Extend non Unifi network with Unifi Mesh

Networking & Firewalls
1

Hi Guys! I’m new here :slight_smile:

I am a newbie in the networking arena, so this would be a super basic question :man_shrugging:.

My father has a non Unifi router with built-in wifi that he uses. I would like to extend his network with a Unifi Mesh that I already ordered (the unit will be outside). We already ran a cable to the spot the Unifi Mesh should will be mounted.

My Q is - How do I make seamless transition (roaming?) between the two access points? I have read a simple act of giving the Unifi and the non Unifi the same SSID and Password should do the job. Is this the best way to do it?
What other options do I have and are there any specific settings I need to set in the Unifi controller?

Thanks a lot!

2

If they are both UniFi and both adopted to the same controller the devices should transition fine.

3

I don’t think you can do what you want to do, you might be better off with two SSIDs as you’ve wired your access points. When using a mesh system the bandwidth might be halved to communicate between the nodes, I tried to setup such things in the past but it was terrible then I wired up.

1 Like
4

Yes u could just use the same ssid and go from ther; but all the “change aps logic” will be done by the client and we never can trust the client;
The best thing is have 2 ssids;
Im my house i have 2 diferentes aps 1 i call office-wifi-blablabla and the other livingroom-wifi-blablabla

I did use some aps using the same ssid and had no problem but its the case of testing and see if it will work for u;

OR just buy one more ubiquit ap and set it up close to the non unifi router and disable the non unifi router wifi

1 Like
5

Thanks Guys! I guess I will be better off with two SSID for now. If we decide to add more AP’s we will make sure to but Unifi units so it all works seamlessly.

Thanks! :slight_smile: