Ubiquiti - Not a fan at all (They screwed me)

[UnmarkedFaith]

 Sooo, I picked up the Ubiquiti Dream Router and its coverage area is terrible.  I turned up the coverage strength for both bands to max and the signal drop through drywall is insane!   You go from 900mbs to 200mbs and the drywall is 3/4" !

So then I wanted to return it since its just a paper weight now,  you find out they only have a 2 week return policy!   The problem is,  one of the POE in wall adapters was DOA so I had to RMA and wait 2 weeks for that to arrive before I tried installing and testing the system.  Then all the other problems happened. 

 

So I wanted to return it,  well GL, your SOL now.... this is terrible customer service.  2 Weeks?!?!?   Every legit company is at least 30 days!  This would of been more fair,  a 2 week return policy goes to show you just how much they believe in their products.  So now I am stuck with a expensive paper weight,  a POE in wall adapter (with the 4 Ethernet ports), and an extender and out $600!

 

Anyone else have issues with these guys?    My Amazon EERO mesh system > the UDR

[LAwLz]

A lot of people like Ubiquiti because they provide cheap and decent access points that can work with a controller.

 

Getting the all-in-one router from them is in my opinion not a good idea. The point of having controller-based access points is that you can add several access points to cover a large area. Because of regulations and just the laws of physics, a lot of homes will never get adequate coverage from a single Wi-Fi source, so getting several is required. Up until fairly recently, mesh networks were awful as well if they existed at all. Even know, having wired access points still provides faster and more reliable networking than mesh systems.

 

 

I also think Ubiquiti hits a pretty good sweet-spot where it's easy enough for the more "tech enthusiast" crowd to configure, and it has a pretty UI to entice them, while not being as complex as the more enterprise-oriented offerings. But since it is a bit more complex than your typical home setup, I wouldn't recommend it to the average Joe either. 

[Skipple]

Their return policy is honestly awful. I understand this is annoying, but you can literally sell the UDR for more than you payed for it on eBay right now. 

 

5 minutes ago, UnmarkedFaith said:

I turned up the coverage strength for both bands to max and the signal drop through drywall is insane!   You go from 900mbs to 200mbs and the drywall is 3/4" !

It's pretty well known that 5Ghz bands suck going through anything. It's the tradeoff for having a higher frequency band. Also, that's very thick drywall. I've never seen drywall beyond 5/8". 3/4" drywall is kinda insane. 

 

7 minutes ago, UnmarkedFaith said:

My Amazon EERO mesh system > the UDR

Depending on which EERO system you had, it may actually be a downgrade, as EERO can support WiFi 6E where the UDR is only WiFi 5, I believe. 

[Omon_Ra]

On 9/5/2023 at 3:54 PM, Skipple said:

Their return policy is honestly awful. I understand this is annoying, but you can literally sell the UDR for more than you payed for it on eBay right now. 

 

It's pretty well known that 5Ghz bands suck going through anything. It's the tradeoff for having a higher frequency band. Also, that's very thick drywall. I've never seen drywall beyond 5/8". 3/4" drywall is kinda insane. 

 

Depending on which EERO system you had, it may actually be a downgrade, as EERO can support WiFi 6E where the UDR is only WiFi 5, I believe. 

6gHz wifi is going to penetrate even worse than 5gHz though.. And it depends which EERO system, not all support WiFi 6e. But if OP had a hardwired EERO mesh system, I would have just stuck with that. The biggest gripe I have with EERO is that it's owned by Amazon; other than that, it's one of the best consumer wifi systems I've used.

 

On 9/5/2023 at 3:44 PM, UnmarkedFaith said:

 Sooo, I picked up the Ubiquiti Dream Router and its coverage area is terrible.  I turned up the coverage strength for both bands to max and the signal drop through drywall is insane!   You go from 900mbs to 200mbs and the drywall is 3/4" !

So then I wanted to return it since its just a paper weight now,  you find out they only have a 2 week return policy!   The problem is,  one of the POE in wall adapters was DOA so I had to RMA and wait 2 weeks for that to arrive before I tried installing and testing the system.  Then all the other problems happened. 

 

Anyone else have issues with these guys?    My Amazon EERO mesh system > the UDR

It is pretty widely known that Ubiquiti customer service/support is trash. I didn't know that they only had a 2 week return policy, but I am not surprised at all. IMO that's part of the reason they are able to price their stuff so low..no customer support team to pay for.

