Ubiquiti EdgeRouter 4

The Ubiquiti EdgeRouter4 (ER4) falls somewhere in between a consumer grade SOHO router (NetGear, Linksys, etc.) and enterprise class (Cisco, Juniper). It supplies many of the features of enterprise grade hardware, such as a robust CLI, and is packaged in a durable, fanless metal box that is easily wall mounted. The SFP port is a nice plus when you need it.I purchased this product for two reasons: to better segment my home network and because it can handle Cox Gigablast's 1Gb downstream connectivity. I no longer have the time to build and maintain my own Linux or *BSD based router and this is the next best thing. The TL;DR version of below is: if you need 1 Gb symmetric (TX & RX) performance, the ER4 has you covered. If your upstream connectivity is limited to hundreds of Mb or less, you should consider the Unifi Security Gateway (USG) instead.The pros: great web GUI that doesn't hide technical complexity from the user; it does not force coddle you or obfuscate capability behind a boring interface. While wizards are available to walk you through common setup scenarios, they are optional, and you have the ability to make changes after the fact. Pretty, interactive, and live graphs on the dashboard and DPI for client IPs are nicely, albeit mostly cosmetic, features. Performance is great and you can setup almost everything from VLANs to firewalls to various services (VPN, DHCP) in the GUI. If you are a native Linux user and are already familiar with how most networking concepts (including iptables firewalls) are implemented, you will find setup intuitive and clean. If you are coming from other enterprise grade hardware companies, such as Cisco, you're going to have a slight learning curve while you translate concepts and technology implementations. The device also integrates with Ubiquiti's network management system, UNMS, a godsend if you are trying to manage multiple networks/sites/etc., less useful if you're just a home user.The cons: Apparently, Ubiquiti for some reason maintains two separate management systems, UNMS and Unifi, both with overlapping features, but nearly independent ecosystems. You cannot manage Edge devices in Unifi and vice versa. it escapes me why this makes sense, rather than have a "step up" market strategy where you hook small businesses into your equipment and offer them an upgrade path as they grow. Apparently, the benefit of the Edge series is you don't require it to be centrally managed (UNMS), while the Unifi hardware requires a unifi controller to do so. I can see the value in some situations of stand alone management interfaces, but why the central management system can't manage both types of devices makes no sense to me.So why the ER4? I couldn't find good documentation on performance for the various Edge class (UNMS) and USG (Unifi) hardware, although I heard many reports that the USG could not switch gigabit Ethernet at full duplex (meaning symmetric) on its WAN interface, while the ER4 could. This was a show stopper for me. The ER4 is fully capable of switching 1 Gb of symmetric traffic.

I use this to ensure packet loss and cpu usage on my system is minimal. The reason for this is that I serve games to many users at a time and the capabilities of this device to manage millions of packets a second (Vs the ~10,000 pps on my old ASUS wireless router).Port forwarding is simple and straightforward. Which is great.The router can be connected to ubiquitis UNMS service which keeps it updated and manages all your ubiquiti devices in one place.It displays memory and cpu usage in real time which is great. And the community surrounding it is professional and dedicated.My only regret was not paying an extra 50-100$ and getting a 6 port+ version. I just bought a basic hub to make up for this which was plug and play no problems.If you're looking for reliable routing this is the way to go. Ubiquiti has great hardware at extremely reasonable prices. Slap a WiFi router onto this, set it as an access point and your all set up!

For me, speed is secondary to rock solid reliability, if a router drops connections or has inconsistent reliability that requires reboots, I really don't care how fast it is theoretically. I have typically used Netgear products in the past which meet the previous description, they are theoretically fast, but have horrible reliability over time. So, I did lots of research and it all pointed back to Ubiquiti products and this Edgerouter 4. For me the Edgerouter 4 was the perfect balance of having the horsepower of the more expensive routers in their line, but without the extra jacks that are semi useless in a home environment because most of the routers in this line do not have network switches built in.It is very true that this route has many features intended for a network professions and you can easily get blown away by the number of options. HOWEVER, the router includes a setup wizard that gets you up and running in about 10 minutes with very little effort if you follow the instructions and maybe watch the 10 minute YouTube video that explains what you're doing. For most consumers, that wizard may be all you ever need to do to configure the router. The only other important thing to understand is you need wireless access point(s) for wifi (I used my old routers and set them up as access points) and a network switch. In summary, my network is much faster than its ever been (and the router isn't even breaking a sweat at about 2% cpu utilization), and it is rock solid reliable...it just works, which is perhaps the best complement.