firewall

Connected Home

How To: Deploying a Ubiquiti UniFi Home Network including Multiple WiFi Access Points (Part 2)

Following are my recommended configuration changes for an optimized Ubiquiti UniFi home network. I use them in our home with a gigabit-speed Internet connection. To get the best results, you will need to tune your wireless home network. This includes accounting for neighboring networks, interference, the density of your APs, the number of your wireless clients and their idiosyncrasies in terms of wireless standards support. If you don’t use Sonos, IoT, or femtocell devices, some of these settings below may not be necessary for you. Continue reading How To: Deploying a Ubiquiti UniFi Home Network including Multiple WiFi Access Points (Part 2)

Mike Connelly
Connected Home

How To: Deploying a Ubiquiti UniFi Home Network including Multiple WiFi Access Points (Part 1)

For years, I have constantly upgraded and maintained our home network. While I embrace new technology solutions, I am not an IT administrator. Figuring out what is broken–and why–is often time consuming and aggravating. This is particularly true at home, where I lacked the necessary tools to view the health of our home network and to easily upgrade it. My wife would frequently tell me that “the Internet is slow” or “the Internet isn’t working”. In reality, something went haywire within our home network. Continue reading How To: Deploying a Ubiquiti UniFi Home Network including Multiple WiFi Access Points (Part 1)

Mike Connelly
Connected Home

How To: Optimizing Your Multiple Access Point, Wireless-AC WiFi Network (Part 2)

Managing a 4,000 square foot, multi-story home with over 50 connected devices taught me that most off-the-shelf WiFi advice simply doesn’t cut it. In this guide, I walk through how I set up three Netgear Nighthawk X4S access points across our home — covering everything from spectrum planning and channel selection in both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, to the exact router settings I use for security, guest networks, and QoS. Whether you’re dealing with coverage dead zones or trying to lock down your network against threats like KRACK attacks, these are the real-world best practices I’ve landed on after plenty of trial and error. Continue reading How To: Optimizing Your Multiple Access Point, Wireless-AC WiFi Network (Part 2)

Mike Connelly
Connected Home

How To: Optimizing Your Multiple Access Point, Wireless-AC WiFi Network (Part 1)

Mesh-network based, multi-unit WiFi access point solutions from Google, Eero, Luma, and other vendors are popular now. Compared to typical networking gear, they look unobtrusive, so you won’t mind placing the access points out in the open for maximum wireless reception. Mesh WiFi systems connect multiple units (nodes) to move data from the client to the router. If your goal is to fill in wireless dead zones with the minimal amount of installation effort (meaning no wire pulling), then this approach will give you the largest coverage but at the expense of throughput. Continue reading How To: Optimizing Your Multiple Access Point, Wireless-AC WiFi Network (Part 1)

Mike Connelly