Ubiquiti UniFi Wi-Fi 6 Lite Dual Band AP 2x2 high-efficiency Wi-Fi 6, 2.4GHz @ 300Mbps & 5GHz @ 1.2Gbps
Part of Afterpay day sale - good price if you are planning to get one, great little devices!
You may need a POE switch - Amazon
Or alternatively TP- Link POE switch if you are planning to pick up multiple APs - Amazon
Update 10:40am 20/8: Re-stocked with limited quantity
How does this compare to the Tplink 620HD?
TP-Link AX1800 Wireless Dual Band Multi-Gigabit Ceiling Mount Access Point - for High-Density Deployment, Support OFDMA, Seamless Roaming & MU-MIMO, SDN, Cloud Access & Omada App (EAP620 HD) https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08MHF8YQH/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt…
Same number of radios, and the speeds and range are likely to be the similar. It probably just boils down to what ecosystem you like
The TP Link has nearly double the bandwidth on the 2.4GHZ Radio 574mbps vs 300mbps.
Which is basically useless unless you live on a rural block or hate your neighbours.
I live rural and hate one of my neighbours. What does this extra bandwith do?
@JoeSchmogan: It is basically using all the available channels. It might also be using additional encoding, but that doesn't impact on neighbours.
Okay dumb question is this 6 access points like 6 circles or just 1? Would you need multiple of these to make a good WiFi mesh or am I misunderstanding what this product is
Only 1 x U6 Lite Wi-Fi 6 access point. If you need more than one depends on how large of an area you are trying to cover.
I wish I could buy 6 circles for $160.
Thanks heaps I thought it should be one according to the specs but the 6ap and 2x2 threw me
6 is for Wi-Fi 6 and 2x2 refers to the Wi-Fi antennas.
i like crayons
My cats breath smells like cat food.
Hey hey it's a single WiFi 6 (latest standard) access point (AP), and it needs a device called a Poe injector or a special network switch that supplies power to it. If you're not at least reasonably knowledgeable about networking etc I don't believe this would be the right product for you.
You would want to buy several of them to cover a large home and the admin effort is not generally for the faint hearted. Perhaps a multi pack of the tp-link deco model APs would be better suited for your needs.
Ignore the trolls.
So I've got a single AC Pro and it covers my entire house and part of my street. How large is a "large" home in your eyes lol
I think you could describe large in two different ways. I have a large home (48 square) and two NanoHD's. However, the space isn't the challenge so much as the number of clients. At the moment during lockdown we can have 4-6 laptop/PCs, 1-2 TV's streaming, phones, connected devices etc running simultaneously. If I had a single unit it would be under a large load.
@Corners: I have a single UAP-AC-Pro, fully covering a double storey home, with between 25-30 clients, including 8-12 active working from home and home schooling hours. It never skips a beat, always provides full speed, and it's stats shows it rarely gets above 40% CPU.
It very much depends on the design and construction materials used in the house and the type of device you are trying to connect to. If you have internal brick walls or place the AP close to a large metal cabinet or are trying to get the signal through a tv screen, then you are going to have problems. I have problems with the signal getting to the back of a smart tv. In a previous house I had problems due to internal brick walls.
I would not recommend the Unifi product for someone that is not experienced with technical or networking things. I haven't used the TP Link product.
You will gain very little by switching from a similar WiFi 5 product unless you have WiFi 6 clients. Note also that WiFi 6E has been released. How much difference this will make in Australia is yet to be determined.
I need to access points and can’t decide. Was looking at the Netgear WAX610.
What does this need to plug into if I have OptiComm? Just straight into the OptiComm box or do I need a router too?
Not into the OptiComm box. The U6 Lite plugs into your router with a PoE injector or a PoE switch.
Thanks!
You need a router to authenticate via PPPoE on Opticomm. The U6 then plugs into that router.
Thanks!
I have Opticomm and use an EdgeRouterX with my older generation UAP-AC-LR (mine came with a PoE injector already). It works great.
If you get the Netgear Orbi Mesh wifi pack you can use the base station as a router without needing to buy anything else.
As in the base station has a PoE injector or you can use these as mesh access points? I have a Netgear Orbi, albeit not a wifi 6 one.
