I am working on setting up internet at a new place and I have the ability to design it from almost the ground up. It needs to be cost effective.

I already have a device that will act as a router but now I need wifi

  • iwasgodonce@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I really like the Ubiquiti U6 Lites. The 5GHz reaches across my whole house although it’s only about 40-50 mbit at that distance.

    In the same room I’ve gotten about 880 mbit through them.

    The 2.4GHz works well too.

    My old Ubiquiti AC-LR barely gets a 5GHz connection halfway across my house.

  • GrandsingeEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    If you’re designing it from the ground up I recommend spending time to drop Ethernet on each floor. This way you can centralize your router and switch in a closet or basement area. This also gives you the flexibility of poe to run the access points.

    I have used Unifi APs along side OPNsense for the past several years and never had an issue. There are some caveats: you do need Poe, a separate router, and a way to host the Unifi controller (I use docker).

    A small 2000sq-ftish house can likely be covered by 2 APs. The last gen Unifi AC Pro can be picked up used for $30-50/unit. Check out hardwareswap on discord. You then need a small POE switch to power them and plug your router into such as a poe-8 (~$60-75 used).

    • Possibly linuxOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I like how you think I live in a 2000 sqft house. Anyway, thanks for the help.

      • GrandsingeEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Huh? I just gave that as an example to help you understand how many APs you may need. The figure is a bit under the average of ~2200 SQ ft in the US.

    • Possibly linuxOPEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I have a Linksys router zi bought from Walmart and a TP-link ap I bought off of newegg. Both a running openwrt.

      How big of space are you trying to fill? You could pickup some regular routers and then you could flash openwrt and daisy chain them together.

      • randomperson@lemmy.todayEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        After a bit of research, I’m leaning towards a UniFi Express Router. For the AP, one of the desk mountable APs from UniFi. Either the Swiss Army Knife Ultra, or U6 mesh.