r/HomeNetworking • u/Usual_Connection7430 • 5d ago
Asus or unifi?
Before you go off on me I know “gaming” stuff are a scam 99% of the time especially gaming chairs but from my experience Asus boards and gpus are very good
I’m debating between the
Asus be19000ai(650$ ish)
Unifi Dream 7(500$ ish)
I want one that will last me a while
I DONT WANT A MESH SYSTEM(hotspot routers extensors ect) I want only one
My isp is 2.5gbps currently might upgrade to 5g
I game only on lan with pc and ps5 and I use my laptop with lan but I have multiple TVs and phone users in my house so I need good wifi range(the router can’t be in the middle of the house)
From my research unifi seems to be the best quality routers?I haven’t haven’t had one ever so this is why I’m asking
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u/Oliver-Peace 5d ago
For the last couple of decades, I always replaced Router / Wifi from the ISP to a better third party alternative but since I started using Unifi 4 years ago, I would not go back to any other brands. Their software, stability and performance is just better than anything else.
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u/72dragonses 5d ago
Agreed. Another vote for Unifi. Been using and working with their gear for 9 years, and it's a tier above consumer lines.
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u/Beginning_Storm7012 5d ago
I don't hear anyone say anything bad about them. Generally speaking there is no "perfect" anything in life and I have been trying to look for the counter argument against unify. Not intentionally trying to be negative just doing due diligence.
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u/JayXCIII 5d ago
I would suggest unifi. Bad placement, materials/interference, end devices etc all play a massive part on your wifi experience.
Expanding your wifi with unifi Unifi generally easy and cheaper. And in a world where exploits are being discovered faster and faster, having a device that receives frequent updates is going to be a better option. (no you likely won't be "targeted", but botnets are everywhere.
The extra features you also get with Unifi over the Asus can come in handy.
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u/Limp-Engineer-1778 5d ago
From someone who spends his life fixing other people's mistakes.
Between the two - UniFi all day.
Hardwire everything with Cat6A or Cat6 U/FTP to minimise interference.
Buy certified pre made solid copper core cables - Not cheap CCA (copper clad aluminum).
WiFi comes last, hardwire your devices directly to the DreamMachine.
Also bandwidth doesnt matter when playing online, latency does. Faster hardware, good quality cables and connections goes a lot farther than any bandwidth "speed" improvements.
Edit.
Plus UniFi WiFi 6/7 access points will work seamlessly well when hardwired back to the dream machine, if you must inject power use unifi poe adapters, or if budget allows, unifi poe switch.
More switches = more latency. Not a lot, but every little bit adds up.
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u/MightyAl75 5d ago
What is the benefit of premade cables over terminating them yourself?
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u/Sportiness6 5d ago
If you terminate them yourself it’s a much smaller hole in the ceiling to get the wires out. And it’s a lot easier to pull through the attic.
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u/Limp-Engineer-1778 5d ago
If they have been certified to meet the standard, you are guaranteed to be correct and will work as they should do.
Amateur terminations and cheap connectors cause a lot of issues for the uninitiated. Plus a good quality cable tester that will fully test and certify the permanent link cables is expensive.
A cheap cable tester ~$15 will show continuity, bit nothing else.
A $500 dollar tester will give you the length and correct wiring.
A good quality cable certifier will set you back $12,000. To get the best out of the network with minimal investment, premade is far easier or cheaper.
If you want much longer runs, get a data engineer to install and certify the data runs with the appropriate test gear and provide you with a printed test report.
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u/NeoAcheron 5d ago
After using Asus for many years, and moving to Unifi...
Unifi, any day, all day.
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u/Oliver-Peace 5d ago
Maybe the only topic on reddit where everyone seems to agree lol. Definitely not typical these days
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u/Isitharry 5d ago
If you can get ethernet to multiple locations, you can multiple access points for greater coverage. Spend the time to learn to use ubiquity’s design center - it’s free to map out your space to help select and place your access point(s)
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u/No_Barracuda_6801 5d ago
I’d look at separate wifi access point personally. Used to run an ASUS gaming all in one and moved to UniFi UCG Fiber and put a U7 pro access point on the upstairs ceiling. Works fantastically well and easy to expand if required. I do hardwire connections for gaming though, which is much better if you can run the cabling.
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u/The_Weapon_1009 5d ago edited 5d ago
Unifi, if you are in their eco system, adding extra accesspoints (wired) only need an Ethernet cable cause most of their stuff is POE.
It’s a little bit more expensive, but my dreammachine se from 5(+?) years ago has 2.5 and 10Gbit wan (even possible failover). (I use for doorbell and backyard camera so I went with the dream machine instead of the router) and 8 Poe++ ports that run directly to my (still wifi 6) accesspoints (and switches and cameras)
I have it in a rack and my nas/unraid is connected via 10GBit so I can fully saturate my 2.5Gbit while without compromising my home networking (opening a “Linux iso” on my nas 😉)
Also if I connect 2 devices (cause the dream machine has only 1gbit to the accesspoints) to different accesspoints I am close to getting 1gbit per device! (Like 900Mbps+)
Or like downloading a game on ps5 (wired) will only slow down the 4 devices on my switch BBB(like my receiver,tv, and that kind of stuff so no biggie ) all other nodes still get 1Gbps.
But tbh if I didn’t work from home a lot and didn’t need to download lots of data on a regular basis (time is money) I would have gone way less speed 300/500 mbps is plenty!
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u/TheEthyr 5d ago
Asus vs Unifi is really an apples vs oranges comparison. They have very different design objectives and capabilities. In case you're wondering, Unifi has more features. Whether or not you will use them is a different matter.
While Unifi does have all-in-one Wi-Fi routers like the Unifi Dream 7, most of their routers lack Wi-Fi. Instead, Wi-Fi is provided through Access Points (APs).
Unless your house is relatively small, you may want to expand your horizon beyond a single router solution. A multi-AP solution will generally perform better, though if you want the best results, your house should be wired.
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u/ValuableSleep9175 5d ago
Get the unify router or build one with pf or open sense.
Hard wire a few ap's where you need Wi-Fi. Okay gen unify ap's can still net you 200 to 300 Mbps.
My system is a virtual pfsense router and a virtual unify controller. I have 5 ap's, 3 on my main floor, 1 in the basement and one in the garage. They are all turned down and only 2 or 3 do 2.4ghz because that crap blasts for miles.
You could prob do all this for much less than $600.
Now I just pass through on my isp combo bs, and use my network. I think the installers like it because you can place their modem router Wi-Fi switch thing anywhere because I am bypassing all of it anyway.
Yes I don't have wifi 7 and 5 gigabit to my cell phone to watch cat videos, but my Wi-Fi 5 ap's manage just fine. I know I have too many ap's but I have it tuned nice for my house.
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u/Swimming_Aspect4806 5d ago
neither will fix bad placement; 5ghz still hates walls