way so I'm cool if I can't hit that benchmark.

The usage of the VPN side would be for camera access and some file access but nothing major, just documents etc. if ever needed remotely. I would imagine that even the the UCG Ultra could handle that. Is that fair or should I just get the Max?

We have the electrical walkthrough Monday - starting to get pretty excited about all of this.

 

[Tech9]

I'm not in need of 2Gbps in any specific way

High aggregate throughput comes as extra feature if your APs work on different channels.

if ever needed remotely

UniFi has WigeGuard based Teleport VPN and it's literally few clicks setup, zero configuration.

I would imagine that even the the UCG Ultra could handle that

I have 3x UniFi networks with UGC-Ultra. I don't overpay for ISP lines as well. Gigabit for family network is plenty. Gigabit switches are also cheaper, I use USW-Ultra with PoE. All hardware is up and running with no issues since installed, no reboot and reset.

 

[therealdkc]

Seems like my plan is reasonable based on your feedback. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to respond. Let's hope this stuff goes on sale for Prime Day!!!!!

Now to talk switching. I will have 6 APs so I don't think the Flex 2.5G PoE will work on it's own. I'm not seeing any Layer 2 switches that could handle it on their own. This may be a stupid question, but could I just link to Flex 2.5G PoEs together and be able to maintain the same functionality of features as if I only had 1 switch?

 

[Tech9]

There is Ubiquiti Store and the prices are usually lower than resellers. You don't need Prime Day. All my hardware came from Ubiquiti store direct including the link cables because they are cheaper than no-name on Amazon and much better quality.

 

[therealdkc]

Man I just realized the switch doesn’t come with a power adaptor. Am I missing something? Is there a way to use it without the power adaptor?

 

[therealdkc]

Ok so I've been doing a lot of reading. I'm almost convinced to go the Omada route. UB seems way overpriced and I'm not seeing the value proposition. Any have any experience with Omada that they can contribute? I would probably be looking at 6xEAP650 (realized I really don't care about 2.5Gb and am happy w/ 1Gb). From what I understand, the gateway is the router and I can use a software controller for the entire setup, negating the need for the controller hardware. This comes in at almost half the cost of the UB system and seems to accomplish the exact same thing. Hoping a few experts can weigh in.

Current setup thoughts:
EAP650x6 APs
ER7206 Gateway
OC200 Controller
SG2218P Switch

 

[Tech9]

Am I missing something?

Reduce the level of excitement and slow down a bit. PoE switches do come with power adapter, you are planning too many APs, UniFi gateways have more usable for home network features and come with built-in controller. Compare the features and decide which one is better fit for your needs. Note ER7206 offers different set of features in stand alone and controller mode.

 

[therealdkc]

Hey Tech thanks. From what I’m seeing, the UB Flex 2.5 PoE does not come with the power adaptor. That would add another $119 to buy the DC. I could also user injectors but would need 2 switches with 2 injectors to power the 6 APs from what I can tell.

Regarding APs, I may have misunderstood your previous posts. Are you suggesting 2x AP on upper and 2x AP on main, then nothing on the basement level? If that’s the case then I suppose a single Flex 2.5 PoE could power them as you mentioned. Though I still need to purchase the power adapter separately.

Gonna give my brain a rest. Night all.

 

[degrub]

One suggestion for new build is to have electrical installer able to certify CAT6 structured wiring to all rooms - 1 in each small room, 2 on opposite walls perhaps in large rooms. Think about location of TV screens and put the CAT 6 in each location possible. Terminate all runs in one location - a wiring closet is a good idea. You can have wire shelving inside to hold switches, router, modem, server, etc out of sight. 3ft x 3 ft is a convenient size. Make sure there are vents at the top to let out hot air and open area under the door to let in cool air.

There are also structured wiring boxes available that fit into cavity between wall studs, preferably 6 inch deep wall. Disadvantage is no place to set all the network equipment. Either you can terminate the wiring with good quality crimper tool and plugs or pay to have them do it an certify for 10 Gbit/s service. That is different from just running a ring out tester for continuity. CAT7 infrastructure cable is also possible, but more difficult to work with (stiffer) and much more sensitive to termination quality. i would stay with CAT 6 if all the runs are less than 100 ft / 30 m.

Having the structured wiring in place before the walls are covered - good resale point.

 

[Tech9]

From what I’m seeing, the UB Flex 2.5 PoE does not come with the power adaptor.

Ah... okay. I see it now, sold separately. I had this in the Ultra box:

...but now I see there is option without AC adapter as well, $30 cheaper.

Are you suggesting 2x AP on upper and 2x AP on main, then nothing on the basement level?

If your house is really this Wi-Fi transparent perhaps one AP per floor is enough. Not in the middle though and one on top of the other. Each one closer to the opposite end of the house. Basement and 3rd level on one side, 2nd level on the other. Play with the tool.