Reddit mentions of Ubiquiti UniFi Switch - 24 Ports Managed (US-24-250W),White

Yeah for sure.

Rackmount

Ubiquiti POE Switch

Unifi Security Gateway

Unifi Cloud Key Gen 2 Plus + NVR

Unifi G3 Pros

Unifi G3 Dome

Unifi AC LR

Unifi AC Lite

TP Link 5-Port Switch

Monoprice CAT6 1000ft

Cable Matter Blank 24 port Patch Cable

Nest Thermostat

Nest Doorbell

Nest Indoor Cam

Nest Sensors

Casetta Dimmers

Phillips Hue Starter Kit

Google Home Hub

Google Home Mini

Google Home

Chromecast Audio and Ultras (not pictured)

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Not OP, but we've deployed Ubiquiti products in a few of our enterprise customers and it is running great. I am not sure how much you already know about networking, but I'll explain for anyone else reading.

First, some background to fully understand what it is you are trying to do. The thing that most consumers call "routers" are really three things: a router, a switch, and an access point. TLDR the router portion is the thing that actually moves traffic between machines, the switch extends how many physical ethernet ports you have, and the access point gives you wifi.

The Ubiquiti Access Points (UAP) are just access points. You will still need a router to route traffic, and your consumer one will work just fine for most people. If you are looking to get something more SOHO, Ubiquiti also makes their own router/firewall (check out USG, or ideally EdgeRouter). For all intents and purposes, it is a pretty good idea to separate the roles of your network (physical appliances for the router, firewall, wireless, etc...), and you can have as many UAP's as you'd like for wireless. The UAP's run off of Ubiquiti's 24V Power-over-Ethernet (POE), which can be provided via a POE injector or with a Ubiquiti Switch (either Unifi or EdgeMax). So for a basic network, you'll disable the wireless functionality on your consumer router, and plug a UAP into a port (obviously you'll need to pass it through the POE injector first). Rinse and repeat for however many UAP's you want, maybe another one on the other side of the house for example.

The UAP is pretty useless on its own, though. It needs a piece of software called the Unifi Controller. The software is free, and you can run it on Windows, Linux, or with Ubiquiti's appliance called the Cloud Key. Within Unifi Controller, you'll setup the UAP's; e.g. setting the visible wifi name (SSID), security, channels, etc... It isn't too complicated, the interface is really intutive and anyone who is even slightly technical could figure it out. The controller also serves another really important feature, which is zero-handoff. As long as the controller is running, your device will connect to the access point with the best signal. This is the seamless switching you asked about.

Ubiquiti also is focused on mesh networking, although we are generally pretty against that for businesses for reliability reasons. Of course, the exception to that is Cisco Meraki, which is a hybrid that will self-heal. If you lie and say you are an IT professional, you can get a free Meraki with a 3 year license. Just make sure that you follow the rules.

As a note, I would stick to the UAP AC's. They are the newer version and run great. For consumers, the UAP-AC-LITE is going to work fine. Obviously there is more to networking and wireless solutions than what I went over here, but this is the general gist of it.

Ubiquiti has a full line of hardware for any use case, including rack mountable switches

Alright, here we go:

PLANNING

You mainly need to figure out how many cables you need and where you'll run them to. Obviously you'll need one to each location of an AP or camera, so you need to figure out how many you'll run to jacks for connecting Ethernet devices. The bare minimum is one to each TV location and desk location, in this case you'll connect a switch to the jack if you need to connect more than one device. The ideal number is five to your main entertainment center, and two to every other TV location and desk location. This hopefully eliminates the need for secondary switches. In addition, you should run one Coaxial cable to each TV location including your main entertainment center. Add up all the Ethernet cables you'll be running, and keep this number in mind.

As for the network hub location, the best place for it is the basement, preferably an unfinished part of it near the entry point of your internet service. If you don't have a basement, use a utility room. Just make sure it has some sort of ventilation, you don't want stuff getting too hot.

