Absolutely the best wifi solution from savvy home users up to enterprises.
July 12, 2019
Absolutely the best wifi solution from savvy home users up to enterprises.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Ubiquiti Networks UniFi
Unifi is our go-to WiFi solution for our office and all of our client sites. It provides reliable, simple to configure and use, centrally managed WiFi with a variety of access points to suit many different needs, as well as switches, gateways, and IP camera systems.
- AP's are very affordable.
- Most of the AP's are highly reliable and can be used indoors or in covered outdoor spaces.
- Outdoor Mesh AP's with an external directional antenna can effectively cover outdoor spaces with dual band wifi better than much more expensive APs.
- Unifi Protect via the Cloud Key Gen2+ is probably the slickest, most affordable IP camera system on the market right now.
- Unifi controller is powerful yet simple to administrate.
- Remote management of entire networks through a single pane of glass is easy to accomplish with the Unifi controller.
- Cloud Key Gen2 solves problems with the first Cloud Key wiht a built-in battery backup.
- When you are "full stack" Unifi with wifi, network switches and gateways, the control you can wield over a network in just a few clicks and the amount of data you can glean from a quick glance in the controller is incredibly impressive. It makes an IT guy wish every product/service could be so tightly and well-integrated.
- Community support is excellent, Unifi staff monitors their official forums and responds to almost every thread.
- There are serious quality control issues with Unifi switches, specifically the 16 port PoE model. I am not sure if it's firmware or hardware or a mixture of both, but I can't bring myself to replace reliable Cisco Small Business switches with Unifi ones until these issues are ironed out.
- In the past, controller versions and AP firmwares were a crapshoot for reliability. Things have really picked up in the past year though, with rock-solid stability. Past issues still have me nervous every time I upgrade a controller or AP though.
- The switch from Unifi Video to Protect has been handled terribly, and is a PR nightmare. Which is a shame, because Protect is just such an unbelievably good product.
- Protect isn't available on any mid-range devices for supporting 20+ cameras. Right now, you have to use several CloudKey Gen2+, or pony up for the overpriced, poorly documented Unifi Application Server XG.
- Serious quality control issues with In-Wall Pro APs. I have several that restart erratically or crash when there is heavy traffic (wired or wireless).
- Support through official channels is just "ok."
- What did they do to the forums? Oh man, what a terrible upgrade.
- Reliable, easily remote managed wifi keeps IT staff from having to chase down issues.
- Easy to view/manage IP cameras keep security staff happy and have already captured a theft suspect at a client.
- Having to replace several failing/failed 16 port PoE switches has been a negative in terms of lost productivity.
Unifi trails the competitors in the switch/gateway category but exceeds all competitors in WiFi and IP cameras.
Cisco Meraki equipment is too expensive along with monthly costs. Netgear equipment is fine for simple networks but a small increase in upfront spend will get you Cisco Small Business switches. WatchGuard is still our go-to for gateway/firewall.
Cisco Meraki equipment is too expensive along with monthly costs. Netgear equipment is fine for simple networks but a small increase in upfront spend will get you Cisco Small Business switches. WatchGuard is still our go-to for gateway/firewall.