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So after the Ubiquiti debacle I went out and looked for a similar combination (solid hardware + not-too-annoying software). After briefly considering Mikrotik (

So after the Ubiquiti debacle I went out and looked for a similar combination (solid hardware + not-too-annoying software). After briefly considering Mikrotik (which has issues with ac (wifi 5) and no ax (wifi 6) support) I settled on Grandstream for now. They don't just make phones but a small set of fairly nicely featured wifi APs for ok prices. Hardware seems solid, Software not annoying. I've bought a few pieces from TP-Link when I was a poor student, not too bad as far as datasheet-specs per dollar goes, but the firmware was always exactly the kind of trashfire you'd expect and the hardware exactly what you paid for (not much). Definitely the kind of device you have to try real hard to fake your surprise when you find dozens of unpatched CVEs and no firmware updates.

andrewxdiamond 5y ago
> So after the Ubiquiti debacle… I was in this same boat, but did you know that data breach was completely fabricated by a disgruntled employee? They didn’t actually leak any data or had any real breach. It’s still not great that this was doable, but at some level, someone has to have the keys to the kingdom. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29411775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29411775 I think Ubiquiti makes really nice gear for prosumers, and it is completely unfair that their good reputation has suffered so much over this incident.
- bpye 5y ago
  There was more to the debacle, for example, putting ads for their other products in the controller UI.
  - sgarman 5y ago
    Or the new version of their controller software missing huge chunks of functionality causing you to keep switching from new UI to old UI depending on what you needed to get done.
    - universenz 5y ago
      Although to be fair, while this has been super annoying, they are slowly getting there with recent releases. It definitely has the new product manager 'start from scratch clean slate' vs 'inherited mess' while co-existing vibes. Once they have hit parity, the cadence of this new team's releases should turn into a feature because they are consistently releasing updates/fixes way differently to previous management. I still hate that the iOS Protect UX/UI has never used their own app beyond 9-5, as dark mode was removed and the interface is PURE WHITE. The iOS Network UX/UI designer has clearly used their app at night, hence a dark mode existing.
    - icelancer 5y ago
      I think most of the complaints about UI are overblown (as commenters in this thread have pointed out) but this one is absolutely brutal. Sitemap works in one UI but not the other; some features work in new but not old... ridiculous.
  - azinman2 5y ago
    Given their inexpensive pricing, as long as they only do that in their admin interface and don’t mess with my packets, it’s not worth throwing the baby out with the bath water in my book… especially since there are no real competitors offering good hardware with nice UI.
    - rhizome 5y ago
      Does Ubiquity use a standard ad network architecture that allows code from unknown third parties to run within your network?
      - azinman2 5y ago
        It’s Ubiquiti advertising their own products.
        andrewxdiamond 5y ago
        More specifically, the ads are embedded into the software, not loaded dynamically
        rhizome 5y ago
        Well that's a rare thing, so imagine my surprise. ;)
- petre 5y ago
  We have an EdgeRouter. The firmware is super annoying, I couldn't get it to do everything that I want, boring stuff that is easy with FreeBSD or OpenBSD and PF, Linux or Mikrotik for that matter. IPv6 also is only configurable from the console. The hardware us good though, does lots of pps. Too bad its ruined by annoying software.
  - kiwijamo 5y ago
    I was able to enable IPv6 through the web interface when I used an EdgeRouter about a year or so ago. Even some of the Wizards turns it on for you if you want (IIRC) although you can go into the manual configuration to set it up. I ended up switching to Microtik due to my unease with Ubiqiti. Have to say however I found it more difficult to set up IPv6 on the Microtik, so another point for the EdgeRouter's IPv6 support there.
alerighi 5y ago
I like products from GL-inet. I have one of their small routers for my house, native support for OpenWRT, without doing anything difficult to install it (no need to flash via serial port, there is also a nice uboot recovery web interface in case you brick the device by flashing the wrong image as I did!), everything works nicely out of the box. They are small AP so not that big range, but rather inexpensive and you can have a lot of them in your house (of course if you already have a wired network). And by the way if you don't want to bother flashing OpenWRT... the stock firmware is already a custom build of OpenWRT, and fully unlocked, you can connect in SSH, install Luci, and install packages without limitations. Of course you can also use the simplified web ui that they provide that is nice. I installed a custom version just because I wanted to have more updated packages, but the stock one works fine if you only need an AP.
willis936 5y ago
Ubiquiti's Unifi line seems riddled with issues. Why would I want an account or the internet involved in any part of my network control? However, I am quite happy with the Edgerouter series. I just wish it got more updates. The last update to EdgeOS is 6 months old. I don't like my security gateway not being patched with weekly security updates.
- andrewxdiamond 5y ago
  I don’t think an account is actually required for UniFi, although it’s the default route. It enables remote management, which is an nice feature for techies helping parents with wifi problems.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  I don't have any cloud account to run my home network, I just have a VM running the Unifi software locally. I'm quite happy with the setup. USG to route packets, PoE switch with three AC-Pro access points hanging off it.
- sgtnoodle 5y ago
  It was a pain to figure out, but I was able to set up my own instance of the management software without going through their servers. At one point I had to SSH into the AP and wipe its nonvolatile memory... Of course, I don't remember how to do it at this point, so hopefully I don't ever need to change the settings on my AP. It's been working completely issue free for a couple years now.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
I have good experiences with Aruba instant on stuff for home networking.
- newhotelowner 5y ago
  Aruba instant on is super simple, and very easy to setup.
comboy 5y ago
Got rid of Ubiquiti and the breach was just a footprint. Personally I'm really happy with Mikrotik. I do not recommend it if networking is not your thing and you just want some plug and play. So far I love it, wifi performance is better to me than unifi but that has many dimensions (I care most about reliability and low latency), plus it allowed me to have 10Gbe at a reasonable price. It's still closed source, but if you're a bit paranoid then OpenWRT does not solve your problems (re some other comment). Switch chips are computers on their own and you have no control over them. I would be really really surprised if they don't have tons of adventures in them. Reacting to magic packets or even something that may not be visible to L3 sniffer seems trivial to implement in ASIC. Firmware of network cards is also something outside your control. Long story short, I would suggest starting to treat your local network as if it was public Internet. E2E, firewalls, honeypots (obscure ones) and backups. I mean, if you care, perfectly fine not to, life's short.
newhotelowner 5y ago
Ubiquiti was nice. But updates were horrible. If there is a power outage, or cloud key gets restarted without shutting down, database gets corrupted. None of the other hardware - microtik, ruckus, Aruba instant or OpenWrt - has that issue. Ubiquiti added a battery to new cloud key to fix the issue. I moved my hotel's wifi to Ruckus & another to Aruba instant on. It's been more than 12 months, and everything is working without any issue.
ikiris 5y ago
Grandstream is hot garbage. Stay faaaaar away from their products. -Someone who suffered through years of their software / support horror show.

