Ubiquiti Networks NanoStation M2 2.4GHz 802.11n 2x2 MIMO Review

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I have quite a bit of networking experience but found getting these to work as advertised to be a real challenge. If you're not familiar with every advanced option in your existing router I wouldn't dive into this solution.

I opted for this over a 5ghz solution because the 5ghz solutions pretty much require line of site, whereas 2.4 doesn't necessarily. I had a project where I was trying to see if I could repeat a wireless signal into a nearby facility that was a few hundred feet away, not perfectly line of site though. It didn't work even 200' away with line of site. I also tried another angle of projecting the signal out to a huge park and seeing if I could pick it up just outside there, I couldn't. Secondary to that, long term, I wanted to then put them on my roof deck to extend my in-house wireless signal which otherwise doesn't reach my roof deck. They advertise a 15 KM range but I would have to think this would be in an extremely rural environment where there's no other wireless interference. In an urban environment you're not going to find this to be a magic solution. You can't undo physics of radio wave interference. I had a challenge getting anything to even see these devices more than 100' away. Also, it's not overly well documented (and definitely not in the basic 'how to' info), but if you're wanting a regular Wifi client to connect to these (such as a Windows or Mac system), you need to disable all of the AirMax features (2x2 MIMO) so at that point you're just using standard wireless technology. I was hoping they could hybridize and use the 2x2 technology for the communications between the Ubiquiti products and non-Airmax for the non, but it can't. Also, I was hoping to repeat an existing access point directly. You can't do this, instead you have to buy 2 Ubiquiti products minimum to have one signal repeated. This was a bit undocumented as well, and frankly I don't think I would've bought this product just based off of knowing that alone. I wanted 2 access points on my roof, and instead I had to use one in my house at my existing router just to send the signal to the other access point on the roof. In the end, though, after about 10 months of back and forth, I got the product working for what I want. Even so, though, once I got the two connected it required a significant amount of tweaking. My roof deck's access point is probably 20' through walls above my other access point, but the connection was initially extremely slow (90 kbps~). After tweaking the output power i was find a happy medium where it was both reliable and still capable of reaching decent medium-end broadband speeds (~4-5 MBPS). Initially having the access point in my downstairs was a drawback but now I've been using this in house as well, as the wireless signal from this is present throughout my entire apartment whereas the other is not.

Another caveat is wireless security. In their documentation they tell you best practice for repeating a wireless signal but they tell you to keep it unsecured. What? Really? ...OK fine, get it working unsecured and secure after... I did this but found that the product only works as a repeater in Access Point WDS mode with security turned off OR WEP security. Though the product supports all kinds of WPA/WPA2 security options, they're all grayed out when you have this paired up with another device repeating itself. I settled for WEP and it works, but I'm not sure why the lack of other options other than perhaps the algorithms are inefficient for that use. But why no documentation on that?

Ubiquiti's support is primarily provided by customers themselves via their forum (and most customers are wireless ISP providers). They offer no phone support, and their e-mail support is basically limited to reiterating stuff that's already documented. At some point I became completely unable to access one of these two units, even when physically connected with an ethernet cable and after factory resets. When I was unable to get these functioning after exhausting all other options they replaced it. I was obviously able to connect to the replacement unit but still unable to get the two units to talk to each other in any consistent fashion. There are many caveats that aren't necessarily well documented. Also, a year ago when I bought the product there used to be a lot of "homemade" wiki documentation made by end users, this seems to have all disappeared as far as I can tell, and what's left is merely documentation on the features of the product but much of the "best practice" on implementation info has disappeared.

The built in wireless spectrum analyzers are pretty handy to have in order to determine what's going on in the air waves and to pick the best channel to use. This mode only works when the device isn't accepting wireless connections though so you have to have a way to physically be connected to it to use this mode.

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Product Description

Featuring 2x2 MIMO technology, the new NanoStation links significantly faster and farther than ever before. 150+ Mbps real outdoor throughput and up to 15km+ range.

With optimized cross-polarity isolation and in a compact form-factor.

Easy Installation - Easily mountable to a pole/mast with mounting straps provided.

The ultimate 2.4GHz wireless outdoor CPE with integrated 14dBi dual polarity antenna

The New NanoStation M2 provides a secondary Ethernet port with software enabled POE output for seamless IP Video integration.

POE power supply injector included.

Part number: NSM2

Datasheet

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Product Details

• Brand: Ubiquiti
• Dimensions: 12.70" h x 4.75" w x 3.25" l, 4.75 pounds

Features

• Featuring 2x2 MIMO technology, the new NanoStation links significantly faster and farther than ever before.
• The New NanoStation M2 provides a secondary Ethernet port with software enabled POE output for seamless IP Video integration.
• With optimized cross-polarity isolation and in a compact form-factor.
• Easy Installation - Easily mountable to a pole/mast with mounting straps provided.
• The ultimate 2.4GHz wireless outdoor CPE with integrated 14dBi dual polarity antenna
• 150+ Mbps real outdoor throughput and up to 15km+ range.
• POE power supply injector included.

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