To try and get better coverage than my single, 4 year old AC-Lite offers, I’ve been considering 1) moving to a mesh setup or 2) adding an additional AC-Lite. These Aruba AP are a great price and I could get 2 of them for not much more than a single new AC-Lite (won’t mix Aruba/UBNT, I found a bunch of comments on issues in that scenario). @JDM_WAAAT I read your write up. Can you offer a more direct comparison to the AC-Lite? Or a comment on moving to the Arubas?
I did some more research and these appear to be actually self managed (I don’t have run a dedicated management app/tool somewhere). Found a couple mentions about still being accessible even when the external WAN/ISP was down. In for 2. Hopefully, I’ll be selling an AC-Lite soon.
Yes, they do - and FWIW, Unbiquiti APs do as well.
Most of us run the Unifi controller in a docker container, but even if you lose internet access, your APs will continue to work.
edit: I’ll go one step farther, I’m not aware of an accesspoint that stops working with no internet.
I guess I set up mine up incorrectly then. The management software uses my UBNT website account for login. I was unable to login to check on the AP when our internet was down (was trying to trouble shoot connection issue inside the house).
For the record - in addition to not requiring a constant connection to a controller, Unifi APs can also be easily configured without any controller via the mobile app (which can also be used later to manage them on an as-needed basis).
Yes, if you set it up with a local account initially it’s independent of internet connection - though they do push the “Ubiquiti Account” auth on people in the initial controller configuration.
I followed the instructions that came in the box. Ran into a problem. Tried to fix it. I have since discovered that I have to start over to fix it and buy 2nd access point. The Aruba units present an attractive alternative option. It appears now that regardless of which I choose, I no longer am required to run the UniFi controller. I’m not a network guy, so the odds on me running across this piece of info were slim. If this was as available in 2017 (when I set them up) as it is now, I wouldn’t be adding this comment.