Upgrade Router Mikrotik RB3011 or Ubiquiti EdgeRouter 4

[Sooner]

Looking to upgrade router from airport time capsule that is only being used as router. Have Ruckus for wireless but ZD1100 is out of life for them so likely have to replace in short order. Any suggestion for these routers or others is appreciated. Knowing that I will likely change the wireless also in the next year or so. Fiber connection with teenagers who are all heavy streamers whether it be Xbox or 4K video content. Most devices are wired connections with switches already in place. 

 

[eggzlot]

I am using the Mikrotik.  If you are technical you can hack it.  Tons of options and features to tweak but the UI isn't as "easy" to follow as some others but they are super powerful.  I had to return my unifi because a few tasks required writing CLI code which was above my pay grade.  Unifi has some great forums and the live chat support has helped with the APs that I own.

[Pounce]

Do you want or need a security gateway/appliance? While you can replace the router with a router you might want to evaluate a your setup and consider a holistic upgrade.

What do you have for switches?

[Sooner]

I have two Araknis 24 port with PoE. What would you consider to be a holistic upgrade? The system was put in about 5 years ago.

[BraydonH]

The edge series is basically dead compared to Unifi. Definitely don't get Edge and get Unifi.

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/unifi-dream-machine

This thing is the cats meow and there isn't a better all in one router for the price on the market. If you really wanna big d*ck it then get the Dream Machine Pro. That's basically the best residential router I know of (I am also a Pakedge/Luxul dealer, the Unifi product is just superior in nearly every regard) 

[The Good Guy]

26 minutes ago, BraydonH said:

The edge series is basically dead compared to Unifi. Definitely don't get Edge and get Unifi.

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/unifi-dream-machine

This thing is the cats meow and there isn't a better all in one router for the price on the market. If you really wanna big d*ck it then get the Dream Machine Pro. That's basically the best residential router I know of (I am also a Pakedge/Luxul dealer, the Unifi product is just superior in nearly every regard) 

Yep!

Or... If can wait a little bit longer for a new router and doesn't need the extra features from the UDM Pro, I would wait for this:
https://community.ui.com/questions/Introducing-the-UniFi-Next-Gen-Gateway-Product-Line-Starting-with-UXG-Pro-/732dd4dd-10bf-463c-8622-382d77702872

https://store.ui.com/collections/early-access/products/unifi-next-generation-gateway-professional-beta

[lippavisual]

Keep what you have for switches and AP’s, provided they are Gigabit and at least have AC v1.

Depending on how many AP’s you have, I’d ditch the Zone director and flash the AP’s with unleashed firmware.

Then get MikroTik RB3011 for routing.  It’s really not that hard to watch a YouTube video to find out how to do what you want.  You’re most likely will do that with UniFi too.  This is the BEST performance for the money in the market. Period.

 

[ejn1]

Second the Unifi comments... I have UDM Pro in my main house and just changed out a USG for a UDM in a second home.   The AP in it was very robust and I got rid of my other AP's in my setup.    I still think the UDM Pro is the best value (even our the new UXG Pro referenced above).  The UDM lacks SFG+ port and the ability to have a failover secondary WAN. 

[Sooner]

Thanks for the input. Decided to go with UniFi as my APs are older and can't do unleashed. I'll let everyone know how it goes after it arrives and I get it setup. Likely will have questions along the way. 

[Sooner]

Decided to go with UDM Pro and couldn't be happier. Plan on adding camera's with protect and the built in NVR was a nice add. I decided to upgrade all the switches also since the small 5 ports that I put behind all the TV's are only $29/each. Signed up for early access and upgraded to 802.11ax AP's. Upgraded the 4 laptops to Intel AX200 module and wow what a difference. I will say learning the beta firmware upgrades was challenging but glad I went ahead and future proofed the system to some degree. 

The UI took some time to get used to but starting to get the hang of it. 

I've caught the bug and continue to look for ways to improve performance. 

I had some issues with C4 connecting to the IR over IP after the upgrade. Changed all my ATV's and TV's to IP control with the help of @msgreenf and it runs a lot smoother now. 