EQUIPMENT

For the actual Ethernet cable, you'll want to get a 1000 foot bulk spool. Get pure copper rather than copper clad aluminum (CCA) and solid conductors rather than stranded. It needs to be riser rated (pretty much any will be) but plenum rating is pointless unless you'll be running it through air ducts. Your big choice here is the category rating: Cat5e or Cat6. Cat5e is good for gigabit, Cat6 will future-proof you for 10 gigabit. Cat6 is more expensive, thicker, and trickier to terminate as the spec only allows a quarter inch of untwisting rather than Cat5e's half an inch.

Keeping in mind the number of wires you plan on running, you'll need a punch-down patch panel with at least that many ports that matches the category rating of your cable. You'll also need punch-down keystone jacks, these also need to match the category rating of your cable. You won't need them for cables going to cameras or APs, you'll just need one for each other cable. For each location where you'll be installing jacks, you'll need a single gang old work low voltage bracket (or a surface-mount box), and a keystone wallplate. Six ports for the main entertainment center, three for each other TV location, two for each desk location. You'll also want a keystone coaxial coupler for each TV location including the main entertainment center.

You have another big choice to make for the main switch, a managed PoE switch or a dumb unmanaged switch. The managed PoE switch will simplify things a lot as it'll power your cameras and APs, while with an unmanaged switch you'll need to use PoE injectors. A managed PoE switch will, predictably, be much more expensive. Either way, you'll ideally want one with at least as many ports as the total number of Ethernet cables you'll planning to install, plus one for the router. You can get one with fewer ports, but then you won't be able to connect all your cables to it at once, you'll need to just connect the ones you're currently using. If you'll be going with a managed PoE switch, get one of these UniFi switches: 8-port with 4 PoE, 8-port with all PoE, 16-port, 24-port, or 48-port. If you'll be getting an unmanaged switch, any is fine. Just make sure it's gigabit. I used this one in my previous house, for example.

For the router, you'll want the UniFi Security Gateway.

You've got another big choice to make for the APs: Lite or Pro. The main difference is that the Lite has two 5 GHz streams, while the Pro has three. Only high-end devices like Macbook Pros have 3-stream Wi-Fi hardware, so if you don't have any devices with this, the Pro won't give you any benefit. Also, since the Lite is cheaper you can get more of them for the money, as more APs rather than better ones is the best thing you can do to improve your Wi-Fi. Both of these are available in single-packs and 5-packs, the single packs include PoE injectors but the 5-packs don't. If you're getting a PoE switch, consider getting a 5-pack of Lites.

You'll need something to run the UniFi controller. This is the software that you use to manage all the UniFi gear in one place. The easiest thing to do is install it on an Ethernet-connected PC and just run it when you need to make changes or update firmware. If you want a dedicated device for running it all the time, you can use a Raspberry Pi or Cloud Key. The Cloud Key is PoE-powered, so it's particularly convenient if you have a PoE switch.

You'll also need a few RJ45 plugs for the AP and camera cables, a crimping tool for them, a 110 impact punch down tool for doing your jack and patch panel terminations, and something to strip the cable jacket. Normally this will be built into the crimper.

Lastly, you'll need a lot of pre-made Ethernet patch cables to connect everything in your network hub. Get ones that are as short as possible, 1-3 feet. You'll need one to connect each cable you've installed from the patch panel to the switch, one for connecting the switch to the router, and another for connecting the router to the modem/ONT (this one may need to be longer). If you'll be using any PoE injectors, you'll need an additional cable for each one. You could make all these yourself, but this is very tedious and time-consuming, and hard to get right. The wires need to be in the right order and all 8 need to be connected for gigabit to work. Lastly, you'll need one for each actual Ethernet device you currently have, these should be 6 feet or longer if necessary.

INSTALLATION AND SETUP

The first thing to do is run all the cables. Camera and AP lines go to the device's location and get an RJ45 plug, all the others go to a keystone jack box/bracket/faceplate. Whenever possible, leave a foot of slack at both ends in case you need to re-do terminations. I like to terminate each cable after I run it, as it makes things easier to keep track of. For all the jacks, note the port number of the cable at the patch panel, and write that same number on the faceplate next to the jack. When you do the terminations, make sure to untwist the wire as little as possible, particularly if you're using Cat6.

