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Replacing Araknis hardware with Ubiquiti


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2 hours ago, pinkoos said:

Thanks again for all the responses

We've had on again and off again wifi issues for awhile now so that is one reason - to hopefully blanket the house with better wifi coverage

Another reason is a few ports on the switch (POE switch) have died - I guess got fried somehow but I'm not sure

So, instead of getting another Araknis POE, I'm thinking this may be an opportunity to just change out the whole system to newer hardware from a different company

I'm possibly combining this network upgrade with more A/V upgrades (new TV in our 'media' room, different audio solution, etc.) so would like to do it all in one fell swoop rather than doing the A/V upgrade and then later on the network, etc.

 

There are guys here that use Araknis APs regularly and could possibly solve your issues if you dont want to spend more. WiFi is also entirely environment based,  it’s possible your dealer doesnt have the proper skills to set up or diagnose interferences. 

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If you don't personally have an enthusiasm for Ubiquiti and are just looking to get a better WiFi experience, your dealer would also be able to provide Access Networks' Ruckus bases APs. Those are fabulous APs and can run without a controller for most deployments. They're "in the family" and would allow you to keep your Araknis gear in place.

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The old 500's are so - so at best though.

5 hours ago, CTMatthew said:

your dealer would also be able to provide Access Networks' Ruckus bases APs

With full support from Snap/Control4 - this would be my thought as well for this situation.

And yes if the switch has burnt out ports, it should probably be replaced, but I'd want to figure out WHY first (can't say I've seen this on araknis 210's at all)

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3 hours ago, msgreenf said:

And if you want new Wi-Fi APs you don't need to replace every piece of your network. Likely the switching plane and routing are not your issue

True but people who like to tinker (like me) get addicted to Unifi stuff.  You start thinking -- ohh these APs are nice, would be great if I could get more data about use but then I need switches.  And then I need the router to see the internet usage data... and then I need cameras...then I need the EV charger... 

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I have several unifi setups.   Including at my house.   After living with my own setup for several years now, it wouldn't be my personal choice anymore.  Unifi is pretty, but has a lot of issues.

 

1) things drop off of wifi for no reason.  Like pump controllers, the Halo remotes, a variety of other iot devices.   This is way more common on my unifi APs than on just about any other network gear I've used

2) it's damn frustrating.  They change the UI all the time for no reason.   There are options on the "legacy" interface they never bothered to put on the new interface. They move basic options all over the place every few months.

3) a lot of the basic features don't work correctly. For several months, the client reporting didn't work at all.  You would type it an IP address, that unify had clearly given a DHCP address to, and should know about, and it wouldn't show up as a device in the network.  The network topology map looks pretty, but often is just simply wrong.  Spanning tree doesn't seem to work at all sometimes.

4) they release half baked updates. The dream machine was a nightmare for the first two years, with basic features that didn't work at all.  Like DHCP....

 

There are a lot of other things too that just bother me. My point here is that it looks really really nice, but is not exactly reliable.  This is based on a lot of installs.....

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I would NOT count on UI to solve your WiFi problems. Like others we have strange unexplained/insolvable dropouts and slowdowns and too many new bugs introduced with firmware updates that can take months to resolve. And there's no bug tracker so avoiding really bad updates can be difficult.

In the Edge days they were pretty rock solid, that disappeared w/ the UDM world of today. Of the options out there I think UI is one of or the best value but there are a lot of issues that come with those cost savings.  If someone else came along with the UI capabilities but more stability/reliability for 20-50% higher cost I'd be all over it (or same cost but an annual maintenance fee of 5% of the purchase cost or …). 

Definitely keep your Security Spy system. Discreet devices for discreet functions makes for a more robust/reliable system and makes troubleshooting much easier.

