Ubiquiti Nanostation to create hotspot in congested neighborhood: 2.4 or 5ghz?

[anoukaimee]

Hope I'm posting this in the right spot. Apologies if I haven't (and please feel free to move to right spot if not).

I've cut the cord, and my friend is generously allowing me to share his bandwidth (I'm on a fixed income). He lives upstairs and to the east of me in a old house converted to an eight-unit apartment building. Because it's old, powerline adapters are out; because it is an apartment building, MoCA is almost certainly out.

It looks like a range extender or second router in repeater/AP etc. mode would be best. But I looked into the Ubiquiti airMax Nanostations and they look like they would be great (with the repeated caveat that they're not suited for NLOS situations by the CSR; I asked what the difference was between their products and a regular repeater and he basically said "none," but was juts CYA'ing with this disclaimer for liability sake, even though I repeatedly said I'm assuming the responsibility).

In any case, going to try this with this setup. Their newer dual-band products appear to require two units, and I'm on a budget, so the suitable products are two:

1. The Nanostation Loco M5 (5ghz);
2. The Nanostation Loco M2 (2.4); and
3. The Nanostation M2 NSMUS (2.4 + 2x2 MIMO)

My question is which would might work best. I understand that 2.4 is best for range and NLOS, but the other variable is that we are downtown, in a building where no other tenants have 5ghz. All of my clients are 5ghz compatible except for my printer, but I'm getting signal strength down here that is fine using that (just want to minimize impact on my friend and ensure I can stream down here; it's totally nada right now).

So 2.4 or 5ghz? Thank you!

 

[System Error Message]

5ghz only with channels unused by your neighbourhood. Make sure you use a wifi NIC that supports those frequencies when checking.