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thanks for that boss man, but yeah I'm not going to be that spendy until I know that the UAP-AC won't reach the corners of my flat that I think it will..
Quick picking your brains question. In the post I mentioned previously you say
Optional:ToughSwitch connects to the EdgeMAX to provide lots of gigabit ethernet
Unifi UAP can connect to the ToughSwitch if you want WiFi devices and cabled devices to be on the same physical networkDo I need lots of gigabit ethernet for home use, netflix/ps4/network music streamer?
And why would I want my wifi and cabled devices to be on the same physical network?Asking these questions as I'm wondering whether I need to spend an extra £100 on something I may not actually need or ever use?
Probably simple questions that can be answered with a bit of googling, but since you're here thought I'd take advantage of your expertise.
cornelius_blackfoot-
- Do I need lots of gigabit ethernet for home use, netflix/ps4/network music streamer?
No. Not for that.
But if you have a NAS and store lots of local media or photos that you process on a laptop, etc... then the difference between falling back to 100Mbps ethernet and 1Gbps is pretty noticeable.
If you're just clients for internet services, this is not an issue as your internet connection is already the weakest link in bandwidth speed.
- And why would I want my wifi and cabled devices to be on the same physical network?
Networks may not be visible to each other... and perhaps for you this is fine (if you're all just clients of internet services).
The issues I came across:
- I wanted my desktop machine to be able to cast via Google Cast to my Chromecast Audio - the desktop is cabled, and the Chromecase is wifi... without them on the same network they couldn't see each other. It also feels like magic to have a non-Wifi machine "see" a Wifi device.
- I wanted my laptop to speak to my NAS - the laptop is wifi, the NAS cabled... again, needed to be on the same network.
Note: This issue only arises if you're putting your router in modem mode and then using the EdgeMax as your router, and you also want to use hardware rather than software routing... in this circumstance, the EdgeMax treats every port as a distinct network and they cannot see each other. Using a PoE switch (like the ToughSwitch) behind the EdgeMax and running WiFi from the ToughSwitch solves all of this... as it all gets the same DHCP IP range and subnet.
These issues are both advanced gotchas. If all you are doing is wanting lots of laptops, TVs, stereos to be clients of internet services... just get the Unifi UAP Lite and you're all good. Plug it into the existing modem, and disable WiFi on the modem. That's all you need.
- Do I need lots of gigabit ethernet for home use, netflix/ps4/network music streamer?
Velocio
Just getting the Unifi UAP-AC-LITE will make the biggest difference and it's pretty affordable and will survive many ISP and router changes.
You can always get a second access point, but you will have to run cable for it and do the setup dance yourself.
If you're feeling spendy I'd consider the Ubiquiti Amplifi solution now too:
I recommended that to someone living in a cottage and whose walls made WiFi so bad that the they ended up trying to install 5 different WiFi access points. It was fully replaced by this solution and it worked really well (key point: they didn't need my help setting it up).