I interested in Ubiquiti and am upgrading my internet speed to 2GB. I have been looking for new equipment and think that I have settled on the following Ubiquiti equipment to get started with. Any advice would be appreciated.
Cloud Gateway Max
U7 Pro Ap
USW Flex 2.5G Switch
Is this the way to go? I have heard and read how good UNFI works. Just want to make sure I headed in the right direction. Thanks
I'd suggest you review below...ongoing "what to start with" Unifi discussion w/other Unifi users who can help.
You will need PoE for the access point. So you need a switch that provides that OR a PoE power adapter. The only 2.5G Flex with PoE is the USW-Flex-2.5G-8-PoE (Out of stock). The next cheapest switch is the 16 Port Pro Max PoE ( twice as expensive, but obviously more options and it is in stock).
The power adapter is the cheapest bet. The UACC-PoE+-2.5G is $20 and specifically lists as being for the U7 Pro, and it is in stock.
The other item to think on is that the Cloud Gateway Max does not give you much flexibility if you think you might get higher speeds in the future (like 5GB or 10GB). If you want that, I would say look at the Unifi Dream Machine Pro (or Pro SE)
Agree with what others have said so far. If you go down a path and realize you need something different, good news is you can sell equipment on eBay and get decent cash back. I had originally purchased a 1GbE 24 port switch and recently upgraded to 2.5GbE and I was able to get a few hundred selling that switch on eBay.
Do you think you will ever want to go down the camera bunny trail? I have several Ring cameras around my house, started with a doorbell and grew from there. Recently I decided to ditch Ring given they are doubling their annual cost and my desire to have everything local. That drove me to buy some new equipment and part of reason I decided to upgrade to 2.5GbE. If you want to get any cameras you might want to rethink the equipment you are buying so you have enough PoE power and storage for the cameras.
I am retired from IT as a community college. I have this observation about perceived bandwidth required. With a 5Gbps Palo Alto firewall we were supporting 1 to 8 thousand users at any one time. The typical flow to the internet was only 1.5 to 2.5 Gbps. Internal trunks were up to 40Gbps but more typical the trunks to the edges were 2Gbps. Wired users for the most part were supported at 1Gbps. Wireless users had 20Mhz on 2.4Ghz and 40Mhz on 5Ghz. No one complained about not being able to stream or download. Another observation is this, the hosts connected to on the internet never delivered speeds in excess of 1 Gbps. Even from Google, Microsoft, or Go Daddy. More typical service levels were closer to 100 - 500 Mbps. Cool you want to sport for the 2.5Gbps link. But unless your hosting you most likely will not be satisfied with your investment.
Why I went w/all 1 Gbps stuff (except Unifi CGU, which only comes w/2.5). Home use, 650 Gbps WAN connection, and even w/both our kids and their GFs staying with us, using two 4K TVs at the same time, etc., we never even got remotely close to our WAN connection limit.
The Lite 8 POE (4 POE+ ports) is my "high-end" switch, combined w/a few Flex Minis things are humming like a happy bee hive.
Biggest limitation is the Flex Minis have limited support for tagged VLANs (can only set one per port) and do not support STP.
Even w/my measly slow internet connection and lack of high-end Unifi gear, things work pretty well...test on Wi-Fi.
Iβm pretty sure youβre gonna need a lot more than 2 4K TVs to max that out
Do I sense a challenge has been dropped and I need to buy a few new 8K TVs?!
There is a Discord server you can subscribe to and it will alert you when certain products come in stock. That switch was in stock for a brief time yesterday and today for example.
Unless your immediate or near-future needs exceed 8 ports, I would consider the Dream Machine Pro SE. Especially as others have said, if there's any chance you might want to use Ubiquity cameras in the future.
I had a sizable investment in Ring cameras and doorbells. Dumped all of them for Ubiquity and couldn't be happier, and not just because of the Ring subscription cost. The Ubiquity cameras are vastly superior to Ring.
I switched to Ubiquiti stuff a couple years back and could not be happier. It's really easy to set up complicated firewall and vlan stuff in their GUI, and it just works. I never have to tinker with anything or constantly reboot. It's nearly enterprise grade equipment at consumer prices.
I have a UDM pro, a few flex switches around the house, and the AP's have crazy range. I have an AP-LR that covers my entire house and a U7-outdoor that covers the entire property, many acres.
Check out the YouTube videos from Crosstalk Solutions (not me but great tutorials on unifi stuff).
My setup in many ways actually mirrored the stuff you are talking. I have a UCG-Max and a U7 Pro Wall. Initially i used the built in ports since thr UCG Max has 5 2.5Gbe ports. A POE Injector was used for the U7 Pro.
Since i initally deployed it. I have added some more AP's, a few Flex 2.5 5 switched and a Flex 2.5 8 PoE. Keep in mind many things can be powered over PoE if you have it. My Flex 2.5 8 PoE has the 210 watt power adapter and my hope is it will power everything network related and prevent the need for injectors completely.
As far as the choice of the UCG-Max is concerned it has been great with the only concern for your setup i would have is will it provide the throughput for what you pay for. It should be able to privide wirespeed without ips/ids. Once you turn that on though your max throuput is suppose to be around 1.5 gbps. Some folks have mentioned concerns using cameras with it. The UCG Max does support Unifi protect and cameras if you buy it with a storage option. I have a unifi G4 instant and the G4 Doorbell pro working with mine. The UCG-Max can be purchased with up to a 2TB Drive. You do need to be careful with expectations of recording retention, but it works great if you keep in mind the storage when configuring retention. It supports up to 4 4k, 8 2k, or 12 1080p cameras or a combination between them.
The UCG-Max supports all of the unifi software products.
Cloud Gateway Max w/No Storage is available for $199 today, been out of stock for a while. If you want a Max to put your own storage on, might want to jump on it.
I did.
(My Ultra is going to my son at his new house, Max will be my new gateway.)
It has been reported you can put a 4TB drive in it.
lol That didn't take long. I think i am going to replace the drive is in it with a Crucial P3 Plus 4TB drive. I have had a good experience with those in my Unraid Mini PC. They aren't the fastest but don't produce much heat and seem to be fast enough.
WOAH!! 4TB.
Yeah, I'm "convincing" my son to let me set up a unifi system at his new house, so it's only right that I re-donate the Ultra to him and get a Max. Feels very Vulcany-logical to me. Planning on the Ultra and a U6-LR for his setup, and will give him one of my Flex Minis I'm not using if he needs a few more ethernet ports in different locations. I think my cousin will heartily approve, as he likes my son a lot more than he likes me.
I have been doing similar things with my parents house... I started off with a Hubitat for leak monitoring and controlling a couple outside outlets for them. Next change will be to start setting up a Unifi network for them...
Funny...I have a C7 sitting around doing nothing that I'm thinking of adding to his house for basic stuff like leak notification for sinks, washer, and water heater. Also hope to get him to install a Z-Wave or Zigbee valve on his water main so I can enable a shut-off in the event of a leak.
So nice of him to get his first house so I have a new project to work on. He's just a couple hours away by car so relatilvely easy access.
Your son probably needs a coffee maker too. If not, "convince" him that he does. It would only be right then to donate yours, and you really have no choice but to get a Jura to replace it. Just being a good dad, How could your wife argue with that?
LOL...I just figured out who you really are. You're the one in red below.
Regardless, my son and his wife are devotees of the French press approach, will allow no substitutes.
Thanks to everyone you commented back. I took the plunge and order the
Cloud Gateway max
Access Point U7 pro
Switch 2.5 Flex -8
POE Adapter
Hopefully That will get my system up and running. Thanks for all you help. This community is awesome.