UbiQuiti USG

This is a home-based installation after a purchase in October 2017.A way of thinking about this is to consider the usual modem/router/switch combo your ISP gave you as being the same as an all-in-one Hi-Fi. This is the separates version, and darn good separates too.This bit is just a router. It connects two networks, as routers do, being the internet (WAN) and all the stuff in your house/business (LAN). It only has one LAN output by default, and no WiFi, so, you'll need a modem of some form with an ethernet output on the WAN side to connect to the outside world, and assuming you have more than one device a switch of some form to allow them to connect to the internet on the LAN side, and then a wifi access point if you want to connect wirelessly. That means cost. But, you get what you pay for. This is a big step up from the consumer kit you'd normally see to business quality hardware and associated software. We're lucky and have fibre to the home, so the OpenReach GPON (sort of fibre modem) unit dumps 300Mb goodness into this, and it handles it effortlessly. Ours is matched to a Ubiquity switch, which in turn is matched to a controller (runs the software) and several PoE driven access points, so our house has seamless WiFi just like a properly setup office.It's been subject to roughly monthly firmware and software updates, all of which happened without drama, and added useful features to it all, including easy IPv6 support. Other than rebooting following those updates it's been on the whole time.A couple of warnings:Read a bit and watch some videos before diving in, it's not for the technically faint of heart as it won't 'just work'. It's not hard to set up, but will be more trouble than a BT/Sky/ISP preconfigured one. If you deal with this sort of thing for a living, it's a walk in the park.It can get hot, mounting vertically is recommended to use the vents effectively. (Ethernet ports go down) Just mind the dust, and don't cover it.The similar looking 3 Edge Router is pretty much identical to this, cheaper, and easier to use without the controller software. The main difference is that in the controller software with this you get more green circles, and access to it from that control panel. Oh and it glows a cool blue when it's working. If that does not interest you, save a few quid and get the 3 Edge Router.Just like Hi-Fi separates, once you start your wallet will weep as you feed your new addiction, but you'll love the improved everything.

Being fed up with the modem/router that Virgin provided I went ahead and decided to go for a UniFi setup at home.The backbone of the setup is the UniFi Security Gateway, this was very easy to get functionally setup:1. Switch my Virgin Router to Modem Mode which will leave port 1 on to be connected to the WAN port on the USG.2. Ensure the LAN end on the USG is connected to a switch that has access to the UniFi Cloud Key or a device with the UniFi Controller software installed.3. Sign in to the Controller, you'll see the USG, simply press adopt and after a few minutes you'll be ready to go.The router has been solid for over 7 months now with no issues and hasn't degraded in performance as a result of firmware updates.The UniFi setup I went for was the following:- UniFi Security Gateway- UniFi Switch Lite 16 PoE- UniFi AP 6 LR (WiFi 6 Access Point)- Raspberry Pi 4 (For the UniFi Controller and Adguard Adblocker)The setup has been perfect for demanding devices, running 4K streams all around the house. Very happy with it.

I bought this product as the rest of my home office set-up is UNIFI equipment (4xAPs, Gen 1 unifi cloud key & 8 port PoE switch). I was specifically looking for a new dual wan router and using a UNIFI Gateway would give me this function plus additional reporting and firewall features through the same interface.Positives1) Good monitoring of internet usage - lots of nice charts2) Integrated with the other UNIFI equipment well with a single interface to manage the full UNIFI suite3) Has dual WAN WAN function which allows for either load balancing or fail-overNegatives1) Use and set-up requires some knowledge of networking, it was a pain to set-up I wanted to use a different IP range to the default. After several hours I ended up changing the IP address range for one of the input WANs and using the Gateway default, it then worked immediately.2) DUAL WAN failover is very sensitive and seems to produce more false positives than my previous UBIQUITI EDGE Router. Each time a fail is detected there is a short break in the internet, this was happening up to 10 times a day.3) The dual WAN feature is very basic and lacks some functionality that would be expected e.g. you cannot set the criteria that it uses, you cannot easily see which connection is in use.Overall a nice addition to the UNIFI set-up but I would only recommend if you already have UNIFI equipment and have that geeky desire to see what is happening over your internet.The UNIFI Gateway is easily configured as a cable modem where you put in your username and password for the connection but for a copper connection you will probably need to use the modem/router provided by your supplier. You then set-up the connection in the gateway without login credentials as choose the connection type ' using DHCP0 (it support bridge mode if you want)'. You will also need to make sure that the two routers use different IP ranges. So for DUAL WAN you set-up the two connections and then either choose one as a fail-over only or alternatively set-up a % of traffic to be sent to each connection. IT DOES NOT BALANCE THE CONNECTION for each device, so if you have a 20 Mbps connection and a 5 Mbps connection the max speed for each device will be 20 Mbps not 25 Mbps.