two-storey double brick internal walls - mesh?

[FunkyChicken]

It's my fault for not actually specifying speeds. I forget that Australian fibre speeds are generally a lot less than fibre speeds in most other countries (especially the US).

So breaking down the different purchasing options (and ignoring the PoE and homeplugs to keep things clean)

Have I got these options correct?
1) UDM + 2APs :: more expensive, not necessarily as robust, but more integrated config, and fewer bits of hardware.
2) ER + 3APs + Controller (either cloudkey or installed on something like a raspberry pi) :: cost reductions but extra work with configuration due to edge router
3) USG + 3APs + Controller :: as above but everything managed from controller interface?

 

[Callinc]

It's my fault for not actually specifying speeds. I forget that Australian fibre speeds are generally a lot less than fibre speeds in most other countries (especially the US).

So breaking down the different purchasing options (and ignoring the PoE and homeplugs to keep things clean)

Have I got these options correct?
1) UDM + 2APs :: more expensive, not necessarily as robust, but more integrated config, and fewer bits of hardware.
2) ER + 3APs + Controller (either cloudkey or installed on something like a raspberry pi) :: cost reductions but extra work with configuration due to edge router
3) USG + 3APs + Controller :: as above but everything managed from controller interface?

Correct. Those are the options as well as the trade offs for each. Best of luck making your decision!


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[FunkyChicken]

Just as a followup. After much reading, we decided to go with the UDM option.
Most of the issues seemed to be with functions that aren't mission critical for us, and the ones that we would find useful can be worked around fairly easily.
As such we figured that the simplicity of setup (fewer devices, all config in one place, etc) was worth the extra cost for us. I'm also hoping I'll be able to teach the other people in the house how to check on the network if they are having issues.

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Callinc]

Best of luck. Please let us know how it works out. Like I said, in retrospect I wish I had the UDM so you need to tell me if I should really be jealous [emoji1]


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[coxhaus]

Yes, no worries. I rather like the back and forth, too, as I think it helps the OP and others to make a better decision as well.

Regarding the ERL vs the ER-X, it depends on the services being run. For just plain NAT, with offload active and no software-based services running that would break offload, the ERL is faster, as it can actually do 1Gb/s full-duplex from interface to interface. The ER-X is capped at 1Gb/s simplex, due to lane limitations on its board. But the moment you turn on anything that requires software routing via the CPU, including VPN or QoS, the ER-X is roughly twice as powerful. For lower-speed WANs (<500 Mb), fiber links included, SQM is highly recommended for most scenarios, and the ER-X will allow for 150-200Mb of it, whereas the ERL will only do 80-ish. So planned workload should be considered most of all, yes.

Regardless, the UDM architecture has none of the weaknesses of either of the ERL or ER-X, and is using a 1.7Ghz ARM chip, which will smoke the likes of either in software throughput, even the ER-4/12. But as we've acknowledged, bug-fixing is still mid-stage, and the OP really wants something reliable from the get-go (I don't blame him). Hedging a bet on the UDM may be the better decision. I personally like my gear to function 100% based on how it's capable of running at the time of purchase, but that's just me. Maybe the OP is more comfortable rolling the dice for now, and knowing that Ubiquiti has every reason to bug-fix this product, arguably more so than any other, as it's their premier product line and arguably the most popular product in that product line currently. That may be enough to push the decision back in favor of the UDM.

I have used Cisco for 30 years. When Cisco rolls out new hardware they fix as they go. It mostly works but usually there can be issues right at first that may keep you on old hardware. The issues are published so it is your duty to figure out when you can migrate to the new hardware.

 

[FunkyChicken]

4 months on I'm happy with the decision I made.
Biggest issues:

• As expected, the HomePlug system isn't ideal but has to do. Our house wiring isn't the best, which limits how fast I can go, but I still get well above our WAN speed anyway, so all is good. Next step is convincing the house hold to fork out for in-wall ethernet wiring, but this is a long-term goal.
• Learning the UniFi system compared to the home-level "SSID, Channel, Password" style setup.

For my usage the UDM (base model) is fine. I'm not managing large numbers of access points or multiple levels of switches with hundreds of users and complex setups.
Other people seem to be having their own issues, with various aspects of it, but none of them have affected me in a system-breaking way (just eye-candy type stuff in my case).

I need to thank you all for pointing me to using discrete components rather than trying to do everything with meshed home-grade routers.

The downside to all this of course, is that now I have a nice network, I'm looking at more home automation and connected security systems even though I don't really need it