Tried many systems with moderate success

As a computer scientist, I have tried out a lot in the last few years to set up my home network professionally: Apple Airports, repeaters, LAN-over-Power, DD-WRT routers and combinations of these. I’ve spent a lot of money on these little experiments, only to find out time and again that something doesn’t work the way I imagined it would.

Yet I didn’t want much: reliable illumination of house and garden and real working roaming between the individual access points. I didn’t want the music playback from my smartphone on the terrace to stop just because I was moving through the garden and switched from the south AP to the north AP, or a download on my notebook to stop when I went down the stairs.

I was looking for a system that would allow me to covere two floors, the basement and the garden with fast WiFi and give me the freedom to connect the individual access points via cable or wireless mesh network.

I was also fed up with an unreliable system that suddenly stopped working properly after firmware updates or wireless repeaters that suddenly stopped working for no apparent reason. I reported on the disadvantages of normal, “stupid” WiFi repeaters in this article. I was looking for a system that simply works – after work I don’t have the time to deal with IT problems in my private life.

Setup with 5 access points and approx. 60 clients has been running stable and performant without ONE (!!!) failure. Reason enough to share this success story here.

What is a Software-Defined-Network (SDN)?

The first advantage of SDN is the ability to configure the home network in a single interface and then pass these settings on to any number of access points with the click of a mouse. In my previous attempts, I had to make time-consuming configuration changes on each individual access point. This not only cost time, but was also more error-prone if a setting was forgotten on one of the integrated devices.

Today, I configure the individual WiFis (productive network, guest network and a special network for parts of the home automation) in the web interface of my SDN controller and can then simply determine by assignment from which access points the radio networks are to be broadcasted.

However, the central administration is by far not the only advantage. The SDN controller is an active part of the installation: it knows which routes exist in the network between the individual access points and it intelligently controls the traffic through the network. In a classic (stupid) WiFi setup with WiFi repeaters, this is not always the case. In the classic setup, a client device logs into the strongest access point, sends its requests to it and, in the end, one hopes that the repeater will send these requests to the best next repeater or AP. In the worst case, the data traffic is transmitted via unnecessary intermediate relays and takes detours – which can result in routing errors and failures in the event of temporary connection restrictions.

In the SDN scenario, I use a mesh repeater in one corner of the garden and, thanks to the SDN controller, it knows exactly that it should forward its data traffic to the wired access point on the terrace – and not first to the mesh repeater in the garage and then from there to the AP in the living room.

Wireless mesh works reliably – but I am old-fashioned and prefer wired access points

With the help of an SDN, wireless mesh networks finally become performant and immune to interference. I tried this out in the garden, where I connected a seating area in the summer with the help of a mesh repeater. Nevertheless, it is clear to every experienced IT professional that nothing beats a stable, wired connection. Call me old-fashioned, but I still connect my access points to the home network by cable and leave nothing to chance. Perhaps my attitude to this topic will change over time as I continue to gain positive experience with wireless connections – but I still need some time for that.

Unifi offers more possibilities than just Software-Defined-Network

The Unifi Eco system not only offers SDN. A video surveillance solution and a security gateway solution can also be installed on some of the controllers.

The SDN controller can also be operated as a virtual machine, for example, or installed on a home server. But because I wanted to avoid dependencies on my own systems and hardware, I used dedicated hardware for the SDN controller right from the start. At first I used the Unifi CloudKey Gen2 Plus * for SDN and video surveillance. Later, I also flirted with the Security Gateway as a VPN server and firewall and therefore switched to the Dream Machine Pro, as all three services can be operated simultaneously on it.

Such a setup is much more expensive than a frickle solution with Fritzboxes, repeaters and self-configured DD-WRT routers – no question. But the possibilities are immense and not comparable with consumer products: VLANs, wireless mesh, packet firewall, real prioritisation, fibre optic uplinks, power supply via PoE. In the end, I wished I had bought the more expensive solution from the beginning, because before I had invested more money in the previous setups overall, as if I had once done everything right from the start. Times for hassle, configuration and interferences have to be added on top.

Ubiquiti UniFi Controller Cloud Key G2 Plus*

• UbiQuiti
• Wireless Controller

222,48 EUR

Amazon

Special offer

UbiQuiti UDM-PRO*

• UbiQuiti
• Gateway

−54,08 EUR 388,00 EUR

Amazon

Other infrastructure hardware (access points and switches)

I use the UniFi AP AC * as access points outdoors and the small UniFi AP AC Nano HD * indoors. Both are supplied with power via PoE, which is very convenient for me because I don’t have to worry about power supply outdoors. The uplink LAN cable also supplies the power, so I only have to drill once and lay only one cable.

