UbiquitiNetworks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point (UAP-AC-PRO-US), Single,White

A very customizable Access Point. Was looking to establish a network in our church's newly remodeled facility. Access points available from many of the brands that focus on homes just didn't provide what we need. On the other hand, high end wi-fi systems (Cisco, Aruba, Meraki, etc.) intended for medium to large businesses were way too expensive for a relatively small church. In search I came upon two manufacturers that had solutions that caught my attention: Open Mesh and Ubiquiti. Both had features that could meet our needs to provide excellent coverage throughout our building.Open Mesh as its name implies could allow you establish a network that was basically wireless even between many of its access points (a mesh network). This addresses the difficulty of establishing a network throughout an building or area where adding new wiring could prove difficult or more costly than you could afford. In our case since we were remodeling the building I had already designed the internal wiring so all points were I needed to establish an AP (access point) had the necessary wiring. So there was no need for the mesh capability of Open Mesh.Even though I didn't need that feature Open Mesh provided, their system could work fairly well to meet our needs. Their system could fairly easily configure itself. Ubiquiti likewise could meet our needs. Both were priced about the same (at the time I was examining each system).The main differences were: Ubiquiti was set up so you would manage and configure their devices using software running on your PC/laptop. You don't need the software running 24/7 if you used it mainly to configure the network. If you wanted to collect stats you would of course need to keep it running. Open Mesh on the other hand was managed via the Internet. It's management system/software was cloud based, residing on their servers, so no local pc/laptop/server or software was required.Both allowed you to set up guest networks and to even have a guest portal. Both allowed you to set up multiple WiFi networks.Bandwidth for each network could be managed (limits could be set for download and upload bandwidth).What made Ubiquiti my choice: I could establish more WiFi networks (SSIDs) with Ubiquiti. Each could be useful as I needed to provide guest some 'basic bandwidth' but with various ministry groups I would provide a different WiFi with different bandwidth limitations and an unlimited one for the staff. It gave me more flexibility.It should be noted that Ubiquiti is not as easy to set up as Open Mesh. My background is in networking and we have others in our church with IT background which helped.On other thing that sold me on Ubiquiti was their were just about to come out with the new model (the one this review is one) which was its most powerful AP and they dropped the price. With all the other expenses in getting our newly remodeled building ready for use, this helped keep our cost even more reasonable.I used the PoE+ (power over ethernet) feature of the AP's. When I set up the wired access point locations I had the electrician install power at all those locations because at that time I didn't know what products I would be using and in case any of the wire runs exceeded the max. distance. I purchased an HP Gigabit Switch that included PoE+ ports and they worked great. If an AP ever needed to be rebooted, now all I have to do is disconnect and reconnect the corresponding ethernet cable to the port on the switch. No need to get on a ladder to unplug the AP from a local AC outlet up in the ceiling.The challenge for churches is to manage the "guest users" connecting to your network so that they don't overpower your network, bringing things to a standstill preventing the staff and ministry leaders from getting onto the network to do the necessary work needed. In our previous building we had two small home routers in our worship hall set up as AP's and both would be overwhelmed on Fridays (fellowship groups meeting) and Sundays as all the cellphones and tablets tried to connect. In many cases people's cellphone would be set up with WiFi always turned on whether they were actually using the connection or not. With these new AP's that allow you to specify bandwidth available (and the units hardware are designed to handle more connections) so we don't expect such problems. The congregation is just beginning to be aware of our new guest network so we'll see whether or not we have to add one or two more AP's to the existing two but at the price they are currently going for its a reasonable cost.Note: the coverage is spherical. We are in a 3 story building (the 1st floor being the garage/storage) with two levels (2nd & 3rd floors) that include all our classrooms, conference rooms, worship hall and offices. We've place one AP on the west side of the 2nd floor in the middle of the floor (running north-south) and the other one on the east side of the 3rd floor in the middle of the floor (running north-south). We have excellent reception every where. We've set the AP's to automatically load balance the connections between them.If you are looking for AP's that are highly configurable so you can set up multiple WiFi networks for different groups and you have some networking background the Ubiquiti product line could be the economical solution to meet your needs. If most of the locations you are considering putting an AP in are not wired (and adding wiring would be difficult) and networking background is limited, take a look at Open Mesh before deciding. They just might be the easier and more workable solution. Also remember one is managed locally while the other is cloud based.

