Ubiquiti Networks NanoStation loco M5

I live in a boat on the Columbia River. Xfinity refused to install the cable internet to my dock even thou there is a 200amp electrical service at the same dock. So the cable install ended up at the shop 280' away. There is a 20' high dike with roadway on top between the shop and my boat. I tried router antennas, then extension cables to get them outside. I tried high power wireless adapters, A $230.00 outdoor AP that I could get only 13mbs from. This was my last attempt at getting fast internet to my boat. These work great. I mounted one about 6' above the shop roofline on a pole set as station. The second on a piling next to the boat set as AP. Before this I had 2-3mbs connection at high tide only. After the install and a half hour of setup I had 36mbs actual internet speed tested on the comcast speedtest page. This has been a 100% solid, no drops connection since day one including a couple days of rain. I did put some plumbers silicone grease on the rj-45 ends to help moisture proof them. I used 2 matching loco M5's The ethernet cables are from the xfinity cable modem lan to the first Loco M5 set as station. The boat side ethernet cable is from my laptop direct to the second Loco M5 set as AP. Their are Power over Ethernet (POE) connectors/injectors included. POE means you only have one outdoor connection to the M5 unit and ethernet cables transmit data better too (dunno why). The boat side point could be connected to a regular router port also. The point to point connection is a invisible bridge. I'm using very secure wpa2 psk/aes settings. If you make your own cables you should pair the wires correctly. Just search rj-45 wiring. I'd give these a 10 star if I could. If you price some other solutions you'll see what a bargain these are. [[UPDATE]] Okay I didn't check the exact dates but I've had these installed about a month now. It's pouring down rain right now, really hard. I changed the boat end of the bridge and hooked to the WAN port of a Asus router. My laptop is on ethernet cable direct to the LAN on the router. My TV, DISH Network, Printer are all wireless to router. I just did the comcast speed test again. 31.45mbs download, 6.68mbs upload. So it's nearly double the speed of DLS over a 300' wireless bridge these are creating in the middle of a pouring rain storm. I also did a 5.62 gigabyte download in less than 25 minutes after the speed test. Awesome. I mean totally awesome. (update 2) I had to come plug this product once more. It's march, install was in September last year. It has rained, snowed, froze, sun baked. These are still going strong. The last speed test was after updating my Asus router firmware, I got 39mbs down and 8.8 up. Thats from a xfinity modem with blast. The modem with direct connect does barely 50 down. If you need a internet signal at 300+ feet away buy a pair of these. All the info you need is on their site. Best for the price there is. Oh and I have not had to reboot them even once. (final update 4/9/14) I did a comcast speed test this morning to recheck. Now I'm getting 41mbs down and 8.71 up. That's almost as fast as being wired to the cable modem. I know updating this review 3 times seems weird but I tried solutions for 3 months to get a truly fast internet connection. This is a great product.

I'm thrilled with the performance of these wireless bridges. We have two buildings approximately 2000 feet apart that were previously linked with a pair of WRT54GL routers and a Cantenna on one end. This worked admirably for almost 5 years, but our speed across the link has always left a lot to be desired. At the time we installed the original setup, there weren't many other affordable options out there. We hit the wall with that solution this year when Spring came and the trees between the two sites filled in more than ever before. We have fairly good line of sight during the winter, but there is a substantial line of mature oak and maple trees between the sites that completely obscure the two building during the Summer. I was skeptical that there would be much of a difference between the NanoStation M5 and WRT54GL and Cantenna, but boy was I wrong. It took about 15 minutes to configure each M5, then another 30-45 minutes to mount everything. One end has the M5 installed indoors with a window mount, pointed out the window towards the other building. The other end has the M5 mounted outdoors under the roof eave. Both are on the second floor of each respective building, approximately 30-35' off the ground, and about 2000' away from each other. Once I got them positioned as close as I could visually, I powered them on and pulled up the built in web interface to check the status. Both had already sync'd up with each other, and the signal strength was actually pegged at the maximum. I dialed back the strength on both ends to 18dBm and the signal strength stabilized at around 95-98%. My throughput was almost 200MB/sec between the links, compared to around 10MB/sec with our old link. Incredible! Reliability has been rock solid. Speed is through the roof. Setup couldn't have been any easier. This is a huge win and I highly recommend these devices. This is the first time I have ever taken the time to write a review because that's how positive I am about these incredible devices.

