Combine Multiple APs into One Seamless WiFi Network: Setup, Tips, and Unify Advantages

I would like there to be several (5 maybe) access points in a detached house so that the whole house and garden would be covered with wifi.
The simplest advice I have found is to give the same wifi name and password (different channels) to each AP (connected by cable to one switch). Does this really work without problems? If I download files on my laptop, won't it break the connection when it switches between APs? Do I need to buy any special APs? Any other advice for the networking layman?

Another solution is to use repeaters around the access point, but that's probably a bad idea.

Some people have mentioned something about unifi. Is it worth getting into that? As well as wifi I might be tempted to get some sort of NAS and some surveillance cameras.

Read about the Mesh network.

If you can connect the devices with cables, God forbid, do not read about the Mesh network! Repeater on steroids.

True roaming (no packet loss) is about a river, a pile of cash, and devices with a controller.

In WiFi, the client decides to switch to another AP anyway.
It depends on the software producer, phone, computer. This involves disconnecting and reconnecting, which can take more or less time. When the authorization is based on an external server (radius), it can take longer automarically.
Unifi has its own solutions, it is not a reoaming known from mobile telephony that will not lose the package, but solutions that shorten the authorization procedure to a minimum. You can read something on their pages. It works fine. You won't cut your movie. A typical computer will not show a broken WiFi network. Conversation as well. For home conditions, in my opinion, you do not need anything else.

The IP protocol does not guarantee the packet from A to B. It is higher protocols (eg TCP) that take care of retransmission. I wouldn't worry about downloading the file. The problem may be with protocols that won't retransmit, such as an audio call. Hear a click or a pause. The faster the AP switches, the shorter it is.

Unifi is enough to go home if you have money for it. The switching time is so small that you will lose max 1-2 packets, which in practice will have no effect on watching movies, VoIP calls or downloading files. The switchover time can be additionally shortened here, if you enable the fast roaming protocols and if the client devices support these protocols.
You can also buy a simple AP and connect them to the network, setting the same SSID, security method and password (WPA2-AES-PSK) everywhere. You turn off the automatic security settings. This also works well at home. If the APs are not loaded, they will behave similarly to UniFi. With load, there may be a loss of 2-3 packets during the switch. Of course, there will be no support for fast roaming, and each device must be configured separately.

I recommend unifi from myself as my colleague above, but it is an expensive party if you want to make good wifi at home and outside. I really like the device management system, you change the network name or password and it automatically changes on all devices.

Unify way? Drogo is ruckus, aerohive, cisco, aruba.
Unifi is the cheapest sensible centrally managed solution.

If I am wrong, correct me.

I read a bit. From what I understand, Mesh is just a few APs (or repeaters) pretending to be one wifi network. In addition, they somehow automatically switch the client to the fastest AP within the range (I will not have this when using normal repeaters, or AP with the same SSID).
Unifi is a name coined by the Ubiquiti company which produces devices and software for creating and managing networks. Kind of like Cisco.

- So I can put several APs connected with a cable and give them the same SSID - The cheapest option. The biggest disadvantage is the lack of automatic switching to the nearest AP.
- I can buy more expensive APs running in Mesh. Apart from the AP, the solution needs an additional controller (or also a base station). It is worth connecting the APs with a cable so as not to lose wifi speed, but if there is no such possibility, you can also wirelessly.
- I can buy Unifi equipment and make a Mesh network with them. A consistent and very well-functioning ecosystem that is easy to configure and use in advertisements. They also have cameras, light switches and other "smart" devices. The biggest drawback is that it probably costs a fortune.

Did I get it right?
Is the configuration of the Mesh network or Unifi devices difficult?

Mesh is NOT a wired AP! Mesh is such a repeater that specialists in pushing people upwards ... called marketers now sell instead of repeaters. People already know that the repeater is rubbish, so it was necessary to come up with something new to continue to fuck them for money. This has no advantages apart from no cable to the access point. Have your own wits and don't let yourself get sucked about with miraculous properties, because there aren't any here. A few TP-Link for PLN 100 connected with a CABLE will work better than this "miracle".
To make it work well, you connect the AP with a cable and stay away from various repeaters, however called.

aachi, combining several APs into an ecosystem (which is what unifi does) is not necessarily mesh. Always try to connect the AP with a cable, unless it is actually completely impossible - then the wireless connection remains. A few TPlinks (and I am not writing here about, for example, Omada) connected by a cable will not work better - there will be no easy switching between them, common control, and with a wrong configuration it will be even worse (overlapping bands, interference).
Wireless mesh - this is such a better management of wireless connection between APs.

mick1 wrote:

A few TPlinks (and I am not writing here about, for example, Omada) connected by a cable will not work better - there will be no easy switching between them, common control, and with a wrong configuration it will be even worse (overlapping bands, interference).

