Excellent explanation of the network channels and widths. So often I see people online just say "it's different for every site - just figure it out" when asked how someone logically decides what settings to choose, which is terribly unhelpful. Your video is great thanks!
Update: Applied the rest of the steps for the 802.11 Rate and Beacon Controls and now my devices are connecting to closer APs instead of all jumping on ones much farther away!!! This is so awesome..thanks!!!
Step 1. Never mount your access points as shown in the thumbnail. You will be shooting 50% of the radio power straight into the ground. I see this often for home builds because it’s easier to mount the AP on a wall rather than the ceiling, but it totally kills the range of your AP. Great video though - very detailed and explains how to choose the correct channel selection based on design. Cheers!
I recently deployed a UDM Pro, 3 UAP-HD-AP’s, and 2 FlexHD’s in a 19k sq ft home. So far working well but I have been keeping a close eye on it to make sure it is working well due to a high SLA expectation. Is my first large scale deployment. Thanks for the useful tips
Something else to consider with the 5GHz channels - channel 36 is 5150 MHz, channel 161 is up somewhere around nearly 5800MHz. That means your channels are nearly 1GHz apart. Similar to the difference between 2.4GHz and 5GHz, that means channel 36 is going to have a lower maximum speed/bandwidth and better obstacle penetration, whereas channel 161 will give higher speed but less obstacle penetration. A different of 700 MHz is fairly significant. This applies to 2.4GHz as well, just not to the same extent. That means you probably want to prioritise channels 1 (2.4GHz) and 36 (5GHz) in the part of your home with most walls and fewer devices (perhaps bedrooms or near the back wall of your home where you want to sit outside?), and channels 11/161 where you have fewer walls but more devices (perhaps your living room) It doesn't *really* matter, but the difference is noticeable in some scenarios and when you're installing multiple access points, it seems like it makes sense to optimise channels for the location
The upper radio frequencies versus penetration at 5ghz occurred to me yesterday. I've got one AP AC LR. A small house and mostly Ethernet to computers. Mobile devices such as iphone and ipad using wireless. One very old laptop with wifi analyzer software on it. The rest of our computers are running various Linux distros. Lawrence Systems has a channel on here that frequently discusses pfSense and Unify hardware. Per a couple of his videos I created a vlan for IoT devices, Anything that might not be all that secure. We have two. An Echo and Ring doorbell. The Ring is the only 2.4 ghz device. Being outside the AP even at 2.4ghz is marginal in the summer. So even though I don't like extenders I installed a TP Link just for the Ring. Been working fine. Other than creating a "crapwifi" vlan network the configuration for the AP is pretty much as installed. I disabled the 2.4ghz radio when I installed the extender. A couple of days ago I ran into something I thought unusual. I changed the channel on 5ghz from auto to 36. It was already on 36. Checking out the crapwifi network with an ipad noticed that it kept disconnecting at a 3 second rate. All the apple devices would do it. But the extender, Echo, and laptop no issues. Only an Apple problem and only on the vlan wireless network. Not the wireless lan network. Back to auto and problem goes away.
I really want to kiss you... I had waaaaay over complicated things and this really broke it down for me. Thank you for the time in making this. I've been frustrated for a year.
Well done review. I used to tune a lot of the same parameters on Cisco WLCs and it was nice to have recommendations and explanations for Ubiquiti settings. There are a lot of people offering "expertise" on networking but a lot of them either don't give a clear explanation or really don't understand how WiFi, Ethernet, etc. work.
This is a very good summary on the best options with UniFi. One point of clarification is that a UniFi Wireless Instructor recommended the use of "Block LAN to WLAN Multicast and Broadcast Data" for all GUEST network SSID's.
This helps save on precious airtime, worth turning on for guest networks for sure. However on general home networks, they can cause problems with certain cast devices. Thankfully you can whitelist these in unifi.
This is true for Guest networks. They don't really need that feature. I mention it for compatibility as a lot of devices rely on broadcast/multicast data between the WLAN and LAN to function. This happens a lot with things like chromecasts or mobile diagnostic equipment.
Very useful video. Good to see straightforward suggestions! I'd love to see a continuation of the way you made this video for the rest of the Unifi controller. For example, how about a video on just LAN settings, and another video on just WAN settings and another on routing/firewall, etc.
Appreciate the insight, I'll be installing A UDM-pro and three nano APs into my household fairly soon. I'll make sure to keep what you said in mind when I go to configure them.
The Long range access points don't transmit at higher power. They extra range is in the better antenna. The antenna being more efficient can transmit the same amount of power further. It also means weaker signals will be picked up by the better antenna.
You're right on the Dynamic Frequency Selection DFS. It is used for weather radars etc. Every AP has a built in "scanner" for detecting a radar and it will never use a freq in that range if it detects it, hence why the 2.4GHz signal is always first to show and it can take up to 10mins for a 5GHz SSID to be seen. But, the sweet spot on 5 GHz is ch100. It has to do with the output of the WiFi signal. Below ch100 the max output is 200mW (milliWatts) and above ch100 it is 1000mW or 1W. a 5GHz channel has different freqs then just 5000MHz, ch100= 5500MHz, ch144= 5720MHz. A physical property of a wave is: it impairs the higher the frequency is. So, the higher in channel you go, the signal will not carry as far. Use the auto DFS on your AP to see if ch100 is clear, it's usually the one it picks first.
Unfortunately not all devices that support 5ghz wifi support DFS channels. One needs to be aware of this or else moving to a DFS channel can cause some devices to completely drop off the network (or switch to 2ghz) while others work just fine. For example, most of the Amazon tablets we have work fine on non-DFS, but go dark on DFS channels while our phones are just fine (I only have 2ghz wifi available for IOT).
Just got my APs and ER12! I have my APs setup working with my old Dlink router....next step is replacing the Dlink with the ER12.....I have 2 APs, 3 switches in separate rooms, and then about 4 more direct connections at the router for hardlines elsewhere. Any advice or things you learned? Setting up the APs were simple compared to my old TPlinks....
Excellenmt video's Mr Toasty! FYI Tom (Lawrence Technical Services) recommends leaving the channels etc on Auto. Makes sense with Multiple Unifi devices, not so much if you mix-n-match.
Excellent video. Also you can try to set RSSI if you have sticky devices when AP signals are overlapping. It's proven to be a handy feature when it comes to roaming.
Good video, BTW setting DTIM to 3 resolves Apple devices connecting to the network. Sometime you might get invalid password when trying to join an Apple device to a UniFi network. By setting this value to 3, you will resolve this issue. The DTIM is how the AP (wireless router) warns its clients that it is about to transmit the multicast (and broadcast*) frames it queued up since the previous DTIM.
Cannot agree more on not use DFS channel. Tried it once, iperf tested the Mac connectivity, super satisfied with the speed, none of my neighbors were using those channels, feeling made the right decision and the test work paid off! A few hours later: all devices from Google Nest lost connectivity silently, any devices with Google or Nest brand does not support DFS band.
