I'm looking to roll out new WiFi in my house but I'm at a bit of a loss in figuring out what to buy.

My priorities in order:
1) Bulletproof (I've had too many routers that need to be rebooted once a week)
2) Good coverage (1700 sqft, 2 stories; I'm open to the mesh networks)
3) Good speed
4) Minimal configuration and maintenance (I just don't have the time I used to)
5) A degree of future proofness

The Ubiquiti product line has always looked interesting. What else should I be looking at? What other factors should I be considering. I'm not against higher cost stuff so long as I'm getting good value over time.

1/24/2020 9:21:42 AM

i've got asus stuff because i'm not very technically skilled in networking and their AiMesh is easy to use and setup, i just keep an eye on things with the android app

i also considered the google nest mesh router

1/24/2020 10:12:27 AM

I have an ASUS RT-AC68U, which you will also see listed as the AC1900. Just buy that. Don't overthink it. I live in a 3-story, 1,775-sq. ft. townhome and have no problems with coverage. It does Gigabit Wireless, it's easy, you can add on the AiMesh stuff if you have a weird dead zone, whatever. It's the easy button. Just press it.

1/24/2020 10:22:39 AM

I cannot get over how expensive routers have become. I mean there are high end home routers that cost more than the computers to which it is connected.

1/24/2020 10:30:32 AM

I use Linksys Velop and have been happy - speed tests from the router average 850-950mbps on AT&T fiber. Great mesh coverage and no real issues to speak of.

1/24/2020 10:59:30 AM

if you want minimal configuration, you should look at the amplifi line from ubiquiti, especially if you aren't doing a wired backhaul. there's really nothing else that comes close imo

1/24/2020 12:05:45 PM

Is WiFi 6 (or whatever the standards name is) worth shelling out for now with the assumption it will be future proof for a while?

1/27/2020 4:57:03 PM

I don't know of a single client radio that supports it. hell, to this day I don't know of a client radio that supports 3x3 mimo despite it being a standard for 5+ years, but there are companies pushing 4x4 and 6x6 mu-mimo. I'd only pay for it if you liked the rest of the package. If you don't have dozens of devices on the same ssid fighting for bandwidth, it's not really useful

1/28/2020 5:13:04 AM

Ive been happy with the Orbi + 1 satellite. The satellite is currently wireless and I can get a good 450Mbps wifi connection through it (gigabit fiber as internet connection) via speedtest.net. Upgraded recently from the Asus AC68U + Merlin (now converted to a wireless bridge for a printer).

We have probably 20 wireless devices connected, and 20 more wired devices and I don't see any weird issues. Apple's AirPlay works very well too.

1/29/2020 2:50:28 AM

I went the Ubiquiti Unifi route.

5/24/2020 10:17:36 AM

^^^What is this article referencing?

https://www.cnet.com/news/these-are-the-phones-laptops-and-gadgets-that-support-wi-fi-6/

5/24/2020 11:07:23 AM

devices released in the 4 months since I made that comment?

5/24/2020 4:29:02 PM

Not looking them all up but iphone 11 was released last September

5/24/2020 4:56:34 PM

cell phones are always going to have the latest and greatest connectivity since the radios are built into the soc and there's no reason not to. at the same time, your cell phone isn't going to make a dent in your wifi since the rest of the hardware subsystem is significantly slower (disk, thermal throttling after a few min of really high throughput, and a very low max screen on time). the man asked for a rec and got one, if you know better fill us all in. I'd still give the same advice. I'm using all ubiquiti except for my switches, so I'm certainly eating my own dog food

5/25/2020 11:17:17 AM

Lol I'm not trying to have an e-fight man maybe next time.

5/25/2020 11:59:03 AM

I went with the google nest/mesh wifi. Very good. I get wifi half way out on my yard now.

5/27/2020 5:44:49 AM

I went the ubiquiti route.....best setup I've done. I did run cat5 to my office...and made it even better.

6/11/2020 3:45:10 PM

I've been happy with my Ubiquiti Unifi set up so far. It's been 100% stable. I went with UDM, USW-16-POE, and a HD nano for a second AP. I also ran a bunch of Cat 6a so I'm good for 10GBE once the equipment becomes affordable.

6/11/2020 3:50:11 PM

Good call - I bought cat6, but I still say cat5 heh.

I have the nano right now as well. It's awesome.

I wish I had seen the Dream.....I have a USG, switch, controller, etc

6/11/2020 4:01:06 PM

i've got an edgerouter 3, 3 ac-lites, tp-link gigE/10gE fiber switch, and a midspan for cameras and APs. i've got a few tp-link edge L3 switches. I've thought about switching to dream machine, but I'm too far in I think

[Edited on June 11, 2020 at 10:06 PM. Reason : .]

6/11/2020 10:06:12 PM

I'm still on the fence about whether I should have shelled out the extra $80 for the DM-Pro. It can run all the threat management stuff while still being able to push > 1.5 gbps across the WAN interface. At the time I decided on the lower tier dream machine because of the integrated AP that would be a downstairs AP for me. Now, with everything installed and in use, I think I could have gotten by with the single AP I have upstairs.

6/12/2020 2:33:25 PM

yeah, udm pro is what I had in mind. I've got a beefy enough server to run pfsense with real IDS/IPS at udm pro rates if I felt the need, but I run a pretty tight firewall and limit dns as is.

6/14/2020 12:32:31 PM