How To Set Up Unifi Ap

Setting up an Unifi Controller is really and tin can be washed in a couple of minutes with this beginner'south guide. We are going to walk through the initial setup of the controller, connecting the access points and getting the most functioning out of information technology.

Also, I volition give you lot some tips on choosing the right Unifi Admission Point, where you lot should identify your AP and how to get the most performance out of your Unifi access points.

The peachy affair about the Unifi range is that yous get enterprise-course wifi for an affordable price. What yous also will find is that they are super easy to setup and manage. And if you like statics, you volition get some great insights into your network also.

Which Unifi Access Signal should you lot Choose?

Ubiquiti offers a broad range of Admission Points, but in this article, I volition focus on the most used access points for home networks and pocket-size-medium-sized businesses. You lot tin find a complete overview of all the models in this UniFi access point comparison.

The most used Access Indicate at home or at small businesses is the Unifi 6 Lite. The reason is simple, it's modest (only ∅160 mm), cheap, and powerful enough. Depending on the layout of your home or office you lot tin can meliorate buy two smaller admission points than 1 large one. Walls, floors, and other obstacles will lower the signal strength. If you want to know more about it, you should cheque this article.

The UniFi 6 Lite is a new model that supports WiFi six, this increases the efficiency and multi-devices performance of the admission points. WiFi 6 still operates in the same two.4 and 5Ghz band, merely information technology tin now transmit to multiple devices at the same time.

In that location are iii options to choose from, the Lite, Long Range (LR) and the Pro.

Price	Bank check on Amazon	Bank check on Amazon	Bank check on Amazon

	UAP-Air-conditioning-LITE	UAP-Air conditioning-LR	UAP-Air-conditioning-PRO
Size (bore)	160mm	175mm	198mm
2.4 GHz speed	300Mbps	450Mbps	450Mbps
2.4 GHz Antennas	2x2	3x3	3x4
5 Ghz speed	876Mbps	876Mbps	1300Mbps
v GHz Antennas	2x2	2x2	3x3
Range	122m (400ft)	183m (600ft)	183m (600ft)

Unifi Air conditioning LR vs PRO

The difference between the light and the other is obvious, simply the difference between the Unifi Ac-LR and the Unifi Air conditioning-PRO is a bit harder. You might be tempted to buy the faster and more than expensive AC-PRO (bigger is amend / more antennas is better / more than expensive is better ? ). Merely at that place is a big and of import divergence between the two.

The Air conditioning-Pro has 3×3 MIMO antennas to get that loftier network speed, just to use it, your endpoint (notebook, smartphone, tv) must also exist able to handle it. And then if y'all are afterwards maximum speed and y'all have a notebook that besides supports 5ghz network at 1300 Mbps, so you should go for the AC-Pro.

The Air-conditioning-LR has a bigger and more sensitive antenna. This allows it to cover a bigger area, just even more than important, picking up the weaker signal from a smartphone or tablet. Mobile devices have only a small antenna built-in it due to the lack of space and aesthetics. So they can receive the betoken of a powerful access point, but they can't send it the same altitude back. That why you need a big and sensitive antenna to pick the weak signal up.

Where to place the Access Indicate

For in-house placements, the UniFi 6 Lite and the Long Range models are most of the time the best fit. To make up one's mind where to identify the Access Point you lot need to keep in mind that the Unifi Access Point has a doughnut shape coverage with the Admission Point in the middle.

Too, try to place the Admission Point in the room where the wifi is used the most and at least 3 feet away from other appliances that send wireless signals in the same frequency (cordless phones and microwaves for instance). As well, big metal objects (fireplaces, chimney) tent to weaken the signal.

Depending on your floor type you volition need i for every floor or you can practise with just i Access Bespeak on the first floor or basis flooring ceiling. If you have wooden floors, you could start with just one Access Point. Identify it in a key location without whatever obstacle for the best coverage. When you have concrete floors, you will need to install an Access Point on every flooring for decent coverage. The rebar and physical weaken the signal too much for good coverage.

You can also check out this post about the all-time dwelling network setup. Information technology has some example floorplans where you tin see how of import the right location is for a good wifi signal.

Unifi Controller Setup

So we now know what to buy, where to identify information technology, just how do we install and manage it? To manage our access points we are going to install the Unifi Controller. With the Unifi Setup Wizard, it is done in a couple of minutes.