Yes, not all clients that support 5ghz band, support the DFS channels. I ran into this with Amazon tablets and their early generation smart speakers when I tested DFS channels. Certain Amazon devices immediately dropped off when the channel was set to the DFS range, while other devices continued working just fine.
Hi, Thanks for these on UniFi really helping me understand my home network, adding a USG next and will look at all the settings you suggest, the AP info is most helpful
Overlapping Channels are a problem on 2.4GHz only, but take into account your local situation also. 1, 6, 11 are great if there is no other interference, but if you have a lot of WiFI networks around, if you have 2 AP's in your house, you may be better with using intermediate channels. Just try to keep your two access points 6 channels apart if you can. If you are using 40MHz bandwidth on 2.4GHz, then all bets are off with overlapping channels. DFS channels ar channels that are not guaranteed. Your AP may move to a different channel if a RADAR comes on, so do avoid these when you can for sure. Totally agree with that.
So if I have a MacBook that keeps dropping periodically, I should bump my 5Ghz to 80? According to him, I should drop it to 20 if I’m having reliability issues.
I've had newer mac minis not even connect to VHT80 even when it was steps away(and instead connecting to a far away radio with very limited signal strength and barely any connection...same issue with windows based Dell laptop). Changing to VHT40 resolved it and made things much more stable.
A couple months ago the client tab page shows my laptop s tx rate capped at 144 Mbps when connected at 5 GHz band. I tried different troubleshoots but no clue, even resetting the APs. A couple days latter I finally figured out it was because the DFS, and I live in a suburban area. So I am glad that you mentioned to exclude them.
Great video… I can’t believe you have 1180 clients with score of 100:) Hope you can do a video on MDNS as for the life of me I can’t get this feature working properly across multiple VLANs
Hey man, found your channel today, great info. I've been struggling with a lot of little bugs in my wifi. I just installed a DM Pro last weekend, along with 2 FlexHD's and 2 USG-Mini switches. Wifi has been very glitchy. Your video had the best explanation I've found of what some of those settings actually do, and how they interact.
Thanks Toasty for this video. We have Unifi at home since 2017. In August the system suddenly slowed down and dropped connectivity, especially if you moved around the house. Lots of people working from home, so this was not acceptable. Was about to chuck out the Unifi as some say it is a nightmare to fix, but when it works it is fantastic. Have put in some of the changes you suggest, so let's see how it goes!
It's best to do a wireless survey to get an understanding of what is going on, too many people fiddle with settings without a good understanding of the actual problem. Any devices that are stationary and use a lot of bandwidth or are latency sensitive should be hardwired. I have >70 TCP/IP devices in my home and have no issues with Unifi, but all the desktops, game consoles, security cameras, and streaming devices are hardwired, wifi is reserved for phones, tablets, chromebooks, and IOT switches.
@@Zeric1 Thanks! I'll work on this. Don't have much energy as we were hit with Covid! Ended up in an ambulance to hospital... Might get a tech head to look at it as I'm only a dabbler...
@@BarryOGrady Sorry you were affected by Covid. We've been holed for the most part and have escaped it so far, but know several people who got it. I'll be happy to try and answer any questions on Unifi or networking, I may not be an "expert", but am quite knowledgeable and a tech head.
@@Zeric1 - had to take time out! Tired all the time... Thanks for the offer. We have 6 APs on the controller. Upgraded the controller to 6.0.43 today. Turned off (plugged out) one of the APs as it is close to one other. System still not good. It seems you can connect but when it comes to bandwidth, you get 1Mbs when you are not right close to the AP. Uplink Connectivity Monitor off. Advanced settings off. I wonder should I just revert all APs to auto settings (auto channel and auto power)... Luckily the Apple TV is fed by a homeplug so we will survive!
@@BarryOGrady For me setting the AP channels manually works better. I use different SSIDs for 2.4ghz and 5ghz. My 5ghz devices don't even know about the 2.4 network, reserving the very crowded and noisy 2.4g for low bandwidth IOT devices. Band steering should also accomplish this, but I prefer to enforce myself with separate SSIDs. As far AP power, I have all of mine set to low. This, along with setting "minimum RSSI" improves the chances that the client device will handoff. I use 20mhz channel width for everything, that's plenty fast for streaming to portable devices and improves the network overall. I only use (on 5ghz) 36, 40, 44, and 48 as these have the best compatibility with 5ghz clients. On the controller I use the classic settings, not the "new settings" as there some things that I couldn't do in the past on "new settings" but I'm sure this is improving with each release. I have advanced settings turned on, and have minimum data rate control set to 12Mbps on both bands, and CCK rates disabled on 2.4ghz since I don't have any 802.11b devices. "Auto-Optimize Network" is disabled, having it on gave me poor performance as it made terrible choices on channel selection and bandwidth for my APs. Uplink connectivity monitor is disabled. I was hosting my controller on Windows, but just migrated it to a docker container in a linux VM on a XCP-ng server I've been working on. 6APs is a lot for a typical residential setting, but how many one needs depends on the configuration of the building and construction materials used. Only getting 1Mbps is indicative of a problem somewhere, rather it's in your configuration, AP placement, neighboring interference, etc is hard to say. A methodical Wifi site survey is important to understanding what is happening.
RF scan is helpful, but the best thing to do is a full wireless survey where one walks around the property with a portable device analyzing your AP(s) signal and the neighbors signals on both 2ghz and 5ghz.
@@KavanMavati An RF scan is fine if you have a single AP and you are just trying to find the best channel. A wireless survey does much more than that, and is very much a part of a professional installation. There is no other way to determine what a client will see through out the entire coverage area. It's also is the best way to determine how many access points are needed and where to locate them. It involves not only the portable testing device, is also utilizes APs mounted on a tripod that can easily be moved to test different placements. I have a feeling we are talking about two different things.
@@Zeric1 well I am aware of the other benefits the wifi analyzer. We are talking about wifi channels, Dosent matter how many Aps you have, been an IT for so long the matter fact I seen Aps in busy environments set to auto that's operate better than a manual. There is so many tools out there can do the job its all personal preference.
@@KavanMavati We were talking about somewhat different things. You are _only_ talking about setting the channel, I was going beyond that to determine coverage area. Sometimes different channels work better in different parts of the same building which can lead to needing multiple APs. Even if a single AP is all one is going to have, a wireless survey is still helpful in optimizing the placement, but it's not particularly needed to set the channel as auto should do fine with that.
thanks for the great video, you brought me up to speed with everything. I have one question though: what happens in a multi floor configuration with ? Say, what would you do if you would 3 identical floors of what you drawed, one on top of eachother? what would you do with the channnel overlapping between floors? Talking about a solid concrete floor.
