Specs:
UDR 7 is a good beginner's entry into UniFi's ecosystem. No messing with separate router, switch and AP.
It costs around S$450. It is more expensive than mid-end Asus routers, but not high-end ones.
UDR 7's one con: it cannot be used as AP. If you outgrow it and buy a higher-end router, you cannot repurpose it as an AP. (Well, you can, but it is unmanaged.)
UDR 7's PoE is only sufficient to drive UniFi U7 Lite (13W). U7 Lite supports 2.4/5 GHz and has 2x2 antenna. You need U7 Pro Max to get 4x4, and it comes with a dedicated radio for real-time spectral analysis. Cool. It needs 25W using PoE+.
U7 Pro Max has been succeeded by U7 Pro XGS. 10 GbE, requires PoE++ (29W). Both have dedicated antennas for different bands and run super hot — like 60°C. They are also quite big physically.
The dedicated radio for scanning means both of them support zero-wait DFS. This is super useful if you are in a DFS-heavy zone.
UniFi APs are super expensive. It seems like an overkill to get an AP for 120 sqm — though you need a 6 GHz AP in rooms you want 6 GHz speed. Rule of thumb for 6 GHz: line-of-sight.
I reviewed and updated my WiFi settings, last changed 3+ years ago. With time, better understanding.
2.4 GHz:
|Setting|Old|New| |---|+--|+--| |Auth|WPA2|WPA2/WPA3| |Mode|N-only|Auto; disable b, enable ax| |Channel width|20 MHz|–| |Multicast rate|Auto|OFDM 6| |Beacon interval|500|400| |DTIM interval|2|–| |Preamble|Short|–| |TX bursting|Y|N| |WWM no-ack|Y|N| |Airtime fairness|Y|–| |MU-MIMO|Y|N| |Universal beamforming|Y|N| |TX power level|Balanced|–|
N-only does not include AX, but includes G — I didn't know until I checked the router's Wireless log and found I have one G IoT device. :horror: Auto -11b +ax means it allows G, N, AX. Interestingly, one AC entry shows up on 2.4 GHz. AC is supposed to be 5 GHz only.
It is not possible to set min data rate on Asus router (stock FW). Some say for N-only, the min rate is CCK 5.5 Mbps, and for Auto w/ disable 11b, the min becomes OFDM 6.
I turned off all useless functionality.
5 GHz:
|Setting|Old|New| |---|+--|+--| |Auth|WPA2/WPA3|WPA3| |Mode|N/AC/AX|–| |Channel width|80 MHz|40 MHz| |Beacon interval|500|300| |DTIM interval|2|–| |TX bursting|Y|N| |WWM no-ack|Y|N| |Airtime fairness|Y|–| |MU-MIMO|Y|N| |OFDMA|UL/DL|DL| |Universal beamforming|Y|N| |TX power level|Good|–|
I turned off all useless functionality. I reduced channel width to 40 MHz in return for some range, hopefully.
The 5 GHz radio on my Asus RT-AX82U spoilt all of a sudden. It made me think if I should 'upgrade' my home network.
There are four things I want to achieve with my home network:
The first two are simple. Just put them in a guest network with no intranet access. Asus routers will turn on client isolation as well.
The problem is that in the past, Asus routers do not support VLAN tagging, so devices connected to an AP (Access Point) that is connected to the main router using a LAN port can access the intranet. It basically means guest networks can only be created on the main router.
VLAN tagging is a very new feature on higher-end Asus routers, e.g. RT-AX88U Pro (2023).
There was a time I used a main router and an AP (which was another Asus router in AP mode), with the intention of creating stronger signals throughout the flat. But it did not help because I was unable to place the AP optimally, so I reverted to a single main router setup.
A centrally placed router provides sufficient coverage for a square-shaped 120 m^3 flat, at least for light use.
There is no issue with IoT devices isolation as long as I don't use AP.
On the third point. It is not enough for IoT devices to be on a different SSID, they have to be on a separate 2.4 GHz channel. Most people use 5 GHz band for normal devices and leave 2.4 GHz band entirely for IoT devices. I want to go the extra mile to 'physically' separate normal 2.4 GHz devices from IoT devices. As far as I can find, there are no routers with two 2.4 GHz radios. So, a router and an AP is needed.
Why do I want to do this?
First, clients are constantly broadcasting probe requests. It is fine if there are 10 IoT devices. I have >20 now. Plus, some IoT devices are super chatty.
Second, especially on 2.4 GHz band, Asus router sends beacon frames at 1 – 2 Mbps (taking 2.85 ms) for compatibility with 802.11b. There is no way to set the minimum basic data rate. It will be fine if we can set the min to 6 Mbps (802.11g).
One SSID is unavoidable. What about three SSIDs? (One main + one guest + one IoT.) Beacon frames are sent every ~100 ms by default. They take up around 10% of the airtime.
2.4 GHz is also super crowded in HDB — at least I think so, I don't know without a spectral analyzer. Even excluding destructive interference, each SSID uses 3% airtime and there is typically 3 – 5 SSIDs per channel. I estimate each router serves 5 – 10 devices. A 20 MHz channel has 144 Mbps theoretical bandwidth. This is 5 – 7 MB/s in the real world.
The last point is for content filtering. Unless we have enterprise-grade network equipment that does deep-packet inspection, all filtering is done at DNS level. This is not too difficult, but is not 100% effective. Block/redirect outgoing ports 53 and 853 (DoT [DNS over TLS]). The problem is DoH (DNS over HTTPS). The only way is to block well-known DoH providers so that clients are forced to use normal DNS.