Stride 1 – Unpack and Connect

I won't go into detail too much near the actual placement of the Access Point, the Unifi Access Points come with a perfectly clear installation teaching on how to mountain the Access Point.

Merely before you lot actually identify it, first merely connect information technology to your switch or router with the supplied PoE adapter. This manner you lot can install it, reset it and see what happens more easily than walking upstairs to bank check the status light all the fourth dimension 😉

Footstep 2 – Download the Unifi Controller Software

We are going to install the Unifi Controller to manage our admission points. Now the Unifi Controller doesn't have to be running al the fourth dimension. And then y'all tin can install it on your computer, configure your Access Points and they will keep working.

The only disadvantage is that you don't have all the insights that you become when the controller is running 24/vii. Another choice is to utilise the Cloud key, a small-scale device that is bought separately for $ 90,- and that y'all connect to your network. When connected you can manage your network remotely.

To install and manage the Unifi Access Point nosotros need to download the controller. Get to the download page at ubnt.com and download the latest controller from Windows, Mac or Linux:

Step three – Install Unifi Controller

Afterward you installed the software, offset the controller and hit Launch a Browser to Manage a Network or go to https://localhost:8443 in your browser. When you get a warning just click Advanced" and Continue to…

Sign in with you Ubiquiti Account

You lot can create a Ubiquiti Account at account.ui.com. This mode you tin manage your controller from everywhere via unifi.ui.com and use the aforementioned credentials locally.

If you lot don't desire to utilize the deject service, y'all will have to switch to Advanced Setup

Disable Remote Acces
Disable Utilize your Ubiquiti account for local Access
Create a local admin user

Unifi Network Setup

In step 4 nosotros leave Automatically optimize my network and machine backup on. The backups are stored on the controller and can be downloaded in the settings screen.

Configure Devices

On the next page, Configure devices, you lot will run across the connected Access Points. Select the devices that yous desire to configure. If there are no discovered devices, but your Admission Point is running and the light is glowing white and then at that place is something wrong (obvious).

Check your local firewall. If you accept whatever net protection software running like Norton, Avast or any other firewall software on your computer, open information technology and disable your firewall to encounter if you lot can observe the devices.
Download the Ubiquiti Device Discovery Tool from the Chrome App store. With this tool, you can scan your network for Ubiquiti devices. Check if there are on the same network as you are.
Reset the Admission Bespeak, agree the reset push for 5 sec to gear up it back to factory settings.

Configure WiFi

Enter a proper noun for your Wifi network and a strong countersign. You can change these details later. As well adding a guest network tin be done later. I recommend combining the 2Ghz en 5Ghz networks. For most device is this the best solution.

Review your settings

The final footstep is to review your settings and click finish

Stop

When done click end and login in for the first time into the controller. You lot will see the dashboard with the connected devices.

Optimizing your Access Points

Out of the box, the Unifi Access Points are doing a keen job. Just with a few small changes, you lot tin can get more performance out of it!

Upgrading the firmware

So nosotros are now logged-in the controller and our Access Signal is running. The first thing we should exercise is upgrade the firmware. The upgrade contains the latest bug fixes and features for your Access Bespeak. Get to Devices and click on Upgrade on the right side when hovering over the devices

Uplink Connectivity Monitor

If your controller is non online 24/7 you lot should turn off the Uplink Connectivity Monitor in Settings – Site . This will make the Admission Points work improve when the controller is non bachelor.

Bandwidth steering

Bandwidth steering helps dual-band clients, similar laptops, mobile phones, tablets, etc to use to less-congested and higher capacity, 5 GHz band. This volition result in a better WiFi performance for those devices. You can enable and configure bandwidth steering per device in the Unifi Controller.

Get to Site and enable Avant-garde features under the services section. Then go to devices and select the access point. Under config (on the right side) yous volition find bandwidth steering. Fix it to Prefer 5G.

Disable the wifi on your old Router

The final stride is to disable the wifi on your old router considering the UAP is strong plenty to cover your entire house. You can't just unplug your router, you demand it for your net connectedness. To disable the wifi on your router, y'all need to log in the admin interface of your router (most of the time you will observe it on http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.1.254), find the Wireless settings, and turn information technology off.

See besides:

Setting upwards the Unifi Guest Portal
Backup your Unifi Controller to the Deject
Installing the Ubiquiti Border Router 10
Install the Unifi Controller on Synology NAS
Keep control of your network traffic

Source: https://lazyadmin.nl/home-network/how-to-install-a-ubiquiti-unifi-access-point/