I’ve recently switched my ISP from Virgin Media to Toob. This is full fibre (900Mb upload and download) and seems stable and reliable thus far.
It came with a Linksys router (SPNNX56), but I’m not using the wi-fi element as I have two Ubiquiti APs servicing the house, one on the ground floor, one upstairs. The hi-fi is connected via three switches, a Netgear GS324 and a Cisco Catalyst 2960 which feeds a Chord Electric EE8 close to the NSS 333.
I’m considering changing the Linksys router for a Ubiquiti model, maybe something like the UX7. I’m keen to minimise noise into the digital chain and wondered what people’s thoughts are?
I’ve got a UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber, it’s the dogs bill hooks.
Not sure why you’d look at other vendors if you have UniFi access-points.
I did find that my NAS wasn’t showing up instantly in the Naim app with the official UniFi code release but after switching to Early Access it seems to be fixed.
The VM kit has been returned to Virgin, so the set-up at present is:
Fibre ONT>Cat 5e>Linksys router>Netgear GS324> Cisco 2960C>Cat5e (underfloor) >wallplate>Cat6>EE8>Blue Jeans Cat6 >NSS333. The Cisco leg of the network is only used for hi-fi, one feed to lounge for main system, one feed to second system in workshop.
There would be no point as you have already sorted out your wireless network and therefore changing the router (which is doing its job) would be pointless unless you are looking for additional functionality like Wireguard support.
One reason for changing my router was to apply ad-blocking at the network level - VM didn’t allow for this and wouldn’t support a third-party router that did. I had become increasingly dissatisfied with the service I was receiving from Virgin, so switched ISP. As I have the freedom to now switch routers, my thinking was to select a device that is as electrically quiet as possible, as well as meeting my network needs.
I’ve been using a Firewalla Gold Plus for about 3 years now and have treated it with EMI absorbing fabric from 3M.
Clear upgrade in SQ from what Spectrum supplied. Not sure if the SQ improvement came from a large increase in CPU/RAM or the 3M material. I also upgraded it to 8GB of single rank RAM because I run a larger rule set than typical.
For a person who has no time to become an IT Pro, it’s been working well.
Oh the Toob router is pain, I hate it, sold it after a week of use, I’ve replaced it with this guy
tp-link archer-be550
Was not expensive on eBay and it’s a massive improvement. It has all modern WiFi standards, supports VPNs, WireGuard, etc, as long as you aren’t worried about (potentially) the Chinese government keeping an eye on you, it’s a cracking good piece of kit. I mean, all ports are 2,5Gbit, very fast CPU, WiFi7, 6 Ghz band, cloud remote management, can work as a NAS as well as accepts external hard drives/SSDs, can work as an Apple TimeMachine backup server as well. Works great
That’s an amazing setup right there Is it all gigabit? I’ve upgraded my switches to 2,5 just recently as I wanted that small increase in speed as the NAS is sitting in a different room, and main router is in the living room, and the ONT is even more of an obscure place, so everything was quite complicated to set up properly, but it’s okay now. I’ve got all my switches and routers from TP Link just because of budgeting, would go Unifi fully if I could afford haha and 10Gbit as well.
I upgraded my router to a more powerful version, but still use the lan ports for hifi at 100 MB. It made a noticeable difference. But the biggest upgrade was to put router and Cisco on linear power supplies. Even better was to use DC supercapacitor filters for switch and router. Huge benefit. Really surprising.
With the Cisco it needs a bit of work. You need to take out the inbuilt power supply and solder a DC supply with 12V and the supercapacitor filters.
The LHY filter is made for Lumin and worked like a charm with my 12v switches. This belongs to the cheapest and most striking upgrade i have experienced.
