Ubiquiti Unifi Security Appliance (USG), Single,White

I had recently purchased a Ubiquiti Unifi switch and a couple of APs for my place and was really impressed with the whole Unifi concept so I went ahead and purchased the USG and another switch to complete the re-vamping of my home's entire network infrastructure. In anticipation, I read blogs, forums, and watched videos about this particular device and was really wondering how easy it was going to be to setup given some of the feedback but, for me, it was a breeze. The LAN interface is set to 192.168.1.1 by default, and as long as you are aware of that and account for it (like pretty much any other router you may purchase), the setup goes very easy.I plugged the WAN interface into my modem and my existing switch into the LAN port and that was pretty much it. I had to wait for a few minutes for it to sync up with the modem (get an IP, etc...) and for it to assign my PC an IP on the 192.168.1.x range but it eventually just started working and I could get on the Internet.After it was connected, I adopted it into my Unifi Controller and upgraded the firmware with no issues. I did have to re-boot my modem and then re-boot the USG in order to see full speeds but that was not really an issue. The only other thing I did was to change the default DHCP scope by making sure it ended lower than my old router to avoid potential IP conflicts.So, in my experience, for basic internet connectivity and DHCP setup it was very easy. Assuming your network is already 192.168.1.x and that your modem/ISP assigns you an IP via DHCP, it "just works".But is it an "easy" device? That really depends. On the one hand it integrates into the Unifi environment really well and the separate controller really gives you great insight into your network, way more than you would ever get with typical consumer grade stuff. However, while learning the controller interface is not hard (especially if you are reasonably savvy with networking) you do have to spend some time with it to understand where all the configurations are. And sometimes not everything is where you think it ought to be! But if you enjoy stuff like this, it's really fun! If you really can't be bothered it may be too much.Also, remember, for a typical consumer router, you just have a GUI to the router itself. With the Unifi environment you get a controller (purchased or downloaded separately) that controls everything (switches, APs, etc...). That means you have many more perimeters and areas to explore in the GUI than you may be used to which could add to the learning curve..There are lots of forum posts and blogs that say that the USG is really limited by the Unifi controller GUI and that to do anything really complicated you have to go into the Command Line Interface. I guess that really depends on what you want to do! If you just want a good, solid router/firewall for Internet access that is easy to setup, inexpensive, and gives you a ton info about your network (via the Unifi Controller software) I think this is great. If you are brave and have more advanced needs you can do all that stuff as well. Just be aware that you may have to learn how to SSH into the device and configure things by the CLI.Otherwise, I'm super happy with this purchase as well as the entire Unifi environment. With the managed switches, professional grade APs, and advanced routing configurations this really gives people the opportunity to have a first-rate network at home without spending a ton on pro-grade gear.FYI, I have RCN cable in Chicago with 150Mbs speed and the USG seems to handle the speed/traffic without any issues. I believe I could go up to Gig speed without any worries.

This is a great devices, but only if you know what you are doing, if looking at some the tech talk I will do in this review you say "huh?", you are not capable of using this device. If you are just looking for a plug and play router go else where. This does take some knowledge and setup before it will work, it well worth the work it takes. It is nice that when pairing this with managed switches you can setup VLANS, it also does allow for DHCP relaying for if you have a server setup as your DHCP server. This device does not have a WiFi access point built in, and this is a good thing, this allows you to get stand allow access points to put them where you need them. Nice thing is it allow you to track your WAN1/WAN2/LAN traffic load. It does require the Unifi controller to be installed onto a server to make full use of the features of this device unless you want to ssh in to set the configuration via the shell (which is a great option for more fine control of the settings) And if you are using unifi managed switches the controller allows you to manage them from the same interface. Along with unifi WiFi access points. My home network is a bit of an odd ball setup and this router lets me have it the way I want it, most consumer routers would not work well with it, they want to be not only the router but wifi/dhcp/dns/etc... I just want my router to be a router only and this devices lets me do this. This device was made with the idea that it might be used by professional network engines; while I am not a professional network engines I am a Software Developer it is not that hard to use if you have some technical abilities. So if you have real technical abilities can use Linux and understand some basic network concepts (such as what a class a, class b, and class c networks are) then this is a great devices for you, but if you don't well go get a simple linksys.