You also need to configure them with a unifi controller.
There's Windows (and probably MacOS) software to do this, or you can run a docker container (YouTube guide) if you don't want to install Java on your computer.
The controller software just needs be used to set them up (SSIDs etc).
They maintain current config without the need to constantly be running the controller software.
This is excellent information, thank you!
What's the difference between this 'luxury' router and a 'normal' one?
The U6 Lite only provides Wi-Fi and can handle many connected devices, Wi-Fi 6 speeds, increased Wi-Fi range and so on. The U6 Lite is not a router.
yep, i realize it's an access point, but what makes it more expensive over others.
Software, leading brand, good quality. Unify devices are well supported with firmware and apps and you can make a really neat network if you want to get a number of them
@OzBerghainer: I found that the LR unit I used before didn't provide a better long range than a normal access point.
@9hundred: You'll find more issues with a LR over lite, It's a two way street both devices need to talk to each other.
It will connect to you but your device can't talk back
@9hundred: There is a good chance you had it positioned wrong, they have specific orientations to get the maximum range out of it, they don't broadcast equally in all directions like most home gear will.
That or as @Geoff897 said, your device was the issue, that is also definitely a problem you can run into with long range gear, though its usually noticeably far before you hit that problem.
@OzBerghainer: Unifi is not leading brand or good quality. Their firmware is nightmare inducing sometimes.
@Cozzie: Yep, some good ideas, relatively poorly executed IMO.
Their plethora of bugs that just go silently ignored while they polish their UI (or whatever it is they're doing).
Still seems to be the best option for a prosumer ecosystem though, would love a better option.
Unifi is not leading brand or good quality.
What brands would you recommend? I'm getting by OK for now on my ISP-supplied gear but may upgrade in the future…
It is actually cheap for a Wi-Fi 6 AP.
yep, i realize it's an access point, but what makes it more expensive over others.
Why is it 'more expensive?' It's the same price as the AC LR while also offering WiFi 6. The comparable LR version is twice as much.
@9hundred: You are comparing a Wi-Fi 5 mesh system and router with average specs to a Wi-Fi 6 AP. Not a fair comparison.
how many connected devices can it handle? do you know of any estimates/fact sheet that mention the number. I can't find anything about number of devices for any routers
Over 300 according to Ubiquiti. I don't know if anyone has put that to the test.
@Twix: you won't be able to actually run over 300. You can get it connected but performance is going to be non existent. Realistically I would say around 20 when devices are active.
I run the old wireless n ubiquiti pro AP at a site with around 20 devices on 1 AP and it seems fine for their usage.
It's neither a 'luxury' router or a 'normal' one
It's not a router, it's simply a WiFi access point. I would not recommend this if you're just looking for an all-in-one solution, and would instead focus your attention to the Dream Machine (if you're looking to go Ubiquiti).
I have the LR (long range) unit because I thought it would provide a longer range, but it was not much better than a regular access point.
The LR definitely has better throughput on each band (4x4 vs 2x2) but yeah in my experience (for WiFi 5) the range between Lites and LRs hasn't been all that great.
A common misconception about the LR APs is that it will improve connectivity/bandwidth at greater distances or through more obstructions.
Regardless of how high the AP transmit power is, the device on the other end is still constrained by its own radio capabilities.
The best practice for extending range is deploying multiple APs in strategic locations to maximise coverage area.
Sorry I meant the difference in range hasn't been all that great. They both have great range IMO.
Agree with OzJunkGain completely… it's a two way street with WiFi. :)
Great little units. I have one of these running centrally in my house and it reaches all areas. I am yet to mount that and another one I have sitting, ready for install, into my ceiling for better coverage. From memory, and according to Ubiquiti's Design Center, it also has better range than a UAP-AC-LR or UAP-AC-PRO.
Champion, thanks mate. I've needed one for a few weeks, and I was waiting for a return to the previous deals!
So how do you go about mounting and wiring? You install a RJ45 wall plate on the ceiling and run it to a PoE switch?
Actually since it's a semi permanent fixture you wouldn't bother with a plate or RJ45 plug. Just stick a network cable through a small hole in the ceiling and plug it straight into the AP. Other end terminating at a patch panel.
