UbiquitiNetworks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point (UAP-AC-PRO-US), Single,White

I am so glad I bought this over the rival product I was considering. My aging DIR-655 which was only 802.11n 2.4GHz only was crashing every so often. While that wasn't catastrophic because I was only using it for 2.4GHz WiFi and not routing (I have my own router that I will not give up, ever). I also needed to supplement this with a cheap $20 802.11ac upgrade mini AP. But this AP had certain limitations that made it just an interesting gimmick. Being 802.11ac, it was capable of speeds in excess of 100Mbps under ideal circumstances, but it's single ethernet uplink port being Fast Ethernet only (100Mbps) made it cap out wireless speeds in total to just under 100Mbps. Also it was 5GHz only, so only my most expensive or more recent devices could use it (but that was ok, because I bought it mostly for my phone and my wife's phone). But being "mini" it's builtin antennae had horrible range (on top of the already known limited range of 5GHz compared to 2.4GHz). So while when the main WiFi crashed, my Internet was still usable to the wired devices and my phone, it got annoying that the kids constantly asked me why I shut the WiFi off, when I hadn't.So I started looking into replacing both units for a single newer, faster, and more reliable unit. I had worked with much older (802.11g only) versions of these several years ago at a job where they bought some upon recommendations a coworker and I had made. While I was not the one who ended up setting them up I was pleased with the overall operation and range. So naturally I've always remained interested in them, but they were always too expensive for me to justify buying them for personal use.But now a friend recommended Google WiFi, which did a similar 3 AP setup. I also liked that I could just buy one. But then I realized I could buy just 1 of the Ubiquiti Unifi. And both turned out to be 802.11b/g/n/a/ac. And both were priced the same (within a $1 of each other when I bought this). Though the Google WiFi claimed a SUBSTANTIALLY higher range than the Ubiquiti Unifi (though that claim was also WAY higher than many other wireless routers that were believable so it was immediately suspect). I read many recent reviews that did say the Google WiFi had awesome range (though nothing likely close to the 3x difference compared to this unit). But one thing the reviews all agreed upon is that despite the range, it was NOT the fastest wireless single they tested in a group of mesh systems.What killed it for me was when I did more research it came out that the Google WiFi systems are actually a router and while it is capable of being put into what they call "bridged" mode, where it essentially behaves just as a regular Access Point only WiFi device with no routing functionality... You end up loosing most of the cool functionality they show in the videos. That made it pointless, as being a Systems Engineer by profession, I demand more control of my systems. There was also the uncool tendency of Google just abandoning a project they feel isn't worth it anymore for them (either it's not making them any money or who knows, maybe they just lost interest). While I've had a great experience with my two (1 first gen, 2nd newer) Chromecast, I've had other Google products that become fundamentally defunct due to Google choosing to no longer support them way before I feel I am done with the device. And something like my WiFi I typically buy and it gets used for 5 years or so, I wasn't comfortable with the very real possibility of Google abandoning it just because THEY felt it was too old, before I felt the same way.So I pulled the trigger and bought one of these instead of the Google WiFi. After receiving it and setting it up, I have to say I couldn't be happier. Google WiFi may be a great product, but I feel it's more for the typical "hipster" masses than for an Engineer like me. I will definitely say that while the Ubiquiti Unifi isn't enterprise Cisco type of complexity to setup, but it is definitely more advanced than your average person who doesn't consider themselves computer savvy. While this does require software to setup and run these APs, it is different in that it runs more as a server software that can be made to run all the time to control these. However, it gives you the flexibility to install this anywhere you want, so you don't have to have it installed as a piece of server software on your desktop, and maybe install it on a file server you may have on your network if you prefer (I'm thinking of doing it on a raspberry Pi myself). Also the software doesn't need to be running all the time for the AP to function, just to make changes, or do monitoring of the APs. So for now I just fire it up when I need to make a change.Range. I don't know if the Google WiFi would have really blown this thing out of the water, but all I can say is, for me, for what I wanted, this thing gets 5 stars in range, definitely better than my previous setup. I get signal throughout my whole 1100sqft apartment.Speed. I finally get the full speed of my 150+Mbps Internet connection even from a room or two away on the WiFi!!! That previously required a wired connection to do! 5 stars here again. I am definitely impressed at this point.Configuration options. Again, this thing is in between enterprise and home office, definitely more advanced than the typical unit, but not so daunting that I believe even tech savvy types could easily figure out most things. If you don't understand computers much, then yes, this is not for you. It has plenty of options, and flexibility in how you set it up, that it empowers you to set your network up as you see fit to fit YOUR needs. Not what most companies believe you do with your computers/devices.In the end I literally have ZERO complaints about this thing. I am super ecstatic I went with this instead of something else possibly even more expensive offering functionality I didn't even really need. More than highly recommended if you really just need a good high quality Access Point.

