Best Way to Setup Wifi in Your House
Getting the All-time WiFi Functioning With Your UniFi Network
eleven Jan 2021
I was quite surprised recently when I ran a quick Speed test on my iPhone 12 Pro on my UniFi network. I regularly monitor the speed test inside the UniFi controller and ensure my WiFi is looking skillful across my devices, but I rarely have the need to do a speed test on my WiFi every bit it always seemed pretty rock solid.
I had previously come from the UniFi USG-Pro four simply migrated across to the UniFi Dream Machine Pro. By and large because I am a fanboy and can't resist something new, but mostly because of the UniFi Protect element (I was pretty much forced to motion across in i way or some other by UniFi). My ii Nano Hard disk Access Points, along with a Unifi Mesh Access Point are wired straight to my UniFi Switch 24 POE. My Unifi USG Pro 4 had always given me nearly perfect WiFi speeds which is why I thought things would not take changed that much. That was until I returned 120mb out of a potential 350mb which is supplied by my Internet service provider, Virgin Media. A quick speed test on the controller let me know this was not an Internet access provider matter. It was a me thing!
With the sort of investment I had fabricated in to my UniFi setup, I expected much amend than what I was seeing so I decided information technology was time to optimise my WiFi network. That fashion I could see what had gone wrong and where.
Turns out id been pretty lucky upwards to now with my WiFi performance. I happen to live in a not so congested area with little interference from nearby properties. The just issue I ever seemed to face was my Heaven Q mini box not connecting to my Sky Q box which turned out to be related to the Intrusion Prevention System. I never did figure that 1 out.
After searching around the cyberspace for hours, I establish a few good sources to help me and I wanted to share my findings with yous in the promise information technology helps someone else out to. In this guide we will wait at setting upward a UniFi network to get the best WiFi operation across all of your devices and creating a carve up network for your IoT devices. Although this has been written based on my UniFI setup, the principles remain the same for nearly other UniFi setups.
Steps
i. Check Your Access Points positions
Information technology is vital that you accept positioned your Access Points in a good position for the optimal coverage and range. Walls, windows and doors tin all touch on the range of your access points, and then there is no one size fits all solution.
For the Unifi Nano Hard disk Admission Signal, the best placement is in the heart of the ceiling somewhere key in your house. If you can, try and place at least one admission point on every floor. I have ever worked to the rule of not placing them directly on elevation of each other (or parallel) on different floors. I understand it is not proficient for coverage only please don't quote me on that. Information technology'due south just something I take always done. I placed my UniFi Mesh Access Point on the exterior of the house on the roof to give me WiFi access in the front and back garden. In case you didn't know, UniFi and I have very different opinions of what outdoor ways, so delight have the name "outdoor" with a pinch of table salt. I risk them outdoors and they have been fine so far, yet, I take heard many other stories otherwise.
Once you lot have establish the perfect spot yous tin can then endeavor and use a WiFi Analyser app to test your WiFi signal. There are many dissimilar apps out in that location. I tend to use a range of different ones which are not charging at that time. This will let you know the strength of the signal you tin receive at that point. Don't forget to endeavor both ii.4GHz and 5GHz networks.
ii. Create A Separate SSID And WiFi Network For Your IoT Devices
If you have IoT devices, it is best to give them their own WiFi network. This is not only great for isolating them on your network should you take whatever security concerns, it also keeps them interfering with the network yous can assign for devices which y'all want to give a college priority to.
IoT devices merely tend to require admission to the 2.4GHz range of channels and so it'south a good idea to only transmit your IoT network on this frequency merely. This volition stop your device trying to access the 5ghz network for any reason.
In one case y'all take optimised your network, I strongly recommend that you look at setting up a VLAN on your IoT network for security purposes. I have not covered that in this guide but I am sure I will come back and look at VLAN's later.
3. Setup Your Optimised SSID WiFi Network
When information technology comes to setting up your optimised WiFi network, you volition need to decide whether yous are going to circulate the same SSID (proper name of your WiFi network) on both the two.4ghz and 5ghz bands equally 1 or as split names such as "Your Wifi 2.4G" and "Your Wifi 5G" or, If yous, like me, just cheat and use band steering to combine the SSID as "Your WiFi", you volition need to check you are on the correct channel later before testing your WiFi speed.
I have always combined the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels as I apply a separate network for my IoT devices every bit mentioned earlier which avoids the ii.4GHz only devices trying to get on to my 5GHz band.
4. Scan Your RF Environs
It is important to find out what other activeness is in and around your network. Interference can be ane of the biggest issues with WiFi. A channel simply has so much width to conduct information, so if yous and a neighbour are both using the same channel, it is likely it will become very congested at fourth dimension. A Network Scan volition requite yous an overview of your surrounding network at that moment in time.
I am quite lucky where I alive as I practice not have a large build upward of properties effectually me. If you alive in an apartment building or in a city with a large build up of nearby properties, it is likely you volition find your channels more congested. Run scans at different times of the day to see if there is a consistency on the channels with the least congestion.
Make a note for later on to set these channels up.
