Thinking about going Prosumer

[BeachGuy]

I have a few home locations entirely with Ubiquiti equipment and a few business locations with Netgate gateways running pfSense, Netgear switching and Cisco wireless. Different networks with different purpose. None of them is running 160MHz wide channel and no business gear provider recommends it.

Mix between pfSense/OPNsense gateway with something else for switching and wireless is definitely possible and commonly used, but not needed for home network. Lower cost options like Omada and UniFi provide everything needed from a single vendor, with guaranteed compatibility and with single control panel.

You seem to know what you're talking about.

 

[Tech9]

You don't need to change anything. You've got the itch to play with something new.

 

[BeachGuy]

You don't need to change anything. You've got the itch to play with something new.

Ok yeah I'm always trying to optimize. It's hard for me to not log into the router to see how things are running.

 

[Tech9]

Go to the beach instead and enjoy life. Speed tests leave no memories.

 

[degrub]

If you want to optimize, take some time to learn how to code in assembler. Or even "C".

 

[BeachGuy]

I know c, c#, c++, python, java etc. I'm not sure what that has to do with network hardware?

 

[RMinNJ]

I sent from the gt-ax6000 to unifi cloud gateway max and an access point. Coverage is about the same. The asus coverage is hard to beat. More to play with really...no real gains.

 

[Tech9]

@BeachGuy, back in mid 2023 you asked about Ubiquiti network vs home AIO router. Based on your requirements back then you were recommended AIO router. Now you have two popular model AIO routers with good performance and reliability history. You also invested in MoCA to connect the two in wired AiMesh. They also have new 3006 firmware with VLAN support. I believe you're good for some years. When time comes for upgrade we can discuss options.

 

[BeachGuy]

I sent from the gt-ax6000 to unifi cloud gateway max and an access point. Coverage is about the same. The asus coverage is hard to beat. More to play with really...no real gains.

Thanks, that's kind of what I was trying to figure out. Is enterprise hardware that much better than consumer for home network.

 

[BeachGuy]

@BeachGuy, back in mid 2023 you asked about Ubiquiti network vs home AIO router. Based on your requirements back then you were recommended AIO router. Now you have two popular model AIO routers with good performance and reliability history. You also invested in MoCA to connect the two in wired AiMesh. They also have new 3006 firmware with VLAN support. I believe you're good for some years. When time comes for upgrade we can discuss options.

Yes you're correct. Getting forgetful in my old age. Then I've been reading about Pfsense/OPNSense etc. and for some reason I want to be on bleeding edge in networking but yours and others comments have convinced me I don't need to.

 

[degrub]

The software driving it seems to be much more stable and tested before release.. Set and forget unless you need to change/update for security. Much less beta testing. Literally, i have not had to touch my CISCO SMB router and APs except to apply security updates 1-2 times a year or add a mac address to the IP assignment list. That has been over 10+ years of use.

 

[BeachGuy]

The software driving it seems to be much more stable and tested before release.. Set and forget unless you need to change/update for security. Much less beta testing. Literally, i have not had to touch my CISCO SMB router and APs except to apply security updates 1-2 times a year or add a mac address to the IP assignment list. That has been over 10+ years of use.

Nice! See that's why I want to check with you guys.

 

[degrub]

You have a good setup now. As long as it is meeting needs, i would keep it running until it is EOL. If the router is directly on the internet, consider replacing it when security updates stop or double NAT behind an ISP router. Unless you are running a server that needs to be accessed from the internet, then unlikely to have issues with double NAT and security issues are more likely to come from clients on the wifi/lan anyway.

 

[BeachGuy]

Router connected to ISP modem. So when they come out with new standards (6E, 7 etc.) don't bother? I guess their marketing gets to me.

 

[Tech9]

enterprise hardware

Omada/UniFi are more like SMB hardware. Better or worse is subjective, depends on what are you looking for. Hardware and software are generally better quality, but as expected business oriented systems have no much gaming or parental control presets. Some things you may have to recreate manually in firewall rules. User friendliness is generally lower, the initial cost of hardware is generally higher, additional infrastructure cost may be involved. I don't run any consumer hardware, but often recommend best fit price/performance option. Some people ask for SMB hardware, some people have fixed budget, others ask for "easy button" solution, etc.

 

[Tech9]

So when they come out with new standards (6E, 7 etc.) don't bother?

You have 4x Wi-Fi 6 devices on your network. What is Wi-Fi 6E/7 going to improve? Don't count any phones/tablets because they are perfectly fine with Wi-Fi 5 speeds. Your 160MHz wide channel is only reducing the range and potentially hurting user experience. Set realistic expectations and stop following consumer marketing. Otherwise your return of investment will be close to zero.

It's more about the family and their AC/AX devices (2n, 14ac, 4ax)

 

[degrub]

Router connected to ISP modem. So when they come out with new standards (6E, 7 etc.) don't bother? I guess their marketing gets to me.

Yeah, ignore the latest and greatest. In consumer gear, that means being a beta tester. I'm still running wifi AC APs with no complaints, even from my gamer. I'd still be on 38 Mbit/s DSL except Gbit fiber was the same cost.

 

[BeachGuy]

You have 4x Wi-Fi 6 devices on your network.

Yes shout out to L&LD, he steered me in the right direction a couple of years ago! I went from ac68u (10-20 years) to that beast.

 

[BeachGuy]

Yeah, ignore the latest and greatest. In consumer gear, that means being a beta tester. I'm still running wifi AC APs with no complaints, even from my gamer. I'd still be on 38 Mbit/s DSL except Gbit fiber was the same cost.

Learned long ago you never want to be a beta tester.