[wil421]

> This is the new normal, folks. Consumer technology is manufactured for six to twelve months, but live in our homes for three to five years. Today's manufacturers cannot afford to update software for hardware devices they have already moved on from. Changing that requires a significant upheaval in their business models.

Ubiquiti has a number of CVEs and has addressed them in a timely manner, IMHO. If you’re buying the cheapest product then expect the cheapest support. My UniFi stuff is easy to manage and upgrade. I can set a number of auto updates I can’t do with other vendors.

[samgranieri]

I also have Ubiquiti networking equipment at home.

Originally I had a DLink gaming router, but as soon as that router went out of support I switched to Apple networking gear, thinking Apple would do an excellent job with support. Also, 802.11AC wasn't supported on my Dlink router.

Then I read an article about Ubiquiti networking equipment on ArsTechnica a few years ago and thought about getting that for a forever home.

The thing that sealed my home network upgrade was Apple discontinuing their networking equipment. I figured (at the time) that Apple would abandon support for their devices. I remembered the Ars article from 4 years ago, and took the plunge on a cloud key, access point, USG, and Unifi Switch. Is this overkill or a 1 bedroom apt or 2 bedroom condo? Yes. However, having the piece of mind that the hardware I bought has continuous software upgrades and excellent customer support via their forums is outstanding.

[onaraft]

Ubiquiti isn't really consumer, though. They want to target enterprises and businesses.

Sure, their hardware ends up in residential deployments more often than perhaps any other kind of enterprise computer stuff, but if you're not willing to call them "enterprise", I'm going to insist they be practically alone in their own category of "pro-sumer but actually professional-consumer, and not the yuppie garbage that you usually call pro-sumer that's just the normal consumer crap but priced at 4x with a slick black plastic case."

I agree with GP in that the spectrum you are suggesting ("you get what you pay for" actually looks more like this:

<cheap garbage> ----------- <expensive garbage> ----[huge $$$ gap]----- <enterprise stuff for price-insensitive corporations who value brand and risk-aversion more than actual specs>

Which I would reify into the realm of, for example, computer hardware, as follows:

<a $100 best buy laptop with Windows> --------- <a $4000 alienware desktop with windows> --------------- <a $40000 Dell server with out-of-band management and ECC ram and HSM's and dual power supplies and actual RAID controllers and so on>

The best buy laptop and the alienware desktop are going to have the same issues with regards to control and privacy, and you need to make a huge jump to get to anything remotely respecting you.

[wmf]

Ubiquiti is targeting small business (not enterprise) but their prices are firmly within consumer range. (For actual enterprise look at Meraki prices.) Likewise Apple Airport (RIP), Google Wifi, Eero, etc. have long-term support for a modest premium. There's no huge gap.

[supercommand]

Yeah, and you don't even need to install a super old version of java to manage or update Ubiquiti products either.