WiFi Speed Test Comparison UniFi U6-LR, Omada EAP653, and Alta Labs AP6 Pro with Scorecard

[@erichankins2634]

Got to love the shirt...."As Always I'm Jeff!"

[@SPXLabs]

Yeah he is good people.

[@mrMurmur-gz3cd]

Thank you for the work done. And let me ask you to supplement the test a little in the future. 1) Install a file changer on your smartphone, start copying a large file (say a movie) from it to your computer and follow the same route through all the points in the house. Write down the speed readings and copy failures. Then everything is the same, but only with reverse copying. 2) Run a long video with maximum quality on 5-10 devices (laptop, tablet, computer). . And repeat the procedure from point 1. After the end of the test, write down how many devices the playback hung.This will be a more explicit indicator of AP capabilities

[@SPXLabs]

Yeah I'd love to make improvements where possible. I could do the file changer thing but I only have 3 wifi 6 capable devices. Also, for what it's worth, this is all local testing, no internet tests. I am doing 6 parallel tests down and up also not sure if that matters for what you are looking for?

[@jpullen581]

This is a bit of extra work, but you can disable the 2.4/5Ghz bands on specific SSID's, just not at the device settings. You would just need to create a network for each. Then in the advanced settings restrict it to 2.4 or 5Ghz. So something like test_2 = 2.4Ghz and test_5 = 5Ghz. You can set this in the Settings... then... WiFi. Once in the network setup/config you can go to advanced and choose the WiFi bands that are active for that WiFi network.

[@SPXLabs]

Yo thanks for the details. I'll reference this in the future when retesting.

[@adriftatlas]

Thanks Bro! Was waiting for this video. Unifi got slaughtered here but that doesn't surprise me. They've not been great lately. Not quite sure why you choose to test EAP653 vs EAP670. EAP653 has 22dBm 5GHz transmission power vs 28dBm on EAP670. Doesn't 160MHz require DFS as it spills into DFS assuming contiguous channels are used? My two main gripes with Alta is lack of on-prem management and 12V barrel connector. So even if Omada perf is a bit worse, it suits my needs better by supporting these two.

[@SPXLabs]

Well, too be fair to UniFi, it's missing about 600~700 Mbps worth of bandwidth which artificially lowered it's score. I didn't go with the EAP670 this time because it's wifi6e and it's the only wifi6e ap I have. For scorecard purposes any points would be discarded because it has and advantage the other 3 don't have. I don't believe that's always true. It can be true depending on the channel selection but then I don't think those would be the proper channels to use. I'm not really sure though, I'm not very smart nor can I pretend to know how any of this works. My stuff is more observe and report with know real information. Hell in this video alone, I rip apart my own testing and scoring system due to my inferior intelligence, lack of understanding of how Wifi works, and negligence in testing. I could see how those would be a points of contention. Ultimately you can't really go wrong with any of the three companies. It's going to boil down to individual needs/wants like the features you are specifically looking for. Anyway with Ubiquiti, Alta, and TP-Link should be pretty happy with their devices as all perform very well.

[@mmmmmm-vt6wi]

As can be seen from the plan, there was no range check in the test. The house is small. And you may be surprised, but in the near radius the largest readings are with reduced power at the access point. Here it changes the big crosstalk from too strong a signal. But no tester does a test on at least 5-10 devices at the same time. That's where the performance indicator would be in practice. And with one client +- points will work the same way for at least $ 100 for at least $ 1000.... Well, at least I would go outside the apartment that

[@SPXLabs]

It's not about the size of the house it's how you use it 😭

[@adriftatlas]

@@SPXLabs The EAP670 is still Wi-Fi 6, it's the EAP690E HD that's 6E. Technically, the EAP670 has a 2.5Gbps port and the others have 1G ports but if you run them all at 1G it wouldn't matter. Like you I'm only human and make many mistakes. Don't be so hard on yourself. We're all learning. :)

[@SPXLabs]

Oh shoot! you are right I was thinking of the EAP690e the entire time. lol. Well I'd like to continue doing this and adding to the scorecard because that is currently, much easier to show on video and graphs than 1000 speed tests with upload and download lol.