andrewxdiamond 5y ago

> So after the Ubiquiti debacle… I was in this same boat, but did you know that data breach was completely fabricated by a disgruntled employee? They didn’t actually leak any data or had any real breach. It’s still not great that this was doable, but at some level, someone has to have the keys to the kingdom. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29411775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29411775 I think Ubiquiti makes really nice gear for prosumers, and it is completely unfair that their good reputation has suffered so much over this incident.

bpye 5y ago
There was more to the debacle, for example, putting ads for their other products in the controller UI.
- sgarman 5y ago
  Or the new version of their controller software missing huge chunks of functionality causing you to keep switching from new UI to old UI depending on what you needed to get done.
  - universenz 5y ago
    Although to be fair, while this has been super annoying, they are slowly getting there with recent releases. It definitely has the new product manager 'start from scratch clean slate' vs 'inherited mess' while co-existing vibes. Once they have hit parity, the cadence of this new team's releases should turn into a feature because they are consistently releasing updates/fixes way differently to previous management. I still hate that the iOS Protect UX/UI has never used their own app beyond 9-5, as dark mode was removed and the interface is PURE WHITE. The iOS Network UX/UI designer has clearly used their app at night, hence a dark mode existing.
  - icelancer 5y ago
    I think most of the complaints about UI are overblown (as commenters in this thread have pointed out) but this one is absolutely brutal. Sitemap works in one UI but not the other; some features work in new but not old... ridiculous.
- azinman2 5y ago
  Given their inexpensive pricing, as long as they only do that in their admin interface and don’t mess with my packets, it’s not worth throwing the baby out with the bath water in my book… especially since there are no real competitors offering good hardware with nice UI.
  - rhizome 5y ago
    Does Ubiquity use a standard ad network architecture that allows code from unknown third parties to run within your network?
    - azinman2 5y ago
      It’s Ubiquiti advertising their own products.
      - andrewxdiamond 5y ago
        More specifically, the ads are embedded into the software, not loaded dynamically
        rhizome 5y ago
        Well that's a rare thing, so imagine my surprise. ;)
petre 5y ago
We have an EdgeRouter. The firmware is super annoying, I couldn't get it to do everything that I want, boring stuff that is easy with FreeBSD or OpenBSD and PF, Linux or Mikrotik for that matter. IPv6 also is only configurable from the console. The hardware us good though, does lots of pps. Too bad its ruined by annoying software.
- kiwijamo 5y ago
  I was able to enable IPv6 through the web interface when I used an EdgeRouter about a year or so ago. Even some of the Wizards turns it on for you if you want (IIRC) although you can go into the manual configuration to set it up. I ended up switching to Microtik due to my unease with Ubiqiti. Have to say however I found it more difficult to set up IPv6 on the Microtik, so another point for the EdgeRouter's IPv6 support there.

