Ubiquiti Unifi Wireless?

[Puddle_Glum]

Just looking for a little advice.

The school I'm at have 30ish existing, managed, D-Link DWL-6600AP's. We've never really gotten on with them, finding issues when a whole class of 30 connects (both Chromeooks and Windows Laptops). The school are currently considering upgrading the wireless, with the current idea to update to the latest D-Link equipment compatible with our controller.

Having seen the positive reviews for the Unifi gear, I've picked up an older model AP-PRO for home use, but I've been testing it in school and have been very impressed with the results.

 

I'm thinking of getting a quote for Unifi Access Points, to try and save a little of the IT Budget. Mostly wondering which suppliers people would recommend? The other question is the UAP-AC-Pro vs. UAP-Nano HD, both seem applicable to our setup, any recommendations?

 

Thanks.

[FN-GM]

As for Pro vs Nano. Pick Pro. It has a greater POE compatibility. The nano uses their own system that will require an injector.

[Primus]

As for Pro vs Nano. Pick Pro. It has a greater POE compatibility. The nano uses their own system that will require an injector.

 

The Nano uses 802.3af so won't need an injector?

[FN-GM]

My information might be out of date then. They may have changed it on newer models. It used to be the case.

[Primus]

My information might be out of date then. They may have changed it on newer models. It used to be the case.

 

You may be thinking of the older APs - the Nano is new and has always supported 802.3af

[hallb15]

Go with the Pro.

I got all our unifi kit from https://www.4gon.co.uk/

They were the cheapest and always up for a deal.

When you buy individual APs they come with a PoE injector. The multi-packs don't include the injector so you'll need a PoE switch.

[yac2016]

MSDist are slightly cheaper than 4gon form my experience especially on 5 packs by about £30

[Primus]

Play MSDist and 4gon off against each other - they'll beat each other's prices and save you some cash.

[hallb15]

Play MSDist and 4gon off against each other - they'll beat each other's prices and save you some cash.

 

What he said!

[mflanders]

We have been buying Unifi for years and can’t fault the product. We use a company called Transparent Communications, like the other two mentioned they are always up for deal. https://transparent-uk.com/

[Meldrew]

We had a D-Link system, then moved to unifi. The difference is unbelievable. We use LinITX. They are apparently the UK distributor for Unifi kit.

[PotNoodleTech]

If you want to get a good wireless system set up on a very minimal budget then you can't really go wrong with Unifi WAPs.

[mflanders]

Thanks for the suggestion of LinITX but their website prices are higher than Amazon which isn't good. I will give them a call later as we have a WiFi refresh to do and need to get some pricing.

[Primus]

There are multiple UK distributors but their website pricing may be quite different to their quote pricing - particularly if you're making a big order.

 

Their top tier distributors and master resellers for the UK are 4Gon, BroadbandBuyer.com, LinITX and MS Distribution - no one else will be able to beat their pricing in my experience as they seem to supply all the others.

[mflanders]

Thanks for the replies, I've shopped about and sent off requests for quotes as they are somewhat higher than I usually pay albeit my order is only 20 units.

[Primus]

What are you ordering and what have you been quoted?

[TMBS]

We use the Ubiquiti Unifi UAP AC Pro and pay £105 each.

[mflanders]

AP AC Pro and we pay £96.20 each from Transparent. Struggling to get them at that price or cheaper from others at the moment. To be honest we will probably stick with them as they have always been good in terms of delivery and price.

[Primus]

When bought in a large quantity (circa 100) we paid £88 per UAP-AC-Pro in 5 packs. That's from 4Gon. Edited May 17, 2019 by Primus

[mflanders]

That's a keen price, where from ?

[Primus]

Sorry I edited it as you were posting - 4Gon.

[hallb15]

My contact at 4Gon has changed recently to Ashlea Hugh ([email protected]) I always ask for a discount and they always oblige.

[m25man]

The DWL-6600AP is a Dual Band N AP - 300Mbps Max.

 

Changing your Wi-Fi AP's may seem an easy solution on paper but are the AP's the real cause of your problems?

 

Yep if 30 users are connected to One 300Mbps AP that is a problem, but what about the rest of the route?

If your topology is flawed you could throw £000's at the issue and get nowhere.

I've got customers with Home networks that have over 100 devices attached nowadays!

 

Splitting hairs over a few quid and arguing over vendors wont help you much went you've spent all your money and things are still the same....

[Primus]

The DWL-6600AP is a Dual Band N AP - 300Mbps Max.

 

Changing your Wi-Fi AP's may seem an easy solution on paper but are the AP's the real cause of your problems?

 

Yep if 30 users are connected to One 300Mbps AP that is a problem, but what about the rest of the route?

If your topology is flawed you could throw £000's at the issue and get nowhere.

I've got customers with Home networks that have over 100 devices attached nowadays!

 

Splitting hairs over a few quid and arguing over vendors wont help you much went you've spent all your money and things are still the same....

 

Obviously there are further potential issues than the APs themselves but replacing 802.11n with 802.11ac seems reasonable and getting best value is not a nice to have - it's a fundamental requirement and moral obligation. It also doesn't take very long at all!

 

Perhaps he should just accept the first quote he gets?

[Puddle_Glum]

From the value prospective, from the quotes I've received it's coming in around £3.5k - £4k cheaper to go down the Unifi route, which is a big saving when budgets are so tight.

 

Our network is Gigabit throughout, it's not the most up to date but does the job. Obviously throwing money at a problem and not getting a solution is a concern. With that in mind, we've picked up a couple of the Pro's in order to conduct some thorough testing.

 

Thanks for the help/recommendations everyone.