UbiQuiti UAP-NANOHD*

• UbiQuiti
• Wireless Access Point

595,95 EUR

Amazon

UbiQuiti Unifi Drahtlose Basisstation 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Dualband Gleichstrom*

• Drahtlose Basisstation
• Formfaktor: Extern - außen, innen

92,88 EUR

Amazon

If you want to exploit the full potential of the security gateway, you also need suitable managed switches so that VLANs and prioritisation function ideally. Depending on the setup, it also makes sense to work directly with a PoE switch. A central PoE switch is more efficient in terms of energy consumption than 5 single PoE injectors.

I use the USW-PRO-24-POE UniFi Gen 2 switch * as my central switch, which I have connected to the Dream Machine Pro * via a fibre uplink.

Special offer

Ubiquiti UniFi USW-PRO-24-POE Switch Gestionable 24 Puertos Gigabit Ethernet PoE*

• UbiQuiti
• Netzwerk Switch

−94,36 EUR 635,96 EUR

Amazon

Special offer

UbiQuiti UDM-PRO*

• UbiQuiti
• Gateway

−54,08 EUR 388,00 EUR

Amazon

* All links marked with an asterisk are Amazon affiliate links. We receive a percentage of the purchases made through them. Our recommendations are nevertheless honest and sincere.

Der Beitrag THE solution for professional WiFi in the home network erschien zuerst auf Pixelfriedhof.

How WiFi repeaters work

A WiFi repeater picks up an existing WiFi signal and sets up another network at its location. In this way, the area covered by the WiFi signal is increased, for example, in a flat or in the garden. In order for the end devices to be able to switch back and forth between the repeater’s WiFi and the base WiFi without any problems, the repeater copies almost all the settings of the base WiFi: network name (SSID) and network key are copied and also used for the repeater WiFi. From a purely technical point of view, however, the repeater uses a different channel in the background so that the channels of the base WiFi already in use are not overloaded. At least in theory.

However, the following points are not well thought through by many manufacturers in the consumer sector and the networks equipped with repeaters often drive users crazy.

Shit in – Shit out: Passing on bad WiFi via repeaters only makes bad WiFi receivable over a wider area.

The repeater can only transmit the signal that it receives from the base WiFi. If the repeater itself already has a weak, unstable or slow WiFi connection, for example to the Fritzbox router, then it will not be able to pass on a stable or faster connection. The repeater is not a cure-all at this point. It gets really bad when several repeaters are in use and one or more are temporarily unable to establish a connection to the base WiFi.

One or more repeaters without an uplink to the base WiFi: Data chaos begins!

The following scenario: I am sitting in the garden with my MacBook and suddenly no more Internet pages load. My smartphone tells me that there is probably no connection to the Internet. Strange, I have 3 bars of WiFi. Yes, that’s right – but only to my repeater. But it has no connection to the base WiFi of my router.

This scenario is particularly exciting when several repeaters are in use and then connect to each other and don’t even notice that none of them has a connection to the base WiFi. “Oh, another one of my repeater buddies will shurely have an uplink – I’ll pass on the request…”.

Poor performance due to unnoticed and unconsidered channel changes

Most repeaters are smart enough to orient themselves on the WiFi channels already in use in the immediate vicinity. If the base WiFi transmits on channel 1, the repeater transmits on – let’s say – channel 10. So far so good. However, there are enough cases where the base WiFi (or another repeater) spontaneously changes channels for whatever reason. There is no guarantee that all repeaters will notice this and if they do, that they will adjust their own channel. I know of installations where all access points (base WiFi and repeater) were hanging around on one and the same channel, although according to the settings they should have avoided this. For the user, this means higher latency and longer waiting times for requests or downloads.

Pro tip: Connect access points via cable and/or use SDN

Most solutions based on radio repeaters or mesh functions are by design susceptible to interference and unstable at some point. There is nothing wrong with multiple access points, but ideally they should be connected by cable to the main router, the WAN gateway. Because the cable connection rarely breaks and is always good in most cases.

With the help of an SDN solution, a software-defined network, the whole thing can be optimised and even radio mesh networks can be operated successfully. In this scenario, there is an SDN controller at one point in the network. This is the smart brain of the entire installation and tells the individual access points or repeaters exactly who is to connect to which other access point and which not. This controller knows the most reliable and fastest way to route my data packet from my MacBook in the garden through all access points to the Fritzbox, without shooting any data packet somewhere into nirvana.