Yep, IIRC it comes with a cutting template and a plate to mount in the inside of the ceiling to brace so it doesn't break through the plaster, though its really light so its unlikely
My UAP-AC-LR is just sitting on the shelf in my central linen cupboard, the coverage is that good there was no point roof mounting it. I assume the Colorbond roof is probably helping it bounce around through the house.
I also did a year's stint with it up in the tropics and just had it in the ceiling space, worked that well I just left it in the roof.
Does anyone know if I could use this to create a wireless bridge with a POE switch or do I need one of the APs with a secondary port? I haven't been able find documentation on this and I'm already using Unifi and would like to stay with that product range for ease of management.
I'm not able to wiring and it is only about 5meters and 1 wall, so it should be reasonable speeds.
It’s doable.
Do they support multiple networks and trunk them to the switch?
Yes I do this at home to keep my IOT devices off my main SSID.
You mean VLAN? If so then yes. Up to 4 Networks can be hosted on 1 AP.
Am looking for a dream machine pro.
keep dreaming
Nice.
I've just gone with a TP-Link EAP and happy with it.
They've got the TP-Link EAP620 HD AX1800 for $139.40 with the code.
Better deal. 16 SSIDs with VLAN mapping
Do you need to pay for the controller Omada?
you can run the software on a pc/pi/etc, or buy the hardware controller
1.5Gbps WiFi goes through its 1Gbps Ethernet port….
yep, wireless is a shared medium and has overheads the wired doesn't, so it works out close enough that the difference is negligible.
The WiFi is 1.5Gbps half duplex, meaning a total of 1.5Gbps up + down simultaneously.
Gigabit Ethernet is 1Gbps full duplex, so it can do 1Gbps down and 1Gbps up simultaneously, 2Gbps total.
Yep. 1Gbps will probably start to become more of an issue over the next couple of years. As it stands, I doubt most people running these out of a home have switches or routers with 2.5Gbps ports on them and that’ll be an expensive issue for some people to attend to when that day arrives. All good and well to have a faster port on your AP, your other equipment also need to support those specs too.
Most people don't even have 1Gbps internet. It won't make a difference to 99% of people.
@Cozzie: I have a few of linux isos stored in NAS. Having a 1Gbps LAN network makes a lot of difference.
Damn you my friend.
I have been putting off getting a usw-ent-24 unless it was on sale and available via afterpay.
Damn you! now I need to explain this recurring cost for four weeks.
Would these work with existing mesh network? for eg if you had Google nest wifi, would these work?
I’d just add more Google APs if you are happy with what you have. While the Ubiquiti gear can mesh, I don’t believe it’ll do backhaul communication over a seperate network like modern mesh gear does so it’s not overly suited to it. You also still need to power it which typically would mean running cable in your ceiling. If you’re not going to surface mount the AP and instead place it on a shelf then you may as well just have a Google device plugged into a wall.
Also would mean using a seperate interface to configure the two types of network devices.
Thanks mate, the house I moved into has these AP mounted in the ceiling, previous owner didn't bother taking them down. I'm already running Google Nest Wifi so was thinking if I could have them all working, otherwise, I plan to take them down and sell them off as I am quite happy with the Nest.
Thanks OP, got one, was waiting for a sale to come up.
Also got the TP-Link 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet PoE (TL-SG1005P) for $62.05 with the AfterPay deal from eBay instead.
Prices have gone up since the last afterpay sale, along with the UDM Pro.
I'm assuming the injector for a UAP-Pro wouldn't work with this?
Be so much easier if they sold with injector, though guess most people getting these would have a POE switch anyway…
Not a great price, Wireless Professional Solutions in Sydney sell these for $143 every day.
My invoice: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qDVztZsgLAdok7gf9
Except for when they sell them for $187?
https://wisp.net.au/ubiquiti-unifi-6-lite.html?fast_search=f…
And that doesn't include GST
also your price there in the invoice is ex GST…..
These or a NanoHD ap?
![[Afterpay] Ubiquiti Unifi U6-LITE Wi-Fi 6 AP $160.65 Delivered @ Wireless 1 eBay](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/51/645651.jpg?h=4a708f57)
Got one, thanks.