A word about Ubiquiti EdgeRouters
Well, it is 2016 and my Linksys E2000 router that I’ve been using since 2010 and running DD-WRT on was still in use. It was still a fine router for what I was using it for, but it is starting to show its age. For one, it didn’t support dual band Wifi (2.4ghz and 5ghz). A month or so ago I decided to replace the Wifi functionality part of it with a Ubiquiti Unifi AC-AP-Pro to get better coverage and better wireless speeds, both of which were accomplished. I’ve been pretty impressed with it and Ubiquiti’s controller software that I was becoming interested in some of their other products. As a coincidence, my local Fiber-to-the-Home ISP announced that they will be rolling out Gigabit fiber access. Previously, you could only get up to 250mbit. I was on the 50mbit package, but for the Gig rollout, they’re running a promotion where you can lock in to the Gigabit speeds for as long as you have service with them for only $10/more a month than I was paying for the 50mbit fiber. So, 20x the bandwidth for $10 more a month is a no-brainer for me. This meant I had to upgrade my router though. My Linksys E2000 running DD-WRT was only capable of about 60mbit throughput on the WAN interface due to its aging CPU. I was already pushing it close with my 50mbit net, but Gigabit would be far too much for it to handle. So I did some research and ended up selecting the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite. These are powerful little machines that run Ubiquiti’s EdgeMax OS which is a customized fork of the linux Vyatta routing software suite. It seemed to have the best bang for the buck features, it was from Ubiqiuiti which I was already interested in and have one of their products, and most importantly it can push FULL gigabit line speed through the WAN!