10 ms·

This is not for me as I'm not a professional network engineer, but I do want to say that Ubiquiti has made home networking SO fun for me. Everything truly "Just

This is not for me as I'm not a professional network engineer, but I do want to say that Ubiquiti has made home networking SO fun for me. Everything truly "Just Works." My setup is definitely more on the prosumer side, but it's been so build out and inspect my network with their tools.

pshirshov 1y ago
> Everything truly "Just Works." Right. Just like 5Gbit PPPoE uplinks over VLAN. In fact there is no Ubiquiti router which can handle 1.5Gbit+ PPPoE for some reason. So, I have a mikrotik in front of UDMPM just to termiate PPPoE and I had to buy a IPv4 /29 subnet to avoid double not. Everything just works, sure.
- pshirshov 1y ago
  * double NAT.
v108 1y ago
Same experience for me. I am eyeballing the new NAS to play with soon.
xyst 1y ago
I don’t know about it "just works." Still have to perform a monthly reboot of equipment otherwise performance kind of drops off. Still 100X better than the competition though. My UDM has worked wonderfully with support for dual IPs and seamless failover
- simoncion 1y ago
  Yeah, my experience with the UAP-AC-LITE and -LR was that it would get wonky if not rebooted every month or so. That (combined with the realization that its software load is pretty much just OpenWRT with the serial numbers filed off) caused me to dump the official firmware and switch to OpenWRT. I was quite a lot happier after the switch, as I didn't have to hassle with UniFi and my APs stopped needing roughly-monthly reboots.
petepete 1y ago
This is exactly how it is for me too. Everything truly "just worked" - except Sonos, but that's not a Unifi problem - they even have a dedicated page in their docs on how to set up Sonos systems, which I followed exactly, and it now works a treat.
- radlad 1y ago
  I wish I could say that Unifi has just worked for me, but any time I add a new Unifi device to the network (say a new switch, or just recently a U6 range extender), my network gets incredibly unstable until I manually restart every UniFi device on the network, sometimes multiple times. (i.e. Some devices won't connect to WiFi due to DHCP IP configuration errors.) And that's after getting the device adopted, which generally takes multiple retries. I've also had three instances where upon rebooting due to a power outage or a system update, my inbound firewall / port forwarding was just broken. UniFi simply did not pass packets to my server. Once again, a full reboot of every UniFi device on the network resolved it. I really want to like UniFi, and I appreciate how much access I have to SSH in and figure out what's going on (and I did take tcpdumps and have a support case open), but it has definitely not been plug-and-play for me. I'm using a UDR7, U7 Lite, a number of managed UniFi switches, and just recently added the U6 extender.
  - fullstop 1y ago
    I just wanted to chime in and say that this hasn't been my experience. It sounds like you have some other sort of problem if it takes multiple attempts to adopt.
    - radlad 1y ago
      I appreciate the data point. It has truly been every single switch and now the extender as well. I'll open up a separate case for this. The primary case I have open currently is in regards to the port forwarding / routing breaking on some restarts.
    - newsclues 1y ago
      Sounds strange to me as well, ubnt has been the apple networking experience
daveidol 1y ago
Do you think it'd be worth upgrading over TP Link Omada hardware?
- jakeydus 1y ago
  I made the switch to Ubiquiti from TP Link last year. 1000% worth it. The "Just Works (tm)" thing is true, but the ceiling of what you can do with it is so much higher. I'll also say that the Unifi nerds out there are legion and you can find support and comment threads all over the place for pretty much any project you want to do.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- beala 1y ago
  All the complaints about Ubiquiti in this thread from a few months ago dissuaded me from investing in their gear: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44746603 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44746603 I ended up going with TP-Link Omada and have been happy so far (a managed switch and wifi 6 WAPs). I am a bit concerned about their security track record given how bad their soho products are, so I ended up sticking with my opnsense router at the perimeter as the first line of defense. I’m curious to hear what you think you’re missing out on with Omada.
  - WillPostForFood 1y ago
    The two biggest complaints in that thread (Edgerouter support abandoned, and VLAN issue unacknowledged and unfixed) were both wrong. Overall, it is a great, easy, inexpensive set of products.
    - simoncion 1y ago
      > Edgerouter support abandoned... Well, [0] mentions that they left the ER firmware alone for two years. They also don't sell the ER hardware anymore. Looking at the changelog in combination with the comments on the news item about the new release, it looks like there are many bugs left unfixed. If this analysis is correct [2], nearly nothing was changed. That smells an awful lot like abandonment. > ...VLAN issue unacknowledged and unfixed... were both wrong. This subthread [3] disagrees with you. As someone who has suffered through multi-quarter "struggle sessions" [4] with UBNT engineering staff about broken basic functionality, I can totally believe a report that UBNT claims something has been fixed when it's very much not fixed. [0] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44794857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44794857> [1] <https://community.ui.com/releases/EdgeRouter-3-0-0/33ee3852-b5db-453e-ad14-430bc218c02f?page=1 https://community.ui.com/releases/EdgeRouter-3-0-0/33ee3852-...> [2] <https://community.ui.com/releases/EdgeRouter-3-0-0/33ee3852-b5db-453e-ad14-430bc218c02f#comment/90e93939-85b1-484d-a262-3d466ddeedb2 https://community.ui.com/releases/EdgeRouter-3-0-0/33ee3852-...> [3] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44756915 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44756915> [4] Complete with round after round of them saying "Hey, we fixed it! Try the latest beta!", and me replying "No, you didn't. Did you run my 100% reliable reproducer that I've given you? It sure looks like you haven't because that reproducer still reproduces the problem.".
