esanto1

Fair but you pay a premium for their devices already so is extra $ for remote access really necessary? Unifi devices are lower priced and have the capability fee free. are Araknis devices priced similarly to Pakedge?

Yep. Waiting to see if they’ll merge Pakedge and Araknis and consolidate support (ovrc or BakPak). I’m hoping they change 4sight to maybe a tiered model. For people just using it for network/device monitoring it should be free and if it’s used for video with the doorbell or intercom, then have a small fee. preferably I’d like it to be all free but if not, this would be good.

I do have TP-Link Kasa plugs already that control some lamps but I don’t have lamps in the rooms where I’d like the lights when I’m out. Sure, it may not be difficult to move lamps but would like control over the mains lights. My wife and kids are notorious for leaving lights on too so having the ability to remotely switch them off is a bonus. I did look at other alarm options like SimpliSafe but don’t want to have to install new contacts/reed switches. My house already has reed switches everywhere so I’d prefer to just leverage what I have.

No audio. Happy with Sonos/Spotify. thanks

I bit the bullet bought my first pakedge device and replaced one of my Unifi room switches with a pakedge one as my wife didn’t like the front facing ports of old switch. Nice switch and have it POE powered too. Configuration is straightforward but not as easy as with Unifi. one gripe I do have is that an end user can’t even update the firmware themselves! I have a good relationship with my dealer and he emailed it to me but I think that’s a bit of a pain. I thought that since you could configure the device yourself you could also do basic functions like update the firmware. Otherwise it’s been a few weeks now and the switch has been stable. At this stage I don’t think I’ll replace any more devices. Am waiting to see what happens with the whole C4/SnapAV merger.

Hi, im still considering C4 but only for security - alarm integration and maybe a few lights (<6) for some level of “mockupancy”. Alarm would be a Ness M1 Gold. No touch screens as my wife and I always carry our phones around. I do have cctv installed but won’t be integrating that as I don’t see much value add in doing so. I have a quote from my dealer which includes an EA3 but wondering if an EA1 could do this. interested in people’s feedback. thanks

@BraydonH thanks for your reply. Great insight. Sounds like you’re a dealer? Does Pakedge have a way for customers to monitor their networks remotely like the Unifi app? I am a tinkerer myself with a network background. I’ve got all Unifi gear (USG, AP HD’s, switches) and multiple vlans setup both on my main and room switches, fw rules, IPS/IDS, etc. My normal av dealer will setup C4 for me next year so I’m just investigating whether it’s worthwhile leaving Unifi for Pakedge. I really do like the ease of managing a Unifi network and especially like the IPS/IDS functionality. I like that fact that it notifies me when it detects malware/ransomware signatures in my network. From what I’ve read, the RK-1 doesn’t have IPS/IDS capabilities. I am intrigued by the whole ‘zones’ concept as an easy way to do vlans. At this point, I’m thinking I may stay with Unifi for my main network devices and just use Pakedge switches in the rooms. I like that the ports are rear facing so not visible. Unfortunately, I’ll lose visibility of that switch and connected devices but... Definitely, the price for Pakedge is steep. The RK-1 is $1000 AUD! The Unifi usg pro for comparison is about $460 AUD.

I have a Unifi network and see similar speeds but it’s because I have IPS/IDS enabled on my USG. I suspect for me there is also some inter vlan routing issue as I can get 500mb+ on my Management vlan but less on my user vlan i use AP HD’s

Does the RK1 have IPS/IDS capability or only a firewall? From what I’ve read, it only has a fw. I really like the IPS functionality of the Unifi USG so want to use that. Do you think I could connect an RK1 to a Unifi USG? Searching the Internet, vlans in Pakedge gear doesn’t look popular. Most put all the gear in one big subnet. Is this due to dealers lacking expertise in setting up and supporting vlans/zones? My local C4 dealer only sells unmanaged switches but I have rooms with devices in multiple vlans so want the separation. Or do they just do zones on an RK1 and the unmanaged switches just belong to one vlan each for simplicity?

Does Pakedge have a centralised dashboard like Unifi has to provide a view of all managed network devices or is that only in BakPak? if I go down the route of replacing my gear, I’d be looking at an RK as a main router, unmanaged switches in the rooms and one or two wireless routers. Also want one managed switch because in one room I have devices on different vlans.

Are you sure? I did a test and when playing music through the Spotify app on my phone, I do experience dropouts. When playing music from the Sonos app instead, it’s fine. That being the case, I assumed the first was streaming from my phone whereas the second was streaming from Sonos. Doesn’t that sound right?

End users/customers can’t use Bakpak? I would have though that if you configured it yourself you could use all the features? What other features aren’t available to end users?

Great to hear! Do you have a dealer that also has access?

