Ubiquiti Kit & Management

Michael · January 29, 2017

Hi all,

Just wanted an opinion really - when looking at Ubiquiti Kit & Management, it's comparatively cheap, the management tools/controller are extremely good (and free), so the question is, why shouldn't I go for it?

Looking in the context of MATs with schools joining together, it seems a no brainer. The only real disadvantage are that switches come with a 2 year warranty, compared to lifetime warranties, but given that they're cheap this wouldn't be an issue.

Thoughts please!

Drayton95 · January 29, 2017

Hello,

I am using the Ubiquiti AC Pro's throughout a Primary School currently, and have absolutely no complaints whatsoever. The units are very powerful and seem to just work.

The only thing I've noticed about them is you must manually keep the controller up to date, to keep the AP's up to date, but I believe this may possibly be changing so the Controller checks for firmware updates from Ubiquiti.

The switches are pretty good too, supporting aggregated links to the server and between switches has massively improved their performance over the Netgear 'dumb' switches they were using before.

I can't really give you any negative feedback about them, because I have none

-drayton95

LukeC · January 30, 2017

What about scalability when looking at multiple sites - where will you run the controller/software can it handle a large number of deployments will it do all the requirements required for each site. Is there enough support/cash behind the hardware/software developed should you have a widespread issue affecting all APS?

mrwoberts · January 30, 2017

I'm a fan of Ubiquiti kit. Installed the LR range years ago - no problems to date.

Soon to be installing AC LR in a different school, along with their 24 port PoE switch.

Take a look at their Cloud Key. This is essentially the controller so you can keep it up to date remotely, and possibly automatically.

https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-cloud-key/

Michael · January 30, 2017

What about scalability when looking at multiple sites - where will you run the controller/software can it handle a large number of deployments will it do all the requirements required for each site. Is there enough support/cash behind the hardware/software developed should you have a widespread issue affecting all APS?

If you look at the Tech specs, it scales really well and doesn't require that many resources. I should clarify it does everything - switches, APs and phones and can support literally thousands of devices.

Michael · January 30, 2017

I'm a fan of Ubiquiti kit. Installed the LR range years ago - no problems to date.
Soon to be installing AC LR in a different school, along with their 24 port PoE switch.
Take a look at their Cloud Key. This is essentially the controller so you can keep it up to date remotely, and possibly automatically.
https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-cloud-key/

I did look at this, but it's limited to 20-25 APs. It's good for small sites

nathan · January 30, 2017

if you don't mind hosting the controller in Germany, get a cheap virtual server from Hetzner.de

The only issue i've had is that Zero handoff never worked correctly. It's not a big issue for us as we don't generally have users moving around.

SteveM555 · January 30, 2017

We have around 50 Ubiquiti Unifi APs (mix between the older Pro model and the newer AP AC Pro) and we've got 4 of the Ubiquiti Edge Switches, now looking to add more... We also have 10 (ish) Unifi CCTV Cameras too.

Haven't had any issues whatsoever with the kit. The wireless networks are all VLAN'd off and the Guest/Portal management is quite good too, we run the Controller software on a low spec Server 2012 VM.

We've been very impressed with the kit and since we have done most of the cabling ourselves it works out much cheaper.

XiJ · January 30, 2017

We've installed in several primaries - from 10 original AP's to ~25 AC Lites. No problems on any. We now have a cloud controller and are moving all our schools to this. I would say go for the edge switches over the 'unifi' ones as you get much more control over them.

mikeprice · January 30, 2017

We have Uniquity

all works fine - no problems - 14 APs controller on main server

no complaints at all

jmak · January 30, 2017

For us it was a no brainer - I bought one to test with our devices, then just bought one for each room. Touch wood it's run perfectly for the last three years.

Committing for a multi-site trust is a bit different and I can understand why you'd hesitate, but for us it worked out at about a tenth of the cost of the big names, which leaves quite a lot of budget for spares....

Try and visit a school using it - our local secondary had it deployed across site and were happy. They've now expanded it to byod as well as the school devices.

Mr_Jiminy · January 30, 2017

Pound for pound it's a no brainer, albeit UU doesn't have all the bells and whistles from some of the other vendors.

We manage a number of education sites, consisting across the board of Meru, Ruckus, Xirrus and Ubiquiti... I have to say whilst I favour Xirrus for dense deployments, the Ubiquiti AP's are quicker and certainly manage with the load thrown at them by our education sites.

Michael · January 30, 2017

Thank you all for your responses, it's much appreciated. I think my other reason/justification is the simplification of it all. Instead of getting different hardware from different vendors, and then getting a paid or open source management solution cobbled up together; you're always going to have some issues.