Everything I wrote above can be done with a pair of VLAN-unaware RT-AX82U routers — as long as guest networks are created on the main router only.
The modern day "First They Came" poem:
First they came for the landlords, and I did not speak out because I was not a landlord.
Then they came for the businesses, and I did not speak out because I do not own a business.
Then they came for the grab drivers, and I did not speak out because I was not a grab driver.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.
Everyone deserve a place to stay, keep the rent low. Screw the landlords. They are rich and parasites, anyway.
Everyone deserves cheap groceries, keep the prices low. Screw the small businesses, the people who thought you would help them.
Everyone deserves a cheap fare. Screw the drivers. They can afford to drive, they should pay for it.
Socialism is rising in popularity. The reason is simple. When you come of age, but you are saddled with debt (either student or credit card) due to your own immature and stupid choices, and there is no way out of the hole you dug for yourself, and you see the older generation "living well" — the kind of life you dream of, but can never achieve. You want to enjoy the fruits, but not put in the labour, cos success should be easy, just like in Hollywood movies, right?
What do you do? You want social re-distribution, "to make it fair". That's socialism. Socialism promises welfare, free stuff. It needs a lot of money. When they first come into power, they will fund it through increased taxes. Tax the rich! It's popular. The rich should "pay their fair share".
It's not that the tax isn't high. It's that the rich have too many ways to avoid tax. Then they flirt with wealth tax — tax for being wealthy. Headline, $1 billion networth, but is actually only $100 million in the bill. That's still ultra-rich, right? The problem is these bills will come down over time. In the future, it will be lowered to $10 million, then $1 million. No $1 mil? They will include your future potential. People who don't know history is doomed to repeat history.
The most funny thing to me is that you don't need id to vote, but you need id to buy subsidized stuff. Yeah, they need to make sure you are eligible for subsidized stuff — cos it costs real money. Hmm, don't you need to check if someone is eligible to vote? Oh no, because it will cost them votes. It's so absurd that you can only laugh at it.
Does socialism work? Margaret Thacher (former PM of UK) puts it best: "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
The D party is now overrun by socialists. Their traditional candidates have lost to socialists upstarts. They counted on the liberal, the woke and the socialists for years, they are just reaping what they sowed. You play with fire, one day the fire will consume you. The socialists have grown big enough, they don't need the 'old guards' anymore, and they finally reveal their true colors.
D is getting a taste of its own medicine. Couldn't have happened to a bunch of nicer folks...
What I don't understand is rich white young woke liberals supporting their cause. Don't they know they will be the first on the chopping board after the 'revolution'?
Surely they couldn't have seen it coming...
Trump calls this group of people "communists". He is right and wrong. They are socialists. They believe in private property — theirs. Everyone else, they have to "share". But Trump uses 'communists' because America is fearful of the godless communists, so it is good to use that label. Americans have no experience with socialism. But they are far more insidious. They look harmless — until they get into power. Then it's too late.
"Beware of the man who gives you free things. One day he will take from you to give others."
HDB announced they would build new HDB flats at Maju Forest and Gillman Barracks.
Many people immediately voiced their opposition and asked the Government to reconsider. If you are in Singapore long enough, you know when the Government announces something, it is already a done deal.
Sometimes, the Government does not want to give the real reason (because it is too politically sensitive), so the reasons they make up can be rather comical.
Singapore has been clearing a lot of greenery for housing. Maju Forest is just next on the list. To the city planners, there is no point keeping these greenery around, they are just wasted space.
Whatever wildlife, cooling effect, they can be sacrificed. You can't put a value on them, so they have no commerical value.
Some people dismissed Maju Forest as a mere secondary forest, the implication being that it has no worth and can always be re-grown. It ignores the fact that it has taken root and has become a natural forest.
I dare say if the greenery is not Bukit Timah Hill, MacRitchie Reservoir or Botanic Gardens, it is on the table. Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve is a marsh, so it is safe, but they will build right up beside it.
Personally, I am more attached to Gillman Barracks. The place is so serene. The old buildings are so full of charm. It's like you travel back to a bygone era — a time where life was slower and less stressful? In the future, it will just be another cookie-cutter HDB housing estate.
The Gillman Barracks we see today is actually quite new. It has been "renovated". It was relaunched as a arts cluster in 2012. The Gillman Barracks before was restaurants, bars and furniture shops — more full of life.
SLA launched a S$2 million rejuvenation project in 2022 to give Gillman Barracks new life. It tried to make it into another Dempsey Hill, but it did not work out.
Why does HDB need to clear land?
There has been a shift in policy how HDB 'recycles' old flats. Previously, it was done through SERS. SERS is costly for HDB, the tenants get a cheap upgrade in the same area and most important of all, it resets their 99-year cycle.
VERS was announced in 2018. Basically, HDB will buy back flats over 70 years old, obviously at reduced price. The other important thing is that it does not come with a replacement flat — no more lease reset!
HDB's strategy is to build new flats until it can recycle flats using VERS. The loop is then formed — it can then reclaim the land and build new flats. No new land is needed. No flats have reached 70 years, but some are very close — 2030. In the mean time, existing 'free' space needs to be used. Wildlife, conservation? Sorry!
By doing this, flat 'owners' don't get a cheap upgrade — and lease reset — at HDB's expense. No more free lunch, oops!
The first few batches of VERS should be quite attractive. Otherwise the residents will vote no — they need a place to stay, or they can rent the place out.
Rental value is a good estimate of the flat's residue value. If rental is $1k/month, its A.V is $12k. 30 years is $360k.
(This assumes rental drops drastically after 80 years old as the flat gradually falls into disrepair. The last 10 years will be rough.)