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

 

[cybuch]

On 7/7/2020 at 1:33 PM, BraydonH said:

The edge series is basically dead compared to Unifi. Definitely don't get Edge and get Unifi.

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-routing-switching/products/unifi-dream-machine

This thing is the cats meow and there isn't a better all in one router for the price on the market. If you really wanna big d*ck it then get the Dream Machine Pro. That's basically the best residential router I know of (I am also a Pakedge/Luxul dealer, the Unifi product is just superior in nearly every regard) 

Do you know if this unit is any better on VPN than the other units by Ubiquiti?  I have run into speed issues with VPN on the Ubiquiti products.  I switch my router to mikrotik because of this, but all other network is unifi.

[Sooner]

Not using VPN personally but this graph made the decision to go with the UDM Pro vs regular UDM easy for me. VPN seems to be significantly improved also. Throughput with DPI/IPS is outstanding with Pro version. 

 

[ejn1]

1 hour ago, Sooner said:

Not using VPN personally but this graph made the decision to go with the UDM Pro vs regular UDM easy for me. VPN seems to be significantly improved also. Throughput with DPI/IPS is outstanding with Pro version. 

 

I have both in two different homes and can say both are very fast.   Think about the fastest ISP service for homes are 1G and the UDM does 850 with full DPI and IDS/IPS turned on.   From my lens, the Pro is better value if you want to run video as well where the UDM is better in a small home where 1 Access Point can give you full Wireless coverage. 

[ejn1]

2 hours ago, cybuch said:

Do you know if this unit is any better on VPN than the other units by Ubiquiti?  I have run into speed issues with VPN on the Ubiquiti products.  I switch my router to mikrotik because of this, but all other network is unifi.

I use VPN and its a lot faster than my Unifi USG-Pro connecting to a USG VPN LPT2. 

[cybuch]

1 minute ago, ejn1 said:

I use VPN and its a lot faster than my Unifi USG-Pro connecting to a USG VPN LPT2. 

perfect!!  Thats what I wanted to hear, I will look into it.

[Jfizzle]

@Sooner Congrats! I also just got a UDM-Pro and my kids are also big streamers and xbox users so I'm looking forward to dialing it in, if you have any tips or tricks let me know!

 

[ejn1]

14 hours ago, Sooner said:

Decided to go with UDM Pro and couldn't be happier. Plan on adding camera's with protect and the built in NVR was a nice add. I decided to upgrade all the switches also since the small 5 ports that I put behind all the TV's are only $29/each. Signed up for early access and upgraded to 802.11ax AP's. Upgraded the 4 laptops to Intel AX200 module and wow what a difference. I will say learning the beta firmware upgrades was challenging but glad I went ahead and future proofed the system to some degree. 

The UI took some time to get used to but starting to get the hang of it. 

I've caught the bug and continue to look for ways to improve performance. 

I had some issues with C4 connecting to the IR over IP after the upgrade. Changed all my ATV's and TV's to IP control with the help of @msgreenf and it runs a lot smoother now. 

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

 

Ditto on Beta hardware but be careful as Ubiquiti releases a lot of items in Early Access and they "really" are beta and they use the EA groups to beta test and report for them.   On an AP seems low risk but then many times you have to upgrade your router/controller software to a beta release and that is what you may have a kids and wife relying on   

[ejn1]

On 7/7/2020 at 4:07 PM, The Good Guy said:

Yep!

Or... If can wait a little bit longer for a new router and doesn't need the extra features from the UDM Pro, I would wait for this:
https://community.ui.com/questions/Introducing-the-UniFi-Next-Gen-Gateway-Product-Line-Starting-with-UXG-Pro-/732dd4dd-10bf-463c-8622-382d77702872

https://store.ui.com/collections/early-access/products/unifi-next-generation-gateway-professional-beta

I still haven't figured out how the next Gateway is priced almost 1/3 higher than the UDM Pro and has less features.     It must be a speed performance angle but none of the stats shared seem to show that yet.    Folks that say they like to keep their systems modular for better risk management against single point failure, you can disable any of the same features on the UDM-Pro so confused at their price tierings.

[cdepaola]

On 7/7/2020 at 4:07 PM, The Good Guy said:

Yep!

