WiFi - UniFi alternatives? General Qs

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Surly73

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 19, 2007
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I find myself somewhat unexpectedly looking into some possibilities for a modest-sized church environment as well as perhaps my home environment for wifi coverage.

Neither environment has a 24/7 server at this time. I am not an expert in enterprise-grade, controller operated wifi networks at this time.

Off the top of my head some requirements:
  • 802.11n (no need for ac)
  • dual-band is a nice to have
  • support for multiple SSIDs with different VLANs ("internal" net for staff, visitor net for other parishioners
  • Possible hotspot-like functionality for the church - may just need to display AUP and log acceptance of terms for each client. No authentication
  • Intelligent multi-node functionality and handoff between nodes
  • I want it to "just work" with a wide range of devices and even when signal strength is less than ideal
  • interference from other systems isn't expected to be a major issue
  • an ability to QoS-shape/prioritize internal vs. public traffic is a nice to have

I've heard some conflicting info about the role the UniFi controller plays and may require clarification. Is it required to be constantly operating for node-to-node roaming and hand off or is it only required for initial config (assuming no hotspot)?

Is Ubiquiti still a decent value option? Neither home or the church have a large IT budget.

What is the latest state of the art in UniFi alternatives to a server or VM? Raspberry Pi? OpenWRT? Other Intel Atom micro-linux? I've read a bit about Amazon AWS (not sure if I can use it from Canada).
 
Unifi will do all of that.
The manager does not have to be up all the time, unless you want the Unifi Portal Page as that runs on the computer with the manager software running. The manager can also be hosted on aws too.
 
My boss swears up and down over Meraki stuff. I've been supporting 12 offices with the stuff and it does everything pretty well under a simple interface. It's all cloud controlled and has all the features requested.

The only catch with them is that they require a yearly license to use on top of buying the device itself. This license is also the service warranty.

If you're an entry level engineer then the Merakis will be really easy to manage and set up. http://meraki.cisco.com/products/wireless
 
Meraki is really good stuff, but pricey. I expect it to get pricier now that Cisco owns it. However the insight into your traffic via their cloud service is quite slick!!

For the bang/buck arena as the OP seems to be leaning for the original first generation Unifi's (UniFi and UniFi-LR) are hard to beat for the price. I'm still testing out my UniFi .11AC unit (the other has been on RMA for 3 weeks now). But, the original's with the Ver 2.X firmware has been rock solid for the ~100ish that I have either deployed or helped with.

As feffrey said, the manager is only required for the higher functionality, like configuration, staticical info, Guest user portal, hotspot portal, etc... Otherwise, you can leave it off without an issue. Depending on your gateway, Captive portal AUP stuff can be pushed outward as well.
 
If you can make it work with the basic unifi's, then it is probably a good value. -That's all I use. The pro's don't seem to justify their additional cost, and the AC's are pretty new and not fully working with the new V3 beta (like zero handoff).
 
The Ubiquity Unify AP's are cheap in the 3 pack and the software is free to download. Just buy some PoE switches and go!
 
non-pro/AC unifi's don't use standard PoE. You either need to use their toughswitch, the included injectors or get instant af adapters to place just before the access point.
 
If you are installing a bunch of them, you can get 24v POE injector blocks on Amazon. I've had great luck with these: 8port POE Injector. They're only 10/100, but that's all the 1st gen Unifi's are.
 
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I'd also recommend going with the Toughswitch or Toughswitch Pro's for powering the PoE UniFi APs. I have not personally had a chance to use one yet but they appear to be excellent value for the money considering the average price of decent PoE switches. On another note for active 48V PoE I have found the Dell Powerconnect 3448P/3424P and 3500P series to be excellent value and extremely solid devices, and can be found on ebay for pretty damn cheap. You can even get a Dell EPS-470 if you need redundant power for them (also very cheap on ebay -- good luck finding the cable that connects the EPS-470 to the switch if you don't buy a "new" one on ebay though).
 
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