We do not consider a misconfigured network, but one configured according to the rules of art, and such a network works better than miracles on a stick with radio uplinks. Apart from that, the argument with the channels was completely wrong - in Mesh systems, each at least two neighboring APs MUST work on the same channel, otherwise there would be no communication between them.

You know, it may surprise you, but throughout the WiFi network the transmitter and receiver must work on the same frequency. It doesn't change anything. In Meshu, the channels that send data may be different than disseminated ones.
In any case, we agree that Mesh will always be worse than a wired connection.

However, I wrote about something else - several APs connected by common management will always be better than several APs managed separately. I'm a bit sorry you didn't notice that these are 2 completely different things and let's not confuse management with the mess. This may (but does not have to) coexist on the network.

IC_Current wrote:

Mesh is NOT a wired AP!

Mesh network is only when APs are connected wirelessly? On the unifi website, you can buy APMesh to create mesh networks connected with a gigabit link and powered by PoE. Only if it is only supposed to be a repeater, what's the point of connecting it with an ethernet cable and 1Gb?

For stability and speed, I will try to connect all APs with a cable. The function described in the Mesh network that the client is automatically switched to the strongest AP as soon as it is detected is very interesting.

What search terms in google (if it's not exactly Mesh) to find such a solution for your home: APs connected by cable, WiFi operating as one network without speed loss and disconnection while walking around the house and outside? Under what keyword to look for "shared management" systems? Just Unifi?

They are called "Mesh" but in ubi mesh you can also do other APs, or use mesh as normal APs.
And when it comes to a cheap solution, it is simply unifi.

aachi wrote:

IC_Current wrote:

Mesh is NOT a wired AP!

Mesh network is only when APs are connected wirelessly? On the unifi website, you can buy APMesh to create mesh networks connected with a gigabit link and powered by PoE. Only if it is to be only a repeater, what's the point of connecting it with an ethernet cable and 1Gb?

For stability and speed, I will try to connect all APs with a cable. The function described in the Mesh network that the client is automatically switched to the strongest AP as soon as it is detected is very interesting.

What search terms in google (if it's not exactly Mesh) to find such a solution for your home: APs connected with a cable, WiFi operating as one network without loss of speed and disconnection while walking around the house and outside? Under what keyword to look for "shared management" systems? Just Unifi?

Eh. Don't be offended, but do you even read what these people write?
Mesh is a topology, a way of connecting devices. Mesh, or mesh. Even behind wikiepida, mesh nodes connect to each other directly, dynamically with as many knots as possible. So the mesh WiFI solution is a number of radio devices where everyone can talk to everyone and dynamically find which is best to send a signal. Do you agree that a direct many-to-many connection is hard to do with cable? Some connection optimization algorithms are behind this. But it's still radio based. If there is an jihad signal behind the wall, the best marketing will not get the miracles out of it. Moreover, if there are two devices, it will not be different from a repeater, because the road is one and there is nothing to optimize. Everybody connected to everybody is exactly one connection. Because of this, these are products, unpack and forget. You put on various points, you turn on, and it will optimize itself and I will talk.

WiFI does not support customer transfer between access points. As is the case with cellular networks. It is always the client disconnecting and making a new connection. So single packet loss can always happen. In Unifi this is unnoticeable unless you use the appropriate tool. So it's the marketing slogan of auto-switching to the best AP.

I bet that few or no manufacturers of these fashionable meshes are writing how to speed up client switching between APs. Considering whether it uses 802.11r (acceleration of switching to the new AP) and 802.11k protocols - searching for the best AP to which the client wants to switch. Plus, which your customer devices support both protocols.
Ubiquiti is a precise translator on his website and shows the differences. Others have a lot of slides and beautiful marketing slogans.

The cheapest of the sensible products is the said Unifi (trade name) of the ubiquiti company.

m.jastrzebski wrote:

Eh. Don't be offended, but do you even read what these people write?

