Pfsense Router vs Ubiquiti Router

[Vedeyn]

Hello everyone,

 

Im looking to upgrade my home router and wireless solution in the near future. I was considering getting the following AP:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122815&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=PPSSKUJHFWBYJX-_-33-122-815-_-Product

 

In addition to that, I'd like to get a new router. I've been looking around and see a lot of recommendations given for the Ubiquiti EdgeRouters. I'm seeing the EdgeRouter Lite selling for a bit under $100, which is quite affordable whereas setting up a PC for Pfsense will likely run me $200+. Does anyone have some opinions on Pfsense vs Ubiquiti? As for the technical capabilities, I'm confident that I will be able to configure either solution or at least troubleshoot my way through it.

 

Thanks,

Ved

[The Benjamins]

3 minutes ago, Vedeyn said:

Hello everyone,

 

Im looking to upgrade my home router and wireless solution in the near future. I was considering getting the following AP:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122815&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=PPSSKUJHFWBYJX-_-33-122-815-_-Product

 

In addition to that, I'd like to get a new router. I've been looking around and see a lot of recommendations given for the Ubiquiti EdgeRouters. I'm seeing the EdgeRouter Lite selling for a bit under $100, which is quite affordable whereas setting up a PC for Pfsense will likely run me $200+. Does anyone have some opinions on Pfsense vs Ubiquiti? As for the technical capabilities, I'm confident that I will be able to configure either solution or at least troubleshoot my way through it.

 

Thanks,

Ved

I was also at first think of building a Pfsense machine, but in reality it is very overkill. I went with the edgerouter lite due to the know hardware reliability and ease of use. even the edgerouter lite is overkill for almost any home. Like the wizards the newer firmware has which makes it really easy to setup with really needing to know what you are doing. I would say do the Pfsense if you really want to tinker with it.

[Vedeyn]

1 minute ago, The Benjamins said:

I was also at first think of building a Pfsense machine, but in reality it is very overkill. I went with the edgerouter lite due to the know hardware reliability and ease of use. even the edgerouter lite is overkill for almost any home. Like the wizards the newer firmware has which makes it really easy to setup with really needing to know what you are doing. I would say do the Pfsense if you really want to tinker with it.

Any thoughts on the EdgeRouter X vs Lite? Realistically the fastest my internet will ever be is 100/100 (50/50 currently, may upgrade) and all local traffic between PCs/Servers will be handled by a separate switch.

[pmos]

11 minutes ago, Vedeyn said:

Hello everyone,

 

Im looking to upgrade my home router and wireless solution in the near future. I was considering getting the following AP:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122815&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=PPSSKUJHFWBYJX-_-33-122-815-_-Product

 

In addition to that, I'd like to get a new router. I've been looking around and see a lot of recommendations given for the Ubiquiti EdgeRouters. I'm seeing the EdgeRouter Lite selling for a bit under $100, which is quite affordable whereas setting up a PC for Pfsense will likely run me $200+. Does anyone have some opinions on Pfsense vs Ubiquiti? As for the technical capabilities, I'm confident that I will be able to configure either solution or at least troubleshoot my way through it.

 

Thanks,

Ved

for the PFsense part.. its a really powerfull solution if you need it.. You can buy small arm based boxes that will run it quite fine.

[The Benjamins]

34 minutes ago, Vedeyn said:

Any thoughts on the EdgeRouter X vs Lite? Realistically the fastest my internet will ever be is 100/100 (50/50 currently, may upgrade) and all local traffic between PCs/Servers will be handled by a separate switch.

Management is the same, the lite has 512MB ram over 256MB on the X, Cpu is a little slower on the lite BUT it has hardware acceleration for packet processing(so in practice its faster).

 

the X can do 130 Kpps (at 64B packets) 1Gbps (at 1518B packets) when the lite can do 1 Mpps (at 64B packets) and 3Gbps (at 512B Packets)so is greatly faster at handling small packet loads.

 

other then that it is ports and POE pass through is needed.

 

I don't know how much the pps plays a part but I dont think it is a big deal for a normal home. and all this is for internet traffic because your switch will handle local traffic.

 

Edit: I think the pps will only matter if you host a high traffic web site off your network, most heavy traffic things people do is video streaming which uses big packets. the high pps would also be useful if you hosted a 100+ person LAN and you want everyone to be able to use the internet.

[zMeul]

pfsense routers are way overkill for home endeavors

I've been on ASUS routers for maybe 10-15y+, can't complain

[Vedeyn]

13 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

Management is the same, the lite has 512MB ram over 256MB Cpu is a little slower on the lite BUT it has hardware acceleration for packet processing(so in practice its faster).

