Ubiquiti PicoStation 2HP - 802.11bg High Power Outdoor Access Point

These high-powered units work great. I've used them to set up a wifi network that covers my entire condo complex. My Macbook Pro gets a good connection up to to 600 feet away (line of sight, outdoors). Of course buildings, trees etc reduce the range considerably. But the range is FAR greater than one will get with a conventional router. The units are also designed to be mounted outdoors (Power is supplied via the Ethernet cable.) So they are great for connecting between buildings. The documentation says they will run at up to 54 megabits per second. However I've never been able to get more than 12 megabits per second out of them. That's plenty for my use. So I haven't worried about it.I most often use these units in conjunction with an external antenna such as such as the  Alfa 1000mW 1W 802.11b/g USB Wireless WiFi Network Adapter With Original Alfa Screw-On Swivel 9dBi Rubber Antenna  or a repeater such as the  Amped Wireless High-Power Wireless-300N Smart Repeater (SR300)  or a  Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router  that has be upgraded with the DD-WRT firmware to make it work as a client or bridge unit.They are also configurable as "stations"(a.k.a. client or receiver units.) Using a pair of them gives truly impressive range. I configured a pair of these outdoors along an unobstructed line-of-sight. They connect at essentially full speed (about 12 megabits/sec) up to 0.3 miles apart. They connect at about half that speed at 0.5 miles apart which is the longest distance my test area provided. My guess is that that the bitrate will drop steadily with distances above 1/2 mile. Along an obstructed line with buildings, trees, etc. in the way, I've gotten them to work at full speed up to 400 feet apart and at about half speed up to 600 feet apart.This is a great solution if your router just doesn't have enough umpf!By the way, these are exactly the same hardware as the  Ayrstone AyrMesh Hub  but at a much lower price and with a much easier to configure interface. The Ayrmesh targets "meshed" setups and so it requires that you configure the unit via the Ayrmesh website and the units need to "contact the mother ship" at boot-time. I don't see any reason to pay the extra money unless one really wants to have a meshed configuration.One more point, these units come with the POE (power over ethernet) included. The Amazon page sometimes shows the POE being a "popular" combination. I don't know why anybody would bother to buy them together unless they were confused.

This version of the product (the  Ubiquiti Networks PICO2HP 2.4GHz 802.11bg High Power ) is described on the Ubiquiti website as an end of life product and the current version as of this review is the  Ubiquiti PicoStation M2HP 2.4GHz 802.11g/n High Power Access Point . The new version adds 802.11n and a bit of polish to the interface and is definitely a five-star product. Don't get me wrong, the old version is still top quality hardware, but there is no reason to pay full price for old technology; if it was one-third the price it would be a good deal, otherwise, just get the PicoStation M2-HP.A technical clarification regarding TX power being inconsistently described as 600mW and/or 1000mW for both models, here's the scoop:Comparing the TX power specifications for 802.11g, the PicoStation2HP peak TX power is 28dbm +/- 1dbm while the PicoStation M2-HP peak TX power is 28dbm +/- 2dbm. These TX power specifications are almost identical at just over 600mW.For 802.11b, the PicoStation2HP peak TX power is 29dbm +/- 1dbm while the PicoStation M2-HP peak TX power is stated together with the 802.11g specification as 28dbm +/- 2dbm. These tolerance ranges overlap and may or may not be identical in practice.The way you get 1000mW peak TX power is by adding 29dbm + 1dbm or 28dbm + 2dbm to get 30dbm and then converting to mW. But 600mW is the more honest number for both units because it reflects the TX power at the center of the specified tolerance range. Note that 28dbm ~ 600mW and 30dbm ~ 1000mW.Comparing the RX specifications for 802.11g, the PicoStation M2-HP has slightly improved sensitivity to weak signals.

The range for these devices is much better than most wifi hotspots. The the downside is that they are only b/g connection speeds. I wish I had gone with the PicoStation M2HP, which is n/g connection speeds. The other downside is that the software, while fairly easy to use, does not allow for certain configurations that should be standard. I really wanted to have this hotspot connect to my current router wirelessly, and then amplify the signal across our whole yard, but a wireless bridge is almost impossible to set up on these if you are connecting to a non-ubiquiti device. In the end I had to use a different device for a wireless bridge, and then hardwired that device into the picostation. Overall the device functions well and does its job (providing long-range wifi), but the speed and software could be a little better.Go with the PicoStation M2HP if you want the better speeds.

I have a large home and I always had poor WIFI coverage in some area of my house. I used two Routers and set one up as an access point and that helped. I purchased a Picostation2HP and set it up, removed one of the routers and it is great. I get full bars all over my one acre property and on all three floors of my home and in all locations. This is even with the unit mounted inside of the home. It was well worth the money.The documentation is nonexistent but the Web forum information is very good. Non-technical people may have problems setting this up but the product is excellent.