2.5 Gig Network setup/Upgrade

[Captain LeFwee]

What Ubiquiti Gear would i need to run a 2.5 gig internet connection for a handful of devices? I'm currently using a fiber modem from Frontier and an Asus GT-AC5300

[Electronics Wizardy]

Well this really depends on your goals, but here is probably a start. 

 

I'm guessing you have your own modem here already that not being touched, and it has a 2.5gbe port.

 

Then you need a router. UDM SE(get the se for the 2.5wan port) is a decent choice and gives you a controller built in, or go with a Gateway max and a cloudkey(or run the software on your own PC)

 

Then you need a switch. How many ports? Pro Max 16 seems like a decent options for a 16 port switch with 4 2.5 ports and 2 10g ports. Might want to get the POE version if your using their APs.

 

Then you probably want access points for wifi. I'd get something like the u7 pro for wifi 7 at a reasonable price.

 

 

 

 

[johnt]

@Electronics Wizardy has a good start of equipment, except the new 16 port Pro Max is a 2.5 Gbps joke. It only has four 2.5 ports. If you use U7pro APs, they "require" 2.5 ports for full bandwidth (although you could run 1 Gbps just fine), and you can easily need more than one AP bc I have noticed Unifi's 2.4 GHz band doesn't have a huge range on the U7pro. My super old ASUS router had a longer range on the 2.4 band, believe it or not. So with two ports for APs, that leaves you with two extra ports for devices. If that's enough, then go for it.

 

Unfortunately, it wasn't anywhere enough for me, and I had to drop $800 on a POE switch that can handle 2.5 Gbps. I purchased the Enterprise model because it had twelve 2.5 ports. Unifi also has the 24 Pro Max which only has eight 2.5 ports. To complicate things more, the Enterprise 24 has 24x POE+ ports, while the 24 Pro Max has 16x POE+ and 8x POE++ ports. The POE++ are shared with the 2.5 Gbps. I didn't have a need for POE++ and I wanted more 2.5 ports. So that made it easy for me. If you don't have any POE devices and this is just the start, go for the Enterprise model as well.

 

One word of strong caution: the Enterprise and Pro Max 24 models are not interior space friendly. Their fans are very annoying. I have all my equipment in the garage. I ran all my Cat6 cables through the attic and down into the garage. Might not be a luxury you have (I would hardly call it a luxury for me, it was a **** ton of back breaking work). But you need to be aware of the noise issue.

 

I would get the U7pro or the U6 long range at this point. Although I purchased a separate U6 lite and left it in the garage. I have all my IoT devices running through it and my U7pro's are specifically for my use only.

[Alex Atkin UK]

22 hours ago, johnt said:

One word of strong caution: the Enterprise and Pro Max 24 models are not interior space friendly. Their fans are very annoying. I have all my equipment in the garage. I

That one of the advantages of the Netgear units I use (MS510TXUP, MS510TXPP).  As long as you avoid using an SFP+ 10G copper transceiver, the fans never ramp up.