 

the X can do 130 Kpps (at 64b packets) 1Gbps (at 1518b packets) when the lite can do 1 Mpps (at 64b packets) so is greatly faster at handling small packet loads.

 

other then that it is ports and POE pass through is needed.

 

I don't know how much the pps plays a part but I dont think it is a big deal for a normal home. and all this is for internet traffic because your switch will handle local traffic.

 

Edit: I think the pps will only matter if you host a high traffic web site off your network, most heavy traffic things people do is video streaming which uses big packets. the high pps would also be useful if you hosted a 100+ person LAN and you want everyone to be able to use the internet.

Most of what I do is gaming, hosting a few servers, video streaming, and some remote work done through a VPN back to my network.. so nothing too crazy. I'll maybe grab the AP and do a bit of research on the routers then. Any particular thoughts on that AP? Should come in at a bit under $200 with the promo newegg has going, so not too bad.

[The Benjamins]

15 minutes ago, Vedeyn said:

Most of what I do is gaming, hosting a few servers, video streaming, and some remote work done through a VPN back to my network.. so nothing too crazy. I'll maybe grab the AP and do a bit of research on the routers then. Any particular thoughts on that AP? Should come in at a bit under $200 with the promo newegg has going, so not too bad.

I don't know much about AP's sorry, I use this D-Link router my roommate won at a LAN as a AP. it is some $300 AC router, looks like a UFO with 8 antennas. we live on the 4th foor, and I can get wifi in the parking lot outside.

 

Ubiquity has a nice range of AP's all should be good and should pair nicely with their routers. depending on the size of your place if may or may not be better to get 2 smaller AP's vs 1 powerful one.

 

Spoiler

 

[Vedeyn]

17 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

I don't know much about AP's sorry, I use this D-Link router my roommate won at a LAN as a AP. it is some $300 AC router, looks like a UFO with 8 antennas. we live on the 4th foor, and I can get wifi in the parking lot outside.

 

Ubiquity has a nice range of AP's all should be good and should pair nicely with their routers. depending on the size of your place if may or may not be better to get 2 smaller AP's vs 1 powerful one.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Well this all gives me a decent place to start. Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it!

[risk]

`Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC IW` or `AP AC Lite` will do the job if you're happy with 2x2 WiFi.

 

pfSense is a network router/firewall appliance like piece of software. If you can cobble together some hardware for free, try putting pfSense on and see how it routes. You can try playing with the UI in a VM.

 

Alternatively, you can just install any regular Linux on a machine with 2 network ports, and enable routing.

 

Or you can look into Mikrotik gear, for example their `HEX` router and `wAP AC` accesspoint.

[Erkel]

Get the ubiquiti,  easier to manage long term and more user friendly and supported.

[Vedeyn]

After some looking around and weighing my options, I opted for the EdgeRouter Lite and UAP‑AC‑LR. If anyone is interested I can update once I get them and set them up.

[The Benjamins]

7 hours ago, Vedeyn said:

After some looking around and weighing my options, I opted for the EdgeRouter Lite and UAP‑AC‑LR. If anyone is interested I can update once I get them and set them up.

A update would be cool, I recommend to update the firmware first, then use one of the wizards to get started.

[Vedeyn]

On 4/15/2017 at 9:16 AM, The Benjamins said:

A update would be cool, I recommend to update the firmware first, then use one of the wizards to get started.

Well I got everything a few days ago and finally got it all set up... and so far everything has been great. Setup was pretty quick for both and I've had no issues yet.

 

I had some reservations about not being able to just enter the AP's IP in my browser and get to the configuration but I'm liking the Unifi software a lot more than I had expected. Overall the signal reliability in my apartment has increased substantially and the extra tool set I get with a "business class" AP is great.

 

The EdgeRouter is quite the step up from a consumer router as well. Setup was simple and there is almost an overwhelming number of features available to me (which is a good thing).

 

I'll definitely be poking around in the configs of each device to become more familiar with them.

 

Thanks again for the suggestions!

[Guest]

On 14/04/2017 at 4:04 AM, Vedeyn said:

Any thoughts on the EdgeRouter X vs Lite? Realistically the fastest my internet will ever be is 100/100 (50/50 currently, may upgrade) and all local traffic between PCs/Servers will be handled by a separate switch.

