ubnt AC worth buying yet?

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QwertyJuan

[H]F Junkie
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I am needing another AP and wondering if I should get an AC or stick with the Pro? Thoughts??

Thanks!
 
They are nice, and fast, if you actually have a use for AC (or plan on it). If you have a device that you transfer files to/from that can't be plugged into ethernet because of location or you have 150mbps+ internet it could be worth it.

I just can't justify the cost of the WAP's because I have ethernet everywhere. Then there is the additional cost of the adapter cards also. If I need to transfer files the laptop gets plugged in.
 
bds1904 said:
They are nice, and fast, if you actually have a use for AC (or plan on it). If you have a device that you transfer files to/from that can't be plugged into ethernet because of location or you have 150mbps+ internet it could be worth it.

I just can't justify the cost of the WAP's because I have ethernet everywhere. Then there is the additional cost of the adapter cards also. If I need to transfer files the laptop gets plugged in.
Click to expand...

I just remember the AC having issues a while back is all. Wanted opinions before I spent nearly $300 on an AP is all. :)
 
I have a UNIFI-AC version 1. There is a version 2 but I don't have it.

It worked fine with less than 4 clients connected using firmware 2.5.4

Once I added more clients it started dropping connectivity every 2-5 minutes

In the beta section of the UNIFI forum firmware 3.2.9 is soaking for GA status.

That firmware and controller update has a boatload of UNIFI-AC fixes.

I've only been running the new code for 3 days now, but there have been no dropouts or restarted with 7 clients connected.

For me it's a major improvement.... Meriki just sent me a AP with a free 3 year cloud license. So I'll eventually be running and testing both...just to see how each compare.
 
If its for your house and you only need 1 its safe other than that is not ready for prime time in a corp install.
 
BigTy said:
If its for your house and you only need 1 its safe other than that is not ready for prime time in a corp install.
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That's what I wanted to know... it's for work. It's possible I could have 40-50 clients on it at a time (extreme situation... most times 15-20). The Pro works like a champ... so I guess I'll stick with a new Pro. :(
 
The Pro's radio output on 5Ghz is almost 1/3rd the power output of the AC model.

So the range on 5Ghz is shorter on the pro....which is why I purchased the AC model.

The std and LR models do not possess a 5Ghz radio.


But yes... the AC model's firmware is still baking.

Getting better, but still being worked on. There are 3 major bugs left on the AC model that need to be resolved before I would call it enterprise ready.
 
Mackintire said:
The Pro's radio output on 5Ghz is almost 1/3rd the power output of the AC model.

So the range on 5Ghz is shorter on the pro....which is why I purchased the AC model.

The std and LR models do not possess a 5Ghz radio.


But yes... the AC model's firmware is still baking.

Getting better, but still being worked on. There are 3 major bugs left on the AC model that need to be resolved before I would call it enterprise ready.
Click to expand...

I realize what all the different units are capable of... I have been running a Unifi system for nearly a year. I'm just wanting to upgrade one of the "normal" APs with something better because of its location it is getting hammered with traffic and bogs a bit. (tonight for instance I am looking at it, and there are 25 users on it.... just a bit more than I'd like to see)

I'm looking for something with dual radio. I was "hoping" the AC would have had all the bugs worked out of it by now.

Oh well....
 
Mackintire said:
I have a UNIFI-AC version 1. There is a version 2 but I don't have it.

It worked fine with less than 4 clients connected using firmware 2.5.4

Once I added more clients it started dropping connectivity every 2-5 minutes

In the beta section of the UNIFI forum firmware 3.2.9 is soaking for GA status.

That firmware and controller update has a boatload of UNIFI-AC fixes.

I've only been running the new code for 3 days now, but there have been no dropouts or restarted with 7 clients connected.

For me it's a major improvement.... Meriki just sent me a AP with a free 3 year cloud license. So I'll eventually be running and testing both...just to see how each compare.
Click to expand...

I had the same issue with the one I got when they released them and had the Competitive upgrade promo going. Had to RMA it as no released FW made an appreciable difference. The replacement has been rock steady in the Home environment I placed it in. 4 SSID's and about 20 WiFi devices over both bands. Migrated from 2.5.x to 3 different FWs in the 3.x range without a hiccup since. I agree though, there are a few big issues and missing features before it's ready for as wide of a deployment as the original classic UniFi.
 
Nate7311 said:
I had the same issue with the one I got when they released them and had the Competitive upgrade promo going. Had to RMA it as no released FW made an appreciable difference. The replacement has been rock steady in the Home environment I placed it in. 4 SSID's and about 20 WiFi devices over both bands. Migrated from 2.5.x to 3 different FWs in the 3.x range without a hiccup since. I agree though, there are a few big issues and missing features before it's ready for as wide of a deployment as the original classic UniFi.
Click to expand...

I've been running the Pro units here for almost a year and NO issues. Great units. Why can't they get these AC units working properly? Sucks.
 
Had a Pro, upgraded to an AC in a busy home environment (10-15 devices per AP all the time).

