Ubiquiti U6-LITE UniFi 6 Lite Access Point

Product Information

Having first gone live at the tail end of 2020, the latest access points from UniFi arrived to mark the notable introduction of Wi-Fi 6. As the first offerings from the brand to support the new standard, there was and still is quite a bit of hype around their release. But before we dive into seeing if Ubiquiti actually delivered or not, let’s take a moment to rehash the specs. To say Wi-Fi 6 has been a buzzword in the networking space throughout 2021 would be a bit of an understatement. The overall narrative has certainly left its mark on the space, as the 802.11ax standard has a lot to live up to. So while there are lots of areas that have notable benefits right out of the box, home use isn’t necessarily one of them right now. I just wanted to compare the old access points with the new Unifi WiFi 6 access points in a real world scenario.

The U6-Lite is designed for efficient power delivery, utilising Gigabit Ethernet and powered with 802.3af/48V PoE. This not only simplifies cabling but also ensures reliable and consistent power, enhancing the overall performance and stability of your network. Enhanced FlexibilitybssUpdateBmcMngRate (BSS_INFO_BROADCAST_INFO), CmdBssInfoBmcRate.u2BcTransmit= 8192, CmdBssInfoBmcRate.u2McTransmit = 8192 Next, I did the same test on 2.4 GHz, trying both 20 MHz and 40 MHz channels. I don’t recommend using 40 MHz channels in the 2.4 GHz band, due to them overlapping with over 80% of the already-crowded spectrum. There’s only one non-overlapping 40 MHz channel in North America, and the rest of the world only has two. Like 160 MHz channels in 5 GHz, there’s just not enough available frequency for them to be reliably used in most situations. Ethernet and TCP itself introduces some overhead, around 5%. Every chunk of data must be wrapped in a frame header, resulting in about 95% efficiency. Jumbo frames and frame aggregation can help with this. Linux version 4.4.198 (builder@owrt1505-builder) (gcc version 5.4.0 (LEDE GCC 5.4.0 r3979-2252731af4) ) #0 SMP Thu Aug 30 12:10:54 2018 Instead of a single U6 LR, you may be better off having two U6 Lite APs to ensure a stronger, consistently fast signal for almost the same cost.

So, where does that leave our recommendation of the existing UniFi Wi-Fi 6 access points? If you’re looking to finally upgrade your whole network to finally get in on the new standard, I’d say waiting out the end of the year may be beneficial. Many of the existing access points provide the same, if not better, performance regardless of the Wi-Fi 6 status, for now. It’s worth noting that Ubiquiti does have a new UniFi access point in the works that seems to target the higher-end side of Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. Though it’s currently in the Early Access store, we can’t really discuss its specific feature set, although we’ll be excited to see how it changes things upon release later this year. The UniFi Access Point (UAP) U6 family consists of 5 models: the U6 Lite, the U6 Pro, U6 Long-Range (LR for short), U6 Enterprise, and the U6 Mesh. The U6 Lite and U6 Mesh have comparable 2.4 GHz performance at various distances, but at 5 GHz the U6 Mesh is faster.

The size of the U6 LR on the other hand is increased a lot compared to the old model. It’s the same size as the old Unifi HD access point. The new long-range access point is splash and dust resistant (IP54 rated), which means you can place it semi-outdoors under a porch for example.

The 5 GHz band of the U6-Lite is equipped with 2x2 MU-MIMO and OFDMA technology, boasting a radio rate of 1.2 Gbps. This ensures fast and reliable wireless connections, making it ideal for data-intensive tasks and high-density environments where network performance is crucial. Versatile 2.4 GHz BandThe U6-Lite doesn’t support 160 MHz channels with the two firmware versions I tried. The other models do, so I tested them for comparison. I wouldn’t recommend using 160 MHz in a typical 5 GHz network. There’s only 2 effective 160 MHz channels in 5 GHz, and they both intersect with DFS. Also, using 160 MHz channels reduce their 4 spatial streams down to two. That said, I did manage to nearly match gigabit Ethernet speeds in my controlled scenario. In this extreme situation, a single gigabit uplink became a limiting factor. This is especially true for the U6-LR. The 160 Mhz channel width is at the moment only supported on the U6 LR. In the chart below you won’t see the full potential of the 160 MHz channel width, due to the limitation of the 2×2 Wifi 6 adapter in my notebook. The advantage of the Unifi 6 Long Range with its 4×4 MU-MIMO 5 GHz radio really comes into play when connecting with multiple clients.