 

On 14/04/2017 at 4:28 AM, The Benjamins said:

Management is the same, the lite has 512MB ram over 256MB on the X, Cpu is a little slower on the lite BUT it has hardware acceleration for packet processing(so in practice its faster).

 

the X can do 130 Kpps (at 64B packets) 1Gbps (at 1518B packets) when the lite can do 1 Mpps (at 64B packets) and 3Gbps (at 512B Packets)so is greatly faster at handling small packet loads.

 

other then that it is ports and POE pass through is needed.

 

I don't know how much the pps plays a part but I dont think it is a big deal for a normal home. and all this is for internet traffic because your switch will handle local traffic.

 

Edit: I think the pps will only matter if you host a high traffic web site off your network, most heavy traffic things people do is video streaming which uses big packets. the high pps would also be useful if you hosted a 100+ person LAN and you want everyone to be able to use the internet.

The biggest issue a user will notice is the very limited onboard storage space meaning firmware upgrades are a bitch. Note that they both struggle if you try to enable QoS. 

 

Ive written much more in depth issues about them elsewhere. 

On 14/04/2017 at 4:34 AM, zMeul said:

pfsense routers are way overkill for home endeavors

I've been on ASUS routers for maybe 10-15y+, can't complain

Except for the security flaws

[The Benjamins]

4 minutes ago, Windspeed36 said:

 

The biggest issue a user will notice is the very limited onboard storage space meaning firmware upgrades are a bitch. Note that they both struggle if you try to enable QoS. 

 

Ive written much more in depth issues about them elsewhere. 

Except for the security flaws

I never noticed any issues with QOS, what do you mean by struggle. you can clear the old backed up firmware to clear space to update to a newer version and they are working on making the firmware process easier to do.

[Vedeyn]

1 hour ago, The Benjamins said:

I never noticed any issues with QOS, what do you mean by struggle.

Looking around on the ubnt forums, it looks like this is one of the "cons" of the ER-L. Since QOS is done in software, not hardware offloaded, the ER-L struggles a bit with it.

 

Quote from one of the forum posts there:

"ERLite-3 and ERPoe-5: below 60 Mbps most likely will work, above 200 Mbps most likely will not work."

 

So I guess it depend on what you've got for internet bandwidth and how much you expect to get after enabling QOS. Not a big deal for me since I didn't plan on enabling it.. and even if I do, I've got a 50/50 connection so should be OK. I can see how this would be a concern for some though.

[zMeul]

1 hour ago, Windspeed36 said:

Except for the security flaws

the security flaw everyone has

the added benefit of some ASUS routers is that they run OpenWRT and those routers can be easily switched to custom modded FW

 

you think pfsense doesn't have security vulnerabilities? https://www.pfsense.org/security/advisories/

[Guest]

7 hours ago, zMeul said:

the security flaw everyone has

the added benefit of some ASUS routers is that they run OpenWRT and those routers can be easily switched to custom modded FW

 

you think pfsense doesn't have security vulnerabilities? https://www.pfsense.org/security/advisories/

I also hate PFSense too

[TubsAlwaysWins]

PfSense is lit for home setup

[Blake]

3 hours ago, Windspeed36 said:

I also hate PFSense too

iOS or Junos or die.

[gamerking]

i got  my USG a few days ago  and its great minus the 3 hour setup fight, all thats left is a ubiquiti switch for my network . i had pfsence. i  like the USG more  having my network all under one program to control from my nas running it

[Vedeyn]

2 hours ago, gamerking said:

i got  my USG a few days ago  and its great minus the 3 hour setup fight, all thats left is a ubiquiti switch for my network . i had pfsence. i  like the USG more  having my network all under one program to control from my nas running it

Yeah it would have been nice to see the edgerouter integrated into the unifi software as well. As I mentioned before, I actually like the software way more than I thought I would.

[gamerking]

29 minutes ago, Vedeyn said:

Yeah it would have been nice to see the edgerouter integrated into the unifi software as well. As I mentioned before, I actually like the software way more than I thought I would.

i had been using it for just a AP from them got tired of my ISP sniffing in my network from their router im stuck using verizon with fios. the software is great if you get a cloudkey or run it off of linux which im doing .

[Vedeyn]

25 minutes ago, gamerking said:

i had been using it for just a AP from them got tired of my ISP sniffing in my network from their router im stuck using verizon with fios. the software is great if you get a cloudkey or run it off of linux which im doing .

I've got a small server to run it on, so that is covered. Very nice ecosystem though from what I've seen! Most likely wouldn't have heard of them had it not been for these forums, so for that I am quite grateful.