c-hendricks 1y ago
Can someone explain what "just works" when compared to other networking gear? IE I use ASUS and their mesh, and it all "just works". Have a mix of routers over 10 years and they all mesh together.
- aksss 1y ago
  I think the idea is that the Ubiquiti equipment is far more capable than normal consumer-grade equipment like ASUS, and still manages to "just work". So your ASUS may also "just work" but is has a fraction of the capabilities as the unifi system in terms of feature load-out and scope of native device integrations.
- samhh 1y ago
  For a start I wouldn’t trust brands that by default market mesh over wired backhaul.
  - c-hendricks 1y ago
    Because ... ? Reminder my comment was looking for explanations. Is your issue that mesh + Ethernet backhaul is actually WAP + roaming and not mesh?
- timeinput 1y ago
  I started with TPLink gear in a mesh mode, and it kinda sorta maybe worked? I had an access point on the ground floor, a range extender + option to connect RJ45 (for devices with out WiFi), on the middle floor, and an additional meshed AP / range extender on the top floor. The top floor meshed thing basically didn't work, the RJ45 thing got me like 50 Mbps while wireless was getting me 200 Mbps. It 'just worked', but it didn't work well. In that same house switching over to Ubiquiti just worked, and worked well. I had the same setup (mesh nodes on every floor), but performance was substantially better (2-4x). I've moved house, and now have wired APs on every floor, and get phenomenal performance. The management UI to see what is where / how its connected, and when something doesn't work is very good. It also enables things that were hard / difficult with other non-'prosumer' gear. Like I can have multiple WAN ports, and plug in a cellular modem, so that when my internet doesn't just work (which happens way too often) it auto-fails over to the cellular modem, and continues just working. The reason I went with Ubiquiti in the first place was their Unifi Protect line of cameras, and again those 'just work' from the wireless small ones to domes / etc plugged into wired connections they all just seamlessly connect to my dream machine, and provides a great UI, and the data is on prem which I want. The only thing Ubiquiti doesn't do the way I want is DHCP + DNS, so I have a seperate raspberry pi doing that. After years of fussing around with either linux / pfsense / ... routing + firewall solutions, and different AP / meshing configurations the ubiquiti stuff is very hands off.
mongol 1y ago
Tangentially related: is Mikrotik as bad for wireless as some say? I want to like them, even though their equipment seems complex, I root for a company from the Baltics that have carved out a respectable niche. But they appear to struggle with wireless?
- protocolture 1y ago
  My biggest issue is threat surface. You can design around it, but Mikrotik WAP's do everything a Mikrotik router can do. If they get compromised they can run scripts, create blind proxies etc, and mikrotik has a habit of resurfacing CVEs from memory. My experience is very binary. I had some Mikrotik RF installs that Just Worked, and never needed attention. And some that were just problem children constantly demanding reboots. Mikrotik code isnt the most stable beast in the world, but if you keep it at a certain point in time you are usually safe. But then that brings you back around to the security issues again.
  - simoncion 1y ago
    > If they get compromised they can run scripts, create blind proxies etc... How's that different from a Unifi AP? Unless they changed something in the past five, eight years, the software running on the AP is pretty much OpenWRT with the serial numbers hastily filed off. [0] Get a shell, and you get to download whatever to do whatever you need. [0] Me coming to this realization is what lead me to switch over to OpenWRT. I didn't need any of the fleet management stuff provided by UniFi, and was constantly frustrated that the APs had to totally reboot whenever you changed nearly any setting on them. (I heard that they eventually fixed that particular shortcoming. Good for them, I guess.)
    - protocolture 1y ago
      Mikrotik will let you do a lot of this without downloading new code, but you are correct. In my experience people find a simple vuln, log in, enable the blind proxy feature, and then use your network to evade netflix region blocking until you realise. Cambiums shell from memory is much further locked down. IIRC you need a possibly predictable password form cambo to do get full root shell on a lot of devices.
encom 1y ago
I got some decommissioned Ubiquiti gear (a switch, some ap's) from work, but it requires UniFi to do anything. I looked into that briefly and it appears to be some eldritch horror of an application. Anything I can't use from a terminal is worthless, so all of it is going in the trash where it belongs.
- simoncion 1y ago
  Depending on the model of AP, you might be able to run OpenWRT on it without too much hassle.

