I can understand the standalone issue, I had to install Unifi to enable 160Mhz channel width. But on the other hand, Unifi is an amazing piece of software. I just discovered it logs every AP it sees
Not a unique thing, the ZyXEL I have does the same thing, only you don't a software package on your PC to see it :-)
As for the build quality, that's partly subjective as just because a unit uses minimal parts, doesn't mean in real-world terms is any worse than something heavily overbuilt. The nanoHD specifically is designed to be as small as possible for aesthetic reasons and always seems to be barely tepid to the touch, although I've never checked under load.
Not true that it is subjective, I've designed and built PCBs and circuits, I know what I see. Nothing about minimal parts is the issue, it was other problems, clearly it was built cheap, certainly the model I was using. No heat-sinks on mine, their heat sink design was to add a thick soft heat-sink pad to bridge the gap on the back of the circuit board behind each LSI onto the
plastic case! Worse though, in the factory none of these pads were lined up correctly on mine, one missed the silk screened location on the PCB completely, probably quite hard to line up quickly in a typical sweatshop Chinese factory. The back of the device, that would in most installations be flush up against a foam (so insulating) ceiling tile, had a couple of 'hot spots' because of course the heat can't dissipate in plastic. The plastic case is as cheap as it could be and just clips together (saves money in the factory). The blue LED for the light piped ring was being over driven because they only use one LED (cost thing again to save pennies) so after several months of 24/7 operation that started to dim. Nothing about it was designed to last. There may be improvements with their other models but it is clear they build for cheap and not quality.
The money basically is going on the software, and even that isn't great, I got fed up with every few weeks when I wanted to get at the access point settings that I had to update it, update yet again the firmware on the access point (they never have stable firmware), then update Java because that was complaining it was out of date. The UI was horrible, it was over complicated and even then many settings available on cheaper consumer kit for the AP were completely missing. Fancy requiring Java just to access some AP settings, some companies ban Java for security reasons! Had a whole set of hassles when I moved to a new computer then suddenly realised I couldn't 'manage' the access point. Just far too much work for one or two access points on my own home.
Uni-fi almost has a cult following, presumably because it is the poor companies 'Cisco' of kit and everyone want's to believe it is just as good.
I also tried one their routers, just as bad, could have fried an egg on it and just as cheaply made, even though it was quite expensive, sent it back.
Regards
Phil
Author
Topic: Plusnet router replacement recommendations please (Read 6937 times)