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Home Router Recomendations

If your using control4 there are known issues with video distribution and that is why they are on the Control4 do not use list
 
Funny this came up. I've just finished ripping out all the consumer-grade gear in our home and putting in a full replacement with Ubiquiti Unifi and Unifi Protect gear. All the old/crap stuff replaced... all routers (2), switches (6), access points (5), security cameras (5), doorbell cam, smoke detectors (4), and thermostats (3).

Here's the Ubiquiti haul (like 5 trips to the local I.T. equipment dealer, plus some Amazon purchases.)
F0970D07-130E-4AC5-AB5C-4176DA899E66_1_105_c.jpeg
It takes a while to get it all set up right, but once you have it's an absolute pleasure to manage everything from one interface. (Well, two interfaces since unifi Protect security camera system is its own interface). SDN is really a whole new level of control.

I've spent a fortune on this new gear, and many many hours learning it, configuring it, and maintaining it. Yet the quality of our home network now, both wired and wireless is SO much higher. I was so thrilled to finally rip out the last of the Nest/Google equipment (5 dropcams, google Hello doorbell, 4 Nest CO sensors, and 3 Nest thermostats. I've had so many problems with Nest stuff over the years... unexplained drop outs just feet from the wifi access point, false alarms from smoke detectors... not to mention the recurring billing.

Owning it all now, having it be enterprise-grade equipment, no monthly fees, and be very reliable is a relief.

I really love Ubiquiti's equipment. It's not perfect, and takes a while to get right, but it's worth it in my mind. If you consider yourself reasonably confident with general networking, and enjoy reading the support forums and reddit boards about the equipment, you'll learn quickly. That said, they really aren't equipped to support home consumers... they really intend to support IT professionals... so support for you (and me) comes from the Ubiquiti community. But people there, like here, are very helpful.

Here's my new Unifi+Kaleidescape rack:
2A553893-2F7B-4D3A-A380-1ADBCCCB08DC_1_105_c.jpeg

Not pictured here are the many switches around the house, access points, and cameras.

Happy to help you out with what I've learned if you take the plunge. (There are some obscure wifi settings that make a HUGE difference to the quality and speed of your network.)
 
Definitely go with either the in wall HD or ceiling mount HD. Much better speed.
Actually, I'll disagree here. I returned the in-walls I bought and went with the FlexHD ones.

LOVE them. Ceiling mount may well be great, but what a hassle getting POE ethernet lines into your ceiling for a clean look. I can pull wires into walls, but ceilings are too much work for me. The Flex access points are small and unobtrusive when deak/table mounted, and are easy to wall mount.
 
The only documented improvement in speed for the HDs is 2.4GHz. 5 GHz has the same speeds...
 
... and here's a quick look at the network "dashboard"... and this is just one of many many screens, reports, and monitoring pages you can pull up.
If you're a data geek / tweaker, you'll love this equipment! :cool:

Unifi 1.png
 
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I'll also add that their iOS app is very well done. and their forthcoming augmented reality feature in the app is kinda mind blowing. (I'm in their beta test / early access group, so I have it running now. Normally couldn't talk about it, but they're already showing the AR features on their public website and some youtube videos.)

You point your iphone camera at your equipment rack, and the app overlays what equipment it sees at each of your ports, in realtime, even as you move the camera around your gear rack! It's pretty cool... and while it's a little 'gimmicky', i've actually used it on a few occasions to remind myself what port is going to what devices around the house.
B91FDE6C-9143-4848-A02F-2ADBC2D11D77.png

801D0918-A51C-4BC1-8E55-ADF8E8D388FD.png
 
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I am in a similar situation. Lots of different network equipment built up ofer the years. Doing a clean sweep! The final straw was having some minor issues and K support told me about some network related problems they were seeing.
 
Agreed, great write up and pictures. I can see the 24 port switch in the rack. What are the other 2 devices? What have you chosen for the router?
 
Happy to help you out with what I've learned if you take the plunge. (There are some obscure wifi settings that make a HUGE difference to the quality and speed of your network.)

Might ask you some questions! I probably should have started this thread in the nonK equipment area, but my K setup is the top priority. SJ
 
Actually, I'll disagree here. I returned the in-walls I bought and went with the FlexHD ones.

