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The original was posted on /r/ubiquiti by /u/GRedditD07 on 2024-01-23 15:08:00+00:00.
On another thread (and no need to get into this here) quite a few of us talked about the Unifi Dream Machine Pro/SE vs. Pfsense. Great discussion, lots of opinions, but for me personally I think I landed on the Dream Machine SE.
I have a rather nice set of those TP-Link Deco WiFi 6 routers at the moment, 3 of them in a mesh. I intended to flip those to access point mode and use them for now with the UDM setup.
But, one of the reasons for going with a whole new router/firewall setup is in part for security but also some additional features. One being that I want to run VLANs at least to separate IOT devices from my main network. But then I was thinking of having 1) a main network, 2) an IOT network, 3) an IOT secured network, and 4) a guest network. Things like door locks, etc. would be on the IOT secured network. Light bulbs and the like on the IOT network. My computers and phones and everything on the main network. Guests on the guest network.
Something that is totally foreign to me coming from the world of just buying a router/firewall/ap device and plugging it in is this idea you can have multiple SSIDs. I never even knew you could do that outside of a main and guest network. Furthermore, I am learning that with multiple SSIDs on one AP, you can in the UDM make it so for example IOT devices login to one SSID which channels into that VLAN. While my main network devices login to another SSID which channels into a different VLAN. I think I understand this right?
So that leaves me with a couple of questions here... 1) could someone help me understand which AP by Unifi can have multiple SSIDs and are those all a 2.4ghz and 5ghz network or what? (my main I want both if a device can't use 5ghz, but perhaps IOT it doesn't matter and 2.4ghz is fine) 2) am I correct on that I can not create more SSIDs in the UDM for the TP-Link mesh setup?
Finally, and I am sure this is a huge debate. But I always thought mesh was this big new thing that made traveling around the house seamless. But what I am learning is that the access points are highly regarded and used in very sophisticated setups, and mesh isn't really all that better. I guess I am thinking I have a 3,200 square foot house and the way it's built I need at least 2 APs but those 2 APs will certainly overlap quite a bit. I just want to be able to walk around home without an issue.