I am so glad I bought this over the rival product I was considering. My aging DIR-655 which was only 802.11n 2.4GHz only was crashing every so often. While that wasn't catastrophic because I was only using it for 2.4GHz WiFi and not routing (I have my own router that I will not give up, ever). I also needed to supplement this with a cheap $20 802.11ac upgrade mini AP. But this AP had certain limitations that made it just an interesting gimmick. Being 802.11ac, it was capable of speeds in excess of 100Mbps under ideal circumstances, but it's single ethernet uplink port being Fast Ethernet only (100Mbps) made it cap out wireless speeds in total to just under 100Mbps. Also it was 5GHz only, so only my most expensive or more recent devices could use it (but that was ok, because I bought it mostly for my phone and my wife's phone). But being "mini" it's builtin antennae had horrible range (on top of the already known limited range of 5GHz compared to 2.4GHz). So while when the main WiFi crashed, my Internet was still usable to the wired devices and my phone, it got annoying that the kids constantly asked me why I shut the WiFi off, when I hadn't.So I started looking into replacing both units for a single newer, faster, and more reliable unit. I had worked with much older (802.11g only) versions of these several years ago at a job where they bought some upon recommendations a coworker and I had made. While I was not the one who ended up setting them up I was pleased with the overall operation and range. So naturally I've always remained interested in them, but they were always too expensive for me to justify buying them for personal use.But now a friend recommended Google WiFi, which did a similar 3 AP setup. I also liked that I could just buy one. But then I realized I could buy just 1 of the Ubiquiti Unifi. And both turned out to be 802.11b/g/n/a/ac. And both were priced the same (within a $1 of each other when I bought this). Though the Google WiFi claimed a SUBSTANTIALLY higher range than the Ubiquiti Unifi (though that claim was also WAY higher than many other wireless routers that were believable so it was immediately suspect). I read many recent reviews that did say the Google WiFi had awesome range (though nothing likely close to the 3x difference compared to this unit). But one thing the reviews all agreed upon is that despite the range, it was NOT the fastest wireless single they tested in a group of mesh systems.What killed it for me was when I did more research it came out that the Google WiFi systems are actually a router and while it is capable of being put into what they call "bridged" mode, where it essentially behaves just as a regular Access Point only WiFi device with no routing functionality... You end up loosing most of the cool functionality they show in the videos. That made it pointless, as being a Systems Engineer by profession, I demand more control of my systems. There was also the uncool tendency of Google just abandoning a project they feel isn't worth it anymore for them (either it's not making them any money or who knows, maybe they just lost interest). While I've had a great experience with my two (1 first gen, 2nd newer) Chromecast, I've had other Google products that become fundamentally defunct due to Google choosing to no longer support them way before I feel I am done with the device. And something like my WiFi I typically buy and it gets used for 5 years or so, I wasn't comfortable with the very real possibility of Google abandoning it just because THEY felt it was too old, before I felt the same way.So I pulled the trigger and bought one of these instead of the Google WiFi. After receiving it and setting it up, I have to say I couldn't be happier. Google WiFi may be a great product, but I feel it's more for the typical "hipster" masses than for an Engineer like me. I will definitely say that while the Ubiquiti Unifi isn't enterprise Cisco type of complexity to setup, but it is definitely more advanced than your average person who doesn't consider themselves computer savvy. While this does require software to setup and run these APs, it is different in that it runs more as a server software that can be made to run all the time to control these. However, it gives you the flexibility to install this anywhere you want, so you don't have to have it installed as a piece of server software on your desktop, and maybe install it on a file server you may have on your network if you prefer (I'm thinking of doing it on a raspberry Pi myself). Also the software doesn't need to be running all the time for the AP to function, just to make changes, or do monitoring of the APs. So for now I just fire it up when I need to make a change.Range. I don't know if the Google WiFi would have really blown this thing out of the water, but all I can say is, for me, for what I wanted, this thing gets 5 stars in range, definitely better than my previous setup. I get signal throughout my whole 1100sqft apartment.Speed. I finally get the full speed of my 150+Mbps Internet connection even from a room or two away on the WiFi!!! That previously required a wired connection to do! 5 stars here again. I am definitely impressed at this point.Configuration options. Again, this thing is in between enterprise and home office, definitely more advanced than the typical unit, but not so daunting that I believe even tech savvy types could easily figure out most things. If you don't understand computers much, then yes, this is not for you. It has plenty of options, and flexibility in how you set it up, that it empowers you to set your network up as you see fit to fit YOUR needs. Not what most companies believe you do with your computers/devices.In the end I literally have ZERO complaints about this thing. I am super ecstatic I went with this instead of something else possibly even more expensive offering functionality I didn't even really need. More than highly recommended if you really just need a good high quality Access Point.

Uso o AP Pro da Ubiquity em casa juntos com switches PoE sem problemas e consigo métricas e dados a respeito do funcionamento. Ainda que este modelo suporte geração 5 do Wi-Fi, fornece bom desempenho quando na faixa 5GHz quando alocado corretamente, considerando que paredes e móveis interferem a absorvem mais o sinal nesta banda. Recomendo.

Very good signal and I am happy with this device.

Excelente producto. Ya llevo varios meses y no he tenido problemas con el producto. Muy bueno.

Perfect 👍

It's perfect if you wish to add an AP to dead zones, I've set one up on the second floor right in the epicentre of all rooms and its fantastic, great strong coverage through a feet of concrete and mortar, I will add a second one to my outdoor enclosed patio for maximum coverage in the garden too, great product, I'm amazed by itMy cons are the Unifi install console, requiring Java to run the application seems like a big risk nowadays.