Solid concrete definitely dampens the signal a substantial amount. However, what I try to do with multiple floors is to stagger the channel. It's very hard (if not impossible) to get these perfect... but this is what I generally try to do. Hopefully it makes sense. Floor 1: AP1(Ch1) - AP2 (Ch6) - AP3 (Ch11) Floor 2: AP1(Ch6) - AP2 (Ch11) - AP3 (Ch 1) Floor 3: Ap1 (Ch11) - AP2 (Ch 1) - AP3 (Ch 6) You have to take into account both the neighboring APs on the same floor, as well as the AP directly above. This layout is assuming the APs are placed in the same location on each floor. The best way would be to use a spectrum analyzer to see which channels are actually interfering the most, but this would be a good starting point for the design.
I watched this video and it was very well explained. My only comment is the information provided on selecting channels for each AP. In the video you sat that channels 1, 6 and 11 for 2.4 Ghz are non interfering channels. The for the 5Ghz you sat that there are the following channels 36, 40, 44, 48 and 149, 153, 157 and 161. If I look at my setup I only see the first 4 channels, 36, 40, 44, 48. The 4 additional channels 149, 153, 157 and 161 are no available for selection within my config. Do you perhaps know why this is the case? The rest of teh information is very good and clear, even more clar than what unifi support provide. That's where I learnt how to set up my AP and wifi network. As an extra, what are your thoughts on teh unifi dashboard, and have you implemented any other dashboards that provide better visibility and the dashboards are more versatile. I found two solutions. The first was exprting the data to zabbix using unifi-proxy (I could not get this one to work because of issues with the unifi templates) the second was exporting the data to grafana using unifi-poller. that is an exceptional soultion. Works like a dream. Thanks Lawrence
Hello fellow European. Those channels are only allowed in USA/Canada. In Europe they are not allowed because of something called the ISM band. For Industrial, Scientific and Medical purpose only.
@@chadmarkley thanks! After not so successful attempts on implementing a smooth network I bought the Ampfli system. I’m really impressed with the coverage and run time. Only downside you don’t have the control like other systems.
@@reallythatcrazywtf ha! I've run Amplifi at home for years and you are right, it is amazing. Thing is, just this weekend I've moved to full blown Unifi simply because with 6 kids doing school from home and not being able to see under the hood, I can't troubleshoot Amplifi! I needed to be able to get to the bottom of issues when they pop up. But yes, Amplifi rules in performance, simplicity and reliability
I would like to offer a little helpful clarification, The middle 5Ghz channels are more accurately referred to as the UNII-2 and UNII-2Extended channels. DFS (which you accurately described as Dynamic Frequency Selection) is simply a tool used by the wireless AP or controller to choose channels that are least Congested. Many systems will periodically check for the best channels and update the APs to use the best channels for your environment (For example, a Cisco controller based network will recalculate this every five minutes). In order for a device to use the UNII-2 and UNII-2Extended frequencies, the device MUST by law be set to DFS to prevent you from taking out a nearby radar installation. The airport (or even planes) will not knock out your WiFi if you force your AP to their frequency, but due to the sensitivity of the radar antenna, you can certainly interfere with how their system works. There have been instances where the FCC has fined a business tens of thousands of dollars for statically assigning a UNII-2 or UNII-2Extended frequency. Tyically you can still use DFS while telling the system to avoid the UNII-2 and UNII-2Extended frequencies. The more congested your RF environment is, the more you need DFS. It seems like the second I nail down a frequency, a neighbor lights up a new AP with power maxed out and throws a wrench in the works.
how to manage an Arlo security camera setup in a home network with UAP, edgeswitch and edgerouter?...as Arlo a bit of a pain since cant change wifi and it hops onto closest strong 2.4ghz channel. also should put it on separate subnet/vlan and clamp down bandwidth? only have 100/20 from isp.
would be awesome if you did an updated one. with dozens of firmware and features updates and new hardware/wifi6 and where stuff is in the controller changing, it would be super helpful
DTIM settings other than 3 drains MacBook batteries while they are asleep. Example, set to 3 over night say 10 hours goes from 100 to 99% set to default over the same period will drop to 80%. I figured that out when I went from Asus device to Ubiquiti and noticed. I switched back to the Asus and the issue went away so I started looking at settings and this was different so I changed it on the Unifi and the issue went away.
Hi, I appreciate this video, it's helpful to compare against my notes for quite high density installs. Would you consider doing any updated version of this video at some point, now that a lot of the features you mentioned are in the production build of Unifi devices? I'm particularly interested in port isolation and multicast and broadcast control. I've been using port isolation where all my APs are connected to an access layer switch, and the network is suffering particularly high broadcast and multicast traffic, particularly when a lot of devices come online at once, for example a few dozen iPads or laptops. But I'd be interested to know your thoughts. Many thanks for the video.
Thanks for the comment. I've considered updating this video, but I actually struggle myself with fine-tuning the newer features. I have some pointers I could put into a video, but I feel like I'm a bit behind in my own ability to leverage and understand the newer changes.
When I tried setting the radios as you have them, none of my devices were able to connect to the one AP I currently have (soon to be two - hence why i started tweaking).
Great video and timely. Thanks! Video request: if you have a network which regularly saturates the WAN how do you figure out and resolve it in UNIFI if faster internet is not available.
Smart queues if you have the edgerouter or usg. A better option than smart queues : If you want to share your limited wan bandwidth equally among users, you need flexible limiters in opensense, pfsense redd.it/3e67dk or openwrt with cake + additional settings in cake. openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/traffic-shaping/sqm-details Once setup, bandwidth will be shared equally, for example a 100mbps could be shared 50/50, 25/25/25/25, 33,33,34 etc. No single user like a steam update or torrents will hog all the bandwidth. On a practical level the above method is way more useful than any qos setting or smart queues.
The question is what is causing the network to saturate the WAN, then possibly bandwidth limit that client or clients. Just how low is the bandwidth? if you have at least 50mbps, that is workable for most situations with some management of the resource. Sure it's cool to say one has 1gbps symmetrical, but the truth is very few people really _need_ that. I have 150mbps which is more than I really need, but it is nice to have reasonably fast downloads. 50mbps can support 3-4 devices streaming at 1080p simultaneously along with a more devices doing web surfing. When going to 4K streaming, it does get tighter on 50mbps, and will likely only support 2 devices simultaneously with some other light network usage. Streaming for most households is the biggest legitimate consumer of bandwidth.
I would also not recommend using the DFS channels... Unifi sometimes reports that there was a radar signal and will disable the AP or switch channel when that happens. If planes fly over your house you might have this happen frequently
This is exactly how it was designed to work. DFS channels if you don't live near airports, is typically fine. The worst that can happen is the AP switches to a non DFS channel. If you live in a crowded WiFi area like an apartment, it's recommended to use DFS channels especially if you're using those fatter channel widths.
