Ubiquiti UniFi Setup At Home — Impressions From a Non-Pro on Building Perfect Wi-Fi

Are you sick of unplugging and plugging back in the box your internet service provider gave you? For users whom a solid Wi-Fi/internet connection is important, or a challenge — telecommuters, owners of larger homes, people who have a growing number of devices AKA nearly everyone — a Ubiquiti UniFi system can be a high-performance alternative to a mesh system. Tons of power, speed, reliability, and customizability are yours, with the drawback of a much more difficult installation process (compared to a mesh system) and an intimidating level of control that might be more built for a professional sysadmin.

Update: I published a long-term review article which you might find worth a read too!

When our long-serving Apple Airport Extreme started to show signs of dying out, and my partner started to look at a new job that would involve a lot of tele-commuting, I recalled Ars Technica’s well-titled article “Ubiquiti UniFi made me realize how terrible consumer Wi-Fi gear is”. The Extreme put out pretty good speeds, but range could be an issue, and optimal placement meant cables were strung across the floor for an unsightly mess.

Our home is a detached three-level split with about 1600 sq. ft of floor space, including the basement. We have around 30+ network…