Straight to the point, can Unifi devices work through a PointToPoint Wireless link (Ubiquiti or not) with additional Unifi devices after the link?
Backstory: I had a new customer who operates a marina reach out to me with all the wireless issues they were having. They are having terrible signal out by there dock which is served by a Point-To-Point (PTP) link from the main building followed by an enclosed case with a home router in it.
The customer complained of slow speeds on there boats and the inability to stream Netflix. Web browsing has been OK or at least they don’t notice the issues like when trying to stream vvideos.
The marina has a 300mbps internet connection coming into the main building. I checked the PTP link and its actually showing 800mbps, roughly 250ft from the main building - so this looks fine. When I physically plug a laptop into the port on the existing router plugged into the receiving PTP link I get the full 300mbps internet speed they are paying for (tested via speedtest, fast.com, speedtest.xfinity.com). However if I connect to the wireless with a laptop, phone, or tablet even standing right next to the router I only get 50mbps. I don’t see any restrictions set in the router. This router is in the middle of the dock and there is roughly 100’ on either side of the router where boats may be. At this time of year its pretty clear with very few boats. If I go to the end of the pier (owner) at 100’ I get a connection of roughly 30mbps if I am standing on the boat deck or roughly 15mbps if I am inside with the door close. The deck speed seems okay but is slightly sluggish (jitter about 100). Inside the jitter increases to roughly 400 and you can tell the connection stinks. It is sluggish but can’t keep a steady netflix stream going and HD won’t play only SD.
Long story short, my thinking was to completely change the home routers at the beginning of the system replacing with a Ubiqutity dream machine or dm pro with a poe swith and ap for the head end. Then into the existing ligowave ptp link. Following the ptp link i’d like to place another unifi poe switch and then spread multiple unifi aps down the dock.
Will unifi gear work through the ptp link? I am guessing no… If not I could setup a whole additional controller, switch, aps after the ptp but i’d like to keep this setup as simple as possible while providing rock solid coverage.
I am not sure what you are asking. It sounds as if you are asking if your UniFi devices will still work if your PTP devices are not Ubiquiti products?
I wish I could say definitively but it seems to me once the the PTP links are configured tthey should. Your PTP links are after all, purely bridged network connections.
I have mixture of UBNT products and other non-UBNT products all sharing the same network, I haven’t added PTP to the mix yet but I was actually working on trying to fix a building to building link a shop owner was using WiFi for (admittedly a poor idea on their part but what can you do…), the topic of PTP/MPTP link tech came up. I have proposed PTP links to various businesses, they haven’t taken me up on it yet, they are stuck on the idea of WiFi doing it when it’s not really ideal or designed for the uses they have in mind.
If you are asking would mixing UBNT PTP radios with off-branded PTP stuff, can’t say one way or the other on that, but i’m just going to venture a guess it’s unlikely.
UI has released new PTP & MPTP link technology and has new tech for this in their beta shop, that are using brand new radio’s for improved signal and network speeds.
The LTU PRO is one of them, they moved to new radio architecture and are not using WiFi radio tech (this is what they say). There is a few more PTP items still in the beta store that have not reached public stages yet that also employ new radio tech with improved abilities.
The real question I am asking is would all of the Unifi functionality work through the link? Meaning any items placed after the PTP link (like a unifi switch, unifi aps, unifi cameras) still be viewable, updatable, configurable, etc by the unifi main controller?
I don’t plan on mixing PTP link equipment but I am trying to not have to replace the PTP link if possible. If the answer is that the non-unifi link won’t allow everything to unifi would replacing it with something like the nanobeam allow unification?
It sounds like you have most of your answer. My main question would be if your PtP gear will pass vlans or not. This would only matter if you are planning on splitting anything out on that leg of the network.
As I mentioned, PTP is simply a bridged network segment and i’ve already confirmed that Unifi functionality works in a mixed network so the management and other stuff will transfer through the bridged connection.
I have many out there…Unifi switches and APs…and “CANs” (campus area network) utilizing airMax and airFiber radios to run those invisible network cables between the buildings. Yes they make it just a flat network. …same subnet. Think of them as just invisible network cables. All Unifi equip should run just like a regular LAN…which really…it is.
I have done exactly what you are talking about in a couple different locations and it works great. I usually use the M5 LOCOs and from there have Unifi gear on both sides of it without issue. One location has been doing that for 4+ years!
Those are really nice. I’m just not sure if the Unifi dashboard integration is worth the extra money over the GigaBeam. Not sure if there’s a performance difference or not.
The gigabeam is for much longer range I think, the UBtBB max out at 500 meters.
The UBtBB also have an external status indicator that shows when they are aligned, may not be worth much to most but it makes it faster to set them up.
What range do you use the gigabeam for?
I had considered possible uses for the LTU lite but UI says I should pick something else when I asked about distances of 2000 feet or less.
I can’t find a data sheet on the GigaBeam, but what I did find makes it look identical to the bridge. So, it looks like a Unifi vs Edge thing to me. The GigaBeam has the same three light signal indicator that is on the rest of the AirMax line.
I haven’t used them yet, but I’d use them the same as the AC locos for building to building links. I think my longest range is maybe 100 yards in any of my deploys.
I can tell you for sure that yes you can see the unifi stuff on the other side, I have an old TPlink PtP between my barn and house because the kids broke my fiber. I have unifi ap and controller in the rack in the barn and another AP in the house, I will say at lease for my TP link PtP it will not play nice with VLANs. I had to put it on a flat network and then on the rack side I plugged it into an untagged port in my router. I ordered a power beam to replace the TP Link so I will let you know how it does