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Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Rock-solid Wi-Fi connectivity is a kind of issues that folks take as a right, but it surely isn’t a given. And for me, it’s greater than a easy necessity. As somebody who has labored remotely for over a decade, it’s the spine of my livelihood.
Over the past decade and a half, I’ve spent hundreds of {dollars} chasing seamless connectivity throughout my condominium. From costly routers to DIY mesh options and, extra just lately, mesh routers with devoted backhaul connectivity, my chase has despatched me down a path of balancing velocity with vary, however the excellent resolution has all the time evaded me.
I’ve spent hundreds of {dollars} on Wi-Fi routers, however they hardly ever labored as marketed.
On paper, a mesh router with three entry factors needs to be greater than sufficient to blanket a 2400 sq. foot condominium in candy candy Wi-Fi. Nonetheless, regardless of the promise of whole-home connectivity on the sticker, none of these options labored out for me. Clearly, It was time to take issues to the following stage.
Step one in every of fixing an issue is to obviously establish mentioned drawback. In my case, that was simple. Thick partitions of brick and rebar aren’t only a deterrent to high-speed Wi-Fi however may even act as a Faraday cage. Certain, I might get 2.4Ghz indicators throughout the house, however a velocity drop from 300Mbps to below 5Mbps is unacceptable. So with a little bit of renovation underway to run CAT 6a Ethernet cabling, it was time to sort out the Wi-Fi beast.
Make the best decide: Ethernet vs Wi-Fi — Do you need a hardwired connection?
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Proper off the bat, one factor was apparent, my necessities far outdated the capabilities of most client {hardware}. I wanted an answer that was future-proof to a level, handy sufficient to mix a number of totally different use circumstances, and it needed to be upgradeable with out switching out the whole system. The Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro was the proper match.
Ubiquiti takes an Apple-like method in the direction of networking {hardware}. Not like say, Pfsense or DD-WRT, Ubiquiti provides you oodles of energy however hides it behind a shiny interface. I wanted an answer that was simple sufficient for the typical person to determine in case I’m not round to manage it. Ubiquiti’s companion app (Play Store) is a superbly elegant option to remotely log in and diagnose any issues with the community.
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
The Dream Machine Professional additionally differs in the truth that the router doesn’t have a Wi-Fi entry level in it in any respect. Its sole job is to behave because the brains of my residence community. The router connects to my 24-port Energy-over-Ethernet enabled swap to talk to the broader community. Your complete system is constructed conserving in thoughts that Ethernet cabling will function the backhaul between entry factors. This beats mesh routers competing for a similar airwaves to talk to one another, and ensures future-proofing all the way in which to 10Gbps over CAT 6a. An extra benefit is that I can swap out particular person entry factors as and when wanted to raised accommodate my necessities.
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
For my condominium, I settled on a mixture of a single Unifi 6 Long-Range and two Unifi 6 Lite entry factors. Whereas I wished to adequately stability a load of over 70 shopper units, for many customers, two entry factors ought to suffice. I’ve additionally acquired the entry factors mounted to the ceiling for max vary. Since they’re powered straight by way of Ethernet, there’s no motive to run an influence cable both. Because it seems, that’s “all” it took to maximise connectivity throughout my residence and get full-speed web even within the far reaches.
There’s extra to a high-end system than simply vary and velocity.
Nonetheless, higher vary and velocity aren’t the one causes I opted for a system designed for enterprise use circumstances. You see, I’ve been conserving an in depth eye on my internet-connected units over the past 12 months. It’s astounding to see the variety of occasions your good residence units cellphone residence, usually to servers in China. There’s merely no telling the type of knowledge being shared.
Associated: How I consolidated my smart home using Home Assistant
Now, I don’t learn about you, however I’m not too eager on any non-public group tapping into my safety cameras or having an intricate profile of once I’m residence by way of movement or door sensors. That’s why I’ve been actively transferring my good residence tools to native management be it by software program or by switching out the {hardware} itself.
My colleague Roger just lately talked about conserving smart home devices on a separate network. Whereas his article supplied simple options, it didn’t tackle the issue of your knowledge being fed to offshore servers. With the Dream Machine Professional, I’m in a position to arrange VLANs and isolate all my good residence gear from speaking to the web. That’s a giant step in the direction of conserving your knowledge non-public. It additionally received’t break performance like Casting or Airplay for those who allow multicast help throughout the VLANs.
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
I’ve all the time been a bit cautious of cloud-connected safety cameras. By design, cameras like those from Xiaomi share non-public knowledge with cloud servers. Moreover, their dependence on unreliable microSD cameras and the necessity to discover a energy socket near the digital camera has confirmed to be cumbersome extra usually than as soon as. I’m additionally averse to the thought of paying a subscription price on prime of shopping for an costly safety digital camera.
Ubiquiti’s high-end router ships with its Ubiquiti Shield safety suite built-in. The truth is, you may slide a tough drive straight into the router and have it report all of your safety footage. Utilizing a mixture of Ubiquiti cameras, PoE, and a 2TB laborious disk inserted into the router, I used to be in a position to take again full management of my residence safety system. All knowledge is saved securely on the router itself, and I can log in remotely to verify notifications.
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Look, there’s no denying the truth that switching over to a prosumer setup prices much more cash than simply selecting up a Google Nest Wifi pack from the shelf at Finest Purchase. Nonetheless, what you spend in preliminary prices, you save in long-term upgradeability, higher connectivity, and, most significantly, peace of thoughts.
The preliminary arrange is far more costly, but it surely pays off in the long term.
With the ability to have granular management over my community, seamless connectivity all through my residence, and a improbable residence safety system all-in-one unit is price its weight in gold for me. In case you are fighting your property Wi-Fi, or simply want a extra highly effective resolution, I’d urge you to go down the Ubiquiti route. I’m assured you received’t look again.
Are you happy along with your present Wi-Fi resolution?
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