cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21641378
So I just added a TP-Link switch (TL-SG3428X) and access point (EAP670) to my network, using OPNSense for routing, and was previously using a TP-Link SX-3008F switch as an aggregate (which I no longer need). I’m still within the return window for the new switch and access point, and have to admit the sale prices were my main reason with going for these items. I understand there have been recent articles mentioning TP-Link and security risks, so I’m thinking if I should consider returning these, and upping my budget to go for ubiquity? The AP would only be like $30 more for an equivalent, so that’s negligible, but a switch that meets my needs is about 1.6x more, however still only has 2 SFP+ ports, while I need 3 at absolute minimum.
I’m generally happy with the performance, however there is a really annoying bug where if I reboot a device, the switch drops down to 1G speed instead of 10G, and I have to tinker with the settings or reboot the switch to get 10G working again. This is true for the OPNSense uplink, my NAS and workstation. Same thing happened with the 3008F, and support threads on the forums have not been helpful.
In any case, any opinions of switching to ubiquity would be worth it?
As somebody who runs Ubiquity UniFi gear, it’s all flash and very little substance. Its dashboard will dazzle you with charts that either aren’t accurate, aren’t meaningful, or are generally unhelpful. It has a “new” (half a decade old now) and classic interface you can choose between, but neither interface gives you access to every setting you’ll need. I still to this day find myself swapping between them.
If you just need basic devices to make packets go, they do the job. But an average day in the life of a UniFi-enjoyer consists of things like trying to troubleshoot some kind of network issue only to find that the data collected by the devices doesn’t mathematically make sense, so you go to the UniFi forums just to find out it’s a bug that’s existed for years and has never been resolved. And on days like that, I find myself wishing I had something less flashy that would just allow me to see what’s going on with my network, accurately.
It is the Mac of network hardware in my corporate - entered experience.
It is aesthetic hardware, marketing, and everything software related looks polished on the surface, but is buggy (particularly their access which is the worst thing to be buggy) with the least possible configurability, completely obscured debugging resources, and proprietary ways to make you reliant on their support services.
That being said, I am still using them because I got a 30€ UAP-AC-SHD from my company’s old stock when we switched to Cisco hardware. And their cloud gateway ultra is a good value. My whole house setup with prosumer hardware will be 140€ and where my internet comes in is the worst place in the house to put a wireless router.
Eh, my Ubiquiti AP works pretty well, though it’s a bit annoying setting up the server software. I get way better range with it than I ever got with my previous routers, and I never have to reboot it (my Mikrotik router needs to be rebooted more often, and that’s rock solid as well).
I honestly haven’t had any issues, but I have a very simple setup:
- Mikrotik router
- UAP-AC-LITE
That’s it. No mesh, just a single AP and a single router. It works well, and I largely forget about it because it just works.
That said, I’m considering upgrading to a newer wi-fi standard, so I’ll be doing some research again. Ubiquiti was the best at the time, but I don’t have any particular brand loyalty, so I’ll get whatever seems to work well and is a reasonable price. I will probably keep this AP and add a second, so that’ll factor in as well (i.e. can I have two APs serving the same SSIDs? If so, how do I get them to work seamlessly?).
Ubiquity is trash with fickle support based on the whims of what sells wide adoption. TP Link IMO is a decent value for the money if you want easy “prosumer” level networking gear. I have I have 3 TP Link APs as well as a 16 port 10g core switch and its great for my needs.
Mikrotik offers more features per $$ but its not as easy to use.
I go for OpenWRT devices from any brand
this is what i do, i look it up on the firmware selector and go from there.
I migrated from OPNSense + 3 omada EAPs + two omada switches to a full Unifi system + UDMP Max, feel free to ask away.
Mostly I was tired with the bugs both for Omada (sometimes I had to restart the switch to change the VLAN on a port bc just changing it in the controller didn’t work; yeah) and OPNSense (OSS vs proprietary complaints in general about “it just werks”).
Unifi really has come a long way, they have proper switch ACLs, real BGP (!!!) by you just uploading whatever frr.conf you want, policy based routing, and more stuff that I can’t remember.
It’s not perfect but I would say it’s very good value for money.
Check out Mikrotik friend…