 

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We had hundreds of Ubiquiti networks out there including my own house. The management interface is really cool. You can monitor everything. It is inexpensive. (really like those LV box size wifi6 ap's)

Once we started installing the Halo's we saw a lot of problems with network drop off. Over the prior years we had trouble with Araknis network equipment. But the latest Araknis is really good. We are seeing trouble free Araknis networks that are more reliable with higher speed tests than Ubiquiti. 

My own home we switched to Araknis Router, switches and AP's 3 months ago and not even 1 family member complaint since the changeover. In the 3 months not 1 halo and now halo touch drop off. Super responsive and reliable

 

 

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Again, a lot of talks about individual experiences with Ubiquiti performance. C4 stability concern aside there is a reason why it is so heavily used by networking AV guys and standard IT pros, a lot of times in commercial spaces when stability and performance are even more important.  That hasn’t changed, it’s only grown. 

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26 minutes ago, pinkoos said:

What is the Halo thing that several of you have referred to?

Control4 has had “not supported” list of networking equipment since pretty much forever. A lot of that is because it’s really difficult to have support staff aware of every product line, UI config etc… but also because of how the original structure of how c4 stuff works on the network, certain advanced networking features can stop system functionality. Specific to C4 mostly.  Halo seems to have something wrong in its programming that causes issues with Unifi.  Just like I dont blame ATT for C4s intercom woes when 2N doorstations work just fine independently or with other integrations. 

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2 hours ago, Control4Savant said:

Again, a lot of talks about individual experiences with Ubiquiti performance. C4 stability concern aside there is a reason why it is so heavily used by networking AV guys and standard IT pros, a lot of times in commercial spaces when stability and performance are even more important.  That hasn’t changed, it’s only grown. 

I can't name one commercial customer of mine or other integrators I know, that is using UI products for their networks.  Any IT team that is worth a grain of salt would ditch them to the trash bin asap.

Meraki would be as close to a closed system like UI that I've seen in the field.  But that's because the company turned a warehouse stock manager into the IT Manager.  Cisco support basically sets it all up for him.

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3 minutes ago, lippavisual said:

I can't name one commercial customer of mine or other integrators I know, that is using UI products for their networks.  Any IT team that is worth a grain of salt would ditch them to the trash bin asap.

Meraki would be as close to a closed system like UI that I've seen in the field.  But that's because the company turned a warehouse stock manager into the IT Manager.  Cisco support basically sets it all up for him.

This is obviously you typical BS personal opinion since you can literally see their equipment being used in countless locations. The stuff must be constantly sold out because everyone hates it.. 

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15 minutes ago, Control4Savant said:

This is obviously you typical BS personal opinion since you can literally see their equipment being used in countless locations. The stuff must be constantly sold out because everyone hates it.. 

I work in fortune 50 IT - no Unifi - never will be.  It's crap at that level.

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On 8/10/2023 at 1:15 PM, msgreenf said:

I work in fortune 50 IT - no Unifi - never will be.  It's crap at that level.

I wouldn't say crap, but in that world of Juniper, Palo, Fortinet and Cisco, there's no need for UI. Not to mention the need for features UI doesn't have.

 

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On 8/8/2023 at 2:49 PM, CTMatthew said:

I'm very pro-Ubiquiti. It's really the only networking gear I'd use in a residential deployment, but I'm also curious why you'd want to pull apart what's basically a current Araknis system. I agree the APs could probably stand replacement if they've given you some problems, but otherwise you've got a pretty good system in place. Don't get me wrong I think Ubiquiti is easier in the long run, but your costs are sunk at this point!

@msgreenf @CTMatthew  I purchased a 9,000 SF home recently that had an existing & extensive Ubiquiti Network and Ubiquiti Camera system in place (15-16 total cameras).  It says "Dream Machine Pro" when I log into the Protect App to see the cameras, if that matters.  We are now converting the home to Control 4, can you tell me if the Ubiquiti cameras can be ported into C4?  My other house has LUMA, and it works great with C4, I hope Ubiquiti cameras do too.   

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