@@forid200 I know this. This is why i advised against it. If you want a perfect connection and do not want to be bothered with channel switching keep it off the DFS channels. it might save you a headache later :)
@@Jeroen_a It really depends on the location. I haven't heard of a plane at cruising altitude affecting DFS, now if one is located near an airport that is a different manner. Another consideration is how well radar detection is implemented in the AP, in other words a router with a high rate of false positives, a common issue, makes using DFS channels pointless.
For the 5Ghz, it shouldn't be using the same channel for all three APs? Specially when using MESH techno ? And this is not a good idea if you are using the MESH techno to disable the wireless uplink :) The main AP has to be only on "downlink mode" when all secondaries APs have to be in "uplink mode" ...
Really really awesome video Just one question , I use home automation wifi simple devices that only work on 2.4 are they going to be ok with unifi AP`s will they keep connection ? your thoughts
They should be fine, but these devices are affected more by some of the topics I cover in this video. What I mean is, the optional features are more likely to affect these and you probably want to lean more towards the "compatibility" end of the spectrum when working with them.
Hey! Thank you for this video. It's helped me sort out my issues in my house. I have two NanoHD AP's, and I feel like they are constantly fighting each other. What is the issue with overlapping? I have meshing enabled, does this affect it at all?
Once the scan is complete (about 5 mins), hovering over the different channels shows how much the channel is being used (less is better) and how much interference there is (the noise floor). For interference, this is also referred to as the "noise floor", and is interference from other sources. A higher negative value is better, so -91 dbm interference on a channel is better than -60dbm. Use this information when manually assigning channels, keeping in mind that an upper floor in a building can have different levels than a lower one, so you can run the RF scan on each access point.
I know this video is more than a year old, but less than half of the options you mention in this video is in my current settings interface. Did they update it to make it simpler or what happened?
You're not wrong. They updated the interface and it looks a whole lot different than when I made this video. I have an entry on my to-do list to re-create this using the new interface. However, in the mean time, my video (ruclips.net/video/xnC8srOCuR8/видео.html) covers the different interfaces and the issues I've had with them.
On the latest controller setting what do you recommend for the Minimum Data Rate Control? There is now just a check box for Auto which removes settings sliders for adjusting them or if you turn off auto then you adjust the rate controls per radio.
I haven't actually seen the "auto" setting for this. I typically set the data rates to 9mbps for 2.4ghz, and 12mbps for 5ghz. This very much depends on the density and other network factors, but these are the settings I start with.
I have a home in the country that has an upper and lower level. Both are 1500 square feet and are about eight foot elevation difference. We spend time equally on both levels. Would access points be more effective on the ceiling of the upper or lower level or mixture of both? I was thinking two U6Pro to start with and possibly a third one later if I am missing coverage. For years I have gotten by with just a wireless router and now have a Netgear Orbi with two satellites where one satellite the wireless backhaul has failed and works only wired. I’ve had more problems with the Orbi than we do at our school with access points.
Generally, it would be better to have a mix, but every environment is different. I personally have two APs for a two-story house. One on the east side of lower level and one on the west side of the upper. That seems to work best for me, but YMMV.
@@ToastyAnswers Thanks! I have my UDM Pro, USW 16 Lite and two U6 Pro access points installed upstairs and downstairs and I have not had any coverage issues, even in my attached garage I get signal.
Hey great video breakdowns, so easy to follow. Not sure if you will still get this but here it goes. I've set up an Edge rounder X with unifi AP AC LR. It's working great, but I've set it up on one laptop and I need to set it up on another laptop. I've try but it looks like it will reset it up and I dont want to loose any of my settings. Not sure if this makes any sense. Thank you in advance
Thank you! There are a couple ways you can do this. You can download a backup of your controller and restore it to the new location. You will have to make sure that both have the same version installed (best to update the current controller to the latest version before moving). However, using this method you will need to manually change the device's "Inform Address" once you have the new controller up and running. The other way is to setup the new controller and then export the site from the old one. You can do this through the new menu and it will "move" your devices to a new controller and retain your site settings. I haven't personally used this method.
Excellent explanation of the network channels and widths. So often I see people online just say "it's different for every site - just figure it out" when asked how someone logically decides what settings to choose, which is terribly unhelpful. Your video is great thanks!
This is basically a summary of what I learned after hours of research. No nonsense, great video.
Update: Applied the rest of the steps for the 802.11 Rate and Beacon Controls and now my devices are connecting to closer APs instead of all jumping on ones much farther away!!! This is so awesome..thanks!!!
can you pls share more about it ? ;)
@@RK-ly5qj Just watch the video...
Step 1. Never mount your access points as shown in the thumbnail. You will be shooting 50% of the radio power straight into the ground. I see this often for home builds because it’s easier to mount the AP on a wall rather than the ceiling, but it totally kills the range of your AP. Great video though - very detailed and explains how to choose the correct channel selection based on design. Cheers!
Simply the best video for setting up, optimizing and troubleshooting unifi wifi issues. Every wifi admin must know.
I recently deployed a UDM Pro, 3 UAP-HD-AP’s, and 2 FlexHD’s in a 19k sq ft home. So far working well but I have been keeping a close eye on it to make sure it is working well due to a high SLA expectation. Is my first large scale deployment. Thanks for the useful tips
My Alexa's and ring devices were not able to connect to my ubifi network. Your video completely helped. Thanks!
Immensely helpful - 99% of the settings in this video are accessible if you disable the new UI!
type the option name into the search field. worked for me.
After just 10 min and a first few changes I'm getting better speeds again...thx so much!!!
Something else to consider with the 5GHz channels - channel 36 is 5150 MHz, channel 161 is up somewhere around nearly 5800MHz. That means your channels are nearly 1GHz apart. Similar to the difference between 2.4GHz and 5GHz, that means channel 36 is going to have a lower maximum speed/bandwidth and better obstacle penetration, whereas channel 161 will give higher speed but less obstacle penetration. A different of 700 MHz is fairly significant.
This applies to 2.4GHz as well, just not to the same extent. That means you probably want to prioritise channels 1 (2.4GHz) and 36 (5GHz) in the part of your home with most walls and fewer devices (perhaps bedrooms or near the back wall of your home where you want to sit outside?), and channels 11/161 where you have fewer walls but more devices (perhaps your living room)
It doesn't *really* matter, but the difference is noticeable in some scenarios and when you're installing multiple access points, it seems like it makes sense to optimise channels for the location
The upper radio frequencies versus penetration at 5ghz occurred to me yesterday. I've got one AP AC LR. A small house and mostly Ethernet to computers. Mobile devices such as iphone and ipad using wireless. One very old laptop with wifi analyzer software on it. The rest of our computers are running various Linux distros. Lawrence Systems has a channel on here that frequently discusses pfSense and Unify hardware. Per a couple of his videos I created a vlan for IoT devices, Anything that might not be all that secure. We have two. An Echo and Ring doorbell. The Ring is the only 2.4 ghz device. Being outside the AP even at 2.4ghz is marginal in the summer. So even though I don't like extenders I installed a TP Link just for the Ring. Been working fine. Other than creating a "crapwifi" vlan network the configuration for the AP is pretty much as installed. I disabled the 2.4ghz radio when I installed the extender.