I'm using a pair of these 5GHz units to extend internet between two buildings about 600 feet apart. They have line of site with the exception of one large bush right in the path. they're set for +16dBm output and have about -50dBm receive signal strength. The speed test shows about 100Mbs in both directions. They've been running for about two weeks now with no problems at all. They've survived a couple of power outages and come back up without intervention. Setup was a little confusing. I spent almost 2 hours messing around with different settings before I realized that it really only takes about 10 minutes to set up a link. Also, it takes about 30 seconds for a link to show up _after_ the settings take effect, so have some patience when trying out the settings. Mounting was easy since I already had antenna mounts for a failing air802 link. Although these are only spanning 600 feet, I can see them easily covering a mile or more with clear RF line of site. I have roughly 30 devices connected on the client side. UPDATE: I installed another link for a friend between his house and business. The link spans just about 2000 feet with a line of trees in the way. Both units are about 15' off the ground at the ends and about 25' above ground level at the mid point of the link. They linked up with a signal level of about -68 dBm and a noise floor of -91 dBm. A speed test showed about 50Mbps throughput. I suggested to the owner that he cut the trees down for better reliability. Configuration was a snap since I'd done it before with my own link. Also, on my own link I've decreased the output level to +4 dBm on both sides and the link is still working great. Update 2: Sep 2016 I've had to replace both of the units at my friends location. Both times it was after a thunder storm with lots of lightening. Both units are mounted within a few feet of the power service entrance to the building. I'm assuming power surges took them out. Maybe mounting so close to the power lines wasn't the best place.

Ok, I just got these two units a few days ago and have not installed them in the intended location but wanted to write a review of my first impressions. Many people on sites complain that there is no manual with the units. I don't know why they would need one. On the outside of the box says: 1. Physically connect computer to NanoStation device. 2. Configure host computer system to a static IP on the 192.168.1.x subnet. (so pick anything from .2-.254 but not .20). 3. use web browser to open 192.168.1.20 (default IP). 4. User/Pass are both "ubnt". Once you are in the menu, you can setup your Access point or Client Station mode, you can also set the network to match your current network. That is the complaint I saw on other reviews, people were mad they had to change their network to 192.168.1.x network, but you don't, you can change it to whatever you are already using. Just remember, the moment you save that change you will have to reset your PC adapter to the new network to log back into the unit. To set mine up, I logged into the first one, made it an access point, set the SSID, set a WPA2 password, changed the network from 1.20 to 12.50 of the network I will add them to. Then I moved it to the DSL router LAN port. Then I logged into the second one, set it as a Client station, had it scan for networks with the other one across the room, selected the SSID I had put in the AP, then gave it the WPA2 Password, and they connected. I then had to change the network address of the station to 12.49. After that I changed the network of the computer back to DHCP, and when it connected, the router on the other side of the AP gave me a address and DNS and I was surfing the web across my link in less than 10 minutes. There are tons of cool features in the menus from Bandwidth tests to simple layouts and easy to understand menu's if you are familiar with Routers. I used Chrome to set up everything on these. The Spectrum analyzer feature is pretty cool to see what other networks are running around you, didn't find any due to the fact this unit is the 5GHz version and almost nobody is using that. Note: I also set the power levels to the lowest setting in both radio's as I knew I would be testing them across the room and did not want them overpowering each other. With that I have -45 signal levels, these work even at -75 -80...Noise floor on mine is -94. I am going to put the AP on my parents business and it will span across the alleyway to their home on the other side of the block, probably 200 feet at most. They didn't want to pay for a second internet connection and this will also give access to their file server from home. From the testing have done with the radio's turned all the way down, I expect 150-200Mbps rates between these. I will do an update to this review after I install them.

This isn't a consumer-grade, plug-and-play device. It's a professional device, and you need to know networking and Wi-Fi technology to use it properly. If you have those skills, it's easy to set up. And it works great. Most 5GHz access points only work if you're in the same room. These things... I had one set up on the side of my house when I went to configure the other. It saw the already-set up device... that was aimed in the opposite direction... through two interior walls and an exterior wall. The gap I bridged with these devices is about 250 feet with a clear line of sight. So far I've got them dialed back to 25% power and I still have a perfect 300Mbps connection between the devices (-61dBm signal). Because it uses 5GHz, there's virtually no interference from other signals (noise floor -95dBm). But there is the one flaw in these units, the reason I can't give them five stars. Although they happily negotiate a 300Mbps connection with each other, they're only equipped with 100Mbps Ethernet ports. That's fine if you're sharing a 300Mbps network with other sites, but for a point-to-point connection it's disappointing. It's hard to imagine that a GigE PHY would have added that much more to the cost of the unit. It would also be nice if the included PoE adapters came with a longer cord (three feet long, max), or at least used a standard IEC C14 inlet so you could use a "standard" computer power cord. (The adapter uses a C6 "Mickey Mouse ear" inlet.) Even so, if you want a rock-solid 100Mbps between your house and an outbuilding, and you don't need your hand held to set up a WiFi network, go ahead and buy this unit. Just make sure you buy outdoor-rated, shielded Cat5e cable to go with it; if you use standard cable, your warranty will be void.

