I’ve taken my time off to make a few upgrades to my home network. I’ve gone from an Asus AC68P that has been dying a slow death to a much more capable system. The Asus has served me well with the Merlin ROM on it but as time has gone on, it has started requiring a reboot every week or so to stay functional. Given that I run a number of web services myself, this is not acceptable. So I splurged.
I am now running a Ubiquiti Unifi setup. My modem feeds into a UniFi USG gateway that then feeds a UniFi Switch 8 POE-150W. The POE is needed because I’m currently installing two UniFi UAP-AC-PROs to cover the entire house with glorious high speed wifi. All of this is controlled by the UniFi Controller software. I did not bother with the Cloud Key which is basically a POE computer running the controller software. Instead I just installed the Docker image of the software on my home server.
So right now I have a single UAP-AC-PRO connected and sitting under my television in the living room while I run the cabling to what will be my new wiring “closet” (which is more of a corner in the bonus room). One AP will be in the living room near the side where the kids’ rooms are. The other will be in the hallway just outside the master bedroom, which is on the other side of the house.
I like the UniFi setup since the APs are meshed and because both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz networks can use the same SSID. So now I have a single SSID for all WiFi connectivity in my house. Each device will negotiate whatever speed and frequency it needs for optimal performance. Moving through the house will also allow devices to seamlessly switch between the APs as needed.
I managed all of this with only a 20 minute downtime of the network. It could have been less but I wanted to configure the gateway to use the old Asus IP address so I had to give it a temporary configuration for the initial switch then change it once I pulled the Asus from the network. That took a bit of finagling with a laptop connected via patch cord to the switch to pull off.
My next step is to pull the cabling through the attic to my patch panel then move the equipment to its final location in the bonus room. This will also allow me to put the server up there and get that noise maker out of the living room. Once everything is set, I will be ready to move to the next phase which will be getting some POE security cameras for the house.