Hey guys was doing some searching for outside access points and i came across this. I also saw that Wendell had recommended this to Linus back in the day. I may be a computer nut but like most of us i have a home to take care of. So most of my summer is spent outside doing yard work. Unfortunately I have Verizon so streaming music over that network is way to expensive so wifi out side it what i need. So i was wondering
Does anyone have one of these out side of there house?
Is the signal directional only out of the front or does it also radiate out of the rear of it?
About what kind of range should i expect without any walls to block the signal?
yes i know i need to run wire to it which is not a problem I've built my own cables for years.
If the water cant enter below it directly - direct rain/jet - than no further work is needed actually- just make it so that the ports are showing downwards so potential water will run off an wont collect :)
Depending on the make of the wall it will definitely =)
Its gonna be like 30 or so feet up in the air So it would take a massive hurricane to force water up into it. which doesn't happen in Central Mass but maybe once ever 20 years or so. I knew that the ports would need to be face down.
Just an old house built with big timbers and real 2x4's the wifi signals from my netgear nighthawk x8 is ok but not as good as i hoped. Its located in the basement 15 feet from my bed room but the drop off is incredible through the floor. I have an X6 in my garage but if this works i may move that into my living room and put one of these into my garage.
Ubiquiti also make outdoor APs that may be a better choice.
As for how well they work through walls, 5ghz isn't great (pretty standard for 5ghz) but 2.4 is pretty good, my neighbours across the road can pick up mine. I find on the ubiquiti stuff that even with low signal the speed and quality is still good, so an indoor AP may work okay for you depending on the area you want to cover.
I'd avoid doing this as they exhaust hot air (passively) through the top, I don't know about the new ones but the older ac ones generate a lot of heat.
I have the "normal" Unifi AP that only does 2.4 Ghz. It is mounted in the second floor of the house and it is behind a double brick wall that has an air gap in between. It has enough range to have great reception in the garden (the floor below it is worse because of the concrete ceiling).
You might want to try it mounted indoors, maybe it is strong enough (even though 5 Ghz has worse wall-penetration).
Ive worked with a bunch of these, and over long distances, you need somewhat of an open view, but in a suburban area, ive seen them go through two blocks of houses. As to how far backwards i do not know, in testing they can both aim away and work fine. ive never tested the rearward distance though :v If you get it weather proofed well, it should be fine in storms.
I checked the website before I answered. It seems that they discontinued the unifi outdoor AP as it is gone from the product page. https://www.ubnt.com/products/ that is why I did not recommend that anymore.
Thanks for all the info guys. My back yard isn't huge but glad to know i will have good coverage while i clean it up and cook outside all summer.
Because there are so many things in my house that use the 2.4ghz and 2.4ghz wifi around me i stick to the 5ghz. i live towards the center of a very small city in northern central Mass luckily i live next to a park. So ill be able to test it at a good distance.
I will have to order one of these soon and then i will post a full review of distance and speeds at those distances. so i'll apologize in advance when i bump this in a month or so. I want to get some time under its belt.
I know its an old forum page and Iām bumping this a year later. I just wanted to give an update on this.
I ordered and installed these about a year ago i put the UAP-AC-PRO on the back of my house outside. And a UAP-AC-LR in my garage. The one outside has been through beating sun poring rain and snow without a hiccup. The through put on these is amazing. With the one on the back of my house I get full wifi on my phone and laptop for 200 yards through and open park. With full speed transfers to my nas of 100mbps which is what i get on my wired tower to it also. My garage is attached to my house and with that one i now have full coverage in my house. The set up took a little to figure out but well worth it. If you have network cable run or your willing to run your own i highly recommend installing these. Being able to work outside while the kids play in the yard or down in the park was well worth the time it took to install these.