A couple of days ago I ran into something I thought unusual. I changed the channel on 5ghz from auto to 36. It was already on 36. Checking out the crapwifi network with an ipad noticed that it kept disconnecting at a 3 second rate. All the apple devices would do it. But the extender, Echo, and laptop no issues. Only an Apple problem and only on the vlan wireless network. Not the wireless lan network. Back to auto and problem goes away.
I really want to kiss you... I had waaaaay over complicated things and this really broke it down for me. Thank you for the time in making this. I've been frustrated for a year.
This video is great! I increased my WIFI speed by 200Mbps from this tutorial!!
Well done review. I used to tune a lot of the same parameters on Cisco WLCs and it was nice to have recommendations and explanations for Ubiquiti settings. There are a lot of people offering "expertise" on networking but a lot of them either don't give a clear explanation or really don't understand how WiFi, Ethernet, etc. work.
This video just helped figure why we couldn't print via WiFi! Thx
This is a very good summary on the best options with UniFi. One point of clarification is that a UniFi Wireless Instructor recommended the use of "Block LAN to WLAN Multicast and Broadcast Data" for all GUEST network SSID's.
This helps save on precious airtime, worth turning on for guest networks for sure. However on general home networks, they can cause problems with certain cast devices. Thankfully you can whitelist these in unifi.
This is true for Guest networks. They don't really need that feature.
I mention it for compatibility as a lot of devices rely on broadcast/multicast data between the WLAN and LAN to function. This happens a lot with things like chromecasts or mobile diagnostic equipment.
Very useful video. Good to see straightforward suggestions! I'd love to see a continuation of the way you made this video for the rest of the Unifi controller. For example, how about a video on just LAN settings, and another video on just WAN settings and another on routing/firewall, etc.
That is a great suggestion! I'll add it to my list.
This was a fantastic video. Especially the sections describing channel isolation and channel width. Thanks.
Appreciate the insight, I'll be installing A UDM-pro and three nano APs into my household fairly soon. I'll make sure to keep what you said in mind when I go to configure them.
You are super brief and the experience talks. This was tight!
Following your advise I was able to clean up and stabilize my wifi. Thanks!
The Long range access points don't transmit at higher power. They extra range is in the better antenna. The antenna being more efficient can transmit the same amount of power further. It also means weaker signals will be picked up by the better antenna.
1180 clients with score 100 :) unbelievable...
Gonna test your settings on Monday, and see how it goes.
The rate control for 5ghz fixed my roaming issue, thx!
finally a good video how to set up my home network
You're right on the Dynamic Frequency Selection DFS. It is used for weather radars etc. Every AP has a built in "scanner" for detecting a radar and it will never use a freq in that range if it detects it, hence why the 2.4GHz signal is always first to show and it can take up to 10mins for a 5GHz SSID to be seen. But, the sweet spot on 5 GHz is ch100.
It has to do with the output of the WiFi signal. Below ch100 the max output is 200mW (milliWatts) and above ch100 it is 1000mW or 1W.
a 5GHz channel has different freqs then just 5000MHz, ch100= 5500MHz, ch144= 5720MHz.
A physical property of a wave is: it impairs the higher the frequency is. So, the higher in channel you go, the signal will not carry as far.
Use the auto DFS on your AP to see if ch100 is clear, it's usually the one it picks first.
Thanks! Will try channel 100
Unfortunately not all devices that support 5ghz wifi support DFS channels. One needs to be aware of this or else moving to a DFS channel can cause some devices to completely drop off the network (or switch to 2ghz) while others work just fine. For example, most of the Amazon tablets we have work fine on non-DFS, but go dark on DFS channels while our phones are just fine (I only have 2ghz wifi available for IOT).
Thank you for the videos, they've helped me a lot. I just received my ER12 and Unifi nanoHD and used them to get everything up and running.
Just got my APs and ER12! I have my APs setup working with my old Dlink router....next step is replacing the Dlink with the ER12.....I have 2 APs, 3 switches in separate rooms, and then about 4 more direct connections at the router for hardlines elsewhere. Any advice or things you learned? Setting up the APs were simple compared to my old TPlinks....
Excellenmt video's Mr Toasty! FYI Tom (Lawrence Technical Services) recommends leaving the channels etc on Auto. Makes sense with Multiple Unifi devices, not so much if you mix-n-match.
Excellent video. Also you can try to set RSSI if you have sticky devices when AP signals are overlapping. It's proven to be a handy feature when it comes to roaming.
Good video, BTW setting DTIM to 3 resolves Apple devices connecting to the network. Sometime you might get invalid password when trying to join an Apple device to a UniFi network. By setting this value to 3, you will resolve this issue. The DTIM is how the AP (wireless router) warns its clients that it is about to transmit the multicast (and broadcast*) frames it queued up since the previous DTIM.
Worth noting that “Auto” under transmit power just means “use the highest” in UniFi.
I was not aware of this, and I'm just curious where this information comes from.
Cannot agree more on not use DFS channel. Tried it once, iperf tested the Mac connectivity, super satisfied with the speed, none of my neighbors were using those channels, feeling made the right decision and the test work paid off!
A few hours later: all devices from Google Nest lost connectivity silently, any devices with Google or Nest brand does not support DFS band.
Yes, not all clients that support 5ghz band, support the DFS channels. I ran into this with Amazon tablets and their early generation smart speakers when I tested DFS channels. Certain Amazon devices immediately dropped off when the channel was set to the DFS range, while other devices continued working just fine.
¡Eres una reata Respuestas Tostadas!
In English: You are genius
Toasty Answers!
Hi, Thanks for these on UniFi really helping me understand my home network, adding a USG next and will look at all the settings you suggest, the AP info is most helpful
Thanks. That was really helpful. I didn't know much about channels prior to viewing this.
Nice video! I did however notice the Boxxy profile picture for your MS account glad to see some people remember the queen!
Haha! It's been my profile picture for so long now.... thanks for noticing!
Overlapping Channels are a problem on 2.4GHz only, but take into account your local situation also. 1, 6, 11 are great if there is no other interference, but if you have a lot of WiFI networks around, if you have 2 AP's in your house, you may be better with using intermediate channels. Just try to keep your two access points 6 channels apart if you can. If you are using 40MHz bandwidth on 2.4GHz, then all bets are off with overlapping channels.
DFS channels ar channels that are not guaranteed. Your AP may move to a different channel if a RADAR comes on, so do avoid these when you can for sure. Totally agree with that.
This was just the info I need to get started - great basic info. Thanks!
If you're lucky enough to have newer Apple products, using HT80 for 5Ghz channels is a must. Apple products really perform well with HT80 enabled.
So if I have a MacBook that keeps dropping periodically, I should bump my 5Ghz to 80? According to him, I should drop it to 20 if I’m having reliability issues.