5. Turn UniFi And Network Services Off
Services such as the Intrusion Prevention System and Auto Optimise Network settings being enabled can interfere with your network speed. To go a attempt reading of your network, turn off any advanced settings or services inside your controller to ensure you are testing your network from a expert starting bespeak. These include:
· Band Steering
· Intrusion Prevention System
· Intrusion Detection Arrangement
· Auto Optimise Network
· Avant-garde Features
Once you have optimised your network yous can and then turn on and optimise those services. Some services may slowdown your network and y'all will demand to make up one's mind the balance of the service versus your fastest speeds.
vi. Run another network scan (optional)
If yous live in a built-upward surface area, you may wish to practice another network scan in case there are any changes to the surroundings. This will help y'all meliorate choose the channels for your admission points.
Running a 2d network browse volition give you two snapshots of time to see if there is anything different between the two tests.
vii. Setup your channels and frequency
At present it'south time to look over your network scans and select the least congested channels bachelor. At that place are some important factors to consider here.
ii.4ghz Band
In the two.4 GHz band, i, half dozen, and eleven are the only non-overlapping channels. Selecting one or more than of these channels is an important part of setting upwards your network correctly.
Each aqueduct on the ii.4 GHz spectrum is 20 MHz broad. The aqueduct centres are separated past 5 MHz, and the entire spectrum is simply 100 MHz broad. This means the 11 channels have to squeeze into the 100 MHz available, and in the terminate, overlap.
Channels 1, half-dozen, and xi, however, are far plenty from each other on the two.4GHz band that they accept sufficient space between their channel centres and exercise not overlap. While choosing channels 1, 6, or xi will mean you take to share the channels with other networks (co-channel interference), it is a much ameliorate choice than dealing with next-channel interference that occurs with all the other channels.
Equally a rule of thumb if y'all accept less so 3 Admission points, you will want to utilize the channels furthest apart such as channels one and 11. If you are using more than iii Admission Points, then yous are going to want to use the same channel as the furthest Admission Indicate away from your ivthursday one to avoid crossover and interference.
ii.4GHz Transmit Ability
I tend to employ a low Transmit Power for the 2.4GHz channels only y'all can also use Medium.
2.4GHz Channel Width
HT20
5ghz Ring
Unlike 2.4GHz, 5GHz has 24 non-overlapping channels which offers united states a lot more than infinite. UniFi recommended channels 36 and 44 with the option of channels 149 and 157. It is best to avoid the DFS channels where you lot can as not all devices play well. Similar the 2.4GHz, it is important you use the least congested and furthest away channels where you lot can. Unlike the 2.4GHz channels, 5GHz channels do non overlap equally much.
5GHz Transmit Power
Typically, its all-time to aim for a medium to loftier setting on the Transmit Ability.
5GHz Aqueduct Width
HT40 or HT80 are the best I have constitute. HT160 seemed to send things a piffling crazy at times for me personally.
The in a higher place is a good base line only it is of import to recollect that anybody's environment volition be slightly different and may demand tuning slightly differently for the best results.
8. Run A Speed Test On Your WiFi Networks
Now is the moment of truth. We need to test both the 5GHz and the ii.4GHz WiFi speed of your network. Requite your network a little fourth dimension to settle downward before jumping straight in. You can endeavor in different locations to ensure you lot are reaching different Admission Points. If you have positioned your Access Points correctly, you lot should be getting a good WiFi signal beyond.
You can bank check which admission betoken and which band and channel your device you are testing with has been assigned by going to your controller and clicking into your device in that location.
Personally, I use the UniFi WiFiman app likewise as Speedtest by Ookla to compare the differences reported dorsum from the unlike servers. Call up the speed is merely every bit ever as good as the device beingness used to test the speed. To reach the full potential speed, your device too needs to be capable of treatment it and have the engineering built in to take it. Endeavour a few different devices in the aforementioned locations.
Its likewise important to notation, the further away you are from your Access Points, the slower the speed equally the strength downgrades as the signal travels further away.
If you are not happy with the performance, it may be a good idea to recheck your settings or analyse your WiFi network over again and cheque that aught has changed on the selected channels.
Remember that 2.4GHz will naturally requite you lower speeds than the 5GHz bands.
9. Plough Back On UniFi Services You Wish To Use
Once you are happy with the speeds you are achieving, its time to turn back on the services which you want to use on your UniFi network. Every bit y'all switch each back on, give it a few minutes to load and test your network over again. Some services have bigger impacts than others on the WiFi and throughput of your device.
These services include:
· Ring Steering
· Intrusion Prevention System
· Intrusion Detection System
· Auto Optimise Network
· Avant-garde Features
Yous should now have the best WiFi settings for your UniFi Admission Points. It is of import that you consider and examination the placement of your Access Points in your ain environment. Also shut to walls or having to penetrate through thick walls volition all touch on your WiFi operation. Ensure you are not fighting for aqueduct bandwidth and optimise your settings by using channels every bit far abroad and that do not crossover. Well equally much equally you can anyway.
If you would similar advice specific to your own setup, visit the Proptimise shop to see our range of one to i back up services or contact our team today.
Source: https://proptimise.co.uk/Latest/Networking/Getting-the-Best-WiFi-Performance-With-Your-UniFi-Network
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