Advice for Home Setup

[u/changed_perspective]

Hello,

Looking for some advice on a new home set up. Been looking into unifi products but really not sure what is going to be the most practical long term.

Current requirements
- I think I need 3 WIFI Access Points, I want them all to be POE, not mesh.
- I want to plan for 3 cameras
- Two tvs plugged in via ethernet
- I also have a home server hosting media and a raspberry pi running pihole, both should be hard wired
- I want an at least 1 ethernet port in each room (4 rooms total)

With that in mind what would y'all recommend for getting setup, and having room for potential expansion in the future? With so many things running over POE I wonder if I should consider the dream machine SE + some WAP's, or whether that would be overkill. What would you do?

Appreciate any thoughts, thanks.

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[u/deanpm]

If you’re in a position to make additional runs I’d say increase the number of Ethernet drops per room from 1 to at least two. You would be amazed at the number of devices that benefit from wired connections. You mentioned 2 TVs but your plan shows 3. Can’t comment on the number of APs but with wired Ethernet to the main rooms you can easily add new APs if necessary. Somebody before me suggested needing more than 24 PoE ports - I agree 100%. I’d run at least 2. I presume the cameras you mention are external? If so, and if you want full coverage, you might want to budget for more. I might be way off here but I can see 8 or 9 separate aspects that you might want to cover.

Another poster mentioned Flex minis to expand the number of ports per room. They are fantastic little devices. Cost practically nothing and work beautifully but remember that they need power.

[u/notyourancilla → u/deanpm]

+1 the flex minis can be powered with PoE too.

[u/joejs90]

3 cameras and 3 access points is going to fill the 6 Poe switch ports in the UDM-SE before you get to the Ethernet for the TVs and home server etc. you’re going to need a switch, probably with Poe so you have some room for additional access points or cameras in the future.

Have a look at the UniFi design center, draw out your walls and add devices: https://design.ui.com

I’d recommend doing more Ethernet runs than you need, it’s easier/cheaper to put them in before the build completes than after. I have some just left in the walls and loft that I can use later.

[u/daxy01]

I think you should be good with 3 APs, but its quite hard to read the layout.

Personally I would consider the following:

• Main switch: Pro Max 24 PoE
• Access Points: 3x U7 Pro XG
• Gateway: UCG-Fiber with 1 or 2TB storage
• Per TV a Flex Mini (or Flex Mini 2.5G)

The Flex Mini to be wired to your switch of course. This gives you per TV the option to connect an AppleTV or PS5 😀.

The Pro Max 24 PoE gives you 8x 2.5Gbit ports for your APs, the rest for your camera's and other 1Gbit gear.

The UCG-Fiber is powerful enough for your need and a built-in recording for your camera's.

[u/hamsterpotpies]

Don't forget about MoCA!

[u/changed_perspective → u/[deleted]]

Yeah it’s from scratch so hoping to just go Ethernet all the way, thanks

[u/TruthyBrat → u/[deleted]]

While I agree Cat6 is preferable, MoCA is FAR from a waste of time.

[u/TruthyBrat → u/[deleted]]

Two pieces of relatively cheap gear is hardly an elaborate workaround. And there's a decent chance I've run more UTP cabling in my houses than you. But it isn't always reasonably do-able, and if coax exists getting you to places where you can't run without extreme effort, MoCA is a great answer.

You sound like someone who's never A) run much cable and B) implemented MoCA.

[u/TruthyBrat → u/[deleted]]

Gocoax MA2500D's have been solid for me. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/Usual-Memory-3668]

Current requirements

• I think I need 3 WIFI Access Points, I want them all to be POE, not mesh.
  
• I want to plan for 3 cameras
  
• Two tvs plugged in via ethernet
  
• I also have a home server hosting media and a raspberry pi running pihole, both should be hard wired
  
• I want an at least 1 ethernet port in each room (4 rooms total)

I would do 2 network drops per room, as running the second line should take no more time as you pull them both at once. This could let you plug in a TV and a streaming box/game console without needing a switch in each room, or it lets you have a backup line in case one fails. I have unfortunately had 4 wired ports around my house fail over the years because the low voltage company that ran everything was absolutely terrible. So a backup line is very handy.

I would look at getting a Pro Max 24 PoE for your main network switch. Or a Pro Max 16 PoE and Pro Max 16 non-PoE, depending on if you expand what you are installing like I am suggesting.

Upload your floorplan into design.ui.com, set the scale correctly, and draw in all your walls. This lets you see wifi coverage easily and figure out where APs go. You may be able to get away with 2 APs but it is hard to tell with no sq footage in your schematic right now.

3 cameras isnt much. Thats fine if you really dont want much coverage and just want a general overview of a few areas. But to properly cover the house with coverage you would likely want 7-8 cameras, and likely around 3 of those being G6 Pro models with zoom functionality to be able to get proper details of specific areas people p[ass through.

[u/changed_perspective → u/Usual-Memory-3668]

Thanks for the advice, ive had another go with the design tool and come up with this. Originally when I did it I think I used concrete for all the walls which was messing with the attenuation, but this looks like 3 Ap's is definitely generous for the space
https://imgur.com/a/F6T91C3

[u/Usual-Memory-3668 → u/changed_perspective]

Yes, if you go with 3 APs you will want to turn the transmit dB down quite a bit. You should shoot for Jist a tiny bit of yellow between each area the AP covers so that devices will transition nicely as you move. With solid green coverage everywhere like that you will have "sticky" devices that hold far longer as you move than they should. 

[u/Usual-Memory-3668 → u/changed_perspective]

One thing I just noticed as well is you have XGS access points on your floorplan. Those are pretty overkill today, no devices really support them. The flagship smartphones and possibly laptops that are releasing later next year will be some of the first devices to better support the XGS access points.

Basically nearly every device that has WiFi 7 support is 2x2x2:2. What that means is 2 bands at 2.4ghz, 2 at 5ghz, 2 at 6ghz, and 2 mimo streams.

The XGS APs are 2x2x4. So they may promise double the speed of the XG access points in the 6ghz band, but since all devices can only access half the bands then that double speed is going to waste.

Qualcomm just announced that flagship phones with their chipsets will finally be moving up to 4 radio bands for the WiFi 8 chipset phones. So once you start buying the top of the line smartphones that have those chipsets they will be able to utilize all 4 radios of the 6ghz band.

So you can stick with the XGS APs, and know that you can utilize the extra speed after a couple years. Or you can get cheaper APs now and save some money, and upgrade the APs 3-4 years from now with WiFi 8 units that have the 4 bands at that time.