LOVE them. Ceiling mount may well be great, but what a hassle getting POE ethernet lines into your ceiling for a clean look. I can pull wires into walls, but ceilings are too much work for me. The Flex access points are small and unobtrusive when deak/table mounted, and are easy to wall mount.
Thanks Josh, can you create a mesh network with?
Still have the Eero but I would like to change to Ubiquiti and also prefer the flexHD.
 
Thanks Josh, can you create a mesh network with?
Still have the Eero but I would like to change to Ubiquiti and also prefer the flexHD.
I believe you can. I had two locations where. I really wanted an AP but couldn't easily run an ethernet line to that location, so I used two of the mesh access points:
These are meant specifically to provide a wireless uplink to another nearby access point.
I THINK most of their APs can do some flavor of this, but these are specifically designed only to do that, helping you get good wifi in an area of your home/office where it's not easy to get a wired connection to the AP.
That said, it's definitely best to get wired, non-meshed APs to as many spots as you can. My mesh APs work reasonably well, but not quite as reliable as the wired ones.
 
Agreed, great write up and pictures. I can see the 24 port switch in the rack. What are the other 2 devices? What have you chosen for the router?
Top device is the CloudKey G2+. Usually a standalone small box, but they sell an optional rackmount kit that you see in use here. This runs the Unifi controller software, and optionally can run Unifi Protect for video cameras.
Next from top is my patch panel, for each room of the house or major device.
Then is the switch (I chose the 24-port PoE PRO model.
Then the next device below that is the Security Gateway Pro 4. This is the router and firewall. NOTE that this is the weak link... the USG Pro 4 is due to be revised with a much faster processor. It's limiting my broadband speed and the new one will supposedly fix that. (I'm getting 500-600 mbps download speed from a 1GB service. USG Pro 4 can't do much higher than 500-600mbps.
The Dream Machine Pro can take the place of the USG and the cloud-key... and has the updated processor, so it's not only easier to setup and deploy, but it takes just 1 RU, AND it doesn't limit your broadband speed. I prefered separate devices at the time I made the purchase... but if I had it to do over again, I'd probably go with the UDM Pro. Tired of waiting for a faster USG, and would now prefer one unit rather than two.
 
Top device is the CloudKey G2+. Usually a standalone small box, but they sell an optional rackmount kit that you see in use here. This runs the Unifi controller software, and optionally can run Unifi Protect for video cameras.
Next from top is my patch panel, for each room of the house or major device.
Then is the switch (I chose the 24-port PoE PRO model.
Then the next device below that is the Security Gateway Pro 4. This is the router and firewall. NOTE that this is the weak link... the USG Pro 4 is due to be revised with a much faster processor. It's limiting my broadband speed and the new one will supposedly fix that. (I'm getting 500-600 mbps download speed from a 1GB service. USG Pro 4 can't do much higher than 500-600mbps.
The Dream Machine Pro can take the place of the USG and the cloud-key... and has the updated processor, so it's not only easier to setup and deploy, but it takes just 1 RU, AND it doesn't limit your broadband speed. I prefered separate devices at the time I made the purchase... but if I had it to do over again, I'd probably go with the UDM Pro. Tired of waiting for a faster USG, and would now prefer one unit rather than two.
Bought the UDM Pro hence no need for a Cloud Key. Should be delivered tomorrow and I will be spending a long weekend(as Monday is holiday here) installing everything, plus two more subwoofers and 5 more speakers taking advantage of the +8 new channels in my Altitude).
 
Top device is the CloudKey G2+. Usually a standalone small box, but they sell an optional rackmount kit that you see in use here. This runs the Unifi controller software, and optionally can run Unifi Protect for video cameras.
Next from top is my patch panel, for each room of the house or major device.
Then is the switch (I chose the 24-port PoE PRO model.
Then the next device below that is the Security Gateway Pro 4. This is the router and firewall. NOTE that this is the weak link... the USG Pro 4 is due to be revised with a much faster processor. It's limiting my broadband speed and the new one will supposedly fix that. (I'm getting 500-600 mbps download speed from a 1GB service. USG Pro 4 can't do much higher than 500-600mbps.
The Dream Machine Pro can take the place of the USG and the cloud-key... and has the updated processor, so it's not only easier to setup and deploy, but it takes just 1 RU, AND it doesn't limit your broadband speed. I prefered separate devices at the time I made the purchase... but if I had it to do over again, I'd probably go with the UDM Pro. Tired of waiting for a faster USG, and would now prefer one unit rather than two.
Thanks Josh. I couldn’t work out which devices I was seeing there! Yes, the UDM Pro is what I’m thinking of going for. With COVID enforced home working and schooling here in the UK (everyone on their devices at the same time, running simultaneous video calls), I’m looking forward to something more robust that can handle all the wired and wireless devices I have, as things are constantly dropping out at the moment. I think the FlexHDs are the right APs for me too. Will start with 2 and see how I go. (y)
 
