Initial Home Network
Initial Home Network
I've reached the end of my ISP router journey. It's performing poorly, lags behind, and seems vulnerable to attacks because of its slow, outdated Intel components. To put it simply, I'm on a Virgin Media M350 with downloads between 300-400 Mb and uploads around 40 Mb, and I mostly handle local tasks. After some research, I think pfSense is the best fit for my needs. Setting it up on an old enterprise server from eBay would work well. Ideally, I want a Wi-Fi 6 access point using cat6a cabling. Ubiquiti appears to be the industry standard, and their software seems key to that. Since they don't have Wi-Fi 6 APs available except for a gaming model I'm not keen on, should I switch to Ubiquiti or look for another brand with an AX AP? Regarding performance, pfSense runs reliably on Raspberry Pi devices, so a server setup would be more powerful. RAM-wise, faster memory is preferable. Where can I purchase Ubiquiti products in the UK? Most retailers list them as business-only or on demand. I've seen them on Amazon, but I'm open to suggestions for local options. My current speeds hover around D350/U40, and I plan to host a video file server locally. Thanks a lot! Edited January 27, 2020 by limegorilla Added question, formatting
Initially, it seems you won't be able to swap in the Virgin Media router; you can only adjust it to bridge or modem mode. This isn't inherently problematic unless the issue lies with the modem side. An old enterprise server might be affordable, but it will consume significantly more power than a simple low-cost device built for something like pfSense. Right now is not a good moment to invest in WiFi 6—it hasn’t been fully approved yet and WiFi 6e isn’t ready, though there are signs it could arrive soon with a new frequency band. I recently purchased a UniFi nanoHD hoping to adopt WiFi 6 later, once everything stabilizes. pfSense seems to favor clock speed, especially if you plan to run OpenVPN, which isn't multi-threaded. Overall, it’s a compromise—packet filtering is mostly multi-threaded, so balance is key.
I understand the situation. MAC addresses can be spoofed easily since checks aren't frequent—typically every few months. Right now, I'm considering keeping the Virgin Hub as a modem. Regarding devices, you might want something versatile for your smart home setup. If you go all-in on Ubiquiti, using cloud keys could work well, though costs matter. For performance, your current 2.5GHz setup handles most loads, but heavy usage could strain it.