I've had newer mac minis not even connect to VHT80 even when it was steps away(and instead connecting to a far away radio with very limited signal strength and barely any connection...same issue with windows based Dell laptop). Changing to VHT40 resolved it and made things much more stable.
Finally no more sticky clients! Thanks!!
Excellent video. Was able to adjust my channels based on your recommendations. New sub!
Setup 2 APs with this. Thanks man!!
A couple months ago the client tab page shows my laptop s tx rate capped at 144 Mbps when connected at 5 GHz band. I tried different troubleshoots but no clue, even resetting the APs. A couple days latter I finally figured out it was because the DFS, and I live in a suburban area. So I am glad that you mentioned to exclude them.
Interesting! I hadn't actually heard of specific instances of them causing issues outside of not working at all. Thank you!
@@ToastyAnswers Excluded the DFS under the WiFi AI, ran the scan then everything is back to normal again.
Fantastic video. Thank you for the dive into these, was struggling with these a little while back and you addressed the questions I had back then.
Great video… I can’t believe you have 1180 clients with score of 100:)
Hope you can do a video on MDNS as for the life of me I can’t get this feature working properly across multiple VLANs
Hey man, found your channel today, great info. I've been struggling with a lot of little bugs in my wifi. I just installed a DM Pro last weekend, along with 2 FlexHD's and 2 USG-Mini switches. Wifi has been very glitchy. Your video had the best explanation I've found of what some of those settings actually do, and how they interact.
Thanks Toasty for this video. We have Unifi at home since 2017. In August the system suddenly slowed down and dropped connectivity, especially if you moved around the house. Lots of people working from home, so this was not acceptable. Was about to chuck out the Unifi as some say it is a nightmare to fix, but when it works it is fantastic. Have put in some of the changes you suggest, so let's see how it goes!
It's best to do a wireless survey to get an understanding of what is going on, too many people fiddle with settings without a good understanding of the actual problem. Any devices that are stationary and use a lot of bandwidth or are latency sensitive should be hardwired. I have >70 TCP/IP devices in my home and have no issues with Unifi, but all the desktops, game consoles, security cameras, and streaming devices are hardwired, wifi is reserved for phones, tablets, chromebooks, and IOT switches.
@@Zeric1 Thanks! I'll work on this. Don't have much energy as we were hit with Covid! Ended up in an ambulance to hospital... Might get a tech head to look at it as I'm only a dabbler...
@@BarryOGrady Sorry you were affected by Covid. We've been holed for the most part and have escaped it so far, but know several people who got it. I'll be happy to try and answer any questions on Unifi or networking, I may not be an "expert", but am quite knowledgeable and a tech head.
@@Zeric1 - had to take time out! Tired all the time... Thanks for the offer. We have 6 APs on the controller. Upgraded the controller to 6.0.43 today. Turned off (plugged out) one of the APs as it is close to one other. System still not good. It seems you can connect but when it comes to bandwidth, you get 1Mbs when you are not right close to the AP. Uplink Connectivity Monitor off. Advanced settings off. I wonder should I just revert all APs to auto settings (auto channel and auto power)... Luckily the Apple TV is fed by a homeplug so we will survive!
@@BarryOGrady For me setting the AP channels manually works better. I use different SSIDs for 2.4ghz and 5ghz. My 5ghz devices don't even know about the 2.4 network, reserving the very crowded and noisy 2.4g for low bandwidth IOT devices. Band steering should also accomplish this, but I prefer to enforce myself with separate SSIDs. As far AP power, I have all of mine set to low. This, along with setting "minimum RSSI" improves the chances that the client device will handoff. I use 20mhz channel width for everything, that's plenty fast for streaming to portable devices and improves the network overall. I only use (on 5ghz) 36, 40, 44, and 48 as these have the best compatibility with 5ghz clients. On the controller I use the classic settings, not the "new settings" as there some things that I couldn't do in the past on "new settings" but I'm sure this is improving with each release. I have advanced settings turned on, and have minimum data rate control set to 12Mbps on both bands, and CCK rates disabled on 2.4ghz since I don't have any 802.11b devices. "Auto-Optimize Network" is disabled, having it on gave me poor performance as it made terrible choices on channel selection and bandwidth for my APs. Uplink connectivity monitor is disabled. I was hosting my controller on Windows, but just migrated it to a docker container in a linux VM on a XCP-ng server I've been working on.
6APs is a lot for a typical residential setting, but how many one needs depends on the configuration of the building and construction materials used. Only getting 1Mbps is indicative of a problem somewhere, rather it's in your configuration, AP placement, neighboring interference, etc is hard to say. A methodical Wifi site survey is important to understanding what is happening.
5k subs, thats awesome! Love the videos!
Awesome video thanks for all of the detailed information.
Wat een prachtige natuur visie schitterend gewoon echt genieten bedankt nr lydia
Very good video. I'll be sharing this for sure.
Great video! It showed me what I don't know, but should know. :D
This video helped me tremendously. Thank you.
Good video, moving from Apple airport to Unifi and can use the help!
Thank you so much for your very clear and well explained video. I learned a lot!
Lot’s of greetings, Dennis 🇳🇱
Thanks for this. Definitely came in handy
Thank you sir! I used your tips to re-configure a bit. Good stuff!
Please keep making videos. They're great
you're my boy toasty....you're my boy
Good Video. FYI Utilize RF Environment scan is a great build-in feature for choosing the best channel for your AP.
RF scan is helpful, but the best thing to do is a full wireless survey where one walks around the property with a portable device analyzing your AP(s) signal and the neighbors signals on both 2ghz and 5ghz.
@@Zeric1 been there done that's it's old fashion way.build in RF scan so far is the best way to go no need third party application
@@KavanMavati An RF scan is fine if you have a single AP and you are just trying to find the best channel. A wireless survey does much more than that, and is very much a part of a professional installation. There is no other way to determine what a client will see through out the entire coverage area. It's also is the best way to determine how many access points are needed and where to locate them. It involves not only the portable testing device, is also utilizes APs mounted on a tripod that can easily be moved to test different placements. I have a feeling we are talking about two different things.
@@Zeric1 well I am aware of the other benefits the wifi analyzer. We are talking about wifi channels, Dosent matter how many Aps you have, been an IT for so long the matter fact I seen Aps in busy environments set to auto that's operate better than a manual. There is so many tools out there can do the job its all personal preference.
@@KavanMavati We were talking about somewhat different things. You are _only_ talking about setting the channel, I was going beyond that to determine coverage area. Sometimes different channels work better in different parts of the same building which can lead to needing multiple APs. Even if a single AP is all one is going to have, a wireless survey is still helpful in optimizing the placement, but it's not particularly needed to set the channel as auto should do fine with that.
Superb explanations , thank you!
thanks for the great video, you brought me up to speed with everything. I have one question though: what happens in a multi floor configuration with ? Say, what would you do if you would 3 identical floors of what you drawed, one on top of eachother? what would you do with the channnel overlapping between floors? Talking about a solid concrete floor.
