Ubiquiti rant
Posted by Flompulon_80@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 40 comments
After going through this reset and adoption phase and setting up four devices having tons of issues for 4 hours, it finally relented and said you are all set and all was working. 1 hr later it all died again. Its not the powesupplies.
I will never be using ubiquiti again.
AggressivePop7438@reddit
Keep them out of business and in the consumer space where they belong.
LongStoryShrt@reddit
Thankyou. We'll both get downvoted, but i think their stuff is the Macintosh of networking.
654456@reddit
They price it like that too but yeah, i am really happy with my unifi stuff. Plug in, adopt, let it work. Sure, I wouldn't do it in a big enterprise but small offices are fine.
ISeeDeadPackets@reddit
The exception being very small businesses like retail, maybe 1-2 person accounting teams, etc... Anything with 10 users plus and I wouldn't consider them.
ElevenNotes@reddit
Odd that I handle thousands of students daily with zero issues, all on Unifi WiFi and switches.
ISeeDeadPackets@reddit
I don't think anyone says it doesn't work. The problem is that they lack appropriate support for enterprise level issues. They've had some glaring security issues, so has everyone else, but they take a lot longer to fix them. You really just have to stock cold spares instead of being able to rely on committed replacement windows. Their firmware updates can be interesting adventures and their support infrastructure sucks.
I've got a DS Pro at home, love the thing, but in environments where downtime costs rack up to very high numbers very quickly it's not tech that meets the support and reliability requirements compatible with that kind of expectation.
ElevenNotes@reddit
Odd I run these installations since 10 years with no issues, neither firmware nor hardware.
ISeeDeadPackets@reddit
That's nice for you, it probably fits the needs of the organizations you're supporting. In an HA or high security environment though, you're playing with fire.
ElevenNotes@reddit
Are you familiar with the term: The right tool for the job?
orev@reddit
I keep hearing this, but they've been solid for me for many years across multiple small office sites.
Site-Staff@reddit
Ubiquiti has some power supply and design issues around power in a whole lot of POE switch models, especially older stuff. I usually avoid their UISP shit all around. Unifi devices that are full rack width tend to be the best. Their APs and Cameras have always been great for me.
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
Good to know !
Maleficent-Fee-9343@reddit
Never was in love with them. I pretty like Mikrotik products, also cheap and much more reliable.
TheRogueMoose@reddit
Sounds like user error.
Were they wifi devices? Do you have any other ubiquti gear? POE, and if so is it injected from a power supply, or from your switch?
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
USG-3P LR6 AP US8 switch Raspbian controller
Poe is injected to the LR6 only.
stufforstuff@reddit
Maybe put your toys back into your toy box and buy grown up equipment for your business.
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
Its a small rental property, so in-between, but yeah the $1100 i spent 3 years ago is going in the trash, all the tenants opted to pay for their own wifi
stufforstuff@reddit
Try Aruba Instant-On, same price range-ish, controls are like Meraki without the never ending rental fee. Light years better QC, Firmware, and Support then Unifi. Doesn't have the full feature set of true Enterprise class equipment, but it doesn't seem like your use case requires them.
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
Awesome tip!!! Def checking this out
TheRogueMoose@reddit
I've never had to warranty anything with them, but it looks like they'll warranty up to 2 years if you bought directly from them! Though I did read that the process can be a bit of a mess with them.
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
Commentors suggested the US-8 poe switch could be the issue as they've had many replacements of same. Thanks all.
p47guitars@reddit
have to agree. I have a huge deployment with Unifi WAPs, Switches, and Airmax back hauls and everything is running great. I've only had one issue where there was a shit update that borked a few waps, but it was remedied in a couple of hours after factory resetting some of them.
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
All equipment was adopted and operational. After approx 1 hour of uptime and no changes, it went down. Firmware updates showed all complete. I am genuinely curious what would I as a user have done an hour prior or previous to that in order to affect the timing of the outage. Does it reprovision devices from some instruction I gave it or something I failed to tell it not to do by default?
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
Usg-3P > US-8-POE > LR6 with poe injector, Raspbian controller. All was working after much grief, and adoption issues. 1 hr later site went down.
Gwtting downvotes for my negativity.
p47guitars@reddit
yeah not sure why it's not working out, but I wouldn't use a raspbian based controller. honestly the cloud key works really well for what it is and hosts more than just the Unifi network app. YMMV - but I have a resort setup with tons of unifi gear and airmax back hauls to a central location with NO issues.
anxiousinfotech@reddit
Honestly this is the exact behavior I've seen from the Ubiquiti access points when they die.
If it's all brand new stuff though then yes, probably user error.
Fatmangamer@reddit
so if you admit it is probably user error, why is this Ubiquiti's fault???
anxiousinfotech@reddit
I said this fits the pattern I've seen across multiple devices when they end up dying.
I've never had a new one, let alone 4 devices, be dead out of the box though, which leads me to think it's user error...unless they're trying to set up some used equipment? If it's used it could be someone sold it because of the behavior OP is seeing.
TheRogueMoose@reddit
I actually have yet to have one die on me personally, so that does kind of make sense. I have 9 here at work and 1 at home. Ranging from U5 AC Lite's to U6 AC Pro's. Plus a bunch of Enterprise and Pro switches.
I found hosting my own Unifi Network Application in a VM has made everything super simple!
anxiousinfotech@reddit
My own U6-LR did this exact pattern when it died on me about a month ago, and we've had a few at work along with some older UAP-AC-Pros also do the same. Controllers are always self hosted.
thomasmitschke@reddit
Which devices in detail?
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
I specify in a couple comments, might be the US-8 that died but i have no eyes on the environment.
llDemonll@reddit
Ubiquiti shouldn’t be in the enterprise. It’s fine for what it is.
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
I think "it is what it is" should be their sales slogan
stufforstuff@reddit
"It's good enough for mom's basement, it's good enough - no it's really just ok for mom and NO WHERE ELSE" should be their slogan.
That or PT Barnum's "There's a sucker born every minute" would also work.
outofspaceandtime@reddit
Depends. So far not have had any hardware issue with their equipment - everything physically works. I’m using the Pro Max range for the most part however, so that’s maybe a misrepresentation.
On the software side, there are a few gripes and complications, especially when you go to some level of complication.
CountGeoffrey@reddit
ubiquiti is both great and awful. there are some products that are extremely bad (ASIC mistakes) and it's somewhat tribal knowledge which ones to stay away from entirely.
i wouldn't necessarily throw out the baby. the value received on their working products is outstanding.
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
I learned this the hard way in years past regarding upgrading the software. I don't think "never upgrade" is generally an option in the face of issues like security but I certainly wouldn't since it always seems to break.
RedOwn27@reddit
US-8-POE by any chance? If so, I've found the issue to be unique to that switch and we've replaced them all.
Flompulon_80@reddit (OP)
Yes this