What's your latest purchase?

Keep reading stuff like this and it makes me wanna switch over from my crappy mesh system but I’m not crazy into networking or know what I need or even IF I need something like this.

 

It’s not hard, depending. Their new UniFi Express is so simple it’s not funny. Has a 5 device limit but it’s stable as hell. Ubiquiti is sort of the Apple of networking.

In my case, I got it for one simple reason - the ISP’s modem is CRAP. I was paying for 1Gbps internet and not even getting 200Mbps or so.

Replaced the stuff, and now not only am I getting excellent speed, but it’s reliable as hell.

Additionally…basement is unfinished. Since it is, wired is always better, so I’m installing a network rack and running a line to each room I want it in.

 

I had the same concern about having all my eggs in 1 basket if there's a failure of some sort. I hadn't heard of many failures and i'm assuming everything is "enterprise grade" hardware inside...should be good.

I've got a wifi hotspot that we use for camping hooked up as a failover. The modem and UPS is in the cabinet below the Dream Wall.

I like its little display.

 

My parents just refinished their house, and had them run at least 1 network drop to every room. I told them "anything that can be wired to the internets should be wired to the internet"

 

Tried to buy coffee at the convenience store. Self grinding machine didn’t work 2 times I tried it. Changed to house blend and got a cup to brew. Ladies politely told me to GTFO and gave me free coffee and hot chocolate ‍

 

I’m not sure out the modem or whatever fiber uses cause I’m on TDS fiber but my speeds are so so in the house. I’m usually smart and think about wiring and all that but I closed up my basement last year and never even thought to run networking wires or even speaker wires for a few rooms. Oh well now I guess. I’ll have to go read up on the dream wall and such. I assume the express only handles 5 wired devices at a time and way more wireless devices though right?

 

was that issue on wired or wireless devices? I feel like my 2ghz wireless devices run super slow with my current router and probably once a month or so I have to unplug my router to reset it to get my 2ghz devices working again.

keep considering buying another one but this is like my 3rd router and spending $150+ a pop gets old

 

Yes. LOL

It was on the “cable modem” but technically, what you get from the ISP There’s an all-in-one router, cable, modem, switch, wireless access point. It'd go very slow, crash occasionally, etc.

Since putting the new stuff into place a week ago or so now...not one hiccup.

The reasons you outlined above, plus reliability, are literally why I went with UniFi. The thing to realize is that it's what I'd consider "prosumer" or small business, etc., so most (not all) of their stuff requires a bit of knowledge, and I personally have that knowledge...but not all of it is. They came out with the UniFi Express a few months ago, and I feel like it's made for home users - $150, very small, but powerful, is a router/WiFi access point, etc.

What sort of internet do you have? If cable, you’d need at least a cable modem and then a router. If DSL, just bridge your current router and then get a UniFi router (I have and recommend the UniFi Express) for $150.

$250 for the UniFi modem (if cable modem) and $150 for the router doesn’t sound cheap….but I’ve never had any issues with any of their stuff, and considering I’m saving 35 bucks a month now, It’ll easily pay for itself within a year.

 

Correct on the 5 wired devices - and one of those IS the UniFi Express.

One big reason I didn't go with the Dream Wall is because I already have/had some of the stuff required (NanoHD for a WAP, and so on). I don't need more than 3 or so wired ports, so the UDM SE ($499) plus the stuff I bought/have is more than sufficient....plus, to be honest, I've been burned with IT stuff partially failing in the past and needing to replace the whole shootin' match. But yeah, I looked hard at the Dream Wall, but just didn't want to pay $999.

And yeah, my basement is completely unfinished, so I can put a small rack downstairs, run some Cat 6/8, and put a UDM SE, my router, and the cable modem downstairs...and everything but two WAPs will be out of sight.

 

Oh indeed. I mean, our old house's ISP had a max speed of 60Mbps...so on a SLOW day here I "only" get 550Mbps, so I'm so happy I don't know what to do with myself. LOL!

But long term, yeah, will run at least one line to each of the bedrooms, and to the living room for the WAP; and I plan on relocating everything to the basement (not counting the WAPs, of course).

 

I have cable. So I could buy the unifi modem and eliminate having both a modem and router? I’ve only ever had a combo unit once I believe and it was garbage so I had the company give me a modem and bought my own router, but that was probably over 10 years ago.

I would be interested in swapping to something more reliable if it’s user friendly. I’m definitely not an IT guru by any means

 

To the question, their modem is *just* a modem. It depends on what you want. In my case, if the combo modem/router/etc. worked fine, I'd be fine with it. But it was unreliable as hell - speeds varied WIDELY, constant outages and reboots, etc. Given my wife works from home full time, $450 for the cable modem and the UniFi Express was a small price to pay for rock solid equipment.

