Ubiquiti - Access Point U6 Mesh

I have the same problem. There is form insulation everywhere, I can’t punch new holes in the walls or ceilings. I deployed the In-Wall 6 and Mesh 6s. The in wall in the office and primary bed room. Two Mesh 6s in the living room front of the house. Blanket coverage.

Unifi sounds like a good option in this case. Being able to pull out your phone anywhere and see everything that is going on down to the individual port and connected device level is worth the price of admission, even though hardware would be overkill for what they need. The consumer grade mesh systems available simply don't give you that kind of control and visibility. Wired is always better, but for their simple needs, you probably wouldn't notice the difference being on WiFi mesh. Cloud gateway ultra and maybe consider U6- mesh? They have lots of mounting options and work well inside and outside if needed.

Here's the thing, people forget or don't know in the first place that it's not just about how strong your access point is.. The signal coming from your phone or whatever wireless device you're using has to be strong enough to penetrate through walls or whatever and get back to the access point. In other words, a phone can hear a Wi-Fi signal from really far away.. but whatever is generating that signal might not be able to hear the phone. It would be like two people on opposite hilltops.. one has a megaphone and one doesn't. The person without the megaphone can hear the person with the megaphone just fine. However, the person with the megaphone might not be able to hear the person without the megaphone at all. I only need one u6 mesh access point in my house. It's a smaller two bedroom house. Even though my phone can hear the access point out in the yard.. the access point can't hear the phone. Which is why I have a second u6 mesh access point mounted outdoors but the power doesn't need to be nearly as high. I think it's turned down to maybe 30%. I don't really want or need any of the indoor Wi-Fi devices trying to communicate with the outdoor access point. The outdoor access point doesn't have any walls to blast through so it doesn't need nearly as much power to get to the phone and the phone doesn't have any walls to blast through outside so the access point can hear it just fine. Ubiquiti isn't the only company that has hardware like this but it's also very useful in some situations to be able to bind certain devices to certain access points. All my outdoor cameras that aren't wired, are bound to the outdoor access point. That way I don't even have to worry about them occasionally stupidly connecting to the indoor access point and having a weak signal. Kind of went on a FYI rant there lol.. I guess what I originally should have just said was, I do suggest mesh but it needs to be configured properly and the right equipment needs to be installed for the right location. If you have any questions you think I can answer, feel free to ask..

I'm a bit of a network geek, so what I did may be more than you want. I have AT&T 1GB fiber, great service, reliable, fast. I have the BGW320, which is common in these installs. I have a [Unifi Cloud Gateway Max](https://techspecs.ui.com/unifi/cloud-gateways/ucg-max?subcategory=all-cloud-gateways) router sitting behind the 320, which is in IP Passthrough mode. This assigns the public IP address to my router, where I control all security and other configurations. (Including using the DNS servers I prefer over the AT&T servers which are locked in on the 320). I have two [Unifi U6 mesh devices](https://techspecs.ui.com/unifi/wifi/u6-mesh) that provide my wifi. Due to the IP passthrough, I don't use the wifi on the AT&T gateway. I have one U6 connected to the network with Ethernet, and it shares the mesh with a second U6 across the house. My 320 is also located in a corner of my house, so it was worth the effort to run the Ethernet between two Unifi switches and connect the U6 to one. The problem with extenders or repeaters is that they don't share the network bandwidth and provide a constant signal among device, as a mesh setup will. The extenders rebroadcast the incoming signal, and in doing so, they have to use some of the incoming signal power to rebroadcast - similar to creating a second network - which weakens the signal available to devices from the extender. There are a number of affordable mesh systems you could add to your network to improve things. I've heard good things about Google's Nest Mesh system, so that's one thing to look at. The setup I have (gateway, two switches, two mesh devices) is pricier, but not outrageous. The flexibility and the management tools make it worthwhile.

