Need help deciding what Unifi system to go with

Yeah, some older houses used a metal lath behind the plaster.

Yeah, I’d say start with the Lite, and if that doesn’t punch through the walls, go to the Pro and then the LR.

If none of that works, you have to use cables one way or another.

How many floors is the house? Can you put the AP in the attic? Unless there’s metal mesh in the ceiling, then that could help.

Getting your own router is a good idea, but not required. You can use the Unifi AP with your existing network.

Be sure to disable the wireless on the ISP box so it doesn’t compete with the Unifi.

Unifi products are controlled via Unifi Controller which is just an application you can download from their site. You should be able to get it working if you have a general understanding of networking.

If you get a Unifi router, you can control the router and AP from the Unifi Controller web gui.

The house has two floors, the main floor is a little more than 700 square feet, the upstairs is just under 620 square feet. I luck out on the main floor since the kitchen, dining room, and living room are basically just one big room, so there aren’t many walls to interfere with the Wifi signal. The biggest problem is upstairs which are just bedrooms, but there is a lot of that wire mesh behind the bedrooms plaster walls.

What I thought I might try is get a 4 pack of the Unfi lite, one for the main floor and three for the bedrooms upstairs, get a Unfi switch to deliver power and receive the data, replace the combo unit with my own modem and a Pfsense device to take care of routing and NAT functions. I have my mother almost convinced to let me add 4 to 6 discreetly hidden Cat 6 ethernet cable runs to connect the Unfi’s lite devices, which would be a hell of a lot easier than adding 4 drops per room. I would just drill a hole where I need to drop a wire. This seems to be the best solution. The only concern I have what is doing to keep the Unfi units from interfering with each other.

Ok I have decided, I am going to go ahead and purchase one Unfi long range ap, one Ubiquiti Network 8 port PoE+ managed switch, one modem, one Pfsens e firewall device, and 1000 feet of cat 6 Ethernet cable. Is there anything else I would need.

you are getting ends and tools for terminating these wires right?
Did you check and make sure that you can bridge your existing modem?
Also what are you using for hardware for pfsense?

Most older houses are easy to wire so I tend more to just CAT6 etc wire the rooms needed and just be done with it. The latest wireless is impressive on speeds I have not messed with them much. Only when at friends places. I usually just hard wire machines.

Yes I will be getting ends and tools, won’t be starting the work until after Easter. I still need to do some research and need to wait for my friend (who is a retired GE electrical engineer) to return for his winter home. My mother will let me add 4 drop back side of the house with his help. Basically he will just be supervising me and I will be doing all the work. My mother thinks it I try this DYI project myself I will end up electrifying myself. To answer questions about what I am going to use for my Pfsens e device I was thing of using either an Intel NYC or an Adam NUC.

Sorry about the mispelling and strange words I am Typing. this out on my tablet and I havent got the hang of the software keyboard yet.

Make sure the nuc has dual Ethernet ports

Yes I will and I will also make sure the CPU has
AES encryption on the chip.