For the APs, install the ceiling mount bracket using the included hardware, connect the cable to the AP, and then just put the AP on the bracket and twist it to lock it in place.

At the network hub, first hook up any PoE injectors you'll be using. Connect the patch panel port for the AP/camera cable to the injector's PoE port, and connect the injector's LAN port to the switch. Plug the injector into an outlet. Now connect the rest of the patch panel's ports to the switch, or if you have a smaller switch just connect the ones you're currently using. Connect the USG's LAN port to the switch, and its WAN port to your modem/ONT. Make sure your APs are getting power, their ring light will be white if they are.

Now, open the UniFi Controller (wherever you have it set up) and go to the Devices page. Adopt everything, and update everything's firmware. Go through it and set up everything the way you like. All the UniFi devices will light up blue once adopted and configured.

/u/Qui_Gon_Gin listen to this guy. I have my network setup exactly like this. You'll have to learn about VLANS to do it, but you can get a managed switch like this, or you could get a more robust one like this or like this.

> ubiquiti edge switch 16 (ES-16-150W)

Not necessarily, just need to buy a switch of the Unifi Line, and not the Edge Line, for example the US-24-250

More info needed. And some concerns...

You say 100 people. How big of an area will this be hosted in? 100 people on one router is likely to be problematic so you'll likely want to multiple APs if they will have some separation.

How much bandwidth does an individual client need?

Any reason that you dont want to hardwire ethernet to all?

Most APs will have DNS built in that can be edited. But if you are running DNS on a Pi, you could also run DHCP on that same Pi and well? Then, your router doesn't need to worry at all about DNS or DHCP.

Also, what is your budget?

In general, I would recommend staying away from the big routers and look more for high-end consumer or low end professional access points. If you have a fairly large space or multiple rooms, I would look at a "microcell" deployment. Use multiple access points but turn their radios power down and separate/space them throughout your area. Each AP would be hardwired back to a gigabit switch with the Pis and other hardwired devices.

Stuff like:
24 port gigabit swtich(es)
NETGEAR 26-Port Gigabit Ethernet Smart Managed Pro PoE Switch (GS324TP) - with 24 x PoE+ @ 190W, 2 x 1G SFP, Desktop/Rackmount, S350 series https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PHVBQVS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_5uWMDbSCPHK6S

Ubiquiti UniFi Switch - 24 Ports Managed (US-24-250W) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJZUQ24/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_gwWMDb6356NCV

Multi Wireless AP
Ubiquiti Networks UAP-AC-PRO-US Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point (4 Items) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JR7VYV3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_SxWMDb5Z4CDNT

How big is your house that you need 5 APs of any type? Are your walls solid concrete? Are the Airports really old or possibly expresses instead of extremes? Is everything only using 2.4 GHz with the same channel?

I ask because 30 Mbps is quite low for Airport Extremes. They are a bit overpriced but are decent performers.

> cat6E

Are you sure you don't have Cat5E or Cat6A? Cat6E is not a recognized cable standard. If you really have Cat6E it could be crappy knockoff cable that will cause problems.

Unless you have high end laptops like Macbook Pros the AC-LITE will do for 90% of cases and is only around $80 each. They are two stream AC. The AC-PRO is 3 stream AC but that can't be used by most devices. https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/

A Ubiquiti Unifi switch would be useful in both giving you a single interface and providing PoE for the APs. The APs will still work fine with other switches, but you would need to use the provided injectors to power them which makes more cable mess especialy if you need 5. The US-24-250W would do fine: https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UniFi-Switch-Managed-US-24-250W/dp/B00OJZUQ24/

Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway Pro (USG-PRO-4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019PBEI5W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_tD7KBbP85NRW5

Ubiquiti UniFi Switch - 24 Ports... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJZUQ24?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Invest in your company, invest in your infrastructure.

I'm going to demur from your provided list, and instead offer an alternative solution. Just hear me out before you look for sticker shock (all prices in USD).

