Ubiquiti Networks Networks Ethernet Net

I'd been considering replacing my ISP router for some time (this was on the short list, along with a Vigor), when after twenty-plus years of cutting those tools checks failed to avert a typical Verizon moment, which made me decide to replace the ISP instead, immediately. I highly recommend severing all ties with them - I used to pay gobs of cash for both a cell plan and ISP+phone to them and I cannot tell you what sheer, pure, unmitigated joy I derive from knowing I'm never giving those [EXPLETIVE DELETED] another cent, ever. So In came Spectrum (nee TWC) the next-most-evil corporate entity in my region (we have TWO choices anywhere in my state for cabled broadband - a Telco and a Cable company), and installed their 'modem'. Apparently routers are optional with Spectrum, and if you want one, it comes with the $5.00/Month WiFi Rental. You know, like Verizon's rental model, only you can opt out. But as I wanted Internet access, and to cancel my hyperinflated 20/20 plan, which at ~$110 a month for Internet alone was more than their priciest near-gigabit speed for NEW customers (ONLY) IMMEDIATELY, I said 'fine, tack it on' While I ordered and prepped it's replacement. At ~$50, the ROI is ten months, thereafter it's all gravy. Spectrum's router was terrible (Say what you will about Verizon's CraptionTek routers - after the fifth replacement due to hardware failures [they all looked pre-owned] the one I wound up with ran for nearly two decades without issues). As for the new Spectrum equipment - Multiple short outages daily, once or twice a week the thing would leak enough memory to become complete unresponsive and require a power-cycle to restore access. It needed to go - I was getting grief from the spous about reducing my ~$110 bill to ~$50, and did NOT plan on going back. I got a ERX, went through the initial prep, and powered down to cut over, then when powered on again every port beyond eth0 failed to establish link. TCPDUMP from a *nix system showed NO traffic from the device on any port, even defaulted to statically addressed IANA 192.168 and trying to reach eth0. No ARP, no unicast, nothing. Factory reset wouldn't trigger, and I had to fill out an RMA request for my hour-old router. Ubiquiti approved it within 5 minutes, and I packed it up and shipped it off immediately. Unfortunately, device processing and return device receipt takes awhile, so I suggest keeping a spare on hand (at ~$50, you can dupe your config to another and stick it in the closet in case yours goes, so you have no downtime while RMAing if it's in warranty or getting a replacement spare if it's not). I ordered a spare after I got my replacement (there was no rush on returning the Spectrum WiFi\router), as the vendor had passed my 'how do you handle a problem' test, and meanwhile ran through setup again - This time I updated the software and saved my work prior to moving over to replace the ISP router, and it went off without a hitch. Initial setup was straightforward, though I wish the setup wizards were both a bit more numerous and slightly more customizable, HOWEVER, as the default LAN-to-1-ISP result is a sane default-deny (ingress from the Internet) which has all ports stealthed, no UPNP, etc. I'm more than happy to do a little more prep\config work. there's a toggle for most things you might want to edit, though some of it's less GUI-wrapped (offload enable is still suggested as a CLI change) or more laborious than you'd think. Regardless, once you've gotten to your preferred result (in my case some 5 network segments with isolation firewall rules around them for LAN-to-LAN restrictions) it will hum along quite nicely, and a backup ensures getting to that state is a cinch. My sole complaint would be that the switch IP as default rather than VIF IP in conjunction with the lack of a serial port makes transitioning from an untagged flat network to a multi-VLAN one dicey. Although I did shoot myself in the foot with that one (vlan-aware enable is not in the area you define network segments and my commit cut me off as a result), reverting via reset and restore is a breeze (backup, backup, and backup again when in progress as well as when you get to your desired state), going back was easy. My advice would be drop a port from the switch and IP the port, then test, then remove the port IP and re-introduce to the switch. they make other models as well, one or more of which may well have a true dedicated serial port (which would make configuring ports in a sweeping\significant way less dangerous as the management doesn't depend on those smae ports). After replacing the dodgy Spectrum equipment, we have yet to have a single service interruption. Not ONE. App use\analysis GUI is nice and unlike the APs I use, this shows all that antiquated old cabled hardware at my home I didn't have in my MAC tracking documents too. Would do again, would recommend to anybody. EXTREMELY happy with the product, which outperforms some (also quite good) options that are six or more times the cost. Most managed switches cost more per port - This is tremedous bang for the buck, even if the friendly UI components could use a touch more polish or refinement.