Bought the UDM Pro hence no need for a Cloud Key. Should be delivered tomorrow and I will be spending a long weekend(as Monday is holiday here) installing everything, plus two more subwoofers and 5 more speakers taking advantage of the +8 new channels in my Altitude).
Mine also shows up tommorow. Going to start transitioning over the next several days
 
Top device is the CloudKey G2+. Usually a standalone small box, but they sell an optional rackmount kit that you see in use here. This runs the Unifi controller software, and optionally can run Unifi Protect for video cameras.
Next from top is my patch panel, for each room of the house or major device.
Then is the switch (I chose the 24-port PoE PRO model.
Then the next device below that is the Security Gateway Pro 4. This is the router and firewall. NOTE that this is the weak link... the USG Pro 4 is due to be revised with a much faster processor. It's limiting my broadband speed and the new one will supposedly fix that. (I'm getting 500-600 mbps download speed from a 1GB service. USG Pro 4 can't do much higher than 500-600mbps.
The Dream Machine Pro can take the place of the USG and the cloud-key... and has the updated processor, so it's not only easier to setup and deploy, but it takes just 1 RU, AND it doesn't limit your broadband speed. I prefered separate devices at the time I made the purchase... but if I had it to do over again, I'd probably go with the UDM Pro. Tired of waiting for a faster USG, and would now prefer one unit rather than two.

Josh, how is all of your K equipment networked? Are there some devices on your main switch or are they on other switches that run off that? I’m trying to centralize as much as possible. My two main switches will be connected with 10GB, but likely overkill. Thanks. SJ
 
Josh, how is all of your K equipment networked? Are there some devices on your main switch or are they on other switches that run off that? I’m trying to centralize as much as possible. My two main switches will be connected with 10GB, but likely overkill. Thanks. SJ
As of last week, none of my Kaleidescape gear is attached directly to my big main 24-port switch. I used to have the Terra and vault connected right to the switch since they were so close... (really ridiculous to put the vault on the main switch since it never needs any amount of traffic at all... it just sits there and occasionally validates that it has a blu-ray disc still inserted. must be like 500 bytes of traffic per month!)
But recently when i cleaned up the rack, I moved all the equipment in that rack to a small managed gigabit switch that's inside the rack. I'm getting low on main switch ports, so this helped, along with making it all look more professional.

By the way, the biggest bargain in networking equipment EVER is the Ubiquiti Flex Mini Switch. A managed gigabit 5-port switch for the whopping price tag of $29.00. For real. Sure it has no PoE and is plastic, not metal, but for some installations where you just need a few more ports somewhere, but you really like the convenience of centrally managed SDN switch, it's an astounding bargain.

When it comes down to it, even my Terra serving out 3 streams of 4K video will be fine going through 2-3 switches to reach the client device. An extra layer of switch is not going to become the bandwidth bottleneck!
 
I’ve asked this on the Ubiquiti forum with no luck so far. Was wondering if any Ubiquiti users on here may be able to help?

I’ve just ordered a UDM Pro, a 24 port non-PoE switch (don’t need PoE, for now anyway), a couple of 8 port switches and 3 APs.

For anyone familiar with the UDM Pro, I want to use the 10gbps SPF+ LAN port (Port 11) to connect to the 1gbps SPF Port on the switch, over Ethernet. This is mainly to make use of the port and keep the other 8 ports free for other devices. The switch only supports 1gbps, which is fine for my needs, but my question is will an RJ45 1gbps SPF module such as the one linked below plug and play safely into the 10gbps SPF+ Port on the UDM Pro (i.e, is the SPF+ port backward compatible), or would I need a 10gbps module?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiber-Modu...90681067&sprefix=ubiquiti+rj45,aps,146&sr=8-3
 
I’m using 2 SPF+ ports, so can’t help. But it’s Amazon and they easily accept returns! Seems like you would get the module that is appropriate for the specific unit. Also, submit a ticket. Their support people answered a couple of my questions within a day. SJ
 
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