Ubiquiti 24-port Gigabit Switch with PoE ($379)

Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway ($129)

Ubiquiti Unifi Cloud Key Gen2 ($195)

Ubiquiti Unfi UAP-AC-PRO-E 2-pack ($290)

Total cost: $993

Why am I suggesting you spend almost three times the average cost of one of those small-business routers? A few reasons.

First is performance. Ubiquiti makes 'prosumer' / Enterprise level equipment. The Access Points (APs, last entry) are each rated for 200+ simultaneous connections. When deployed right, you'll probably connect to one consistently; the other will be used by the network to identify which WiFi channels are least congested and migrate you and your clients to those less congested frequencies. In the end, that's your real problem: congestion. With 62 competing access points, it can be hard for your devices to 'hear' your router. So you need a product with some real oomph to get your AP heard. Ubiquiti can do that in spades.

The second is professionalism. What looks better to a client? A plastic black box on a desk somewhere, or an access point hung from the ceiling, like you'd find in a fortune 500 company's headquarters? ubiquit's stuff is slick, sleek, and professional.

So what are you getting for your money?

The switch (first entry) is used to provide power to the Access Points (PoE: Power over Ethernet), and since you have some extra ports there, you can also run a connection to a server, or hardwired connection to laptops, or whatever you might come up with.

The security gateway is the real 'router' in this set up, but it has no wifi capability built in; this is why you need the Access Points. The way it works, you would take your ISP's modem, set it to bridge mode, and then connect the modem to the security gateway, and the security gateway to the switch.

The cloud key is the brains of the network. It will host the controller software and allow you to set up the wifi. While this software can in theory be run on any device, this particular cloud key also contains a hard drive - very useful if you'd like to install security cameras in the office (I'm sure your insurance company would be VERY grateful, if you dont have these already). As a side note, Ubiquiti does make PoE-powered security cameras.

This setup will 100% guarantee that your wifi is the dominant 'voice' in your office. You won't have dropouts, you won't have connection issues, and this setup is very expandable - 1 port for the gateway, 1 port for the cloud key, 2 for the APs, (ideally) 5 for wired connections for you and your coworkers - that still leaves 13 connections on the switch, which means you can still expand this if you hire more employees. If you find you need a backup ISP, there's a grade higher security gateway that can handle redundant ISP connections. If you need to cover more area with WiFi, you can add another access point.

Make the setup look really professional and install everything into a patch panel cabinet like this one

Hire an electrician who specializes in running ethernet cable, and have them mount the APs in your ceiling (super easy if you have a drop ceiling. If not, its more difficult, but not by any means impossible). While they're there, have them run at least one ethernet line to everyone's desk.

edit: and less you think I'm blowing smoke up your ass, I use a frighteningly similar setup in my own home. Yes, it's overkill, no I don't care. It's the most stable WiFi I've had in a house in my life.

8 port managed POE switch: https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Managed-Gigabit-US-8-150W/dp/B01DKXT4CI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1497803035&sr=8-2&keywords=ubiquiti+managed+switch

AP (1 every 4 rooms): https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497803133&sr=1-1&keywords=ubiquiti+access+point

24 port switch to feed APs: https://www.amazon.ca/UBIQUITI-US-24-250W-UNIFI-Switch-24-Managed/dp/B00OJZUQ24/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497803253&sr=1-2&keywords=ubiquiti+managed+switch

Router: I'm not sure, my company actually orders custom-made little PCs that we run OpenWRT on. I assume Ubiquiti routers would be nice though, judging by my experience with other pieces of their equipment

Maybe you can try the Ubiquiti switch with 24 ports managed as an alternaltive that can perform better.

Unifi stack all the way:

Unifi Security Gateway: Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LV8YZLK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ouoqDbNGPTMRV

Unifi PoE switch (if needed): Ubiquiti UniFi Switch - 24 Ports Managed (US-24-250W) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJZUQ24/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2uoqDbP4PF520

Unifi AP nanoHD: Ubiquiti UniFi nanoHD Compact 802.11ac Wave2 MU-MIMO Enterprise Access Point (UAP-NANOHD-US) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DWW3P6K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rvoqDb562BQEE

Total: $667.56

No VLANs necessary for your scale.

