Ubiquiti UniFi 6 Pro Acces Point Wifi 6 AP 5.3Gbps 300+ clients (U6-PRO), dual band

Product Information

The Ubiquiti U6-Pro UniFi WiFi 6 Access Point is an indoor WiFi 6 AP with 5.3Gbps over the air speed and a 300+ client capacity. The U6-Pro is a dual-band WiFi 6 (802.11ax) access point that represents the next generation of high-performance wireless technology for home and enterprise users. Delivering blazing fast over the air speeds of up to 5.3 Gbps over its 5GHz and 2.4GHz channels, the U6-Pro will maximise the WiFi experience of any residential or office deployment. Plus, with its ability to support over 300 concurrent clients, the U6-Pro ensures reliable wireless coverage across even the most device-dense environments. The U6-Pro also marries power with ease of use through streamlined setup, configuration, and mobile-friendly management via the UniFi Network app. Key Features The AC-Mesh is an AC1200 Wi-Fi 5 AP that is getting old, but it’s still for sale and a valid option for new outdoor installations. The AC-Mesh comes with removable omnidirectional antennas, which can be replaced with any antenna that has RP-SMA connectors. The AC-Mesh can operated on standard 802.3af (15W) PoE, or with Ubiquiti’s 24V passive PoE. P 8 = Use 8 parallel streams. Without parallel streams, the default TCP window and buffer size of iPerf doesn’t always saturate a fast wireless channel. To maintain consistency I ran all my tests with the default window and buffer sizes, with 8 parallel streams.

The U6-Lite has an older 2.4 GHz radio, meaning it doesn’t deliver the benefits of Wi-Fi 6 for 2.4 GHz clients. The U6-Lite is an AX1500 class AP, with an 802.11n-era 2.4 GHz radio and a 5 GHz radio that tops out at 80 MHz channel width. The U6-Lite doesn’t support 160 MHz channels, unlike the U6-LR, Pro, and Mesh. They can all operate in DFS channels in the US, though. The throughput at 30 feet was 238Mbps up and 121Mbps downstream, but things get a bit problematic at 45 feet and farther. That because the attenuation shot up to 79dB and the throughput was barely decent, 43.9Mbps upstream and 12.7Mbps downstream. At 70 feet, I could no longer see the network, so it’s 0Mbps. Before reaching conclusions, I just assumed that it’s the fault of interference (which did ramp up after 30 feet) and it’s natural when using the 160MHz channel bandwidth on 5GHz. Now how reliable that Wi-Fi is across the whole home and whether there are dead spots is another matter altogether. If your home is large or spread across multiple floors, a single Wi-Fi router is just not going to cut it. But your ISP-provided router comes with just 1 Wi-Fi radio. There is a bump in the antenna gain of 0.5dBi for the 5GHz, while the transmit power is 22dBm as opposed to the 26dBm of the U6-LR, the platform is also different but is that enough to make a noticeable difference between the two models? There should be a difference, but I am not sure it’s going to be that steep, hence the small difference in terms of cost between the two models.One UniFied Network: Option to create one large wireless network across multiple APs that lets users seamlessly roam. The U6 Lite and U6 Mesh have comparable 2.4 GHz performance at various distances, but at 5 GHz the U6 Mesh is faster. UniFi is the revolutionary WiFi system that combines enterprise performance, unlimited scalability, and a central management controller. These access points have a refined industrial design and can be easily installed using the mounting hardware included. Benefits of our UniFi Cloud Hosting Service Statistics: Ubiquiti organizes and visualizes your network(s) traffic in clear and easy-to-read graphs. I explained my current home network in Zen and the Art of Home Networking. In that post I walked through my home network and why I chose the APs and locations that I did. I’ve used the U6-Lite, U6-LR, U6-Pro, U6-Mesh, and several other models and vendors. The differences aren’t always what you would expect from the spec sheet.

The U6-Mesh is my default recommendation for outdoor UniFi wireless networks. The AC-Mesh and AC-Mesh-Pro are still workhorses, and their superior antenna options make them better options in some situations. I’d still lean towards the U6-Mesh due to the higher performance with Wi-Fi 6 devices, but that’s just me. I don’t think there’s a big rush to upgrade from an AC-Mesh or AC-Mesh-Pro, but for new installs and upgrades the U6-Mesh is the new benchmark.Virtual Ubiquiti Controller software interface (no expensive WiFi hardware controller/switch needed) Yes, all the UniFi 6 Access Points support mesh networking. Can I use the U6 Pro or U6 LR outdoors? The UniFi Access Point (UAP) U6 family consists of 5 models: the U6 Lite, the U6 Pro, U6 Long-Range (LR for short), U6 Enterprise, and the U6 Mesh.