Solid concrete definitely dampens the signal a substantial amount. However, what I try to do with multiple floors is to stagger the channel. It's very hard (if not impossible) to get these perfect... but this is what I generally try to do. Hopefully it makes sense.
Floor 1: AP1(Ch1) - AP2 (Ch6) - AP3 (Ch11)
Floor 2: AP1(Ch6) - AP2 (Ch11) - AP3 (Ch 1)
Floor 3: Ap1 (Ch11) - AP2 (Ch 1) - AP3 (Ch 6)
You have to take into account both the neighboring APs on the same floor, as well as the AP directly above. This layout is assuming the APs are placed in the same location on each floor.
The best way would be to use a spectrum analyzer to see which channels are actually interfering the most, but this would be a good starting point for the design.
I watched this video and it was very well explained. My only comment is the information provided on selecting channels for each AP. In the video you sat that channels 1, 6 and 11 for 2.4 Ghz are non interfering channels. The for the 5Ghz you sat that there are the following channels 36, 40, 44, 48 and 149, 153, 157 and 161.
If I look at my setup I only see the first 4 channels, 36, 40, 44, 48. The 4 additional channels 149, 153, 157 and 161 are no available for selection within my config. Do you perhaps know why this is the case?
The rest of teh information is very good and clear, even more clar than what unifi support provide. That's where I learnt how to set up my AP and wifi network.
As an extra, what are your thoughts on teh unifi dashboard, and have you implemented any other dashboards that provide better visibility and the dashboards are more versatile. I found two solutions. The first was exprting the data to zabbix using unifi-proxy (I could not get this one to work because of issues with the unifi templates) the second was exporting the data to grafana using unifi-poller. that is an exceptional soultion. Works like a dream.
Thanks
Lawrence
Hello fellow European. Those channels are only allowed in USA/Canada. In Europe they are not allowed because of something called the ISM band. For Industrial, Scientific and Medical purpose only.
I was not aware of this. Thank you! I'm learning.
Nice, that being said, DFS channels are safe to use right now just avoid 116 through 132.
Super helpful video. Thanks for posting it.
Excellent! Thank you so much.
set dtim to 3 is good for iphones and apple in general. if you have problem with apple devices set those settings from default 1 to 3
DTIM 3 has been set as the new default value by UniFi.
@@dailymotion101 thats great
would love a video to show how to make this work with 1gig internet...what settings are slowing that down....etc
now all we need is for you to modify the "auto optimize" feature in the controller to work like you show us in the video! :)
Should we manually set up the network like this, or use the auto option?
@@reallythatcrazywtf I’ve always done the auto option.
@@chadmarkley thanks! After not so successful attempts on implementing a smooth network I bought the Ampfli system. I’m really impressed with the coverage and run time. Only downside you don’t have the control like other systems.
@@reallythatcrazywtf ha! I've run Amplifi at home for years and you are right, it is amazing. Thing is, just this weekend I've moved to full blown Unifi simply because with 6 kids doing school from home and not being able to see under the hood, I can't troubleshoot Amplifi! I needed to be able to get to the bottom of issues when they pop up. But yes, Amplifi rules in performance, simplicity and reliability
@@chadmarkley awesome! By the time my girls are ready for online usage who knows what will be out and ready to use! Glad you found a solution!
I would like to offer a little helpful clarification, The middle 5Ghz channels are more accurately referred to as the UNII-2 and UNII-2Extended channels. DFS (which you accurately described as Dynamic Frequency Selection) is simply a tool used by the wireless AP or controller to choose channels that are least Congested. Many systems will periodically check for the best channels and update the APs to use the best channels for your environment (For example, a Cisco controller based network will recalculate this every five minutes). In order for a device to use the UNII-2 and UNII-2Extended frequencies, the device MUST by law be set to DFS to prevent you from taking out a nearby radar installation. The airport (or even planes) will not knock out your WiFi if you force your AP to their frequency, but due to the sensitivity of the radar antenna, you can certainly interfere with how their system works. There have been instances where the FCC has fined a business tens of thousands of dollars for statically assigning a UNII-2 or UNII-2Extended frequency. Tyically you can still use DFS while telling the system to avoid the UNII-2 and UNII-2Extended frequencies. The more congested your RF environment is, the more you need DFS. It seems like the second I nail down a frequency, a neighbor lights up a new AP with power maxed out and throws a wrench in the works.
Thank you! I'm not too well read on the DFS range so this is very good information to have.
Such a brilliant video. Thanks a lot :)
how to manage an Arlo security camera setup in a home network with UAP, edgeswitch and edgerouter?...as Arlo a bit of a pain since cant change wifi and it hops onto closest strong 2.4ghz channel.
also should put it on separate subnet/vlan and clamp down bandwidth? only have 100/20 from isp.
would be awesome if you did an updated one. with dozens of firmware and features updates and new hardware/wifi6 and where stuff is in the controller changing, it would be super helpful
Updating this video has been on my list for about a year now. Hopefully I can get to it haha.
@@ToastyAnswers please update to new controller 7.2.96
Super Helpful! Thanks so much.
Thank you for this video, very helpful!
DTIM settings other than 3 drains MacBook batteries while they are asleep. Example, set to 3 over night say 10 hours goes from 100 to 99% set to default over the same period will drop to 80%. I figured that out when I went from Asus device to Ubiquiti and noticed. I switched back to the Asus and the issue went away so I started looking at settings and this was different so I changed it on the Unifi and the issue went away.
Thank you. Thank you.Thank you. cleared up a lot of Questions I had
Hi, I appreciate this video, it's helpful to compare against my notes for quite high density installs. Would you consider doing any updated version of this video at some point, now that a lot of the features you mentioned are in the production build of Unifi devices? I'm particularly interested in port isolation and multicast and broadcast control. I've been using port isolation where all my APs are connected to an access layer switch, and the network is suffering particularly high broadcast and multicast traffic, particularly when a lot of devices come online at once, for example a few dozen iPads or laptops. But I'd be interested to know your thoughts.
Many thanks for the video.
Thanks for the comment. I've considered updating this video, but I actually struggle myself with fine-tuning the newer features. I have some pointers I could put into a video, but I feel like I'm a bit behind in my own ability to leverage and understand the newer changes.
Excellent. Thank you.
Excellent video, I learned a lot, thanks!
DFS is emergency frequencies as well as Radar type devices. If you were near an airport you would expect a very bad use experiance with those channels
FYI the LR models have more sensitive antennas to be able to hear devices from further distances as well. How well that really works I have no idea.
That was the biggest advantage, but now the NanoHD has the same antenna gain.
thx & regards from Germany
To be honest, leaving the system on Auto is best for most people unless you know what you are doing or you are still having issues.