I am using this purely as a wifi client to connect to a public wifi system. Works great for that purpose. This is a commercial product so don’t expect an easy non technical setup wizard.

I've had excellent success with Ubiquiti products in the past, and the Loco M5 is no exception. My property has two houses on it that are separated by a large yard, and I decided to quit paying for two dedicated Internet service accounts by setting up a pair of these devices. They ended up replacing the older NanoStation Loco 5 units, which worked very well but lacked the bandwidth I needed for some HD IP cameras I have installed on the property. Since I already had ample experience setting up these devices, and am already familiar with the UI, it only took me about 15 minutes to get this pair programmed and linked up. Since they are only talking to each other, I enabled AirMax and AirSelect (dynamic frequency hopping) and get a rock-solid 300Mbps link. The older NanoStations ran flawlessly for a couple years without any hiccups at all, I expect these will do the same. You can't beat the quality for the price. The only thing I might caution potential buyers about is that these are designed for networking professionals - if you are used to the typical Netgear or Linksys configuration, the Ubiquiti interface can be extremely daunting. Fortunately there are tons of forums and documentation out there to help you.

I needed to setup a wireless bridge between buildings that were about 400 feet apart, so I ordered a pair of these. Having never worked with Ubiquiti products before, I was a little hesitant, but the reviews from others were good enough that I figured it was worth a shot. Installation & configuration was so incredibly easy, I honestly could hardly believe it. No special software needed: Just plugin through the PoE unit, assign a 192.168.0.x address to your ethernet adapter, and then open a web browser to 192.168.0.1. The built-in AirOS is incredibly well designed and makes joining one unit to the other a simple task... because, well, it was really nothing more than making one unit an AP, then connecting the other unit to that AP. Even at 400 feet, the signal was absolutely perfect, and we achieved the same bandwidth as we did when connected to the main network. I should note that I made the mistake of ordering 22" mounting poles (which are more suited to satellite dish installations) with these. They worked, but looked way oversized for the job. The U-bolts were too thick to go through the slot in the back of the NanoStation, so I had to drill out the slot a little bit to fit them through. Once tightened, the NanoStation stayed snugly in position. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for - But in the past I've dealt with other wireless equipment that cost 7x more, and didn't work even half as well. Even the built-in AirOS is so simple, fast & well designed it makes that other equipment seem like a joke. Based in my experience with the NanoStation loco M5, I'll definitely be sticking to Ubiquiti products in the future.

Excellent unit. Great data speed. My only complaint is that the instructions were not totally clear about how to set up a static IP address in order to configure them, but I was able to get proper instructions by viewing an online video. I highly recommend this product. Much better than stringing cable between buildings.

Great product that lives up to its claims. I needed to set up a point to point bridge between two properties around 600m apart and after a brief read of some online set up examples it was up and running in no time. I get the full 45Mbps at the remote end as my provider supplies at the main property.

Product was shipped on time. Easy to install. I have installed the pair at a distance of 2 Kms despite having trees in LOS i am getting very good throughput.

Aucun soucis. Antenne très tolérante

Testati su breve distanza ma funzionalità e semplicità di impostazione ne fanno un prodotto valido , avevo giè usato altri modelli di ubiquiti tempo indietro e mi sono sempre trovato bene. Consigliato veramente a chi deve creare una rete tra due punti visibili , si installa facilmente , è leggerissimo , ha i led che ti indicano il migliore puntamento l'uno con l'altro . L'unico consiglio che posso dare è sostituire la fascetta in plastica di fissaggio che c'è nella confezione con una in metallo oppure aggiungere alla stessa un filo di ferro di sicurezza perchè mi è successo tempo indietro di trovarla rotta e conseguentemente l'unità è rimasta attaccata al cavo capovolta con entrata pioggia e si è guastata irreparabilmente.