I’m an end user, not a dealer. Can I self manage the newly work myself or at least have access alongside my dealer? I come from a network background so know what I’m doing and have been managing my Unifi network for years now. Unifi has a great USG (Security Gateway) that offers IPS/IDS, firewall, DPI etc. Do Pakedge have a security device as well? Edit: A bit more investigation and it looks like it will be able to self manage a Pakedge network myself

Hi All, Looking for user feedback on Pakedge network devices. Haven’t found much online. Current using Unifi but at a point where I want to either upgrade my Unifi gear or move to something else like Pakedge. What functionality will I lose? Does Pakedge offer ssm like Unifi? Does it have IPS/IDS capabilities? Thanks

Hi All, Considering getting C4 mainly for security but thinking about adding Spotify as well now. I currently use Spotify through Sonos and have 2 zones setup. Recently started experiencing issues where the music pauses for a few seconds and then resumes. I read somewhere that this could be because the music is being streamed from my phone to Sonos so it’s a buffering effect. If I did Spotify through C4 (replaces Sonos), I’m guessing it would address the problem if I imitated Spotify from C4 as it would stream the music via the wired connection. Could I still use my phone to play Spotify music? If so, would it suffer the same buffering type issue and occasionally pause the music? Thanks

Hi All, Considering getting C4 mainly for security but thinking about adding Spotify as well now. I currently use Spotify through Sonos and have 2 zones setup. Recently started experiencing issues where the music pauses for a few seconds and then resumes. I read somewhere that this could be because the music is being streamed from my phone to Sonos so it’s a buffering effect. If I did Spotify through C4 (replaces Sonos), I’m guessing it would address the problem if I imitated Spotify from C4 as it would stream the music via the wired connection. Could I still use my phone to play Spotify music? If so, would it suffer the same buffering type issue and occasionally pause the music? Thanks

Hi all, considering getting a C4 system installed but one concern is around network security. I would get the C4 system installed by the same company that installed my Unifi AP’s. Even when they did the AP’s I blocked them out (changed usernames/passwords, implemented firewall rules, vlans, etc). I’m guessing the C4 dealer would only need access to their gear so I put them all on an iot vlan and secure that, is that sufficient?

Just want to clarify too, what is actually configurable by a customer? I thought most had to be done by the dealer but the previous post shows the DS2 Config. So is that able to be configured to my liking?

Ok, cool. Thanks for confirming. Looks like I can’t consolidate tablets after all. Well, at least I know now.

Anyone have experience with the C4 wireless pucks that sit in the wall behind existing switches? Curious on responsiveness.

May try to dig into this a bit deeper. If aircon companies can replace the tablet with upgraded models, surely there would be a way to configure it to a different touchscreen. I currently have two screens vertically stacked for the doorbell and MyAir so was hoping to consolidate into one but if I can’t get rid of the MyAir tablet...

The tablet is connected via wifi to whatever to control the unit. Does it matter if the tablet is theirs or a C4 one?

My current alarm is a Bosch Solution 16. The C4 installer I’m planning to use only works with Ness alarms so I’ll need to switch that out. I don’t mind as I wanted a Ness originally but my builder didn’t use them. if Sonos integration is limited, hows Spotify integration? I do have a premium plan if that makes a difference. Regarding the DS2, if with recording option requires an NVR, how does it record after it’s installed if you don’t have anything? It doesn’t I’m guessing? Can it at least do snapshots and email those until I get an NVR?

What other options are there? i currently use sonos for audio and have two existing zones that I’m considering expanding to four. It’s simpler to use as is and I’ve read it doesn’t integrate fully with C4. Going back to my original post, I’m not too interested in doing AV because I don’t want to be forking out for lots of drivers. So, having separate apps for audio (Sonos/Spotify) and video (Netflix etc) is fine. One main reason I’m focusing on security/alarm integration is that my wife would like to be notified if our alarm was triggered when we weren’t home. I read that C4 can not only do this but also tells you which zone was triggered. Does the system have a limitation on the number of zones that can be attached? For example my existing alarm has a 16zone limit but when we built our house we had reed switches put in all external doors and windows which is more than 16 so the builder had to group zones. If C4 can read each independently, that’s great! Is the DS2 mini 24x7 recording or only motion when the doorbell is pressed? Where does it store the video, on the controller? This too would allow us to be notified if someone came or rang the doorbell when we weren’t home. Our current doorbell does have video but only if pressed and it can’t send it to me. Just local storage. At some point in the future, I would also like to do lighting. I like consistency though so won’t be looking to change light switches. My approach is “change all of them or change none”. As our house is still new, change none appeals to me so I’m looking to use the C4 wireless pucks that sit in the wall behind existing light switches. Does anyone have experience with them and are they reliable? As it’s an existing house, I can’t get cat5/6 to light switches. I have a full Unifi network with AP’s ceiling mounted and POE switches, a USG and CK1. Just in case anyone if wondering about the network Options are limited especially in Australia. Some products don’t do business here anymore. I know something like SimpliSafe could be considered an alternative but that’s like installing a new alarm - additional sensors and reed switches on all the doors and windows I want to monitor. I find this redundant as my existing alarm has it already. That’s why C4 appealed to me in this respect, it can take what I have , integrate with it and provide the functionality I’m looking for. ADT have something similar but it’s like SimpliSafe and requires installing new components. The whole MyAir thing is just a pain. The installers put in a locked down android tablet that can only be updated to a certain point then stops updating so it doesn’t break the MyAir app. It’s $600 to upgrade the tablet so was thinking I could just get rid of the MyAir tablet and roll the app into C4 and have one tablet serve multiple purposes. The current one is limited and you can’t install other apps on it because it runs out of memory quickly. My initial objective was to improve security by getting notified of alarm triggers, doorbell presses, etc but I also found I could solve problems like the MyAir one along the way. If there are other ways of solving this, be glad to hear.