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Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-Pro Access Point Review

£999,999.00 excl. VAT

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Review by Steve Clark

Date Added: Tuesday 05 February, 2013

I bought this to add experimentally to an existing hotel network which already uses the 2.4GHz UniFi APs with a view to futureproofing and at the same time improving WiFi coverage.

I added it in place of an existing 2.4GHz Access Point and although it has the same footprint as the older models the mounting plate is different - a 2.4GHz AP will latch properly onto the PRO mounting plate but not vice versa, so I had to swap over the mounting plate (though luckily the screw holes are in identical positions!).

From a network point of view it was added totally seamlessly and was quickly found and adopted by the UniFi controller which duplicated the SSIDs onto both the 2.4 and 5GHz frequencies Devices (which support 5GHz) seem to be able to roam seamlessly between 2.4GHz and 5GHz on different access points though there is nothing obvious that you can do to influence which frequency they connect to on the Pro (unless you start configuring different SSIDs for each frequency which kind of misses the point) - if it lives up to its promise though it should connect 5GHz devices seamlessly when the load dictates they will get a better service. In its operational state it has a lovely blue light making it something you almost want to have on display rather than hidden away - one thing though is in its non operational and start-up states it has a white light which you can't see easily in normal daylight (the 2.4GHz model has amber then green), so I spent the first few seconds worrying the thing wasn't working.

Another thing to note is it is "proper" PoE so 48v not 24v so it can't be powered by the 5 port Toughswitch.

It comes with a second Ethernet port for bridging with other devices though I haven't tested that.

It's also still a bit pricey which is why I've only bought one for the time being as a test so far - remember it is basically a pretty dumb box and you can get 3 of the 2.4GHz models for a smiliar price, so hopefully the price will come down soon. I've marked it down to average because of the price - it could really do with being one and a half times the price of the 2.4GHz model, not three times the price.

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