Mangusta1969
Occasional Visitor
There have been many posts on this forum about range/distance problems and frustrations with the performance of 2.4GHz wifi devices on large residential properties. Some of the discussions have been theoretical and some have been based on actual performance results.
I thought I would post my initial real world experiences with the Ubiquiti PowerAP-N router/access point on my difficult to cover property. I have posted the following review on another technical forum, but I thought my observations would be of benefit to many forum members here, too:
I just received my new Ubiquiti PowerAP-N access point/router yesterday and got it up on line today. So far I am very impressed with its power, range and throughput, especially when compared to my almost new Cisco/Linksys E4200 wireless router.
Probably because of its much higher output power (28dbm) and increased receive sensitivity from two relatively high gain omni antennas, this Ubiquiti unit has approximately 3-4 times the range and 3-4 times the throughput of my E4200 on a large in-city property of about .8 acres. From the ground floor of an outbuilding that is about 70 feet to the north of the main house, the AP-N is providing 4-5Mbps of sustained throughput in all 22 rooms and three floors of coverage for an old Victorian mansion, penetrating a large number of exterior and interior walls and floors. By contrast, the E4200's 2.4GHz radio covered about 8 rooms and two floors, with much reduced speeds (.5-1.5Mbps) in some of those 8 rooms. My ISP source is a nominal 6Mbps DSL source from ATT.net. The best hard-wired performance I have ever received from my .att ISP has been 5.2Mbps from my Zyxel P660 DSL modem, with 4.9-5.1Mbps speeds being more typical.
In walking around the property with my Mac laptop today, the AP-N is covering almost all of the .8 acres with a good signal and two-way communications; there were two outdoor spots that had poor performance of around 1Mbps, probably due to interference from neighboring networks. My Mac's IStumbler application picked up 15 other neighborhood networks as I walked around the property, checking signal strengths and network performance at various interior, porch and outdoor locations. Some of these neighboring networks had periodically been giving my E4200 some performance fits when they were very active. So far, the AP-N's much greater signal strength appears to overwhelm these neighboring networks.
According to the IStumbler application on my Mac laptop, the AP-N's received signal strength inside the house is typically about -45 to -50dbm, with a -82 to -87dbm noise floor. My Mac's Airport signal strength meter is always showing 5 bars of received signal strength as I walk the interior of the 8500 +/- square foot house. The neighboring networks have about a -72dbm strength, with a similar noise floor of -82 to -87dbm, as measured the IStumbler application. The AP-N appears to have a 20+ dbm signal strength advantage over the E4200 on the transmit side and the two 6 dbi gain antennas also seem to help with reception of weaker wifi signals from my laptop, computer and two networked DVD players. My Mac's Airport signal strength meter is always showing 5 bars of received signal strength, as I walk around the house and exterior grounds. Probably due to the increased receive sensitivity of the two 6dbi gain antennas, my local noise floor has increased from -92dbi to around -85dbi; the increased receive sensitivity and transmit power seems to more than compensate for the increased noise floor.
If the AP-N proves reliable and its throughput performance holds up over time, it will have solved all of my large property wifi signal problems. It is a little tricky to setup compared to my previous wifi routers, but so far, I am very impressed. I will provide some more feedback as I gain experience with this unit.
I thought I would post my initial real world experiences with the Ubiquiti PowerAP-N router/access point on my difficult to cover property. I have posted the following review on another technical forum, but I thought my observations would be of benefit to many forum members here, too:
I just received my new Ubiquiti PowerAP-N access point/router yesterday and got it up on line today. So far I am very impressed with its power, range and throughput, especially when compared to my almost new Cisco/Linksys E4200 wireless router.
Probably because of its much higher output power (28dbm) and increased receive sensitivity from two relatively high gain omni antennas, this Ubiquiti unit has approximately 3-4 times the range and 3-4 times the throughput of my E4200 on a large in-city property of about .8 acres. From the ground floor of an outbuilding that is about 70 feet to the north of the main house, the AP-N is providing 4-5Mbps of sustained throughput in all 22 rooms and three floors of coverage for an old Victorian mansion, penetrating a large number of exterior and interior walls and floors. By contrast, the E4200's 2.4GHz radio covered about 8 rooms and two floors, with much reduced speeds (.5-1.5Mbps) in some of those 8 rooms. My ISP source is a nominal 6Mbps DSL source from ATT.net. The best hard-wired performance I have ever received from my .att ISP has been 5.2Mbps from my Zyxel P660 DSL modem, with 4.9-5.1Mbps speeds being more typical.
In walking around the property with my Mac laptop today, the AP-N is covering almost all of the .8 acres with a good signal and two-way communications; there were two outdoor spots that had poor performance of around 1Mbps, probably due to interference from neighboring networks. My Mac's IStumbler application picked up 15 other neighborhood networks as I walked around the property, checking signal strengths and network performance at various interior, porch and outdoor locations. Some of these neighboring networks had periodically been giving my E4200 some performance fits when they were very active. So far, the AP-N's much greater signal strength appears to overwhelm these neighboring networks.
According to the IStumbler application on my Mac laptop, the AP-N's received signal strength inside the house is typically about -45 to -50dbm, with a -82 to -87dbm noise floor. My Mac's Airport signal strength meter is always showing 5 bars of received signal strength as I walk the interior of the 8500 +/- square foot house. The neighboring networks have about a -72dbm strength, with a similar noise floor of -82 to -87dbm, as measured the IStumbler application. The AP-N appears to have a 20+ dbm signal strength advantage over the E4200 on the transmit side and the two 6 dbi gain antennas also seem to help with reception of weaker wifi signals from my laptop, computer and two networked DVD players. My Mac's Airport signal strength meter is always showing 5 bars of received signal strength, as I walk around the house and exterior grounds. Probably due to the increased receive sensitivity of the two 6dbi gain antennas, my local noise floor has increased from -92dbi to around -85dbi; the increased receive sensitivity and transmit power seems to more than compensate for the increased noise floor.
If the AP-N proves reliable and its throughput performance holds up over time, it will have solved all of my large property wifi signal problems. It is a little tricky to setup compared to my previous wifi routers, but so far, I am very impressed. I will provide some more feedback as I gain experience with this unit.
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