@bmork the reason why I'm leaning away from the two Ubiquiti options (UniFi 6 Lite and UniFi 6 LR) is because they are designed to be either wall-mounted or ceiling-mounted, and their production descriptions give the impression that their antenna patterns are significantly directional. Since I’m going to be placing the unit on top of a bookshelf on the first floor, and want essentially omnidirectional coverage from the unit, I am concerned that there will be coverage gaps in parts of the first floor and especially the basement.
Does anyone own either the UniFi 6 Lite or the UniFi 6 LR? Can you speak to its coverage patterns?
Since most recommendations seem to be non-OpenWrt APs, I'm looking at TP-Link EAP610 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G5H4XS2 specifically because they are cheap-ish ~$100 and I need a few of them since I'm going to put these on ceilings.
Though I agree overall with the TP-Link EAP615-Wall https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KYK1S9R/ recommendation and am quite a bit jealous, as not only is it ~$10 cheaper, but has PoE passthrough for daisy-chaining.
Maybe one day OpenWRT will support these. I can only hope, as I'm not a devleoper.
Follow-up: this has been powering a Linksys EA6350v3 acting as a dual-band access point and a managed switch for my living room; it's now at 67 days of uninterrupted uptime, absolutely stable.
While I did agree with you when that was written 9 days ago, the situation today is very different
We can now say for sure that the Unifi 6 Plus (U6+) WILL be supported.
The PR is not yet ready, but we do have full OpenWrt support for everything except Bluetooth in place. I am now using my U6+ with OpenWrt as access point in my home. The code I am using is here, along with installation instructions:https://github.com/bmork/openwrt/tree/u6plus-dev
@elbertmai will do more testing, clean up the mess I added, and fix proper attributions (he made much of this), before submitting the PR.
But although this is not yet finalized, I still believe the U6+ deserves a place among the currently recommended devices. It's a direct replacement for the U6 Lite in every way, including exterior and mount, only built on the much more modern MT7981 SoC and with ax support on both radios. This makes it more suitable as a 2023 recommendation.
FWIW, I bought mine because I needed another OpenWrt access point, not because I needed a development project. I was going to get another U6 Lite but was lucky enough that @elbertmai posted the specs of the U6+ just in time. I believe end users looking for a modern AP deserves to hear about this option too.
Wrt end users: Although still development code, using OpenWrt on the U6+ without console is perfectly safe. The installation method is similar to other Ubnt devices and it has the well known Ubnt tftp rescue mode - allowing console-less unbricking of anything but a messed up bootloader. I have tested and verified this recovery method several times. And unlike the U6 Lite there doesn't seem to be any IP address confusion (at least mine came configured with 192.168.1.20 as expected).
Confusing names, but the Pro is a recently supported MT7981 device worthy of a 2023 recommendation. The NWA50AX is MT7621 based and more of a yesterdays recommendation... Will be perfect if you have one or get one second hand. But if you consider new hardware, then it's time to move the MT7621 devices down on the list. We have better SoCs with great OpenWrt support now. Our recommendations should reflect that.
Personally, I don't see any reason to consider devices outside the mediatek/filogic target for a current OpenWrt router or AP. (switches and other special devices is something different, of course).
So AP-buyers are currently recommended to look for these MT7981/MT7986 devices, right?
Netgear WAX220
Ubiquiti UniFi 6 Plus (U6+)
ZyXEL NWA50AX Pro
On a sidenote: I recall having seen an extensive review of a MT7981 (or MT7986) based device that showed a much improved wifi coverage compared to MT7621 devices (especially through walls). But for some reason I can't find that review anymore...
Thanks all for the discussion! I keep checking in on DD-WRT wifi6 support, and now found that I could just switch over to OpenWRT.
I currently have a UAP-AC-LR with DD-WRT installed in my garage that I added to give better reception when in the front and back yards. But when gardening at in the corners of my yard I still experience reception issues; I don't get full disconnects but I do get video buffering and slow page loads. This is on my Pixel 5 which does not have wifi6, though I am due for a phone upgrade eventually.
Would I benefit reception/range moving from a UAP-AC-LR to one of the 3 latest recommended APs? And is any of them preferred for longer range applications?
Thanks!