Excellent WiFi AP and SDN product, and far better than anything else I've used for the price and the software quality after some playing, and an initially annoying setup. But I still give it 5 stars despite that, because everything has worked beautifully since then.TL;DR: If you want excellent WiFi -- buy one of these.This thing supports dual 2.4/5G and 802.11ac and has extremely powerful radios, so it is an excellent choice for a modern home network -- for example, using Sonos devices for streaming high quality audio with no lag. The 5G range is very nice. It also has excellent range in general - the base model has a range of up to 400 ft, and the more recent devices support 802.11ac up to 1Gb/s. On my iPhone with ~300mb/s from my ISP, I can only get about 120mb/s from my phone, while my hard wire gets 300mb/s - but I imagine this is likely more a limitation of the iPhone 6's 5G radio than anything else.The actual software used to manage the device is quite good once working, and relatively advanced for such a well-priced consumer product. So if you're a power user, you'll probably like it a lot. They run Linux, so you can SSH in. It supports multi WLAN groups, and multi SSIDs per WLAN group (a WLAN group being a group of up-to 4 SSIDs, all connected directly to the same subnet), plenty of options for configuration, customization of per-radio settings, mapping support for your physical location (although this functionality is weak, as it doesn't do actual mapping, it instead lays an RF scan over your floor plan), band steering to 5g (with 'prefer 5G' and 'balance 5G vs 2.4G' settings), and more. It also allows 'mass provisioning' and automated rollout of networks to new devices. If you already configured your first wireless network on one device - just plug in a second one on the same network, let the controller find it, adopt the device, and it will automatically push your pre-configured networks to the device and turn them on. If your mobile devices support sensible WiFi roaming for networks with multiple APs, the net result of this is a "plug and play" effect where you just turn on the device, the controller initializes it, and now your devices will magically roam among the most powerful APs as you wander around. Note that this roaming depends on the client being able to do this for you. It also has a lot of other features if you have UniFi switches, routers, or VoIP phones, along a similar line, though I'm not using those. The software is fully featured, and totally free. There's no license tiers locked features, which is great. It's also very well designed and fairly pleasing on the eyes, despite being a "rich" Web 2.0 internet application.They also support fancy names for your APs, which I like. I do enjoy naming them after NSA surveillance programs (PRISM, BULLRUN, XKEYSCORE, etc).But the setup was initially somewhat painful and roundabout for me, even as someone who's quite experienced.Note that to provision this you will need either A) a smart phone or B) a separate computer to run the UniFi Controller software. Option B is the only way to access more powerful features of the device, but casual users might not need this. Option A is a bit flaky on iOS at the time of this review - actual management features work once setup, but the initial setup of a new AP purely via iOS is a little broken. The developers have indicated they are actively working on this, and a new version of the iOS software will fix it. Android devices apparently work great.You also need a recent firmware for provisioning via phone, but any UAP-AC model should be OK. When I initially tried this -- first on an ordinary UAP, not an AC or PRO model -- the firmware was too old, and there was nothing to indicate this. So then I upgraded the firmware with the controller, factory reset it and tried again. It failed. So I inevitably gave up on my phone for the time being, and just set up a controller on my laptop to initially provision the devices. I then got a AC-PRO model, and just skipped provisioning via Phone and used the controller again. While I have hardware, running Yet Another Local Service on my home network is just another thing to maintain. But technically, you don't need to run the controller beyond the first setup, if you just want to "Fire and forget".But, if you want to go with option B, the UniFi Cloud Key is an excellent choice I've found. This will also allow you to log into the controller via any web interface or through your Phone and get the same features. Like I said - phone management works fine, but setup doesn't work so fine on iOS. So if you want the full features with a no-nonsense setup, for advanced users - this is a good way to go.This particular device is also standard PoE/PoE+ (802.3af/802.at) compliant - regular UniFi APs use Ubiquiti's proprietary 24V Passive PoE, which only UniFi switches support. If you want to avoid cable clutter like and already have a PoE+ like me, this is a big upsell. If you don't care, you're in luck - every UniFi AP, including AC and PRO models, come with a 24V PoE injector, so you can just use that. You can also buy Ubiquiti Passive PoE to 802.3AF Indoor Adapter for a few bucks, to get an in-line adapter and skip the injector.Generally after a week, initially marred by a painful and roundabout setup, I am extremely impressed with this AP, and will likely buy another one for my second story, so I will have the aforementioned roaming features.I am almost certainly going to recommend Ubiquiti for excellent WiFi devices now. My only hope is that they spend more time polishing the 'consumer' end-user features, like mobile phone setup, and making the UI a little easier to manage. It is absolutely suitable for anyone who is even moderately networking savvy, even a little, and definitely suitable for businesses, etc. So I'd easily recommend it to many friends. And I could recommend this to my sister, and probably would (because I'm willing to be her tech support) - but polishing off the "casual" usage points would put it from a "slightly hesitant" to "no brainer" to recommend to anyone.