UniFi Dream Router 7 vs Asus RT-BE88U

[Tech9]

Truly a step above the consumer-grade stuff from ASUS?

Lawrence Systems channel may provide some of the answers to your questions:

Lawrence Systems

In-depth tutorials, discussions on network engineering, security, and technology solutions. Lawrence Systems offers a look at how we run our company, the products we use and solutions we provide for our clients. We discuss and create tutorials for firewalls, storage solutions, MSP tools...

www.youtube.com

 

[tgl]

This is a neophyte's question, but -- what's UniFi's reputation for firmware support, in terms of tenure and quality?

Ubiquiti is ... well ... idiosyncratic. Some points:

• I'd say they get high marks for longevity of support: ten-year product support periods seem routine. See for example this article (the models marked "Legacy" are the ones no longer supported, note that they're all half a dozen product generations back).
• On the other hand, their commitment to documentation is microscopic. They don't publish anything I'd call a proper user manual, just a random collection of knowledge-base articles. The article I just linked is another illustration of that: it used to be a knowledge-base article but one day it disappeared without warning. (My link points to a copy somebody put up on their community forum, which is an incredible resource that you need to participate in if you start using their gear. User-to-user support on the forum is really the main way to learn details about their stuff.) UI themselves seem to think that their target market is networking pros who don't need much hand-holding.
• Firmware quality is, on the whole, erratic. IME their AP firmware is more solid than ASUS', but their forum is just full of complaints about problems in their routing/switching/network controller gear. (Of course, people who are not having problems never come to the forum to say that, so this is necessarily a biased sample.)

FWIW, I use UniFi APs along with switches and a router of other makes, and I've been happy.

 

[Tech9]

For commonly discussed issues with Asus routers and Asuswrt on this forum - Ubiquiti hardware and software quality is stellar.

 

[Metazoan]

Thanks for the comments. I will definitely consider the UDR7 as the successor to my AX86U.

Luckily, I can also source UniFi gear locally. I understand some products are sold out often on their site.

 

[cptnoblivious]

I've been running a CGU for about 4 months now, and compared to the previous 2 Asus routers, it's been rock solid and works as advertised. I'd say the UCG operates at "another level".

My $0.02

 

[Tech9]

I run 2x UniFi networks with total of 12x UniFi devices and all are up and running since installed with one reboot on UniFi OS update (2x UCG-Ultra, 2x USW-Ultra, 6x U6-Mesh, 2x UX). One of the networks runs wireless uplink to the UX units, uptime since installed. Both networks are connected with site-to-site VPN, up and running since created. The only issue is with UX units:

- no option to control the UX screen in AP mode - on/off, brightness, schedule (cosmetic)
- no option to assign UX LAN ports to different VLAN in AP mode, currently main VLAN only (use case related)

Ubiquiti promised to fix with next updates. What I like the most is the ability to update software components and make configuration changes without reboot. This includes creating new networks and moving clients around, changing DHCP settings and traffic filtering, changing AP assigned SSID to networks, channel, channel bandwidth, AP power, etc. The system is just showing "Getting Ready" message and 30sec later it continues working with the new configuration like nothing happened. Saves a lot of time.

To do the same on an Asus router multiple reboots are needed if not reset to defaults at some point because sometimes Asuswrt breaks just with configuration changes up to the point of no return. Asus recommends reset after every firmware update... they know.

 

[Tech9]

I will definitely consider the UDR7

Do your homework first, this is a brand new product. Wait for some user feedback first. It looks like UCG-Max + U7 Pro in one unit, but may have device specific differences. I would approach with caution any just released product regardless of the brand.