Ubiquiti Unifi SDN und Ubiquiti Accesspoints

I have tried a lot in the last few years: Apple Airports, repeaters, LAN-over-Power, DD-WRT routers and have spent a lot of money on these little experiments only to find out again and again at one point or another that something doesn’t work.

Yet I didn’t want much: reliable coverage of the house and garden and real working roaming between the individual access points. I didn’t want the music playback from my smartphone on the terrace to stop just because I was moving through the garden and switching from the south AP to the north AP.

I found the first real working solution at Ubiquiti. The Cloud Key Gen2 Plus * runs the SDN controller (and integrated video surveillance). I have adapted and configured all the access points here.

I use the UniFi AP AC * as access points outdoors and the small UniFi AP AC Nano HD * indoors, all of which are connected by cable. However, just for fun, I have already played around with the wireless mesh functions without a cable connection for 3 weeks and have not been able to observe any of the typical repeater illnesses described above. The SDN simply does its job in this case as well. The solution has been running for two years with 5 access points and approx. 60 clients without ONE (!!!) failure.

The mobile app for quick configuration, network overview or analysis is also great:

Unifi hardware used for my home network

Ubiquiti UniFi Controller Cloud Key G2 Plus*

• UbiQuiti
• Wireless Controller

222,48 EUR

Amazon

UbiQuiti UAP-NANOHD*

• UbiQuiti
• Wireless Access Point

595,95 EUR

Amazon

UbiQuiti Unifi Drahtlose Basisstation 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Dualband Gleichstrom*

• Drahtlose Basisstation
• Formfaktor: Extern - außen, innen

92,88 EUR

Amazon

All links marked with an asterisk are Amazon affiliate links. We receive a percentage of the purchases made through them. Our recommendations are nevertheless honest and sincere.

Der Beitrag Why WiFi repeaters often aren’t a good solution erschien zuerst auf Pixelfriedhof.

The Unifi Cloud Key Gen 2 Plus can be powered via PoE via the Ethernet interface. For this reason, no power supply unit is supplied with the device from the factory.
But not every buyer really wants to supply the device with power via PoE and some would therefore like to fall back on the regular power supply via the integrated USB-C socket.

But the connected charger needs certain specifications, otherwise the device complains on the display about “Bad USB-C Power” and refuses its service.

According to the manufacturer the following requirements are placed on a USB power supply: “Standard 802.3af PoE; Quick Charge 2.0/3.0 power adapter (9VDC, 2A)”.

I myself successfully use the following power supply and cables to ensure smooth operation:

Anker Powerport+ 1 Quick Charge 3.0, 18W 3Amp USB Wandladegerät, Kompatibel mit Quick Charge 2.0, Kompatibel mit Galaxy...*

• DAS ANKER PLUS: Schließe dich den über 55 Millionen glücklichen Kunden an. Lade Anker.
• BLITZSCHNELL GELADEN: PowerPort+ 1 garantiert, dass deine Smartphones und Tablets dank Quick Charge 3.0 und PowerIQ Technologie so...

Amazon

Anker PowerLine+ 90cm USB Kabel auf USB C Kabel 3.0, sehr Beständig für USB Typ C Geräte Inklusive iPhone 16/15, Galaxy Note...*

• DAS ANKER PLUS: Schließe dich den über 30 Millionen glücklichen Kunden an. Lade Anker.
• LADEN & SYNCHRONISIEREN: Lädt Smartphones und Tablets mit USB-C-Ports bei maximaler Geschwindigkeit und überspielt einen HD-Film bei...

15,99 EUR

Amazon

All the links in this text are Amazon Affiliate Links, and by clicking on an affiliate link I will earn a percentage of your subsequent Amazon purchases. However, this circumstance does not influence the background of my product recommendation. This product recommendation is independent, honest and sincere. 

Bei allen genannten Links handelt es sich um Amazon-Affiliate-Links. Durch einen Klick auf einen Affiliate-Link werde ich prozentual an Euren darauf folgenden Amazon-Einkäufen beteiligt. Dieser Umstand beeinflusst aber nicht die Hintergründe meiner Produktempfehlung. Diese Produktempfehlung erfolgt unabhängig, ehrlich und aufrichtig.

Der Beitrag Validated USB power supply adapter for Ubiquiti Unifi Cloud Key Gen 2 Plus erschien zuerst auf Pixelfriedhof.