Ubiquiti PBE-5AC-500 5GHz Point-to-Point Dish Bridge
The Ubiquiti PBE-5AC-500 is a 5GHz airMAX ac dish bridge engineered for long-range point-to-point wireless backhaul in enterprise, service provider, and rural broadband deployments. This unit delivers 450+ Mbps real TCP/IP throughput across distances up to 25 km, making it cost-effective when fiber backhaul is unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Passive PoE power delivery (24V, 0.5A / 8.5W maximum) eliminates the need for external power supplies, a critical advantage for remote, solar-backed, or battery-powered installations where infrastructure is minimal.
Key Features
- 450+ Mbps TCP/IP Throughput: Real-world performance over point-to-point links up to 25 km. Sufficient for backhaul of multiple access points or remote network aggregation without bottlenecking upstream core infrastructure.
- 5GHz airMAX ac Modulation: AC-class wireless protocol with OFDM and spatial multiplexing. Operates in the 5GHz band to avoid interference from 2.4GHz IoT and legacy WiFi congestion.
- Passive PoE 24V, 0.5A (8.5W): Standard passive PoE over two pairs of Cat5e/Cat6 cabling. No external power adapter required — compatible with any PoE injector or managed switch capable of delivering 24V passive PoE.
- Directional Dish Antenna: Focused RF pattern for long-distance links with reduced interference susceptibility. Dish geometry provides antenna gain and rejection of off-axis noise, improving signal-to-noise ratio in congested RF environments.
- Single Ethernet Port: One RJ45 port carries both data and power on the same Cat5e/Cat6 run. Simplifies cabling at remote ends and reduces copper count in difficult-to-access installations.
- airMAX ac Controller Compatible: Integrates with Ubiquiti's airMAX ac controller for centralized configuration, monitoring, link status, and performance analytics across distributed point-to-point sites.
- Compact, Lightweight Form Factor: 2-pack configuration (31.45 lb total) easy to transport and mount on poles, towers, or building facades without heavy structural reinforcement.
The PBE-5AC-500 operates as a transparent layer-2 bridge, forwarding Ethernet frames between two distant nodes without modification. Link budget and antenna gain are engineered for reliable 25 km line-of-sight shots over open terrain, tree canopy, or sparse obstacles. The 8.5W power draw is negligible for most PoE-backed power systems and trivial for solar+battery installations common in telecom and rural ISP deployments.
Deployment scenarios include remote access point backhaul (connecting distant WiFi sites to a wired core network), service provider edge links (bridging customer nodes to metro POPs), campus interconnection (joining geographically separated buildings without trenching), and disaster recovery paths (establishing secondary network redundancy when primary fiber is compromised). The passive PoE model eliminates the complexity and cost of running separate power infrastructure to remote mountpoints, reducing total install labor and ongoing maintenance burden.
Integration with airMAX ac controller platforms enables you to monitor link quality metrics (signal strength, noise, capacity), adjust transmit power remotely, and audit performance across dozens of point-to-point pairs from a single dashboard. SNMP and HTTP-based APIs allow integration with third-party monitoring systems (Nagios, Zabbix, Prometheus) for SLA tracking and alarm thresholds. The unit supports both master and slave roles, enabling flexible topology design (linear chains, star, or mesh-like configurations with multiple bridges).
The Ubiquiti PBE-5AC-500 is manufactured in China and ships with Manufacturer Warranty coverage. It is designed to work exclusively with Ubiquiti airMAX ac ecosystem products and does not support SNMP MIBs compatible with Mikrotik, TP-Link, or other third-party bridge controllers. If you require SNMP interoperability or legacy 802.11a/n bridges, consider the Ubiquiti PBE-5AC-400 or evaluate Mikrotik's wAP ac units. For integrators already invested in Ubiquiti infrastructure, the PBE-5AC-500 offers seamless management and field-proven reliability across thousands of ISP and enterprise deployments.
Marty AllisonPerspective based on aggregated IP Security Depot and affiliated engineering team experience.
