Ubiquiti APs and getting started with wireless on netgate 2100

[ke5in]

Hi,

I would like to run pfsense on a netgate 2100 and set up wireless APs to cover my apartment. The place has concrete walls making coverage difficult and I can't run any ethernet cables between the APs/router (except for the one AP next to the netgate) so I need to do mesh. Also the building has hundreds of apartment units with lots of wifi interference around me.

I did as much homework/googling but have some questions.

Ubiquiti is a popular choice here and I was thinking to start with a single U7 (strategically placed in the center of the apartment to see how that would work) but probably would need to use two at either end of the apartment and mesh them together (I would have near line-of-sight between the two).

Then I was reading that if you manage these Ubiquiti APs locally: "Seamless and quick roaming (802.11r/k/v) between multiple access points is not supported."

But I could not find if you can enable meshing when managing them locally. Is it possible to enable mesh when managing locally?

If I use the cloud to manage these does account.ui.com cost anything if you have less than 10 devices?
Is this site blocked for any countries e.g. Hong Kong (which is not presently behind China's Great Firewall)?
If the site is free are there any sort of restrictions/limitations to using it for managing my APs? (like a free tier vs paid)

Given my apartment constraints above any recommendations for APs besides Ubiquiti? I'd prefer locally managed.

This is where I got that above quote from:
https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/12594679474071-Standalone-Access-Points-without-UniFi

Thank you in advance!

[SteveITS]

@ke5in You can buy a Cloud Key or run their software on a local PC or VM. It only needs to be running to make configuration changes. But IIRC the IP shouldn’t change.

[JKnott]

You can run the server on a computer running Linux or Windows. I run it openSUSE Linux, for which there is a version of the server but, generally, you'd run it on Ubuntu.

[johnpoz]

@ke5in You most likely want to run the controller - you can run as mentioned on a vm, or a docker even.. It does not need to be running 24/7 - but I leave mine running for the info it provides about clients connections, etc... I have it running on a vm on my nas. It uses very little resources.

[tgl]

@ke5in To actually answer your question: no, I doubt you can configure meshing of two UniFi APs without using a controller (either UI's website or a local instance). Meshing requires a level of trust between the APs that doesn't, and shouldn't, exist without common configuration. The same goes for 802.11k/v support, although that's quite a separate feature.

TBH, if you cannot run ethernet to everyplace you need an AP, Ubiquiti probably shouldn't be your first choice. While they nominally support wireless backhaul a/k/a "mesh", the equipment isn't designed for that and won't offer terribly good performance. WiFi gear that is actually intended to be used in meshing will normally have a spare radio that is dedicated to being the backhaul channel, so that backhaul transmissions can happen in parallel with the "fronthaul" client connections. With only one radio, your throughput is automatically cut in half or worse, because every packet sent to/from clients has to be re-sent from/to the base AP on that same radio. Of course, you do need two clear radio channels to make the separate-backhaul-channel solution work well, and in crowded areas that might be problematic.

I'd look at names like Netgear or ASUS, and specifically choose gear advertised as "mesh" systems, if no-wires is an unbreakable requirement for you. But keep in mind that (all else being equal) an all-wired setup will beat a meshed setup every time for performance and reliability. The worse the wifi environment is, the greater the hit you take for meshed retransmissions.

FWIW, I do use UniFi APs and a UniFi controller with a netgate router, and it all works great ... but my APs are all wired.

[tgl]

@ke5in Actually ... have you checked your radio environment with a wifi scanner app? If the building is concrete that might block your neighbors' signals pretty well, or then again it might not.

If things look bad, you really should try to avoid wireless mesh. There are other alternatives besides an ethernet cable; they don't perform as well, but they very likely can beat wireless backhaul in a saturated wifi environment. Two that I've used are powerline and MoCA.

Powerline will work best if you can plug the two adapters into outlets that are on the same branch circuit (same circuit breaker). I've had decent luck with TP-Link AV2000 gear, even on somewhat old and possibly-not-up-to-code wires, as long as they're on the same circuit.

MoCA could be an option if your building is of the age to have been heavily wired for cable TV --- there might be coaxial cable connecting the places you need.

This is all getting a bit off-topic for netgate.com, though. May I suggest one of the other sites I hang out at, www.snbforums.com? Most of the traffic there nowadays is about ASUS wireless gear, but there's still a great deal of knowledge about powerline and MoCA.

[stephenw10]

Yup I have also had good experiences with Ethernet over Powerline. Much better than I have with WiFi repeaters or mesh. But I've never tried that in an apartment block where a load of other people might also be doing it!

[tgl]

@stephenw10 said in Ubiquiti APs and getting started with wireless on netgate 2100:

Yup I have also had good experiences with Ethernet over Powerline. Much better than I have with WiFi repeaters or mesh. But I've never tried that in an apartment block where a load of other people might also be doing it!

Yeah, there is that. Be sure to get equipment that can set up an encryption key, and configure it to use that mode right away.

[ke5in]

Thank you, everyone. The tips on the controller were helpful and got me going in the right direction. @tgl I will look into MoCA because there is indeed a coax running between the rooms that I need coverage the most. Thanks again!