Modem, Router, Wifi, Switch - go separate or a single all-in-one? Brand recommendations?

I’m looking to update my router and wifi and have been doing a lot of research but wanted to ask the community as well.

The modem part I assume will probably be tricky so I’m ok keeping my Verizon modem+router but only use it as a modem.

From what I’ve seen online people recommend UniFi for Wifi and Mikrotik for routers. One thing that worries me about MikroTik after a lot of research is that it’s a preferred brand for many ISPs (which surprised me) and that hackers love attacking it and since they don’t have auto-update, I do have to be careful and take care of updates myself. That’s a huge downside for me – if true – because I don’t trust myself to be responsible enough to do it. I used to have a Google Wifi router for many years and I loved that it would auto-update every few weeks with security patches.

Another caveat to what I’m looking for is that I don’t need more than a single Wifi AP so something that’s built into the router is totally fine for me - no need for a true mesh. Unless it’s better to separate router from wifi point (eg if I’m betting different brands)?

On the number of ethernet ports, I would need about 8-12. PoE would be a nice-to-have but not a must. The one more “hardcore” requirement is that I’d ideally love the ethernet ports to be capable of 2.5G at least, ideally 10G ports (my hard wiring is on CAT6A and the jacks are very high quality, as well as my patch cables)

Other nice-to-haves would be the ability to have a second WAN port on the router, certainly not a must.
And also the ability to hook up to a UPS but I assume that can be handled totally independently.

I don’t need anything too fancy in terms of management, I don’t foresee needing to do any advanced VLAN or similar sophisticated setups. I’m not good with networking anyway. I do need the ability to assign static IP addresses to a few devices but that’s about it.

In terms of budget, I’m fairly unconstrained though obviously don’t want to spend many thousands on enterprise level gear which I do not need. Let’s say limit would be 1000-1250 though hopefully can find something cheaper. On the flip side if you are aware of a combo of hardware that is say 1500 and amazing, I’m definitely willing to go with it.

And finally - of course, I’d love something that works well with HA. :slight_smile:

I realize this is a pretty big question but if anyone has strong opinions or thoughts, pls feel free to share them. Thanks!

You are best using a Bring your own device setup when it comes to what ISP you have if they have the option.

You don’t want an all in one device setup if your budget and region has the options for it. I currently use an Asus RT-AX88U as my primary router hosting the internet connection for the network through a 24 Port HPE Switch and use a Mikrotik routerboard to manage the VLAN’s for the network through the switch to keep things isolated that I don’t need on the main network.

You can manage firmware updates for the devices that have the integration via home assistant, I do this for my mikrotik to get it to update to the latest firmware and routerOS build available once its listed.

For POE I use a 5 port Netgear unmanaged POE switch so you can look into one of those since they are pretty reliable with the number of ports you need. Like one of these Multi-Gigabit Ethernet Plus Switch - MS108EUP | NETGEAR

When it comes to 2.5/5/10GbE support in a backbone device I have been looking into the following for my internal network to upgrade to so I can upgrade the rest of my setup as I can afford platform upgrades etc: https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/networking/switches/89827-tl-sx3008f

All you would need with a switch like this is SFP+ adapters or Direct cables (currently use a Direct copper SFP cable between my mikrotik and the 24port for the main backbone connection between the two).

For a base upgrade to a router for a replacement to my AX88U for example I would prob look into similar to this to make sure it has both 1x 2.5GbE WAN and 1x 2.5GbE LAN as not all come with lan options they list wan only as the updated speed but list lan with 1GbE only so best to pay attention to the listings based on whats available in your budget: https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/networking/modems-&-routers/95282-gt-ax6000

All this is based on what I have and what I would be looking for in upgrades or a new setup overhaul.

Edit: typo fix and added link.

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thank you very much for the detailed response!
i’ll take some time to parse through it and check out your links.

You might check out the TP-Link Omada line of products: Omada SDN | TP-Link. This is positioned as very similar to but less expensive than UniFi.

I researched this solution (there are quite a few youtube resources out there), and installed it in my house about two years ago. I’ve got a router, two switches, two access points (one upstairs, one down), and the network management controller. Like you, I kept my ATT-provided device and am only using it as a modem. You’d have a good range of options to consider for features like 2.5G speed, POE, # of ports, etc. – all with corresponding prices of course.

I’m not a network guru, and it took me a while to get comfortable with all the components, but I am very pleased with the result. It’s been rock solid stable, I’ve got great wifi coverage, including on my back patio that I never had before, and I’ve got great upgrade options if/when I need them.

There is pretty good integration with HA, but frankly I’ve not used it that much.

Good luck with your search!

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thank you so much!

one thing to keep on mind…max throughput speed.

I had a good network, but the (TP-link) router turned out to be at it’s max capacity when i moved from cable (250 MB/s) to optic fiber (1GB/s).
To my surprise I didn’t notice a lot of increase, but I did notice my network got a bit more unstable.
Turned out my TP link could not handle more then 300MB/s, so when it was maxed, it would just reboot.
I decided just to replace the router part, and added a ubiquity routerX (and kept the tp-link as wifi access point as 300Mb/s was more then enough for wifi :wink:).

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I use Draytek router and switch. In my case a Vigor 2927 router because I need 2 wan-ports. Its not the cheapest , because its aimed for the office market but I have used them for almost 30 years and are top notch. I also have their wired access point capable of 5 different SSID. Draytek has many different models, mine is probably overkill for most homeusers.

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