alerighi 5y ago

I like products from GL-inet. I have one of their small routers for my house, native support for OpenWRT, without doing anything difficult to install it (no need to flash via serial port, there is also a nice uboot recovery web interface in case you brick the device by flashing the wrong image as I did!), everything works nicely out of the box. They are small AP so not that big range, but rather inexpensive and you can have a lot of them in your house (of course if you already have a wired network). And by the way if you don't want to bother flashing OpenWRT... the stock firmware is already a custom build of OpenWRT, and fully unlocked, you can connect in SSH, install Luci, and install packages without limitations. Of course you can also use the simplified web ui that they provide that is nice. I installed a custom version just because I wanted to have more updated packages, but the stock one works fine if you only need an AP.

willis936 5y ago

Ubiquiti's Unifi line seems riddled with issues. Why would I want an account or the internet involved in any part of my network control? However, I am quite happy with the Edgerouter series. I just wish it got more updates. The last update to EdgeOS is 6 months old. I don't like my security gateway not being patched with weekly security updates.

andrewxdiamond 5y ago
I don’t think an account is actually required for UniFi, although it’s the default route. It enables remote management, which is an nice feature for techies helping parents with wifi problems.
rootusrootus 5y ago
I don't have any cloud account to run my home network, I just have a VM running the Unifi software locally. I'm quite happy with the setup. USG to route packets, PoE switch with three AC-Pro access points hanging off it.
sgtnoodle 5y ago
It was a pain to figure out, but I was able to set up my own instance of the management software without going through their servers. At one point I had to SSH into the AP and wipe its nonvolatile memory... Of course, I don't remember how to do it at this point, so hopefully I don't ever need to change the settings on my AP. It's been working completely issue free for a couple years now.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

I have good experiences with Aruba instant on stuff for home networking.

newhotelowner 5y ago
Aruba instant on is super simple, and very easy to setup.

comboy 5y ago

Got rid of Ubiquiti and the breach was just a footprint. Personally I'm really happy with Mikrotik. I do not recommend it if networking is not your thing and you just want some plug and play. So far I love it, wifi performance is better to me than unifi but that has many dimensions (I care most about reliability and low latency), plus it allowed me to have 10Gbe at a reasonable price. It's still closed source, but if you're a bit paranoid then OpenWRT does not solve your problems (re some other comment). Switch chips are computers on their own and you have no control over them. I would be really really surprised if they don't have tons of adventures in them. Reacting to magic packets or even something that may not be visible to L3 sniffer seems trivial to implement in ASIC. Firmware of network cards is also something outside your control. Long story short, I would suggest starting to treat your local network as if it was public Internet. E2E, firewalls, honeypots (obscure ones) and backups. I mean, if you care, perfectly fine not to, life's short.

newhotelowner 5y ago

Ubiquiti was nice. But updates were horrible. If there is a power outage, or cloud key gets restarted without shutting down, database gets corrupted. None of the other hardware - microtik, ruckus, Aruba instant or OpenWrt - has that issue. Ubiquiti added a battery to new cloud key to fix the issue. I moved my hotel's wifi to Ruckus & another to Aruba instant on. It's been more than 12 months, and everything is working without any issue.

ikiris 5y ago

Grandstream is hot garbage. Stay faaaaar away from their products. -Someone who suffered through years of their software / support horror show.