Thanks for the feedback. Nice to hear that folks have had good luck with the Minis. The thread here documenting connectivity issues is not confidence inspiring, and there seem to be quite a few complaints of dropped connections elsewhere.
I really have wanted to go with Peplink given how much more you get in terms of software and commitment to the devices after the sale. Heck, I bought a $400 Balance One instead of a $50 Edge router, so I get it.
That said, I don’t see how Ubiquiti APs would be more expensive. A rough equivalent of the AP One Enterprise seems to be the UniFi AP AC One Pro, which is $130 (US) retail and ships with a POE adapter. It’s on sale in a brick and mortar near me for even less this weekend. The AP One Enterprise is $250 and does not ship with a POE adapter, so I need to either buy one for each AP or buy a POE switch. Even if you buy a CloudKey controller ($75) you are spending less, especially if you are buying multiple APs, and you don’t need to buy a controller if you just install the software on a device in your network.
But cost isn’t really the main driver for me. No doubt, it’s a factor, but my primary goals are good coverage, solid connectivity, decent functionality, and security. Given that I am in a three floor house, good coverage also means vertical coverage, which if the devices don’t provide it, means 3 APs (one for each floor), and when I get to three AP One Es, cost starts to become a factor. Hence, my original question about interpreting the radiation patterns.
With regards to Ubiquiti’s mobile config advantage, I can see why it may convey advantage to some folks, but it really has no value to me. I lock down my devices so they are only manageable on my local (hardwired) LAN. So no points off to Peplink there for me.
BTW, I don’t plan to run just one SSID. I have four VLANs currently defined on my Balance and plan to expose three of them for wireless - trusted, guest, and IoT devices. Hence, my later question - if I define VLANs on my Balance and use the same numeric VLAN IDs when I setup SSIDs on Ubiquiti APs, will those APs tag the frames in a standard manner that the Balance will be able to associate with the VLANs defined on the Balance?
Just keeping my options open.