I could have gone with Arris equipment, and paid maybe $200 or so, but there are things above and beyond what Arris and other companies can do that I wanted - e.g., I want to create a guest network; be able to VPN to my home network from outside, separate out my IoT stuff (Sonos, Ecobee, etc.) on a separate VLAN, and so on.

In the case of a regular home user, if what you have is unreliable, and literally *all* you want is for a more reliable product, I've heard good things about Arris' stuff. I'd likely see what your ISP says they support first, and then look up those products. I'm guessing in your case, an Arris would work just fine.

 

LOL don't get me started on UI gear. Mine is this and is just one home, my main one:

2 X UDMSE - one as cold standby UDMSE - with 2 x 1G fiber load balancing / faillover ISP's
2 X Unifi 16 Lite POE Switch
2 X Unifi 8 POE Switch
2 X UAP-AC-HD - WiFi
1 X

$125 UAP-AC-PRO -US, Single,White

UAP-AC-PRO - WiFi
1 X UAP-AC-M - WiFi
2 X UNVR - one as a cold standby
16 X UI Cameras various models, to long to list

And I have similar but smaller setup in Europe in my second home with PTP VPN between 2 UDMSE's

And they're ROCK SOLID, set it and leave it, just the way I like it.

 

Ive been installing Ubiquiti stuff for a long time now and honestly can not remember any of it crapping out except a couple of USG and a few Cloud Keys that were not up to the newest Unifi upgrades recently.
I have systems all over the country that I take care of too and I can take care of them from home and I can rely on them.

Ive got several of the Dream Machine Pro SE in recently and they are terrific and crazy capable for the money too!

 

Bought one of these Yesterday!
Mainly to run Heat Shrink Tubing Labels thru it.
Pretty excited so far.

 

*gets started anyways*



Seriously though…that’s a hell of a setup in…one of your houses Man, talk about bragging rights! Lol

But yeah..rock solid as hell

 

Glad to hear this as I’m about to buy a UDM SE for my house.

 

Get you a used one from https://www.reddit.com/r/homelabsales/ and you will thank me for the savings Those UDMSE just work.

 

I’ll check it out - thanks!

 

Hooollllyyyyshiiitttt

That's a helluva hardware list. I've thought about going with the NVR setup, but those cameras are expensive and I've already got a blue iris setup.

 

What I can say, I like expensive toys. Actually these are cheap for enterprise grade hardware. What is niece about it is that you set it and leave it, it just works. Like apple hardware. I look at it this way. I invest a lot of money in Ubiquity and Apple stocks and they've been making me a lot of money, so I keep buying them as they make me money Win Win

 

GoPro worked awesome. This pregnant mother spent about 10 -15 minutes at our boat. Absolutely amazing!!!!!

 

Interesting you mention both Ubiquiti and Apple; I've essentially told people "Ubiquiti is essentially Apple but for networking stuff." LOL

The ONLY issue I have with them is that if you DO need technical support...you have to email them and wait (and wait) OR pay $100/month.

With that said, I've run into no issue that I couldn't easily find an answer for....and I've been using their stuff since 2018 and haven't had one failure yet. And I agree - the price of their stuff is not much more than consumer stuff, and apples-to-apples, their stuff tends to be pretty cheap when compared to most enterprise-grade stuff.

 

The guy who started Ubiquity is an ex apple engineer
I am a technology guy so I provide my own support or find a way to solve it before asking for UI support. I never had.

 

Oh, same; it's what I've done for my day job for the last 27 years or so. I've not had to ask for help from anything other than the UI community yet, and that only once...but still.

 

I know this isn't the place but though I'm a tech guy I'm pretty basic when it comes to networking.
This is what I currently have:
TDS Fiber coming into their little modem (GigaPoint 803G) feeds:
TP-Link Deco Mesh system WIFI6.
I also have an older TP-Link switch from one of the mesh routers to cover my streaming boxes and my little Mac mini server for my movie library and such.
On WIFI on my new 2023 Mac mini I only get 50Mbps down and 60Mbps up even though I pay for 1GIG.

You think upgrading to some UniFi stuff (not exactly sure what) would help?

 

Not sure if we have a 'tech thread', but you tech nerds should create one if not... So us dumb-dumbs have a resource to reference in the future when needed.

 

Agreed LOL. But nerds are still Tundra owners so we gladly can help with any nerd / tech questions and hopefully add value

 

Local store had these on for $50 off + a free 6.0ah battery. Works out to saving about $350.

 

2 pair of Thorogood's my favorite boots.