UniFi 5G

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Use cases and antenna design

  • Debate over the outdoor unit’s directional antennas vs marketing for “mobile/vehicle” use.
  • Several readers think it’s really optimized for fixed installs (rooftops, remote sites, backup uplink), not boats/cars you’d constantly re-aim.
  • Spec sheet suggests 6 antennas with only 2 high‑gain directional elements; some speculate internal switching between omni and directional arrays.

Failover and backup internet

  • Strong interest in using it as a secondary WAN for UniFi gateways (automatic failover, load‑balancing, dual‑SIM on the 5G units).
  • Real‑world stories: fiber/cable cut, multi‑day power outages where cell towers also die after 24–36h, making 5G useless in longer events.
  • Starlink is repeatedly mentioned as an alternative/backup (including the low‑cost “standby” plan) and as more resilient in some rural areas.

Performance, ports, and hardware tradeoffs

  • Comparisons to Mikrotik LHG, Teltonika, and Gl.iNet: UniFi’s 10G SFP+ / 2.5G ports are seen as an advantage over some competing 5G CPEs.
  • Others question why only 2.5G copper on a “premier” device promising up to 2 Gbps downlink; discussion of PoE, power/heat, and PCIe lane limits as likely reasons.
  • Observations that phones often outperform dedicated LTE/5G routers due to better modems, band support, and tuning, unless you really need a high‑gain outdoor antenna.

Alternatives and firmware openness

  • Multiple people already do similar setups with Teltonika, Mikrotik, GL.iNet, TP‑Link Omada, or generic OpenWrt devices, including multi‑WAN and bonding.
  • Some want OpenWrt on this hardware specifically; others argue there are many OpenWrt‑capable 4/5G routers already.
  • Note that some newer UniFi APs themselves run an OpenWrt‑derived OS internally.

Ecosystem, pricing, and philosophy

  • Fans: UniFi hits a sweet spot for prosumers and small businesses—PoE, cameras, gateways, APs, centralized management, “just works” (especially vs consumer mesh).
  • Critics: call it the “Apple/Sonos of networking” (form over function, controller churn, lock‑in, previous product missteps, and bugs like past 2.4 GHz and LTE backup issues).
  • Ongoing debate whether UniFi is common in serious professional environments: seen fairly often in small shops and MSP deployments, rarely at large enterprises that favor Cisco/Juniper/Meraki/Ruckus.
  • Some argue DIY x86/OpenWrt/VyOS/Mikrotik is cheaper and more flexible; others explicitly pay the UniFi premium to avoid being their own weekend sysadmin.

Limitations and concerns

  • Outdoor 5G Max unit cannot operate standalone; it must be adopted by a UniFi gateway, disappointing those wanting a generic outdoor modem.
  • No external antenna connectors; seen as a deal‑breaker for people at the edge of coverage who want big directional antennas.
  • Home 5G ISP gateways (e.g. T‑Mobile) often lock SIMs to specific IMEIs, limiting use of third‑party hardware.
  • Question whether 5G backup is effective when everyone in the area falls back to the same congested towers during outages.

5G value and semantics

  • Discussion of why 5G matters: relieving saturated 4G bands, better latency, higher capacity, and as primary internet where fiber/cable is unavailable.
  • Some skepticism about 5G hype and coverage; others report 600–900 Mbps real‑world speeds and even ~1 Gbps symmetric near certain relays.
  • Side thread on marketing units: frustration with ISPs and vendors advertising in bits/s vs users thinking in bytes/s; others defend bits/s as the industry‑standard unit across networking and media.

Accessibility and UX complaints

  • The product page is criticized for low‑contrast, tiny text and heavy use of motion/video; some note screen‑reader blocking.
  • Firefox Reader View and autoplay‑blocking settings are suggested as workarounds for readability and auto‑playing videos.