This $230 ultra-nerdy router is what I’d purchase if mine died proper now
Management. Can’t discover a lot of it in life, however I attempt for it on my residence community. After some adolescence experiences with low cost, primary routers, I presently run a extra complicated setup. But it surely’s not with out its complications, so if I needed to get a brand new router proper now, I’d purchase Ubiquiti’s Dream Router 7. Which occurs to be discounted by Ubiquiti on its web site for an all-time low worth of $230 throughout Black Friday 2025.
This uncommon deal is for all my fellow nerds. Lazy fellow nerds. Or ignorant, in my case.
Why? This Wi-Fi 7 router prices the identical as (and even lower than) a higher-end client mannequin with an analogous user-friendly interface, however gives far better flexibility in configuration.
The spec web page for this router reads like acronym soup. Certain, the apparent containers for a router are ticked—Ethernet ports, built-in Wi-Fi, firewall—however how they’re applied makes the mind tingle pleasantly. (On the {hardware} facet: One PoE, one 10Gb WAN, one 2.5Gb WAN, and three 2.5Gb LAN ports; multi-WAN assist; OpenVPN and WireGuard assist; superior QoS and NAT; and much more.) You may add over 30 further UniFi networking gadgets like entry factors, cameras, and doorbells, with as much as a most of 300 customers.
It additionally capabilities as a restricted NVR (community video recorder), along with your alternative of as much as 5 HD, two 2K, or 4K cameras supported. The Dream Router 7 comes with a 64GB microSD card pre-installed for recording.
A view of all linked gadgets within the Ubiquiti dashboard, circa 2016 from Troy Hunt’s weblog. The interface remains to be this clear and streamlined!
Troy Hunt / troyhunt.com
The software program assist is much more enjoyable. (My thought of enjoyable.) The Ubiquiti dashboard helps you to create a digital native space community (VLAN) in only a minute. You may also play with automations, dive into policy-based visitors routing (e.g., extra customized parental controls for managing your youngsters’ community use), and extra. And the dashboard interface makes each settings and statistics straightforward to know. (You may learn up on how this works through safety guru Troy Hunt‘s weblog, which is how I used to be first launched to Ubiquiti gear.)
Earlier variations of the Ubiquiti Dream Router had some buggy points (like dropped Wi-Fi), however customers in the previous few months have reported rock-solid stability on the latest firmware.
The Dream Router 7 is a fast on-line buy, with a lot sooner setup. To me, that’s the dream, for actual. Particularly at this uncommon Black Friday worth, since Ubiquiti gear seldom goes on sale. Heck, prior to now, common merchandise typically bought out at record worth.