 

Cranking the coverage strength may be doing more harm than good however. A wider band is going to pick up more interference, even though you can have more theoretical bandwidth; not to mention 5gHz is already not ideal for penetrating walls. Multiple AP's is what you need, not a single router. That does indeed suck about the PoE adapter RMA time, but unfortunately some of your issue is self-induced. But also to the matter, what are you doing on wifi that you NEED 900mbps? If I need speeds like that I'm going hardwire. There's no sense in relying on wifi if transfer rate is that critical.

[LAwLz]

5 hours ago, Omon_Ra said:

It is pretty widely known that Ubiquiti customer service/support is trash. I didn't know that they only had a 2 week return policy, but I am not surprised at all. IMO that's part of the reason they are able to price their stuff so low..no customer support team to pay for.

This is the biggest reason why I cringe everytime I hear someone say "Ubiquti is enterprise grade".

Just because it has some (with emphasis on some) of the features commonly found on enterprise networking equipment does not mean it is "enterprise grade". 

 

It's great for home users who want some more advanced features (like VLAN, and multiple access points), and possibly scenarios where uptime and bugs are tolerated because expectations are rather low like small hotels, local restaurants, mom-and-pop shops, etc.

[Needfuldoer]

4 hours ago, LAwLz said:

This is the biggest reason why I cringe everytime I hear someone say "Ubiquti is enterprise grade".

Just because it has some (with emphasis on some) of the features commonly found on enterprise networking equipment does not mean it is "enterprise grade". 

 

It's great for home users who want some more advanced features (like VLAN, and multiple access points), and possibly scenarios where uptime and bugs are tolerated because expectations are rather low like small hotels, local restaurants, mom-and-pop shops, etc.

Ubiquiti is the BlackMagic Design of networking. Their products punch above their weight, but they're not enterprise-grade the way Arista and Cisco are. The firmware changes frequently (and support's answer to all problems is always "upgrade your firmware"), and the solution to a hardware failure is "buy another one".

[Falcon1986]

On 9/5/2023 at 2:44 PM, UnmarkedFaith said:

Sooo, I picked up the Ubiquiti Dream Router and its coverage area is terrible.  I turned up the coverage strength for both bands to max and the signal drop through drywall is insane!

Ubiquiti's switches and APs are good. Their routers/AIOs not so much. I've used their older ER-X/ER-X-SFP and USG, and don't have any problems.

 

But the UDR is a recent WiFi 6 router and was meant to fix the problems of the UDM. I'm surprised it isn't performing better. Are you sure your drywall doesn't have wire reinforcement which might explain the signal drop-off? Also, if you leave the WiFi settings on auto, the UniFi Controller can make adjustments to settings that might improve WiFi performance over time.

 

On 9/5/2023 at 2:44 PM, UnmarkedFaith said:

The problem is,  one of the POE in wall adapters was DOA so I had to RMA

 

On 9/5/2023 at 2:44 PM, UnmarkedFaith said:

So now I am stuck with a expensive paper weight,  a POE in wall adapter (with the 4 Ethernet ports), and an extender and out $600!

I'm not aware of the UDR having enough power on its POE out port(s) to power an IW AP. Was this what you were trying to do?

 

On 9/5/2023 at 2:44 PM, UnmarkedFaith said:

Anyone else have issues with these guys? 

Not so far. And I, too, have ordered directly from them when stock is available.

 

An alternative to ordering directly from Ubiquiti is to order from third-party resellers. They buy in bulk from Ubiquiti and might pass on savings to customers. Furthermore, their return policies might be more acceptable for you.

[dilpickle]

Ubiquiti customer support is basically nonexistent. You have to know what you are getting into when you buy their stuff. You have to do your own support and you have to know a little about networking.

 

Its not for everyone. Its certainly not for the average home user. And it definitely isn't for the enterprise. Anyone who says that doesn't know the first thing about enterprise.

[Skipple]

1 hour ago, dilpickle said:

Ubiquiti customer support is basically nonexistent. You have to know what you are getting into when you buy their stuff.

I am currently utilizing Ubiquiti support for the first time after owning their gear for around 3 years. (having an issues with one of my cameras) The tech I'm working with is prompt, asking reasonable questions, and seems to understand what my issue is. That's a lot better than support from most tech companies. I'm interested to know your experience, because the process for me so far has been simple.

 

1 hour ago, dilpickle said:

You have to do your own support and you have to know a little about networking.

I mean, they aren't going to come to your house and set your network up for you, if that's the insinuation. They are a prosumer/small-mid size business grade hardware company. It's expected that you know what you are doing, or have a MSP that does.