Or... If can wait a little bit longer for a new router and doesn't need the extra features from the UDM Pro, I would wait for this:
https://community.ui.com/questions/Introducing-the-UniFi-Next-Gen-Gateway-Product-Line-Starting-with-UXG-Pro-/732dd4dd-10bf-463c-8622-382d77702872

https://store.ui.com/collections/early-access/products/unifi-next-generation-gateway-professional-beta

This will need an external controller... The UDM Pro is the way to go right now. 

[Sooner]

3 hours ago, Jfizzle said:

@Sooner Congrats! I also just got a UDM-Pro and my kids are also big streamers and xbox users so I'm looking forward to dialing it in, if you have any tips or tricks let me know!

 

Enabling UPnP allows for open NAT which is the best Xbox experience and seems to work well with the UDM. Considering putting the Xbox's on their own VLAN since they don't really need to talk to other devices and their is security risk to UPnP from what I have read. My kids claim they used to lag once or twice a day and have experienced no lag since with UPnP enabled. 

Once logged into router go to settings/network/LAN and enable UPnP. If you haven't installed your UDM yet I suggest doing a factory reset before starting as mine wouldn't connect to the internet and I ended up trying several things and wasting an hour or so. After reset everything went smoothly. 

[Sooner]

3 hours ago, ejn1 said:

Ditto on Beta hardware but be careful as Ubiquiti releases a lot of items in Early Access and they "really" are beta and they use the EA groups to beta test and report for them.   On an AP seems low risk but then many times you have to upgrade your router/controller software to a beta release and that is what you may have a kids and wife relying on   

I agree it was a huge leap of understanding to install the system with early access AP's. Having to SSH into the router to install a beta controller was time consuming to learn. Fortunately didn't have to change the UDM firmware. Manually changing the firmware on each AP was easier but still a learning curve for me. 

Unless you have a want to learn and time to dig into issue's don't try early access items. It's not straightforward at that point. 

My family all have newer iPhones and with the Intel AX200 in the PC's we will take advantage of the 802.11ax so it was worth it for me. 

[ejn1]

12 hours ago, Sooner said:

I agree it was a huge leap of understanding to install the system with early access AP's. Having to SSH into the router to install a beta controller was time consuming to learn. Fortunately didn't have to change the UDM firmware. Manually changing the firmware on each AP was easier but still a learning curve for me. 

Unless you have a want to learn and time to dig into issue's don't try early access items. It's not straightforward at that point. 

My family all have newer iPhones and with the Intel AX200 in the PC's we will take advantage of the 802.11ax so it was worth it for me. 

Good luck with them.   I’m waiting for the 2.5G versions of the AP s to be released.   Hopefully soon.

[ejn1]

21 hours ago, Sooner said:

I agree it was a huge leap of understanding to install the system with early access AP's. Having to SSH into the router to install a beta controller was time consuming to learn. Fortunately didn't have to change the UDM firmware. Manually changing the firmware on each AP was easier but still a learning curve for me. 

Unless you have a want to learn and time to dig into issue's don't try early access items. It's not straightforward at that point. 

My family all have newer iPhones and with the Intel AX200 in the PC's we will take advantage of the 802.11ax so it was worth it for me. 

Which Wifi6 AP did you install? The Lite or Long Range Version? 

[Sooner]

2 hours ago, ejn1 said:

Which Wifi6 AP did you install? The Lite or Long Range Version? 

The LR was out of stock so went with the lite. Speed is better than old system but I doubt much better than a good Wifi5 AP. Should get better with firmware and settings adjustment. Biggest issue is you can't choose DFS channels yet on U6 firmware so it limits your options with multiple AP's. 

[ejn1]

8 minutes ago, Sooner said:

The LR was out of stock so went with the lite. Speed is better than old system but I doubt much better than a good Wifi5 AP. Should get better with firmware and settings adjustment. Biggest issue is you can't choose DFS channels yet on U6 firmware so it limits your options with multiple AP's. 

Good to know.    Since they released a 2.5G switch specifically called Unifi 6 switch  rumor has it they will be releasing 2.5G capable Wifi 6 AP's in future.   Probably will be flagged a Pro version like they have done with other products in the Unifi lineup.