Thanks for the mention BSR!
The Picostation is a perfectly fine AP but it's not the best one for what you're trying to do. It has a max speed of ~65mbps because it's a single radio single chain devices (regardless if it says B/G/N or whatever) - meaning that it has a technical limitation that caps the speed. It's not MIMO which is where you get the higher throughput by allowing several data streams at once.
Also the AirOS works but is a tad trickier to set up. It can of course be re-flashed to their awesome UniFi firmware which is a great upgrade/addition - but if you want top performance and throughput, it's best to look at their native UniFi devices which come in a variety of flavors, from
indoor standard,
indoor long range,
pro dual band,
802.11ac, or outdoor - I'll count the
PicoStation as the cheapest since it can be flashed - then the
UAP Outdoor 2.4, then the
Outdoor 5ghz, and finally the
Outdoor 802.11ac.
There's a lot of options there, and they vary in range frequency and features - some use proprietary passive POE injectors while some are 802.3af standard; there are different numbers of radios, etc - which give higher aggregate speeds especially with more simultaneous devices. Then there's 2.4 vs 5 - 2.4 has been around longer, 5 is newer and usually only in the higher end devices - it tends to provide a little better performance and less interference, but doesn't penetrate walls as well.
So - if you just need one AP, then my advice can stop here - and the one I'd likely default to is the UAP-Outdoor 2.4 - the range on those is unbelievable, the setup using the UniFi controller is super easy, and 2.4 will cover all your devices just fine and provide great throughput.
* Just for reference, I have a small property but 4K sq ft house and a UAP-LR covers my house very well and my whole yard and several houses down the street outside - I have it centrally located in my kitchen above the cabinets.
Now - if you're in a situation where you need more than 1 AP to accomplish your goals - this is where it gets a little trickier. You can use an extender or even set up two AP's with the same SSID but different non-overlapping channels and you'll always get a decent signal - HOWEVER wireless roaming isn't that seamless. Your device will hold onto a signal as it degrades as long as it possibly can - it won't automatically switch to the strongest - it won't even always choose the strongest upon connection - so even if you're sitting next to one AP, if it initially locked on the one opposite the house, it's not going to make that hope until you disconnect/reconnect -
if even then!
This is where UniFi's firmware really starts to stand out - aside from other features like being shockingly easy to set up and configure and built in features for multiple SSID's and an easy Guest mode SSID with network isolation - the ease really begins when you add your second AP - because you literally plug it in and click Adopt -- and you're done! No figuring out how to stagger channels or even duplicate your setup because it's instant and automatic. In addition, they fix the handoff issue in a way that, up until last year, was only available on very few, very expensive corporate managed WLANs. All their AP's listen and communicate on the same channel and they figure out who's controlling things on the back end - meaning you'll always have the best signal strength possible no matter where you are on the property - and there's no point where your wireless device has to disconnect/reconnect - so you can roam around while streaming HD video to your heart's content knowing you always have a perfect signal.
This can come in really handy because say you toss in one AP now - it's pretty good, but you want better coverage on another corner of your house - and thanks to so many wireless devices, you want to split the load and increase strength by adding another. Now down the road wifi's been fine, but you want to stream videos or something out in the yard and signal isn't quite reaching - well, add an Outdoor - again - setup will take you longer to screw the thing to the wall than to open the controller and click Adopt - and it takes zero technical skill. Then again, if you are pretty technical, there are some cool options for separating VLANs, guest mode, multi SSID's, etc.
I never do the integrated router/AP combos because they don't have the best range and are often located in a less ideal part of the house - and these AP's are so affordable it's easy to add one and mount it where you want it - and thanks to the POE even still have it powered from your central closet.
As for routers - there's an Asus that gets good reviews; I've had excellend success with higher end Netgear RangeMax products, etc. If you're a techie, a nice companion is the Ubiquiti
EdgeRouter Lite - it has excellent performance that outperforms high end commercial routers and built in features to support VLANs, VPN into your house and/or site to site; and is a good companion to the other Ubiquiti products.
I don't work for them, but I do sell their products and install them - because they're a great match and I've never had a dissatisfied customer - their value is unbeatable for what you get. Sorry for the long rant - but it's been a while since I've posted this lesson.
