UniFi 5G • Hacker News Board

Re: UniFi 5G

#271

Post by danudey » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:49 PM UTC

wrobelda wrote: post #92

amelius wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple of networking? I suppose no OpenWrt then.

You actually can install Openwrt on bunch of their hardware

Out of the box, my Unifi Security Gateway runs Debian, as did my previous Unifi AC access points.

I just checked and my new Wifi 7 APs don't run Debian though, they...

    admin@BedroomAP:~# cat /etc/os-release
    NAME="OpenWrt"
    VERSION="23.05-SNAPSHOT"
    ID="openwrt"
    ID_LIKE="lede openwrt"
    PRETTY_NAME="OpenWrt 23.05-SNAPSHOT"
    VERSION_ID="23.05-snapshot"
    ....

Re: UniFi 5G

#272

Post by drnick1 » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:57 PM UTC

Why are people paying what seems obscene prices for UniFi stuff? You probably all have spare hardware lying around that can be repurposed as a router; it does not need to be modern. I use a Ryzen 5 as a general purpose home server/router/firewall running Linux and no ISP plastic box or expensive "prosumer" gear can't touch its performance. I can push 25Gbps through it (saturating my SFP28 LAN), or north of 4Gbps through Wireguard. For access points in a home setting, TP-Link boxes flashed with OpenWrt are also considerably better value and far more "free" (i.e., unclouded) than any UniFi stuff constantly phoning home for "updates."

Re: UniFi 5G

#273

Post by staplers » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:59 PM UTC

xp84 wrote: post #256

kkapelon wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unifi is the Apple of networking gear. When something new is released the HN crowd is excited even when the same functionality existed already with another company.

This seems like a stretch. If your position is that the REAL experts are using Cisco gear instead, I guess fine. But the "HN Crowd" loves using Ubiquiti at home because it is light years better than any consumer brand, (1) in terms of giving people who know what they're doing sufficient control to do so, (2) in terms of performance, and (3) in terms of not being a buggy piece of crap. Contrast with: (1) eero has no w…

  Ubiquiti at home because it is light years better than any consumer brand

As someone who simply wanted to isolate different devices on my home network, I was looking at nearly thousands of dollars of hardware, installing abstract OpenWRT software, and arduous VLAN rules to do this. It was shocking how immature this space is. I finally caved to the ubiquiti setup and am glad I did.

Re: UniFi 5G

#274

Post by whatshisface » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 10:00 PM UTC

xp84 wrote: post #256

kkapelon wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unifi is the Apple of networking gear. When something new is released the HN crowd is excited even when the same functionality existed already with another company.

This seems like a stretch. If your position is that the REAL experts are using Cisco gear instead, I guess fine. But the "HN Crowd" loves using Ubiquiti at home because it is light years better than any consumer brand, (1) in terms of giving people who know what they're doing sufficient control to do so, (2) in terms of performance, and (3) in terms of not being a buggy piece of crap. Contrast with: (1) eero has no w…

The eero also has a privacy policy that allows them to record your DNS traffic (they are owned by Amazon).

https://www.historytools.org/docs/reasons-to-avoid-amazon-ee...

Re: UniFi 5G

#275

Post by npunt » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 10:02 PM UTC

drnick1 wrote: post #272

Why are people paying what seems obscene prices for UniFi stuff? You probably all have spare hardware lying around that can be repurposed as a router; it does not need to be modern. I use a Ryzen 5 as a general purpose home server/router/firewall running Linux and no ISP plastic box or expensive "prosumer" gear can't touch its performance. I can push 25Gbps through it (saturating my SFP28 LAN), or north of 4Gbps thro…

Perhaps you missed the product positioning: “Simple setup and clean design”

Not everyone wants to fix old hardware and configure linux on their weekends

Re: UniFi 5G

#276

Post by drnick1 » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 10:03 PM UTC

npunt wrote: post #275

drnick1 wrote: post #272

Why are people paying what seems obscene prices for UniFi stuff? You probably all have spare hardware lying around that can be repurposed as a router; it does not need to be modern. I use a Ryzen 5 as a general purpose home server/router/firewall running Linux and no ISP plastic box or expensive "prosumer" gear can't touch its performance. I can push 25Gbps through it (saturating my SFP28 LAN), or north of 4Gbps thro…

Perhaps you missed the product positioning: “Simple setup and clean design” Not everyone wants to fix old hardware and configure linux on their weekends

> Not everyone wants to fix old hardware and configure linux on their weekends

I thought this was Hacker News.

Re: UniFi 5G

#277

Post by asib » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 10:05 PM UTC

drnick1 wrote: post #276

npunt wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you missed the product positioning: “Simple setup and clean design” Not everyone wants to fix old hardware and configure linux on their weekends

> Not everyone wants to fix old hardware and configure linux on their weekends I thought this was Hacker News.

UniFi customers =/= Hacker News.

Re: UniFi 5G

#278

Post by chrisweekly » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 10:10 PM UTC

seltzered_ wrote: post #208

chrisweekly wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there's sadly no community solution AFAICT

Why cant an android phone with ethernet tethering to a router suffice? I've done this using an android phone, usb-c hub w/ethernet nic, and and edgerouter lite before. The biggest missing piece i see is the option for an external antenna.

I don't understand how that fixes the awful Sonos software.

Re: UniFi 5G

#279

Post by 30minAdayHN » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 10:14 PM UTC

drnick1 wrote: post #276

npunt wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you missed the product positioning: “Simple setup and clean design” Not everyone wants to fix old hardware and configure linux on their weekends

> Not everyone wants to fix old hardware and configure linux on their weekends I thought this was Hacker News.

I'm a Hacker News reader and relate with the community. At the same time, it's not like I've same interest and energy in every niche. For example, I might have interest in custom building my keyboards, but may not be in restoring an old router. It's not like HN users exclusively use Linux desktops and many of us prefer simplicity.

The point I'm trying make is that there is more nuance than a simple HN user stereotype.

Re: UniFi 5G

#280

Post by dawnerd » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 10:29 PM UTC

drnick1 wrote: post #272

Why are people paying what seems obscene prices for UniFi stuff? You probably all have spare hardware lying around that can be repurposed as a router; it does not need to be modern. I use a Ryzen 5 as a general purpose home server/router/firewall running Linux and no ISP plastic box or expensive "prosumer" gear can't touch its performance. I can push 25Gbps through it (saturating my SFP28 LAN), or north of 4Gbps thro…

I know I pay more for my unifi gear. I want stuff that works without having to hack around with it. I do enough of that in my day job. Their ecosystem works without needing to tinker. I love it.