Over the past little while, I’ve had troubles with my current router – one borrowed by my ISP. Setting reserved IPs is finiky, the WiFi connection in the next room is poor, and I feel as though the connection with other devices on the network is slow. If I were to upgrade, the start of the pandemic maybe would have been the most ideal as I started fully working from home. But the forseeable future looks like there will some in-person, but still a lot of work-from-home.
I’ve heard that Ubiquiti networking equipment is great. Especially considering that its business grade equipment. But it may be a bit overkill. I can invision buying this setup once, and never having to deal with home networking issues ever again. But would now be a good time? Is it worth the cost?
Ubiquity requires several components for a complete wireless network:
- Router
- Wireless access point
- Controller / Cloud Key?
While you could buy each part separately, they also sell Dream Machines which are all-in-one units that can get you started. Theres 2 main versions: The Dream Machine, and the Dream Machine Pro.
The $400 Dream Machine is a little cylinder with 1 ethernet port for internet acces, and 4 additional ethernet ports for other devices on your local network.
The $600 Dream Machine Pro looks like it has the same functionality as the base model, but has a few additional features. It has a bunch of extra ports, a more powerful CPU to run the hardware, and has a hard drive bay – presumably to run a NAS. It also comes in a server-rack form factor for that DIY home server goodness. I dont think I need the Pro model. Although the specs sound a lot better, it does sound a bit overkill for a small setup.
So in lieu of the pro model, I’ll lean towards the base version. However, Ubiquity does sell each component separately. Would it be more cost effective to buy each part individually? Or all together?
- The router is $170.
- The lite access point is $100
- The cloud key is $260 (the gen2 pro model was actually cheaper)
Assuming this is correct, it would be $430 to DIY the setup. Still pretty expensive.