Replacing My UniFi Wireless Access Points with Grandstream!
I recently replaced my 3 UniFi WiFi 5 wireless access points with 3 Grandstream access points (2 WiFi 7 and 1 WiFi 6).
In theory, swapping access points and using the same SSID/password should make the transition seamless. However, I also decided to consolidate from 4 SSIDs to a single SSID by using PPSK so I could still put clients on different VLANs. The great thing about using PPSK is that I can essentially put devices on any of my VLANs without needing to have a fixed, limited number of SSIDs by creating a key (password) per VLAN. It is more flexible and doesn’t pollute the WiFi radio spectrum like having multiple SSIDs broadcasting on different channels.
However, I encountered a few issues, one of which was my fault for not ensuring everything was up to date. I discuss the unexpected issues and how I resolved them in this video.
Just like when I was first learning how to configure my UniFi APs, I had to learns the various in's and out's of configuring the Grandstream APs as well as determine the configuration which works best for my physical environment where I am running the APs.
Once I worked through a few issues, I am pleased with the outcome since I am able to get 200-300 Mbps more throughput (even on just the 5GHz spectrum on my WiFi 6 clients) and increased range. I had considered getting 2 outdoor APs for the front and backyards of my house but now coverage is good enough I may not need to invest in outdoor APs! I still have one spot on the far corner of the yard where the signal drops sometimes but I don't believe it's enough to warrant the need for an outdoor AP.
Affiliate links:
Grandstream GWN7660 AP: https://amzn.to/3EhqXwt
UniFi nanoHD AP: https://amzn.to/4cEGN0A
Non-affiliate links:
Grandstream GWN7670 AP: https://www.ipphone-warehouse.com/gra...
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:10 Disclosure
02:45 Mounting the access point
03:43 Swapping APs should be easy, right?
04:58 Problems encountered
06:17 Discovery of the issue
09:01 Working but poor performance
10:45 Lessons learned
13:18 WiFi has been functioning well!
EP70
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