pshirshov 1y ago

> Everything truly "Just Works." Right. Just like 5Gbit PPPoE uplinks over VLAN. In fact there is no Ubiquiti router which can handle 1.5Gbit+ PPPoE for some reason. So, I have a mikrotik in front of UDMPM just to termiate PPPoE and I had to buy a IPv4 /29 subnet to avoid double not. Everything just works, sure.

pshirshov 1y ago
* double NAT.

v108 1y ago

Same experience for me. I am eyeballing the new NAS to play with soon.

xyst 1y ago

I don’t know about it "just works." Still have to perform a monthly reboot of equipment otherwise performance kind of drops off. Still 100X better than the competition though. My UDM has worked wonderfully with support for dual IPs and seamless failover

simoncion 1y ago
Yeah, my experience with the UAP-AC-LITE and -LR was that it would get wonky if not rebooted every month or so. That (combined with the realization that its software load is pretty much just OpenWRT with the serial numbers filed off) caused me to dump the official firmware and switch to OpenWRT. I was quite a lot happier after the switch, as I didn't have to hassle with UniFi and my APs stopped needing roughly-monthly reboots.

petepete 1y ago

This is exactly how it is for me too. Everything truly "just worked" - except Sonos, but that's not a Unifi problem - they even have a dedicated page in their docs on how to set up Sonos systems, which I followed exactly, and it now works a treat.

