Need Suggestions for Wifi Access Point

[pike_it (Pike)]

@jon

I want to stay away from a Ubiquiti cloud setup.

Ok

@jon

Do I need to setup a Ubiquiti account to setup / configure the Unifi AP?

Yes and no. An email address is requested for the reset of the server configuration.

@jon

When I load Java and the Unifi.app on my iMac, the Unifi Controller ask for a password & ID. Is there a direct way to configure the Unifi AP without calling the mother ship? (I realize this is not the Ubiquiti support site but I am hoping someone has gone thru the same and can point me to the right webpage/website)

an local user must have a related email address

Do not configure manually the APs, at least for the first setup. You won’t be able to update firmware.

[jon]

@pike_it

after your choice, come back to tell us your experience. And what did you enjoy most of your AP set.

Just realized I had forgotten about coming back and posting observations.

Ok. My sister-in-law (SIL) ended up buying and installing two units:

• a UniFi AC Lite AP Access Point (UAP‑AC‑LITE)
  • the POE power source is included
• and a UniFi In-Wall AC Access Point (UAP-AC-IW)
  • the POE power source is included

All of the above units worked better than hoped. My SIL (sister-in-law) ended up with one unit in the basement and one unit upstairs on the second floor. No 3rd unit in the middle floor. Nice savings there!

I was able to easily avoid using the Ubiquiti cloud setup. No Ubiquiti accounts were needed for setups or configs (no email, no password, nothing).

Everything for the UniFi Access Points can be setup locally via the UniFi Network app on my iPhone. Just following the instructions referenced in the above post.

The downside of avoiding the Ubiquiti cloud is no fancy or pretty stats. Which is OK by me.

–

Also - I liked the Unifi products so much I ended up buying an Unifi Access Point for me. I had planned on buying two units (one for upstairs and one for downstairs) but the one I purchased covers the entire house really well.

Since I transfer lots of big files and do backups to a local server, I decided to buy a faster unit for our home.

• a UniFi In-Wall HD Access Point (UAP-HD-IW)
  • a POE power source (not includes with above)

What else would you like to know?!?

[pike_it (Pike)]

Count me in…
But don’t forget: no replacement for the cable. 2.5Gbit Ethernet and 5GBit ethernet are coming. Cannot wait the time when a 48 MultiRate Switch will be available “cheap” (around 500 Euros/ USD)

[datamorgana]

First thing I do when getting hold of old or new wifi routers: flash OpenWrt. Currently I’m operating 4 TP-Link Archer C7 boxes as ordinary access points with 802.1X security (WPA2-EAP) and another one as guest wifi AP (i.e. in fact a “freifunk.net” node). The only management software I use is FreeRADIUS 3.x with a suitable “huntgroup” configuration to manage access. For me there is no need to do more management with cloud-based solutions etc.

[pike_it (Pike)]

As above wrote, and only for avoiding misunderstandings, UniFi AP can be run without cloud management.
As the Nebula line of Zyxel.