I have Unifi network devices in my home. I have a Cloud Gateway Max used for routing and all my security, which sits behind the ATT gateway via IP passthrough. The firewall, security and other options (like customizing your DNS servers) make it worth the effort to install. I have two Unifi U6 Access points in a mesh. One is attached to the network via Ethernet and controls all the WiFi (I do not use the WiFi on the AT&T device at all). The main need for my mesh is to reach some IoT devices that are located on the other side of the house - sprinkler box, Ring system, garage door opener - along with a Smart TV in the master bedroom. There's just my wife and I here 90% of the time, so what I have works great. All network configuration and management is done from my Unifi gateway using a web interface.

I like ubiquiti, their U6-MESH APs are pretty rock solid for the price. Side note: do you have coaxial ports in your apartment? I lived in an apartment for a few years that had coax ports in the walls that ran back to the utility closet with the water heater and they were all connected together so I was able use moca adapters and get that sweet sweet wire hard wired speeds anywhere in the apartment. Food for thought

Sorry, but why not Ubiquiti with Cloud management? You're already familiar with the platform and the logging available to you. Get him a Cloud Gateway Ultra and a U6 Lite or U6+ with a PoE Injector, enable cloud management, and that's all you need. You don't even need a switch, just use one of the CGU's Ethernet ports. You can use "Wireless Uplink" (what Ubiquiti calls it's meshing function) if you need to mesh Ubiquiti APs together too. I doubt your dad will complain much about halving speeds in doing so because it'll still be more than enough for a single user. Mesh units for the home are mostly designed for ease of use and management. They don't really target someone who wants extensive logging. Eero can get you there with "eero+" service, but that's a monthly fee for that service. For $250-$350, you can get that Ubiquiti setup and just fold it into your own home setup for multi site management.

Unifi has nothing that compares to actual wireless mesh by the home router competitors. Their accessible products like the DR7 and UE7 don’t use 4x4 antennas, 6ghz or MLO for backhaul which significantly decreases bandwidth. They also don’t have any products with a band for dedicated backhaul, they have absolutely nothing that can compare to a full WiFi mesh from competitors like ASUS, Tplink, Eero or netgear.

Unifi is not the way for WiFI mesh and even if you don’t need mesh it’s not for the average joe either. They are expensive but the easiest setup and most feature rich for the average consumer is ASUS.

I had phone jacks and was able to convert enough of them to Ethernet to get a great Ubiquiti system set up. One u6 in wall, one u6 pro ceiling mounted in a utility closet, and one u6 mesh outdoors. The phone wiring was daisy chained and only some were cat5. But I got 2 working jacks out of it, plus mounted one AP outdoors. And 3 APs is plenty for a ~1800 sq ft house even with old construction and suboptimal AP placement. It’s also possible to fish wires through walls but may be difficult depending on your house. If your basement is unfinished or you have an attic might be easier. If you do have to go mesh without wired backhaul I’d probably just get eero or one of those

I have a similar setup at home. I have a U6 Mesh connected to a USW Flex that is housed in a Flex Utility enclosure. I needed several ethernet ports for the devices i have in an outside gazebo and this worked great. The Flex Utility is waterproof and supplies power to the Flex. The Flex has PoE to power the U6 Mesh. The U6 meshes over 5ghz to another U6 Mesh i have in the house about 50 ft away. I get about 150Mbps to the devices connected to the Flex which is more than enough for what i needed. If i was doing it now, i'd probably go with U7 Outdoor but still use the USW Flex to power it and leverage for more ethernet ports.

I'm not sure how I could move the router higher in the cabinet without having to rewire the whole cabinet or have 5 Ethernet cables running up to the router at the top which would be messy. Is it likely that moving the router up higher would have a big impact (still in enclosed cupboard)? The router downstairs is also in an enclosed cupboard under the TV, but I could potentially put a U6 Mesh on top of the TV unit as it doesn't look too offensive. I bought a U6 Mesh but didn't install it as I assumed I would return it given the UDR7 didn't have better range than the Asus.