The management tools (considering they're free) is a great incentive, but more crucially I'm not penalised for becoming too big an organisation as the costs are manageable proportionality.

Chris_ · January 31, 2017

We use UniFi access points here and a bunch of Ubiquiti AirMax point-point links and it all works great.

Switches here are all 1GB HP ProCurves, I'd like to replace them all with UniFi switches, but unfortunately we have quite a lot so can't really justify the cost, especially as the current HP switches are meeting the needs and have lifetime warranty. For example, a 8 year old switch died yesterday in a powercut, and we'll have a new one on site today.

It's the same reason why I'm not a fan of the Meraki cloud managed products, if our budget got cut, all our access points and switches could become very expensive bricks!!

DrCheese · January 31, 2017

It's the same reason why I'm not a fan of the Meraki cloud managed products, if our budget got cut, all our access points and switches could become very expensive bricks!!

Pretty much, I could sorta understand paying for Meraki if they gave you new AP's all the time to keep up with technology, but being asked to repay for something you already own is a joke.

Michael · January 31, 2017

Pretty much, I could sorta understand paying for Meraki if they gave you new AP's all the time to keep up with technology, but being asked to repay for something you already own is a joke.

Well it's just a different model, but I agree, it's not financially sustainable the larger you become. The Unifi model is however.

mrwoberts · January 31, 2017

It's the same reason why I'm not a fan of the Meraki cloud managed products, if our budget got cut, all our access points and switches could become very expensive bricks!!

That's exactly the position one school I serve have found themselves. The company who sold them system were probably thinking more along the lines 'repeat custom', but it's shocking having to pay nearly £1,000 per year for 14 licenses.

So, if anyone would like 12x MR12 and 2x MR18 APs, they are soon to be expired.

@XiJ Interesting comment about the EdgeSwitches. Here is an order that I'm hoping to put through asap. What benefits would the edge switch have over the unifi one listed here...

1x Ubiquiti UC-CK UniFi Cloud Key Controller

1x UBIQUITI NETWORKS US-48-500W US-48-500W

10x UAP-AC-LR

nathan · January 31, 2017

That's exactly the position one school I serve have found themselves. The company who sold them system were probably thinking more along the lines 'repeat custom', but it's shocking having to pay nearly £1,000 per year for 14 licenses.
So, if anyone would like 12x MR12 and 2x MR18 APs, they are soon to be expired.

@XiJ Interesting comment about the EdgeSwitches. Here is an order that I'm hoping to put through asap. What benefits would the edge switch have over the unifi one listed here...
1x Ubiquiti UC-CK UniFi Cloud Key Controller
1x UBIQUITI NETWORKS US-48-500W US-48-500W
10x UAP-AC-LR

I also have this issue in one of our schools. For the license cost of Meraki we could buy 10 ac pro units in a year.

nathan · January 31, 2017

On that note does anyone know if there's much resale value in the Meraki APS - I don't have the model number atm

DJ-1701 · January 31, 2017

but it's shocking having to pay nearly £1,000 per year for 14 licenses.

Interesting... I was recently quoted around £3k for 3 years license for 23 AP, new setup... that was an ouch moment.

So quick maths would work out at around £1,830 for 3 years for 14 AP... if you would have to pay around £1k for a year, either their 3 year license makes crazy sense... or might suggest that the license prices could go up after initial use... hmmm.

Blue_Cookeh · January 31, 2017

On that note does anyone know if there's much resale value in the Meraki APS - I don't have the model number atm

AFAIK you can't move APs to another Meraki account, so there wouldn't be any resale value.

You might be able to eBay them if they can run DD-WRT (some can I know), though.

DJ-1701 · January 31, 2017

AFAIK you can't move APs to another Meraki account, so there wouldn't be any resale value.

You might be able to eBay them if they can run DD-WRT (some can I know), though.

I don't see why... you can remove the APs from the Meraki Dashboard. To add them in to the Inventory (i.e. Claim them) you need to know the Serial Number.

nathan · January 31, 2017

I don't see why... you can remove the APs from the Meraki Dashboard. To add them in to the Inventory (i.e. Claim them) you need to know the Serial Number.

I think you are right, according to the following;

https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Inventory_and_Devices/Moving_Devices_Between_Organizations

Blue_Cookeh · January 31, 2017

I think you are right, according to the following;

https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Inventory_and_Devices/Moving_Devices_Between_Organizations

I stand corrected! This wasnt the case a year or so ago

drewp · February 1, 2017

I tried some UniFi APs a couple of years ago, all of them failed after 3 months of usage, this was before the UniFi Pro was released...

Has anyone had problems with them failing, or do you accept this with the low unit price and have spares available to swap out.

I'd be interested to know if anyone is using them in a Boarding School!

Ubiquiti Kit & Management

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