Hello,
I live in Melbourne Australia and about to upgrade my fibre internet (NBN) to an ultrafast service(270mb download speed), however the ISP doesn’t supply a modem/router and I need to buy one.
My question is, which one would you recommend for automated home with around 120 devices?
At the moment I’m using an Asus router (which is great but it’s only a router, not a modem and not compatible with the ISP modems recommendations).
thanks you,
Alex
What do you mean by modem?
My understanding is that your ISP effectively gives you an Ethernet connection.
I think it best to separate the modem from the router. Seems like you end up with more compromises when the two are combined. I have a 300 mb download cable modem service. The arris modem / router that came from the internet provider is a POS as a router. I turned off all the routing functions and passes that thru to a pair of Google mesh wifi units for about 18 months. That was solid. I did recently change the Google units for Mikrotik RB4011 and hap AC2. The Google devices did provide enough information and control for a home automation geek. The Mikrotik units require you to roll up your sleeves and learn some router and mesh WDS stuff, but if you can get through that the control and information is very nice. I have another place with gigabit fiber attached to a Ubiquity Unfi Dream Machine. As a beginner on both, I would recommend Mikrotik over Ubiquity, even with the steeper learning curve on Mikrotik.
Ubiquiti. Nothing else.
As Nick says, you should have an ethernet port from the fibre termination device that NBN gave you. Just take a cable from it to a Ubiquiti Security Gateway and then from that to an ethernet switch. The switch doesn’t need to be managed unless you really want crazy level control down to port level which simply isn’t needed.
I actually went a slightly different route and used a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter rather than the Security Gateway. It has the benefit of being more powerful and has PoE inbuilt. It just means a little more effort to set it up. From that I run 2x Ubiquiti Long Range AP’s (because my house is on 1001m2 and needed coverage to garden lights), another Ubiquiti Managed PoE Switch (for CCTV cameras) and a regular unmanaged switch (for everything else). It’s rock solid
thank you. I might do that.
I used to have ubiquity router and access points and moved to Asus router plus the Netgear Orbi mesh wifi.
My ISP (IINET) said that a compatible modem needs to support
PPPoE connection, VLAN tagging, Gigabit ethernet ports and AC WiFi or WiFi 6.
Do you think that a combination of the EdgeRouter and the long range Ap’s will do the job?
My dealings with iiNet in the past, they supplied a router to connect to the NBN fibre unit. What have you currently got coming from NBN? Just an Ethernet port? I think the EdgeRouter can do all that but I would have to check. It definitely has VPN and Gigbit
I thoroughly agree ubiquiti is great. However I wanted to be master of my own destiny and have a 4 ethernet port PC to use for opnsense. If it ever arrives from China, it should work well.
You mention that your are on Fibre, so you will not need a modem, just a router. iiNet are not the easiest when it comes to non-iiNet supplied devices.
Without knowing what model ASUS router you have, iiNet does have this on their website to setup an RT-AC86U router. The firmware should be almost identical to what ever model you have. Hopefully this works for you and gets you out of trouble in the meantime until you upgrade.
https://help.iinet.net.au/how-set-asus-rt-ac68u-nbn-fttp-wireless
opnsense will do that no sweat.
I don;'t believe your router needs to do that. Other devices like the APs mentioned earlier will do that.
they now have a new service called Superfast NBN or NBN250 which is 216mb download speed. they don’t supply the modem/router anymore, it is BYO, and on their recommended routers they don’t mention Ubiquiti, although I just spoke to the ubiquiti support and they think that the dream machine or the usg-pro-4 plus one long range AP and 2 NanoHD is the way to go in order to cover my 800sqm home plus handle 120plus devices.
Thanks, I already have this setup for the last 2 years, but with the new NBN250 service they don’t supply any equipment anymore. it is BYO router, so based on my chat with Ubiquiti, I’m about to order this:
Just a minor note. “fibre” normally means glassfibre. And glassfibre support at least 3Gb/s, so i’m a bit confused about 270mbs being superfast 
(i have glassfibre 500mbs up&down, meaning i am throttled down)
Anyway, i use ubiquity edge router with ppoe and vlan tagging. As this router was quite cheap and without wifi, I decided to re-use my old router, it is sufficient for routing wifi, but doesn’t reach 500mbs when used as main router
fair enough. well, if the WAN port on your ASUS router doesn’t do gigabit, then yes, you will need to upgrade. Have you confirmed this with the specs of your router??
I’m guessing you aren’t in Australia, where we pay stupid money for crap internet…
Hehe…
No I’m not in AU…but I guess it’s the same anywhere…prices go up exponentially when speed doubles 
Luckely, here in Netherlands the competition is really getting stiff, so I managed to go from 250Mbs up / 25 Mbs down (cable) to 500Mbs up/down (glassfibre) and actually pay 2 euro/month less 
Guess I could even have saved more, as they also offer 250Mbs up/down
Always wanted to get rid of the async cable line, but until recently never had access to glassfibre
I would go with the UDM pro and a POE switch, I have the 24 port poe switch and I have installed the UDM pro for others, poe comes in VERY handy, I have now used double the expected ports because I keep finding new uses
ESPECIALLY since you are getting access points, they need power, and you can use native poe instead of injectors, then you can battery backup and power regulate at a single source (the switch)
As long as you have an ethernet port from the ISP, any Edgerouter will do the job of router - supports VLAN tagging and PPPoE. I’m trying to figure out why they are calling it a modem?
I always split the functions of modem, router and WiFi AP. Especially modem. Don’t need my ISP able to tell me my WiFi password.
If you have some WiFi gear already to tie you over, Ubiquiti is “about” to release some WiFi 6 AP’s: https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-access-points/products/unifi-6-long-range-access-point
Still not available in Oz (I’ve been waiting for a while now, I have 7 I need to upgrade and just keep waiting…) - but may be worth holding off to push back your next hardware refresh (even if you don’t need it right away).
Does anyone actually have any wifi6 gear to hang off them though?
Probably don’t need WiFi 6 yet, but I use my WiFi gear for a lot longer than computers etc, so figure it’ll push out the next hardware refresh. Especially when investing in more than 1. That’s why I’m waiting as I have a few bits that need replacing, and waiting for the latest generation.
Ubiquiti is not exactly fast to release new standards support, but this shouldn’t be too much longer (but who knows - I keep thinking that! 
)
That said, after trying a number of different brands, I’m sticking with Ubiquiti for my WiFi unless I start to get some serious issues - they have been the most solid and reliable by far for me.