I do not take offense. I am reading. WiFi networks are not my field of expertise. I have not heard of Wifi Mesh before. Nor is it about Unifi.

So if I decided to use unify:
I have a router from the internet provider and a switch to which I connect all devices. I am buying 3 Ubiquiti UAP-AC-LITE. What's next? I install "Unifi Controler" on my laptop and configure the AP in it (I set the same SSID and password). And that's it? Do I need any additional equipment?

Gigabit switch with PoE. Check beforehand that the UAP-AC-LITE you buy have normal PoE. There are nuances that the early UAP-AC-LITE series only had 24V passive PoE, but now all new ones should already be regular PoE compatible.
Optionally, you can buy a hardware UniFi controller and configure everything via the web and remotely via an account on the Ubiquiti website.

I am a simple country man, because of the ease and simplicity of management (and by the way I have all the functions I wanted) I chose Unifi.
You can get something similar (in terms of effect) on mikrotik, but managing the mikrotik is not that easy and pleasant (especially for someone who is not a network member).

Siemanko

It will warm up the topic a little. And what does it look like when we have a mikrotika router and as an app we put ubiquity AC LR (via Poe cable)? Do I have to have an additional controller for them, will I be able to configure them with mikrotika? Or I will have to go to each of them separately and configure myself? Then what about automatic client switching?

halveric wrote:

Siemanko

It will warm up the topic a little. And what does it look like when we have a mikrotika router and as an app we put ubiquity AC LR (via Poe cable)? Do I have to have an additional controller for them, will I be able to configure them with mikrotika? Or will I have to go to each of them separately and configure myself? Then what about automatic client switching?

You install the controller on a PC and use it only for configuration changes. You do not need a controller for work. So if you don't plan to change your configuration every day, you don't need a physical controller.
Of course, you won't configure anything on the apps with mikrotik. You'd have to have a ubi router.

Ok, so the controller will only serve me as something to manage the apps (configuration, name etc. etc.). But still as DHCP and network management will be mikrotik? What about switching the client between different apps when, for example, he will be walking around the building? Ubiquity itself will understand that it should be switched to another ap? If mikrotik won't manage it here?

halveric wrote:

Ok, so the controller will only serve me as something to manage the apps (configuration, name etc. etc.). But still as DHCP and network management will be mikrotik?

Yes.

halveric wrote:

What about switching the client between different apps when, for example, he will be walking around the building? Ubiquity itself will understand that it should be switched to another ap? If mikrotik won't manage it here?

No controller is needed for this. However, it is not roaming in a full sense, that something centrally manages the AP you are connected to and reloads if necessary. If the phone is connected to -90, you will not switch to a better AP. Unifi seems to be only realizing a shortened, faster version of authorization for a new AP.
From what I noticed, Unifi and Samsung telephones very smoothly switch from 5Ghz to 2.4Ghz when you hide behind the wall. But it won't go back to 5Ghz when you go back to AP.

And if I used the ap from mikrotik, am I able to get such roaming? I would like to have everything in one brand but I read about the ap from mikrotik and people have rather mixed feelings. On the other hand, I heard only superlatives about ubiquity ...

We are now getting ready to move to a new building and hence these questions. The boss wants to have 1 shared wifi everywhere ....

At the moment, we have already launched the mikrotika RB4011iGS + RM router (in fact, we have them everywhere, because if at the beginning it was a cosmos (configuration), now it works fine when we've already got it covered) and we are going to buy AP.

halveric wrote:

And if I used the ap from mikrotik, am I able to get such roaming? I would like to have everything in one brand but I read about the ap from mikrotik and people have rather mixed feelings. On the other hand, I heard only superlatives about ubiquity ...

We are now getting ready to move to a new building and hence these questions. The boss wants to have 1 shared wifi everywhere ....

At the moment, we have already launched the mikrotika RB4011iGS + RM router (in fact, we have them everywhere, because if at the beginning it was a cosmos (configuration), now it works fine when we've already got it covered) and we are going to buy AP.

For true roaming to work and ap and the client must support proper roaming protocols. And that's a problem.
But this unify will show 1 network with one password, one network name. Switching between is still fast, will not interrupt the conversation, etc. Maybe you will lose a few packets. Sufficient for 99% of application.

Ok super. Thanks for clarifying the topic! greetings