Unifi routing and APs have been solid for years for me. No regrets. Have even installed it in my mother in laws home (Unifi Express). Easy remote management via phone app for both my site and hers.
Can you do it cheaper? Sure, but would you rather spend your time doing the network vs. the other good stuff you probably got into homelab for?
A single basement router can’t pierce through 1959 walls to cover both sides of the house. Since you already ran Ethernet downstairs, If you wanted to do a clean overhaul you could swap your ISP router for a UniFi Express in the basement. It acts as your main router, covers that side of the house with Wi-Fi.
Plug a UniFi AP into a downstairs Ethernet port on the opposite side of the house. This gives you a high-speed, wired connection feeding the main floor, upstairs, and outdoor doorbells.
It takes some technical planning to get the wireless handoffs right so those doorbells stop dropping.
Since you already have the Ethernet lines run, check with your ISP to see if you can replace their router with your own. It shouldn’t be an issue but better safe than sorry. Once you confirm, here is how you can set this up yourself.
1. Order the gear: Grab a UniFi Express and an additional AP directly from Ubiquiti.
2. Swap your ISP router for the UniFi Express and plug the additional AP into your downstairs Ethernet line on the opposite side of the house.
3. Download the free UniFi Network app on your phone. You can actually scan the QR codes in the device packaging to adopt and configure them in right from your phone.
4. Name the wireless networks the exact same name and password as the original SSIDs. Once they are broadcasting the same SSID, your smart devices and doorbell will automatically.
The Ubiquiti Unify Express 7 is pretty reliable with long firmware support. Pretty fast internals too. Gotta buy a separate switch if you wanted multiple Ethernet connections though but that's dirt cheap.
UniFi Express 7 is best bang for the buck if you all you think you’ll need is network and not planning get into their security camera systems.
Unifi has a detailed firewall you can setup, custom VLAN support, ability to to a guest WiFi with portal page, built in IPS to detect and block suspicious traffic, logging, and VPN support (teleport and/unifi travel router).
It will work out of the box easy peasy and you can just set it up with your existing SSID and password and everything will automatically work connecting to it. From there you can really dig into leveraging the more advanced features.
If your devices aren’t WiFi 7 then it’s not going to be any better. I’d buy the unifi express for $150. It’s prosumer and probably better than most. And if you need more WiFi coverage you can add an access point later. I’d also recommend getting an unmanaged 1gb switch from someone like tplink or netgear and then wire your ps5 via Ethernet.
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