Review on Ubiquiti Unifi AC-LR-US Wireless Access Point - Long Range 802.11 B/A/G/n/AC, White by Danielle Martinez

I want to reserve that with this comment there will be an enthusiastic review. I'm a true computer genius and former sysadmin, so this kind of hardware is more fun to play with than anything else. That aside, this is by far the easiest business/enterprise level device I've ever used, and people with a basic understanding of how their home network works can absolutely use it. Like many others, I heard about the Ubiquiti line of products through a post by Ars Technica a few months ago. I was looking for a way to get reliable Wi-Fi coverage in my three-story home (about 3,000 square feet) when the Asus Dark Knight's wireless signal started to degrade (it's never been this good, to be honest) . I didn't like Eero or Luma because the backhaul is wireless and there's also the problem that it costs $500 to install. Given how much gear I have, it just doesn't make sense to spend $500 to duplicate the functionality of some of my gear. The plan was to turn off WiFi on my router, install one of these puppies, and see how much more I might need. Worst-case scenario, I'd spend $300 to install one on each floor of the house, saving me $200 on the Eero. It helps a lot that I have Ethernet connected to key places in the house, allowing for a wired setup on every floor. Setting up the device took just five minutes. I was using a Power over Ethernet (PoE) injector and it should be noted that people familiar with these types of devices will need two Ethernet cables if not using PoE. One cable goes from your network jack/switch to your PoE power adapter and the other to your access point. I downloaded the UniFi Controller software and it found the hotspot with no problems. I went through the setup step-by-step by setting my SSID and password and then logging into the controller interface. There are many options and I suggest playing around with things like RF environment scanning, 5G management and so on, but the main thing I wanted to do was disable the internal DHCP server. When that was done and the controller updated, 11 devices throughout the house were connected just fine. The real surprise factor was the coverage throughout the house. Again, I'm trying to get coverage by a 3 story house with a finished basement, so I figured I'd need at least 2 - 1 on the ground floor and one in the basement. nope! With one device I have a stable signal in every corner of my house, including the deepest and darkest corners of my basement and the furthest point of my second floor in my tiled bathroom. I have a relatively exposed floor plan, but the fact that a $100 unit covers my entire house was overwhelming. The only real downside to the device is that you need to run the controller on the server if you want to use some of the more robust enterprise-style features like the guest portal. However, I don't think this is a big problem for most users. Some other devices have one-time guest codes and other controls when people drop by, but to be honest I don't see the need for that. If a friend is over the house and wants to use my WiFi, what do I care if he can access it anytime he's home? Generating unique code every time seems more like "I trust you now, but later I'm not sure." When I notice my friends sitting in my driveway at 3am trying to use my network, there's probably a lot more going on than just my wifi being stolen. From a computer nerd's point of view, this device is incredibly easy to set up. The only real setting I had to change was to disable the DHCP server. Otherwise, it's basically plug and play. There are obviously plenty of other features, and the controller's UI is fairly user-friendly, but for what I needed, which was to replace a dying wireless connection on my Asus router, this was more than 1/5 the Ero bill price.