[@jfkastner]

Nicely done! I'd round the results e.g. 509.7 would be 510, obviously, or even go in steps of 5s or 10s in the results, like 500-505-510 they'll be different each time you test anyways

[@SPXLabs]

What's with you and rounding?? lol We will see.

[@jfkastner]

@@SPXLabs I just like rounded things

[@iskijana]

AEP650 is around 2/3 of the price of the U6 Pro. Should EAP670, 673 woiuld be a more fair comparison. They are equal in price almost. Also can't you disable in windows 5ghz like ncpa.clp wifi card properties config button for the hardware. Advanced tab and there the property 5ghz mode and set the value needed. Thus is test is a bit strange for me and data coming out from it is not that valuable.

[@SPXLabs]

Price was out of scope for this video and this was what hardware I had access to as a small channel with hardly any access to hardware so I can only work with what I have. I can’t help it that Unifi is the only one that doesn’t allow users to turn off 5Gh. Strange maybe but it is what it is. In terms of value, yeah not much a value is added as I leave the viewer responsible for determining what is actually of value. If it’s nothing than sorry, I guess this wasn’t the video for you.

[@iskijana]

I meant that this performance comparison is not apples to apples, thus it is misleading. Tplink WAP is one class lower and wasn’t mentioned in the video.

[@SPXLabs]

Also the tests are single stream tests which really doesn’t tell us anything about the devices and what they are truly capable of. There are lots of problems here. The real lesson is never take things at face value and apply critical thinking skills

[@pepeshopping]

“I could not figure out how to do band steering or turn it off, or change the name and don’t understand the capabilities of worthy software (cause hardware is almost the same!).

[@SPXLabs]

Help me! Also we can do this again and really improve it. It would be really sweet to get as close to perfect. I’m trying and formally admitting what I don’t know and the mistakes.

[@TechySpeaking]

first

[@SPXLabs]

Haven't seen you post in a while. Changed your handle too I see.

[@jfkastner]

BTW my 5GHz and 2.4GHz WiFi have different Names & Passwords so that any Device can NOT choose by itself which Band to use ... e.g. all low speed & IoT things are on 2.4

[@SPXLabs]

Normally for testing I turn off 2.4 while I test 5 and vice versa. I normally don't leave both channels on, not that they would interfere with each other any way but just to make sure no devices are using up any processing power at all.

[@jfkastner]

@@SPXLabs You could test power consumption with 2.4 & 5 powered ON and then only w/ one of them - I can see an advantage RE Heat when you keep one Band turned off, no idea if the AP CPU does thermal throttling

[@SPXLabs]

That might be too much for videos like this. Trying to keep them as short as possible.

[@pbrigham]

My comment has disappeared! , are you deleting comments or was KZbin ?

[@SPXLabs]

I would never! I don’t see any comments in the “Held for Review” area. Not sure why your comments would be auto removed.

[@pbrigham]

@@SPXLabs Ok, I will write it again now, I wrote that you can activate only the 2.5 or 5GHZ bands on Unifi, in your controller you go to Settings > WIFI > Chose the Wifi that you want only the 2.5 or 5 GHZ > Scroll down, and on "WIFI Band" select what you want to stay active, Only 2.5 or Only 5 or both.

[@SPXLabs]

I did that. But windows kept switching.

[@pbrigham]

@@SPXLabs ok, well I m on Mac, at least on Mac is working.

[@SPXLabs]

I think it’s a bug in Windows. I did all sorts of OS mods and it would stay on 2.4. But as soon as I ran iperf it would switch in the middle of the test. It was so annoying.

[@JasonsLabVideos]

I'll take the Alta labs over any of those other products !! Unifi SUCKS !!

[@SPXLabs]

I’ll take you over things too

[@gsugaratgmaildotcom]

Great videos, I have to say I have started gong to your channel for review of the Omada brand of products. Quick question, are you still able to get the same results on the Eap 653 is in the video. I have the 650 and after the usuals optimizations and even in the same room I can't get anything above 300-400 mbs (5g band). Even using 180 width.

[@SPXLabs]

Yeah the bandwidth tests are as real as it gets. So yes I am getting the same results