If you don’t want to manage a Unifi Controller, we offer that as a service for customers. https://peopleit.com or give us a call at (616) 594-7100 if you have any questions.

Right, so you're looking at consumer 802.11n hardware. You're also looking like a 2x2 antenna setup at that so your max connection speed will be 150Mbps. With wireless overhead on consumer gear you can expect less than half of whatever your connection speed is for actual throughput. When connected to the wireless range extender you can expect half of the half, so less than 1/4 of your connection speed on actual throughput. Wireless also operates at half duplex, so once you start adding a lot of clients it will get exponentially worse.

If you want to do this yourself, I have a couple of recommendations:

1. Put in a consumer-prise system like Ubiquiti for wireless. It has a controller for easy-ish setup and you can get the latest 802.11ac speeds for not a lot of money. I would look at the UAP-AC-Pro specifically since it can be used with regular PoE. 3-4 of these should do well for you:
   
   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PRO512
   
   
2. Upgrade your switch to something with gigabit PoE, doesn't really matter the vendor. Make sure the switch is gigabit to take advantage of newer wireless speeds. Ubiquiti actually makes a cheap-ish one that can be used with their controller:
   
   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJZUQ24
   
   That will keep your cost under $1k and give you a decent experience. Don't skimp out on this stuff, it will dramatically change your overall experience. Also, run cable to all 3-4 APs back to the switch for max speeds and the most reliable operation. They will also get their power from the switch so you only have to run the network cable to where you need to mount the APs. Put them on the ceiling for the best signal strength.
   
   ps- I do this for a living for a large enterprise nationwide company. If you have a floor plan, PM and I'll help you determine the best location for the APs.

Google Drive link to my not-at-all-to-scale sketch of my house layout:

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YvEAR5fqrfXGhGJsIqO11eeZ8V9n-6iOWQ/view?usp=sharing

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The house is only 1500 sq ft and is pretty well rectangular. Given the centricity of the garage, it would be very easy to run lines through the attic to each area that a drop is needed.

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Several people have recommended Netgear and Ubiquiti switches and some have made mention that they are using their switch in fairly high temp conditions. I saw on Amazon that I can get a Ubiquiti switch (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OJZUQ24/ref=crt_ewc_title_dp_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3LGJ9ZB5RSN9T) with a 4 year Amazon extended warranty (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZDV41S/ref=crt_ewc_title_dp_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A22THKZGTXL0ED) for $50 that covers the switch. Plus the warranty kicks in after the manufacturer's warranty expires. If I read the warranty's fine print correctly, that will provide some nice peace of mind.

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I'm thinking that I'll go this route and I can figure out ways to mitigate heat in the garage. I'm already considering some insulation panels for the garage door and some renovations in the attic/roof so perhaps I'll be able to save some electricity and keep my garage cool.

I would get something a little easier to configure. Cisco switches are mainly configured through the command line and unless you're willing to put the time in to learn the commands it could be a little daunting.

Get something more prosumer like Ubiquiti, it's not quite enterprise level and much easier to configure. How many ports do you need? 48? Or do you think you could get by with 24? There is a big difference in price. If you only need 24, something like this would serve you well. The 48 port is about twice as much.

This is what I'm looking at.

https://smile.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UniFi-Switch-Managed-US-24-250W/dp/B00OJZUQ24/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1536710274&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=unifi+POE&dpPl=1&dpID=31GuQrXvXwL&ref=plSrch

Would this be a better option for POE?

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UniFi-Switch-Managed-US-24-250W/dp/B00OJZUQ24/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=unifi+24+port+poe+switch+250w&qid=1567047431&s=gateway&sprefix=unifi+24+&sr=8-3





Is this what you mean for the router

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-4-Port-Gigabit-ER-4-US/dp/B078PGCGN2


If I buy two of these and the router above would it give me full wifi now until I have the opportunity to run the wire.


https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=AC-LITE&qid=1567047624&s=gateway&sr=8-2



Do I need a cloud key for the APs or just the Switch?