Best place to mount my Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC?

[winterwonderland]

my friend bought me a unifi ap ac for him to get better connection whenever he visits his house. that way, he will supposedly get better connection than what he does now with our current router tp-link archer c2 (that is in my house).

now, the questions i have:

1: where should i mount my unifi? on the 2nd floor or 1st floor so the connection gets to his place the easiest?

2: horizontal or vertical mount? unifi seems to be designed for ceiling mount, and that seems to be the preferred way to go so get to my friends place the best, yes?

both our houses are made in the 60-70s, so we got tree walls and not so much concrete. the distance between the unifi and my friends house is about 15-20m. here is a photo:


any tips/ideas?

 

[Aquinus]

I would get an external directional ubiquity AP just for his house if you want to do it right. You can try fiddling around with placement but, an antenna with a wave guide is going to be your best option and ubiquity has them if you're willing to pay for it (or maybe he would since he is using your internet. ) The only other option would be to try and mount the AP so the bottom of it isn't facing his house. That's probably the best you can really do without doing something special. You can turn up transmit power but, that doesn't make the transmit on his end any higher (which makes it look like a good signal but, his machine wouldn't be loud enough to respond unless he can control transmit power on his end.)

 

[Kursah]

Honestly, I'd do loose runs to test different positions and find which nets the best results. Though in reality, trenching, running Ethernet over, and installing the AP in his house would net the best results for the device you purchased.

I would bet mounting it so the dome faces his house will net the best results...though these devices are omni-directional, the dome-facing side will still have the most powerful range and signal. Minimize the amount of obstructions too.

Did you get the AC Lite, LR or Pro? The LR and Pro have a longer range...I generally recommend the Pro for a solid price/performance unit...but in most home situations the standard AC Lite is enough if you don't need faster AC speeds or 600ft rated range, where 400ft will suffice.

Keeping in mind this is an interior device only, you might try propping it up against a window facing your neighbor's house to see if that makes a difference, then set it on the floor at the corner of the wall facing down, and towards the neighbors house and test the signal.

There's an Android app called WiFI Anlyzer that is free, you can use it to test signal strength. That might also help you in testing. I do agree with @Aquinus that a directional AP might not be a bad idea here either, especially with an AP meant to be installed outside. The fewer obstructions to the signal the better.

I also recommend running the AP on a different subnet or using its guest isolation features to keep him off of your LAN resources while using the same subnet, works very well in a pinch when no VLANs are setup.

 

[winterwonderland]

I would get an external directional ubiquity AP just for his house if you want to do it right. You can try fiddling around with placement but, an antenna with a wave guide is going to be your best option and ubiquity has them if you're willing to pay for it (or maybe he would since he is using your internet. ) The only other option would be to try and mount the AP so the bottom of it isn't facing his house. That's probably the best you can really do without doing something special. You can turn up transmit power but, that doesn't make the transmit on his end any higher (which makes it look like a good signal but, his machine wouldn't be loud enough to respond unless he can control transmit power on his end.)

Honestly, I'd do loose runs to test different positions and find which nets the best results. Though in reality, trenching, running Ethernet over, and installing the AP in his house would net the best results for the device you purchased.

I would bet mounting it so the dome faces his house will net the best results...though these devices are omni-directional, the dome-facing side will still have the most powerful range and signal. Minimize the amount of obstructions too.

Did you get the AC Lite, LR or Pro? The LR and Pro have a longer range...I generally recommend the Pro for a solid price/performance unit...but in most home situations the standard AC Lite is enough if you don't need faster AC speeds or 600ft rated range, where 400ft will suffice.

Keeping in mind this is an interior device only, you might try propping it up against a window facing your neighbor's house to see if that makes a difference, then set it on the floor at the corner of the wall facing down, and towards the neighbors house and test the signal.

There's an Android app called WiFI Anlyzer that is free, you can use it to test signal strength. That might also help you in testing. I do agree with @Aquinus that a directional AP might not be a bad idea here either, especially with an AP meant to be installed outside. The fewer obstructions to the signal the better.

I also recommend running the AP on a different subnet or using its guest isolation features to keep him off of your LAN resources while using the same subnet, works very well in a pinch when no VLANs are setup.

Soooo in addition to this AC LITE that i have now, i should also go for an external ubiquity AP? *sighs* i forgot to mention that im already OVER my budget with the buy of this ubiquiti AC LITE (yes, we are in this together, so we're trying to not spend too much on this). which directional would be something that matches the AC LITE i've got now?

 

[eidairaman1]

2nd floor for umbrella effect, if necessary have a secondary router by a window. Closer to their home