The USG Security Gateway Pro has the bandwidth to provide DPI and IPS at 250 Mb/Sec. The "residential" USG Security Gateway (the small one) would max out around 80 Mb/Sec. In my area, Comcast offers a residential 250 Mb/Sec for a reasonable rate. This means to get the full internet speeds I was paying for, the smaller USG needed to be upgraded. You can see from the Speed Test screen shot that's attached, I'm now getting the 250 Mb/Sec that is expected. Upgrading from the USG to the USG Pro was a snap - I simply deprovisioned the old device and physically removed it from the network. Plugged in the new device, adopted it, and the configuration was brought over via the USG Controller. Total time, about 5 minutes.
This is one product you *must* read the manual. It's very versatile and powerful but you need to know how to use the consol get squeeze every ounce of juice from this puppy. The GUI is great and it integrates well with the rest of the Ubiquiti ecosystem and also seems to cooperate with other appliances such as Cisco. Definitely worth the money, but do your research first and get to know the beast before hand! It's not forgiving ;)
I install pakedge, networks a fix problems in the real world with others' installs. Lots of takeovers. I've worked with lots of gear, Ubiquiti has caused me the least headache over the years. Leaps and bounds in stability of the cloud controller over the last couple of years. I just did a pakedge network worth around $25,000 and I want to blow my brains out. I could have done Ubiquiti for less than 8 and walked away with no worries. Never again will I spec anything else, the cloud controller speeds setup and deployment. Working with individual devices I must log in to and setup was like building a prehistoric network. SO SLOW. Take the UEWA course if you're having trouble with the concepts.
Really like all the UniFi components and have installed just about all of them. I prefer rack mounted gear when possible but this made a little too much fan noise to put in a quiet office room. I decided to use the non-pro gateway which is fanless, or at least totally silent for that job. The fans appeared to be regular 20mm so I opening it up to see about swapping. They use a standard 3 wire fan connector so it's plug and play. I used the Noctua NF-A4x20 FLX which puts out as much or more airflow as the stock fans and are undetectable noise wise. There are two heat sinks which are barely warm to the touch with the unit powered on but not under load. So for about an extra $30 and 5 minutes you can deploy this anywhere. Usually disclaimer that you are very likely voiding any warranty on the unit and this information is provided exclusively with the understanding that you are assuming all liability if you choose to attempt this. So now go have some fun modding.
Before you buy something like this you should of course know what you're getting into. It's part of an ecosystem so you need to understand how it will inter-operate with your (preferably) Unifi switches, AP's, etc.. If you understand that and the benefits and limitations - e.g. some fancy setup requires SSH and command-line configuration, the UI of the controller will do 90% of what 90% of customers want to do, but it's definitely different than e.g. an Edgerouter or of course a commodity home wifi-router combo, it does what it says and the DPI/IPS/IDS features are nice to look at and can help you better understand your network. My only real minor gripe so far is the fan is a bit loud, but that can be remedied. I do wish it had more horsepower but based on my current and planned network speed it's more than enough for me. If I planned on having 1gig internet access and wanted full DPI/IDS I would probably wait for whatever Unifi's next generation is, the XG is too much, and the USG-4 is a bit underpowered.
We have three small offices we've connected with these. We're a software shop and one office has especially fast internet. It has no problem driving top speed. Setup is pretty easy and straightforward with cloud keys, IPSec is super easy to form site-to-site vpn, L2TP/IPSec is easy to setup for remote users. We also still run openvpn for some legacy users. That was a bit more challenging but doable in an hour with some googling. We swapped a number of linux boxes out and put these in and have noticed much better network performance, especially latency and have less to manage/maintain now, which is nice. Also, I'm not as worried about our linux boxes being up to date and hardened/leaving some security detail that can be exploited. I would add ... UniFi products work really well and they are easy to setup and especially easy to manage with their cloud key, if you truly understand networking. But novices be warned, If you don't you may find their equipment challenging. There are no simple 1,2,3 docs. So IMHO, this is really good quality stuff, the closest you can get to high-end cisco gear without the high price.