The AC v2 has been rock solid for the last few months. Great range and speed. 5ghz is noticeably better than on the pro as far as range.

For reference I also have a UAP, UAP-LR, and UAP-PRO.
 
(2) regressions found in the 3.2.9 code.

They expect to be making 3.2.10 available on the beta site this upcoming Monday as pending GA for another 2 weeks. (just in case they missed something)

THEN there should only be 3 major bugs left on the AC models.

FYI ZH not working is 1 of those three three remaining major issues.
 
Mackintire said:
(2) regressions found in the 3.2.9 code.

They expect to be making 3.2.10 available on the beta site this upcoming Monday as pending GA for another 2 weeks. (just in case they missed something)

THEN there should only be 3 major bugs left on the AC models.

FYI ZH not working is 1 of those three three remaining major issues.
Click to expand...

At this point ZH isn't something I am interested in.
 
4.0 release is exclusive to the Unifi security gateway....and features a different gui.

However you can install the 4.0 release onto the other devices, it's not officially supported if you do that though). 4.0 is not superior to the 3.0 release version, for now it's just a different gui.

As indicated here: http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Routing-Switching-and-VoIP/UniFi-4-6-0-is-released/ba-p/1150481
version 4.6.0 uses the 3.2.7 release code.

The next 4.x release will include the 3.2.10 code updates, probably in the next 3 - 4 weeks
 
Yeah, not too sure how i ended up on the 4.0 release. was playing around one night and installed it.

Any chance of rolling back to the 3.0 release? My guess is no?
 
Yes I think you can regress...but you'll need to regress via the terminal and not the gui. Ask the question on the Ubiquiti forums and I'm sure you'll be pointed in the right direction.
 
Grentz said:
Had a Pro, upgraded to an AC in a busy home environment (10-15 devices per AP all the time).

The AC v2 has been rock solid for the last few months. Great range and speed. 5ghz is noticeably better than on the pro as far as range.

For reference I also have a UAP, UAP-LR, and UAP-PRO.
Click to expand...

I am replacing my slowly dieing WNDR3700 with a pfSense. Plan to pair it up with a Ubiquity AP.

I live in a townhouse, and have been disappointed with the WNDR3700 wireless overall, especially with the 5Ghz signal being too weak. 5Ghz drops alot too and requires router reset.

Think I will be fine with the Pro, or should I pay extra for an AC? Who did your order your AC from? If I do get AC, I want a 2.0 revision.
 
ZzBloopzZ,

I have been happy with my AP-LR running off of my Netgate APU4. I have only had the AP for a 3 weeks but its more than sufficient. I'm getting good coverage and I have about 8-10 devices connected 24/7.

If you don't absolutely need the throughput of the AC I say save the money and put it towards something fun or another upgrade.
 
Thinking about meeting half-way and go with the UAP-Pro. Don't really need the AC speeds since I have Ethernet throughout the house.
 
ZzBloopzZ said:
Thinking about meeting half-way and go with the UAP-Pro. Don't really need the AC speeds since I have Ethernet throughout the house.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I bought another Pro... works great. IMO the Pro is a better unit than the normal AP. Reboots faster, can handle WAY more clients before noticing lag, etc... it's a really nice AP.
 
It's sad that the AC has been out for what... 2 years?? And it's still not stable?
 
It's not that it's not stable at this point, the firmwares just aren't near as fleshed out as the earlier generations. It was obviously rushed to market, and the early adopters will/have paid the price. I hope this doesn't signal a trend with UBNT.
 
QwertyJuan said:
It's sad that the AC has been out for what... 2 years?? And it's still not stable?
Click to expand...

It gets a worse wrap on forums than it really is IMO.

I have run a few of them, and the new revision is rock solid for me.
 
I am an early adopter of the UAP-AC and have been running it at my home through all the beta updates and it is much better than before in ways. I wish they would allow the chip based beam forming like feature to be turned on through the GUI interface and still waiting for all the promised features before I will think about a second one. I got fastest speeds before they disabled the beam forming like functionality because of issues with Apple computers mainly, but stability is nice and once zero hand of and the rest of the features come out I would wait to buy more than one. It seems that you will never have the most current AC ability with UBNT as it would be too hard to make a new device that often. UniFi software runs nice on a Beagle bone black running Ubuntu 12.04.
 
Thanks for the feedback, ended up ordering a UAP-Pro. Should be enough for a town house.

Just want it for the numerous phones/tablets and 2 laptops in the house. Rest is hardwired.
 
ZzBloopzZ said:
Thanks for the feedback, ended up ordering a UAP-Pro. Should be enough for a town house.

Just want it for the numerous phones/tablets and 2 laptops in the house. Rest is hardwired.
Click to expand...

I'm happy with the 4 I have here at work... there are MANY times I'm running 35-45 clients on them, with no apparent issues. Great devices.
 
Be careful with me Amazon sellers. Some of them sell older version models. Doubleradious is a good vendor to buy from.
 
What is latest version for UAP-Pro so that I can verify? I ordered from SilMicro.
 
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