radlad 1y ago
I wish I could say that Unifi has just worked for me, but any time I add a new Unifi device to the network (say a new switch, or just recently a U6 range extender), my network gets incredibly unstable until I manually restart every UniFi device on the network, sometimes multiple times. (i.e. Some devices won't connect to WiFi due to DHCP IP configuration errors.) And that's after getting the device adopted, which generally takes multiple retries. I've also had three instances where upon rebooting due to a power outage or a system update, my inbound firewall / port forwarding was just broken. UniFi simply did not pass packets to my server. Once again, a full reboot of every UniFi device on the network resolved it. I really want to like UniFi, and I appreciate how much access I have to SSH in and figure out what's going on (and I did take tcpdumps and have a support case open), but it has definitely not been plug-and-play for me. I'm using a UDR7, U7 Lite, a number of managed UniFi switches, and just recently added the U6 extender.
- fullstop 1y ago
  I just wanted to chime in and say that this hasn't been my experience. It sounds like you have some other sort of problem if it takes multiple attempts to adopt.
  - radlad 1y ago
    I appreciate the data point. It has truly been every single switch and now the extender as well. I'll open up a separate case for this. The primary case I have open currently is in regards to the port forwarding / routing breaking on some restarts.
  - newsclues 1y ago
    Sounds strange to me as well, ubnt has been the apple networking experience

daveidol 1y ago

Do you think it'd be worth upgrading over TP Link Omada hardware?

jakeydus 1y ago
I made the switch to Ubiquiti from TP Link last year. 1000% worth it. The "Just Works (tm)" thing is true, but the ceiling of what you can do with it is so much higher. I'll also say that the Unifi nerds out there are legion and you can find support and comment threads all over the place for pretty much any project you want to do.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
beala 1y ago
All the complaints about Ubiquiti in this thread from a few months ago dissuaded me from investing in their gear: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44746603 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44746603 I ended up going with TP-Link Omada and have been happy so far (a managed switch and wifi 6 WAPs). I am a bit concerned about their security track record given how bad their soho products are, so I ended up sticking with my opnsense router at the perimeter as the first line of defense. I’m curious to hear what you think you’re missing out on with Omada.
- WillPostForFood 1y ago
  The two biggest complaints in that thread (Edgerouter support abandoned, and VLAN issue unacknowledged and unfixed) were both wrong. Overall, it is a great, easy, inexpensive set of products.
  - simoncion 1y ago
    > Edgerouter support abandoned... Well, [0] mentions that they left the ER firmware alone for two years. They also don't sell the ER hardware anymore. Looking at the changelog in combination with the comments on the news item about the new release, it looks like there are many bugs left unfixed. If this analysis is correct [2], nearly nothing was changed. That smells an awful lot like abandonment. > ...VLAN issue unacknowledged and unfixed... were both wrong. This subthread [3] disagrees with you. As someone who has suffered through multi-quarter "struggle sessions" [4] with UBNT engineering staff about broken basic functionality, I can totally believe a report that UBNT claims something has been fixed when it's very much not fixed. [0] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44794857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44794857> [1] <https://community.ui.com/releases/EdgeRouter-3-0-0/33ee3852-b5db-453e-ad14-430bc218c02f?page=1 https://community.ui.com/releases/EdgeRouter-3-0-0/33ee3852-...> [2] <https://community.ui.com/releases/EdgeRouter-3-0-0/33ee3852-b5db-453e-ad14-430bc218c02f#comment/90e93939-85b1-484d-a262-3d466ddeedb2 https://community.ui.com/releases/EdgeRouter-3-0-0/33ee3852-...> [3] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44756915 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44756915> [4] Complete with round after round of them saying "Hey, we fixed it! Try the latest beta!", and me replying "No, you didn't. Did you run my 100% reliable reproducer that I've given you? It sure looks like you haven't because that reproducer still reproduces the problem.".

c-hendricks 1y ago

Can someone explain what "just works" when compared to other networking gear? IE I use ASUS and their mesh, and it all "just works". Have a mix of routers over 10 years and they all mesh together.