Before getting to the actual results, I need to mention that a PoE adapter or switch is mandatory, and I used the Zyxel XS1930 which was way overkill for a Gigabit connection, but I had it already installed from when I tested the EnGenius ECW336 (not that Ubiquiti actually sends me anything, let alone an Ethernet switch). So, as I did with the U6-LR, I used three client devices, one with a WiFi 6 adapter and two with WiFi 5 cards. Ubiquiti U6-Pro vs U6-Lr vs Zyxel WAX650S vs WAX630S – Long-term speed test – 80MHz – Upstream – 5 feet. The U6-Lite is the cheapest and least-powerful Wi-Fi 6 AP UniFi offers. It has the least range and performance, but it also has the lowest price and smallest size. It’s the same size (and uses the same mount) as the older AC-Lite and nanoHD. It is not dust or water resistant, and should only be used indoors. In any case, on the bottom of the Ubiquiti U6-Pro, there is a dedicated area carved into the plastic where you can find the Reset button and a single Gigabit Ethernet port which supports PoE (802.3af). Left: Ubiquiti UAP-AC-PRO. Right: Ubiquiti U6-Pro.Some other enterprise-level features that the UniFi WAPs provide are multiple SSIDs, VLANs, guest networks, and very high number of concurrent users (300+). Differences between U6 Lite vs Pro vs LR vs Mesh The U6 Lite has a 1.3 Gbps aggregate throughput, the U6 LR has 3.0 Gbps, the U6 Pro and U6 Mesh both have 5.3 Gbps. I suppose if we ignore the nanoHD, the Ubiquiti U6-Pro can be considered the WiFi 6 upgrade over the UAP-AC-Pro and that’s even more obvious if we put the two devices side by side. They’re pretty much identical not only from the design point of view, but they’re also the same size. Indeed, the Ubiquiti U6-Pro measures 7.76 x 1.38 inches or 19.7 x 3.5 cm (a tiny tiny bit larger than the UAP-AC-Pro) and, while the top section is plastic, the bottom is made of metal alloy. Left: U6-LR. Right: U6-Pro.

The Ubiquiti UniFi Prooffers simultaneous dual-band operation with 2x2 and 3x3 MIMO technology. It has a range of up to 400 ft and 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports.The UAP Prois faster than the standard UAP model, offering speeds of up to 300 Mbps in the 5 GHz radio band and up to 450 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz radio band. And, since the Ubiquiti U6-Pro supports 160MHz channel width, I tried to keep the interference to the minimum to see the maximum performance that the AP can reach. At closer range (5 feet), the QCN9024 is absolutely phenomenal, delivering an average of 934Mbps upstream and 625Mbps downstream. Ubiquiti U6-Pro vs Other WiFi 6 Access Points – 5GHz (80MHz) – 5 Feet – Upstream. The AC-Mesh-Pro is an AC1750 Wi-Fi 5 AP, offering more performance than the non-pro model. It doesn’t have removable antennas, but instead comes with high-gain (8 dBi) antennas built-in. The AC-Mesh-Pro is big enough that it could act as a lunch tray. It is harder to hide, but the additional antenna gain provide impressive range and performance. The AC-Mesh-Pro can operated on standard 802.3af (15W) PoE, or with Ubiquiti’s 48V passive PoE. So, I adjusted the settings to broadcast the signal at 80MHz and reconnected the WiFi 6 client device (AX200). As expected, the close-to-Gigabit speeds are gone, but the throughput is not bad. At 5 feet, upstream, I saw an average of 735Mbps, while downstream, it was 349Mbps. Ubiquiti U6-Pro – Wireless Test – 5GHz – WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 client devices – Upstream Ubiquiti U6-Pro – Signal Strength – 5GHz – WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 client devices – Upstream

I’ve seen this approach with lots of EnGenius access points, including the ECW230 and the latest WiFi 6E ECW336, and it works wonders for the heat management of compact access points. Ubiquiti still insists that their APs are suitable for outdoors, so there are no ventilation holes and you do get a silicone cover for the ports area, which means that the device will get hotter to the touch when it’s operational (due to the heat transfer), but there should be no risk of overheating. Ubiquiti U6-Pro Heat Management. For my next test, I tested from 3 different places in my house. I wanted to show the impact of distance from your AP on a typical 20 MHz 2.4 GHz or 80 MHz 5 GHz channel. The above tests were very close range, and were meant to show an absolute best-case scenario. These distance tests are more realistic, and the 15 feet + 1 wall results are more likely what you will see in typical use. As part of their AC Wave 2 lineup, the FlexHD offered a new enclosure, which resembles a tall, skinny Coke can. The FlexHD can be used on a shelf, mounted on a ceiling, or on a pole. The FlexHD can be used indoors or outdoors, and is generally a very _flexible_ access point. I’ve never had a FlexHD to test, but it should perform similar to a nanoHD, which I have tested.