Chap. 5: Equipment

After deciding we were switching to CenturyLink, they came out and set up a modem and reconnected out telephone lines. With CenturyLink ready to be connected, my stepfather and myself decided it was time to finalize our decisions on what equipment we wanted to use for routers, access points, and switches. I wanted to get some help and second opinions on what to use. So, I and my parents went to A-I Computers in Watertown, SD to see what ideas we all came up with. Most of the equipment recommended was from the company Ubiquiti.

Equipment List from A-I -
UniFi Long-Range Access Point:
  Range – 600 Ft.
  Networking Interface - (1) 10/100/1000 Ethernet Port
  Ports - No
  Buttons - Reset
  Antennas - Dual-Band Antenna
  Power Method - Passive Power over Ethernet (24V)
  Power Supply - 24V, 0.5A Gigabit PoE Adapter
  Operating Temperature -  -10 to 70° C (14 to 158° F)
  Operating Humidity -  5 to 95% Noncondensing
  1 Unit - $109
  5-Pack - $499

UniFi Security Gateway:
  Networking Interfaces & Ports - (1) RJ45 Serial Port, (3) 10/100/1000 Ethernet Ports
  Max. Power Consumption  - 7W
  Power Supply - 12VDC, 1A Power Adapter (Included)
  Supported Voltage Range - 9 to 24VDC
  Operating Temperature -  -10 to 45° C (14 to 113° F)
  Operating Humidity - 10 to 90% Noncondensing
  1 Unit - $139

UniFi Switch 8:
   Power Supply - External AC/DC Adapter: 48V, 0.5A, 25W AC/DC Power Adapter Included
  Max. Power Consumption - 12W (Excluding PoE Output)
  Data Rate - 8 Gbps, Non-Blocking
  Operating Temperature -  -5 to 45° C (23 to 113° F)
  Operating Humidity -  5 to 95% Noncondensing
  (8) Gigabit Ethernet Ports
  (1) PoE Passthrough Port
  1 Unit - $99
  5-Pack - $480

UniFi Switch 8 60W:
  (8) Gigabit Ethernet Ports
  (4) Auto-Sensing IEEE 802.3af PoE Ports
  Data Rate - 8 Gbps Total, Non-Blocking
  60W AC/DC Power Adapter Included
  Operating Temperature -  -5 to 45° C (23 to 113° F)
  Operating Humidity -  5 to 95% Noncondensing
  1 Unit - $109
  5-Pack - $540

UniFi Mesh PRO Access Point:
  Range – 600 Ft.
  Data Rate - 1750 Mbps
  Omni-directional Super Antennas
  Antennas - 3 Dualband antennas
  Ports - (2) 10/100/1000 Ethernet
  Buttons - (1) Reset
  Operating Temperature -  -40 to 70° C (-40 to 158° F)
  Operating Humidity -  5 to 95% Noncondensing
  1 Unit - $199
  5-Pack - $975

UFiber GPON Wi-Fi Router:

  Data Rate - 2.4 Gbps Downstream and 1.2 Gbps Upstream

  24V passive PoE or a 24V, 0.5A power adapter

  (1) GPON WAN Port

  (4) RJ45 Gigabit LAN Port

  Wi‐Fi

  1 Unit - $69

They created a map design on what equipment should be placed where and how the range should look.

*Red boxes mark buildings.
*Green hexagons mark spots where equipment may be installed (this includes routers, switches, wireless access points, and outdoor wireless gear as well).
*Blue lines are straight-line cable runs.
*White circles indicate indoor wireless signals, not-to-scale.
*Cyan gradient indicates outdoor wireless signals. The teal outline is the maximum range as described for the access point (600 feet).

We hope to have most, if not all, equipment ordered and shipped by the middle of the week this post is "posted".