I had the little USG before. I told the controller to forget the USG, removed it, put in the new USG-PRO-4, adopted it, got an upgrade firmware notice, upgraded the firmware, rebooted it. It had all the settings from the old USG. Amazing. I have symmetric gigabit internet and am getting 987 up and 980 down with DPI turned on. I'm very happy
Love this gateway / router! Compliments my cloud key and 2 AC pro access points. Ok time to put some bad myths to bed about this box. 1. The fans are not loud in this appliance. Compared to my switch and other items it can’t even be heard. 2. I have a 1gbps fiber connection coming into my home office. Properly configured as my unit is I didn’t loose ANY throughout what so ever! I have deep pack inspection enabled but not IPS.... I am getting my full 950mbps - 990 same as before this unit was installed. First thing I did was upgrade the firmware before I even tried to put this on my network. It integrates into my existing 192.168.2.1 easily with some minor dhcp assignment settings changed easily by the GUI. All the bad press about this unit aside they knocked it out the park with this one for the price!!!!!
The fan is every bit as loud as other reviewers say. I bought two of these, one for each office I have. In my main office the unit is in a server rack in a fully closed closet several feet down the hall from where I work and the high pitched whine is bad enough that I plan to replace the fan as other reviewers have done. That said I love Ubiquiti products, they are truly enterprise grade and with a Cloud Key they are extremely easy to set up, monitor and maintain. Do yourself a favor and get a cloud key. Yes you can set up these products without one but why? For $100 to $200 USD (depending on which unit you get) you will save hours, headache and enable things you can't do otherwise. How much is your time worth? I have 2xUSG 4's, a 24 port hub, a 16 port POE, an 8 port POE, 2 pro AP's (adding more) and an 8 port POE along with 8 cameras all managed with a Cloud Key Gen2+ (in a rack mount which I ordered direct from Ubiquiti - it is a really slick product). I have good IT experience but that is not my "job" - high grade industrial strength components and systems are within reach of any tech savvy user. I am amazed Ubiquiti let this fan issue persist - their stuff is such high quality (and BTW looks incredible - great design). The fan is so obnoxious and the fact that I have to go down the route of replacing it so annoying I almost took a star off what is otherwise one of the best things I have ever purchased; that is my testament to how good this unit is.
Great Enterprise Gateway. Fans are not as bad as I thought and read in some reviews. Performance is outstanding. I use it with a 1GiG CenturyLink fiber line. Perfect replacement for my USG 3.
Lisa Tomlinson
Speed and Power!
The USG Security Gateway Pro has the bandwidth to provide DPI and IPS at 250 Mb/Sec. The "residential" USG Security Gateway (the small one) would max out around 80 Mb/Sec. In my area, Comcast offers a residential 250 Mb/Sec for a reasonable rate. This means to get the full internet speeds I was paying for, the smaller USG needed to be upgraded. You can see from the Speed Test screen shot that's attached, I'm now getting the 250 Mb/Sec that is expected. Upgrading from the USG to the USG Pro was a snap - I simply deprovisioned the old device and physically removed it from the network. Plugged in the new device, adopted it, and the configuration was brought over via the USG Controller. Total time, about 5 minutes.
Chantelle Reid
The GUI is great and it integrates well with the rest of the ...
This is one product you *must* read the manual. It's very versatile and powerful but you need to know how to use the consol get squeeze every ounce of juice from this puppy. The GUI is great and it integrates well with the rest of the Ubiquiti ecosystem and also seems to cooperate with other appliances such as Cisco. Definitely worth the money, but do your research first and get to know the beast before hand! It's not forgiving ;)
Romel Ore
Decent gear, SOLID performer.