aksss 1y ago
I think the idea is that the Ubiquiti equipment is far more capable than normal consumer-grade equipment like ASUS, and still manages to "just work". So your ASUS may also "just work" but is has a fraction of the capabilities as the unifi system in terms of feature load-out and scope of native device integrations.
samhh 1y ago
For a start I wouldn’t trust brands that by default market mesh over wired backhaul.
- c-hendricks 1y ago
  Because ... ? Reminder my comment was looking for explanations. Is your issue that mesh + Ethernet backhaul is actually WAP + roaming and not mesh?
timeinput 1y ago
I started with TPLink gear in a mesh mode, and it kinda sorta maybe worked? I had an access point on the ground floor, a range extender + option to connect RJ45 (for devices with out WiFi), on the middle floor, and an additional meshed AP / range extender on the top floor. The top floor meshed thing basically didn't work, the RJ45 thing got me like 50 Mbps while wireless was getting me 200 Mbps. It 'just worked', but it didn't work well. In that same house switching over to Ubiquiti just worked, and worked well. I had the same setup (mesh nodes on every floor), but performance was substantially better (2-4x). I've moved house, and now have wired APs on every floor, and get phenomenal performance. The management UI to see what is where / how its connected, and when something doesn't work is very good. It also enables things that were hard / difficult with other non-'prosumer' gear. Like I can have multiple WAN ports, and plug in a cellular modem, so that when my internet doesn't just work (which happens way too often) it auto-fails over to the cellular modem, and continues just working. The reason I went with Ubiquiti in the first place was their Unifi Protect line of cameras, and again those 'just work' from the wireless small ones to domes / etc plugged into wired connections they all just seamlessly connect to my dream machine, and provides a great UI, and the data is on prem which I want. The only thing Ubiquiti doesn't do the way I want is DHCP + DNS, so I have a seperate raspberry pi doing that. After years of fussing around with either linux / pfsense / ... routing + firewall solutions, and different AP / meshing configurations the ubiquiti stuff is very hands off.

mongol 1y ago

Tangentially related: is Mikrotik as bad for wireless as some say? I want to like them, even though their equipment seems complex, I root for a company from the Baltics that have carved out a respectable niche. But they appear to struggle with wireless?

protocolture 1y ago
My biggest issue is threat surface. You can design around it, but Mikrotik WAP's do everything a Mikrotik router can do. If they get compromised they can run scripts, create blind proxies etc, and mikrotik has a habit of resurfacing CVEs from memory. My experience is very binary. I had some Mikrotik RF installs that Just Worked, and never needed attention. And some that were just problem children constantly demanding reboots. Mikrotik code isnt the most stable beast in the world, but if you keep it at a certain point in time you are usually safe. But then that brings you back around to the security issues again.
- simoncion 1y ago
  > If they get compromised they can run scripts, create blind proxies etc... How's that different from a Unifi AP? Unless they changed something in the past five, eight years, the software running on the AP is pretty much OpenWRT with the serial numbers hastily filed off. [0] Get a shell, and you get to download whatever to do whatever you need. [0] Me coming to this realization is what lead me to switch over to OpenWRT. I didn't need any of the fleet management stuff provided by UniFi, and was constantly frustrated that the APs had to totally reboot whenever you changed nearly any setting on them. (I heard that they eventually fixed that particular shortcoming. Good for them, I guess.)
  - protocolture 1y ago
    Mikrotik will let you do a lot of this without downloading new code, but you are correct. In my experience people find a simple vuln, log in, enable the blind proxy feature, and then use your network to evade netflix region blocking until you realise. Cambiums shell from memory is much further locked down. IIRC you need a possibly predictable password form cambo to do get full root shell on a lot of devices.

encom 1y ago

I got some decommissioned Ubiquiti gear (a switch, some ap's) from work, but it requires UniFi to do anything. I looked into that briefly and it appears to be some eldritch horror of an application. Anything I can't use from a terminal is worthless, so all of it is going in the trash where it belongs.

simoncion 1y ago
Depending on the model of AP, you might be able to run OpenWRT on it without too much hassle.