Recently, I decided it was time for a major upgrade of our home network. For the past few years, I have been using Synology router/access points, an MR2200ac and an RT2600ac router in a wired mesh. They did the job well, but I wanted to step things up and have more control, visibility, and reliability. I had started needing to reboot it at least weekly otherwise it would slow down.

Our current rental has the perk of ethernet already running to most rooms, and we have Sonic fiber internet, so the foundation was solid. After researching, I landed on moving to a Ubiquiti-based network. After initially installing it things were running great, but I did not like the lack of specific user management features in Unifi and ended up also getting a Firewalla Gold SE setup in bridge mode. It transparently monitors the network traffic and I can assign devices to users or groups better than I could using Unifi. If I were to build this setup again I would have instead opted to use the Firewalla as my main router and Unifi for the APs.

Update: Firewalla now has their own Wi-Fi 7 access point (the AP7), and if I were doing this today, I’d go all-in on Firewalla for both routing and wireless. The AP7 supports Zero Trust features right out of the box, works with VLANs, lets you assign different personal keys per user (even with randomized MACs), and supports full LAN-level monitoring—all integrated with their firewall and security stack. It’s exactly the level of visibility and control I was looking for. If you’re starting from scratch or thinking about a refresh, this would be my recommendation now.

Here’s a quick overview of the new network setup:

Breaking it down:

• Internet: Sonic Fiber, bringing in fast and reliable connectivity.
• Gateway: Unifi Cloud Gateway Max, handling the initial internet connection.
• Firewalla: Firewalla Gold SE, positioned right behind the gateway, adding enhanced security and control.
• Switches: Two Lite 8 PoE. One central Unifi switch in the hallway connects access points and routes connections to another Unifi switch in the server rack.
• Access Points: Two Unifi U7 Pro APs (one in the living room and another in the hallway)

The cubby in the hallway neatly hides most equipment, keeping things tidy and out of sight.

Front from left to right: Unifi Cloud Gateway Max, Hue Bridge, Aqara M3, X-Sense Hub. Middle: Firewalla and Unifi Switch. Back: UPS Battery Backup.

In the server rack, I have:

• Synology 418play: For photo and media management
• Beelink Intel 12th gen i5 Mini PC: Running Plex, CrashPlan Pro for backups, and Portainer with a stack of apps like Home Assistant, Uptime Kuma, and more.
• HD Homerun Duo: Handling live TV streaming from an antenna

The setup had been great and will handle our network needs for the next 5+ years easily with the benefit of being more modular than before so I can upgrade the APs while keeping the same gateway and firewall setup.