This is true most of the time. A well planned network definitely benefits most from hard-coded settings.
i have no issues but would not mind breaking 75mbps on my 5ghz devices
When I tried setting the radios as you have them, none of my devices were able to connect to the one AP I currently have (soon to be two - hence why i started tweaking).
Great video and timely. Thanks! Video request: if you have a network which regularly saturates the WAN how do you figure out and resolve it in UNIFI if faster internet is not available.
Smart queues if you have the edgerouter or usg.
A better option than smart queues :
If you want to share your limited wan bandwidth equally among users, you need flexible limiters in opensense, pfsense
redd.it/3e67dk
or openwrt with cake + additional settings in cake.
openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/traffic-shaping/sqm-details
Once setup, bandwidth will be shared equally, for example a 100mbps could be shared 50/50, 25/25/25/25, 33,33,34 etc. No single user like a steam update or torrents will hog all the bandwidth.
On a practical level the above method is way more useful than any qos setting or smart queues.
The question is what is causing the network to saturate the WAN, then possibly bandwidth limit that client or clients. Just how low is the bandwidth? if you have at least 50mbps, that is workable for most situations with some management of the resource. Sure it's cool to say one has 1gbps symmetrical, but the truth is very few people really _need_ that. I have 150mbps which is more than I really need, but it is nice to have reasonably fast downloads. 50mbps can support 3-4 devices streaming at 1080p simultaneously along with a more devices doing web surfing. When going to 4K streaming, it does get tighter on 50mbps, and will likely only support 2 devices simultaneously with some other light network usage. Streaming for most households is the biggest legitimate consumer of bandwidth.
Great video. At the end I see you turned off meshing, is this because you have each AP with POE+ & Back to LAN (Ethernet)?
Yes, all my APs are connected with Ethernet. I don't want the APs trying to mesh together when it isn't necessary.
I would also not recommend using the DFS channels... Unifi sometimes reports that there was a radar signal and will disable the AP or switch channel when that happens. If planes fly over your house you might have this happen frequently
This is exactly how it was designed to work. DFS channels if you don't live near airports, is typically fine. The worst that can happen is the AP switches to a non DFS channel. If you live in a crowded WiFi area like an apartment, it's recommended to use DFS channels especially if you're using those fatter channel widths.
@@forid200 I know this. This is why i advised against it. If you want a perfect connection and do not want to be bothered with channel switching keep it off the DFS channels. it might save you a headache later :)
@@Jeroen_a It really depends on the location. I haven't heard of a plane at cruising altitude affecting DFS, now if one is located near an airport that is a different manner. Another consideration is how well radar detection is implemented in the AP, in other words a router with a high rate of false positives, a common issue, makes using DFS channels pointless.
For the 5Ghz, it shouldn't be using the same channel for all three APs? Specially when using MESH techno ? And this is not a good idea if you are using the MESH techno to disable the wireless uplink :) The main AP has to be only on "downlink mode" when all secondaries APs have to be in "uplink mode" ...
Really really awesome video Just one question , I use home automation wifi simple devices that only work on 2.4 are they going to be ok with unifi AP`s will they keep connection ? your thoughts
They should be fine, but these devices are affected more by some of the topics I cover in this video. What I mean is, the optional features are more likely to affect these and you probably want to lean more towards the "compatibility" end of the spectrum when working with them.
Great video! Can you do one on threat management next?
I'll add it to the list. I don't currently own any of the routing/switching equipment from Unifi, but I have deployed it a few times in the past.
@@ToastyAnswers Att: Ubiquiti....... Send this man a USG pronto
Thanks you, much appreciated.
would you trust unifi's auto scan and channel assignment over a novice doing this manually as in your video?
Hey! Thank you for this video. It's helped me sort out my issues in my house. I have two NanoHD AP's, and I feel like they are constantly fighting each other. What is the issue with overlapping? I have meshing enabled, does this affect it at all?
Good stuff... more please. Subscribed
Great Vid, can you please also do a vid on how to use the scanning feature in RF Environment and how to read those channel graphs
Once the scan is complete (about 5 mins), hovering over the different channels shows how much the channel is being used (less is better) and how much interference there is (the noise floor). For interference, this is also referred to as the "noise floor", and is interference from other sources. A higher negative value is better, so -91 dbm interference on a channel is better than -60dbm. Use this information when manually assigning channels, keeping in mind that an upper floor in a building can have different levels than a lower one, so you can run the RF scan on each access point.
@@LongDono Awesome thankyou for that
Was there a cutoff when the AC-LR AP's became 5g capable? I have 6 year old AC-LR's and don't see 5g settings under Device on the controler.
I know this video is more than a year old, but less than half of the options you mention in this video is in my current settings interface. Did they update it to make it simpler or what happened?
You're not wrong. They updated the interface and it looks a whole lot different than when I made this video. I have an entry on my to-do list to re-create this using the new interface. However, in the mean time, my video (ruclips.net/video/xnC8srOCuR8/видео.html) covers the different interfaces and the issues I've had with them.
On the latest controller setting what do you recommend for the Minimum Data Rate Control? There is now just a check box for Auto which removes settings sliders for adjusting them or if you turn off auto then you adjust the rate controls per radio.
I haven't actually seen the "auto" setting for this. I typically set the data rates to 9mbps for 2.4ghz, and 12mbps for 5ghz. This very much depends on the density and other network factors, but these are the settings I start with.
I have a home in the country that has an upper and lower level. Both are 1500 square feet and are about eight foot elevation difference. We spend time equally on both levels. Would access points be more effective on the ceiling of the upper or lower level or mixture of both? I was thinking two U6Pro to start with and possibly a third one later if I am missing coverage. For years I have gotten by with just a wireless router and now have a Netgear Orbi with two satellites where one satellite the wireless backhaul has failed and works only wired. I’ve had more problems with the Orbi than we do at our school with access points.
Generally, it would be better to have a mix, but every environment is different. I personally have two APs for a two-story house. One on the east side of lower level and one on the west side of the upper. That seems to work best for me, but YMMV.
@@ToastyAnswers Thanks! I have my UDM Pro, USW 16 Lite and two U6 Pro access points installed upstairs and downstairs and I have not had any coverage issues, even in my attached garage I get signal.
Hey great video breakdowns, so easy to follow. Not sure if you will still get this but here it goes.
I've set up an Edge rounder X with unifi AP AC LR. It's working great, but I've set it up on one laptop and I need to set it up on another laptop. I've try but it looks like it will reset it up and I dont want to loose any of my settings. Not sure if this makes any sense. Thank you in advance
Thank you!
There are a couple ways you can do this. You can download a backup of your controller and restore it to the new location. You will have to make sure that both have the same version installed (best to update the current controller to the latest version before moving). However, using this method you will need to manually change the device's "Inform Address" once you have the new controller up and running.
The other way is to setup the new controller and then export the site from the old one. You can do this through the new menu and it will "move" your devices to a new controller and retain your site settings. I haven't personally used this method.