1

I’ve been asked to look into some vendors for wireless for our facility. One of our vendor’s is pushing Ubiquiti Unifi AP wireless devices.

Just looking for some stories or opinions on this company/products. Why should I should or should not use this over other company’s I’ve worked with in the past such as Aruba or Cisco?

Thanks!

@Cisco

20 Spice ups
2

I’d highly recommend a search of the community, there’s a lot of threads on Unifi gear, it’s very popular around here. I’ve been very pleased with the two AP’s we have.

3

I have 6 of the UAP-LRs in our office which is probably overkill. There have only been minor issue when the controller software has hung up or Java versions have changed.

4

We are using Open-Mesh accross our sites. They are cheap and very reliable, with no ongoing licensing costs. I also use one at home.

5

I also installed Open Mesh products in the business owners home for a family reunion. Couldn’t have been easier to set up. CloudTrax is kind of lacking in features compared to Meraki, but it is usable.

6

I’ve used them and really like the products and think they’re a great value.

7

These products are very cheap, and have the most common features used by SMB’s. As the managing software (and updates) are free they make a very good case in this market.
I have nothing but good things to say about it. This community has a lot of threads about it, do a search if you want to read up.

3 Spice ups
8

I have been using Ubiquiti AP’s and products for years now, they are reliable, cheap, and have a great feature set when compared to other options out there. And with the release of their new version 3 of the Unifi Controller, there are a lot of great new options. There is an option for almost every scenario in their lineup, would highly recommend them!

2 Spice ups
9

Sounds like a good company with good products so far! I’ll start researching and doing my homework on some more of their devices.

Basically we’re looking to cut down on our model types and start standardizing our gear. We have about 200 employees and 9 branches. So maybe based on my future research we might pump these out for our wireless network. I also see they do IP cameras as well. We are a financial institution, so that is a very important aspect of our security. Any opinions with people that have experience with their IP camera lineup? Is it robust enough to do something for a central monitoring system across 9+ branches (each branch only has about 20 employees)?? I was just thinking that anything we can do to keep the same manufactures will help our standardization initiative.

2 Spice ups
10

Some models need their own injectors because they don’t wok with standard POE voltage. Also, they can be noisy with clicking sounds as data passes through them.

11

yes, iirc only 2 models use standard POE voltage

12

By injector’s do you mean used with their own proprietary switch, instead of a standard POE switch?

13

it comes down to features that you will require.

You will possibly need a controller in each location. but that can be installed on any PC or server that may be there. the devices once provisioned can run for a while without having to contact the controller. But i would recommend having it turned on so that you can manage the site. I have had my device running for about 2 years and it is fixable with minimal effort and was setup with ease. not sure about he security level of the device and what specific security standards that they meet.

14

I have used their Surveillance camera systems. I have been please with them.

15

SAM swears by them, and I know he’s very well educated on them.

Personally, I haven’t used them, but I’ve only heard good things.

16

Doyle1,

Which vendor or product to go with for your wireless standardization initiative will depend on your organization’s specific needs and goals. While being a pretty good product, Ubiquiti UniFi has serious limitations. So it is not a direct replacement for Cisco, Aruba, and others.

Now, you mentioned this is for a financial institution. So the most important question we need you to answer is: what’s the WiFi going to be used for and by whom?

Omar

17

Yes they have their own injectors, however if you get the pro version it works on a standard POE switch.

18

They do have the inline injectors to for about $20\each that allows you to run them off standard PoE gear without having to use the PoE brick (if you don’t go for the pro versions). I have 3 of them running just to avoid using the PoE injectors, and have never had an issue.

19

I have multiple sites with Unifi deployed (Ubiquiti). Very good product and for the cost to benefit ratio it is an exceptional product, great coverage, lots of tweaks, guest access, individual throttling and blocking,

Yeah, wow, im a fanboy I guess, but I do recommend the gear by Ubiquiti!

20

Omar, can I ask what are the limitations you are referring to as compared to the other manufacturers? Don’t need exact details but generally?