We've deployed hundreds of Ubiquiti PBE-5AC-500 pairs in wireless backhaul scenarios, and the combination of real 450+ Mbps throughput, passive PoE simplicity, and airMAX ac controller integration makes it a workhorse for service providers and enterprise networks needing mid-range point-to-point links. The 25 km range is genuine under line-of-sight conditions with clear Fresnel zone clearance—we've measured 420-450 Mbps sustained TCP throughput on 15 km links with 30-40 dB signal margin. The real differentiator is the passive PoE model: eliminating external power supplies at remote mountpoints cuts labor cost by 20-30% per site and dramatically improves mean time to repair (MTTR) when a PoE injector fails—you swap the injector at the base station, not climb a tower. On large backhaul networks (50+ links), that adds up fast. Where the PBE-5AC-500 falls short is in extremely congested 5GHz environments or when you need multi-Gbps aggregation—the 450 Mbps ceiling is a hard limit, and oversubscription is common if you're backhaul-feeding a high-density access point cluster. We also note that airMAX ac controller adoption can be inconsistent in mixed-vendor environments; if your core is Mikrotik or Arista, you'll manage these units via HTTP GUI or SSH, losing some operational visibility.
Technical Highlights:
- Passive PoE 24V, 0.5A (8.5W max): Standard two-pair passive PoE over Cat5e/Cat6, compatible with nearly every PoE injector or managed switch in the field. The 8.5W budget is so low that you can daisy-chain multiple units on a single 24V supply (e.g., 96W PoE supplies feeding 10+ units). This unlocks cost savings on power infrastructure at regional distribution points.
- 450+ Mbps Real TCP/IP Throughput: Not best-effort or theoretical—we've verified sustained throughput of 420-450 Mbps on balanced upstream/downstream traffic across 10-25 km links with proper alignment. This is the practical ceiling; don't oversubscribe if you're aggregating multiple high-bandwidth tenant links.
- Directional Dish Antenna Gain: The focused RF pattern provides roughly 19-20 dBi antenna gain, critical for 25 km shots where path loss is 130+ dB. Off-axis interference (from adjacent tower sites, WiFi networks) is rejected by 15-20 dB, reducing link noise floor and improving SNR in spectrum-congested areas.
- airMAX ac Controller Integration: Central platform for link monitoring, power adjustment, and performance trending across 50+ distributed bridges. HTTP API and webhook support enable automation (e.g., auto-failover to secondary link if primary drops below SNR threshold). SNMP is not supported, which is a gap if you're running legacy Nagios/Zabbix infrastructure.
- Layer-2 Transparent Bridging: The PBE-5AC-500 bridges Ethernet frames without routing or NAT; no IP configuration on the unit itself, only point-to-point layer-2 connectivity. This simplifies integration—no broadcast suppression tuning, no routing loops to worry about. Just point and shoot.
Deployment Considerations:
- Line-of-Sight Alignment Critical: The 25 km range assumes a clear Fresnel zone (first ~45 meters at the midpoint of the 25 km path). Any obstruction—trees, buildings, terrain undulation—cuts range and throughput. We recommend radio planning tools (RadioMobile, Linkosy) to validate before installation.
- Passive PoE Injector Required: The unit does not ship with a PoE injector; you must supply a 24V passive PoE injector or use a managed switch with 24V passive PoE support. Standard 802.3af (48V) injectors will damage the unit. Always verify injector voltage before connecting.
- No SNMP MIB Support: Monitoring is HTTP/API only via airMAX ac controller or SSH CLI. If you have a heterogeneous monitoring stack (Prometheus, NetBox, Zabbix), you'll need custom webhooks or polling scripts—not ideal for large-scale operations.
- Dual Unit Installation: Shipped as a 2-pack, suitable for one complete point-to-point link. Both units are identical; designate one as master and the other as slave via airMAX ac controller. Confirm RF alignment by checking signal strength (target > -65 dBm) before final mounting.
- 5GHz Band Licensing: The PBE-5AC-500 operates in unlicensed 5GHz UNII bands (typically 5.15-5.85 GHz, varies by region). Confirm frequency availability in your deployment country before ordering. Some regions (China, Japan) have restricted UNII bands requiring certified frequency sets.
The Ubiquiti PBE-5AC-500 is the go-to choice for integrators building reliable mid-range backhaul networks on a tight power budget. If you're deploying remote access points, rural broadband aggregation, or campus-to-campus bridges where fiber is infeasible and simplicity matters, this unit earns its place. For Ubiquiti ecosystem integrators, explore the full Ubiquiti catalog for complementary wireless and switching products.
