Ubiquiti UniFi Business and Enterprise WiFi
In our previous articles, we've delved into WiFi networking, exploring topics like Optimal WiFi Router Placement and What Is Mesh WiFi. However, these discussions were primarily geared towards home users or small office/home office (SOHO) setups. In this piece, we shift our focus to Ubiquiti UniFi, a WiFi solution specifically designed for business users. We'll delve into the unique features and advantages of Ubiquiti UniFi, comparing it to other solutions we've previously covered.
How does Ubiquiti UniFi work?
Ubiquiti UniFi addresses large or multi-access point wireless networks using two methods: mesh and roaming. We have covered mesh in a separate article with the TP-Link Deco as our favoured solution for Mesh WiFi networks; with its simple setup and ability to easily expand but with limitations including line of sight between nodes, drops in performance if signal degrades between nodes and a higher likelihood of channel interference (especially in an urban or heavily populated area). Ubiquiti mesh works similarly, but users should know that you lose approximately 50% of throughputs with each "link" in the mesh. Whereas Ubiquiti's roaming approach achieves the same "seamless" wireless network as mesh, it does so by connecting each wireless access point/node back to a central Power over Ethernet (PoE) switch, thus negating the need for line of sight between each access point. Users will be unaware they are moving from one access point to another as they will always remain connected to the same wireless network (same network name and password). Roaming requires more time to set up with ethernet cables run between each access point and the PoE switch with additional configuration to set gain, power, and channels to optimise roaming by ensuring a smooth transition between access points whilst minimising the possibility of co-channel interference.
Designing & planning your WiFi network
As with any network, planning is crucial as understanding the size of the area to be covered, the layout of the deployment area (number of buildings, number of floors, materials of buildings), the number of devices/users and the type of applications that will be utilised will enable you to more accurately design your network and ensure you purchase the most appropriate equipment for your network. When designing a wireless network, it is also vital to perform a site survey to confirm details you may have collected during the planning stage and to perform a scan of the deployment area(s) using an application such as WiFiman to check for other wireless networks and understand how they may impact your future wireless network. If you already have Ubiquiti hardware, you will likely have access to the Ubiquiti Planning Tool, which allows you to draw or import a floor plan of your deployment area and overlay it with UniFi products to visually design your wireless network and work out which UniFi products are going to provide the best solution for your WiFi network.
Even a well-designed and planned WiFi network does not guarantee a perfect wireless experience. Several local factors, such as environmental and other wireless equipment, can cause interference, so an additional survey should be conducted after deploying your wireless network. An after-deployment survey typically repeats steps taken during the pre-deployment phase but with the addition of testing your new wireless network with typical user devices to ensure that your wireless network is working correctly and typical applications work well. Adjustments to configuration will likely be required at this stage to optimise roaming and stability. As with any network, wired or wireless, ongoing maintenance is essential to ensure continued smooth operation, and Ubiquiti UniFi controllers allow for local and remote administration of your wireless network, enabling you to adjust settings such as gain, power, and channel allocation to overcome issues such as instability or interference. The biggest variable that can impact a wireless network is user devices, and careful, or at least periodic, monitoring is required to ensure that your network is fully optimised for best user experience. In some situations, you can control which devices users can utilise and configure your network accordingly. In most cases that will not be possible, and you will likely need to adjust settings to optimise for 2.4GHz and 5GHz devices to ensure that older devices, or those with weak signal, do not impact other users and overall network performance.
In summary, for robust and reliable business WiFi networking, we would recommend Ubiquiti UniFi, which uses roaming for a seamless wireless network experience. It is important to carefully design and plan your business wireless network to ensure that you purchase equipment capable of supporting your requirements and that you correctly deploy equipment for the best coverage and user experience.