I install pakedge, networks a fix problems in the real world with others' installs. Lots of takeovers. I've worked with lots of gear, Ubiquiti has caused me the least headache over the years. Leaps and bounds in stability of the cloud controller over the last couple of years. I just did a pakedge network worth around $25,000 and I want to blow my brains out. I could have done Ubiquiti for less than 8 and walked away with no worries. Never again will I spec anything else, the cloud controller speeds setup and deployment. Working with individual devices I must log in to and setup was like building a prehistoric network. SO SLOW. Take the UEWA course if you're having trouble with the concepts.
Ñööri Mãlik
Nice Gateway in the UniFi family. Can be made totally silent.
Really like all the UniFi components and have installed just about all of them. I prefer rack mounted gear when possible but this made a little too much fan noise to put in a quiet office room. I decided to use the non-pro gateway which is fanless, or at least totally silent for that job. The fans appeared to be regular 20mm so I opening it up to see about swapping. They use a standard 3 wire fan connector so it's plug and play. I used the Noctua NF-A4x20 FLX which puts out as much or more airflow as the stock fans and are undetectable noise wise. There are two heat sinks which are barely warm to the touch with the unit powered on but not under load. So for about an extra $30 and 5 minutes you can deploy this anywhere. Usually disclaimer that you are very likely voiding any warranty on the unit and this information is provided exclusively with the understanding that you are assuming all liability if you choose to attempt this. So now go have some fun modding.
Yatish Kakade
Works as I expected, well designed.
Before you buy something like this you should of course know what you're getting into. It's part of an ecosystem so you need to understand how it will inter-operate with your (preferably) Unifi switches, AP's, etc.. If you understand that and the benefits and limitations - e.g. some fancy setup requires SSH and command-line configuration, the UI of the controller will do 90% of what 90% of customers want to do, but it's definitely different than e.g. an Edgerouter or of course a commodity home wifi-router combo, it does what it says and the DPI/IPS/IDS features are nice to look at and can help you better understand your network. My only real minor gripe so far is the fan is a bit loud, but that can be remedied. I do wish it had more horsepower but based on my current and planned network speed it's more than enough for me. If I planned on having 1gig internet access and wanted full DPI/IDS I would probably wait for whatever Unifi's next generation is, the XG is too much, and the USG-4 is a bit underpowered.
Lisa Hicks
Works really well
We have three small offices we've connected with these. We're a software shop and one office has especially fast internet. It has no problem driving top speed. Setup is pretty easy and straightforward with cloud keys, IPSec is super easy to form site-to-site vpn, L2TP/IPSec is easy to setup for remote users. We also still run openvpn for some legacy users. That was a bit more challenging but doable in an hour with some googling. We swapped a number of linux boxes out and put these in and have noticed much better network performance, especially latency and have less to manage/maintain now, which is nice. Also, I'm not as worried about our linux boxes being up to date and hardened/leaving some security detail that can be exploited. I would add ... UniFi products work really well and they are easy to setup and especially easy to manage with their cloud key, if you truly understand networking. But novices be warned, If you don't you may find their equipment challenging. There are no simple 1,2,3 docs. So IMHO, this is really good quality stuff, the closest you can get to high-end cisco gear without the high price.
Ammar Raza
Just worked. I'm sold!
I had the little USG before. I told the controller to forget the USG, removed it, put in the new USG-PRO-4, adopted it, got an upgrade firmware notice, upgraded the firmware, rebooted it. It had all the settings from the old USG. Amazing. I have symmetric gigabit internet and am getting 987 up and 980 down with DPI turned on. I'm very happy
Marion Proudley
You WILL GET FULL 1GBPS if setup properly!
Love this gateway / router! Compliments my cloud key and 2 AC pro access points. Ok time to put some bad myths to bed about this box. 1. The fans are not loud in this appliance. Compared to my switch and other items it can’t even be heard. 2. I have a 1gbps fiber connection coming into my home office. Properly configured as my unit is I didn’t loose ANY throughout what so ever! I have deep pack inspection enabled but not IPS.... I am getting my full 950mbps - 990 same as before this unit was installed. First thing I did was upgrade the firmware before I even tried to put this on my network. It integrates into my existing 192.168.2.1 easily with some minor dhcp assignment settings changed easily by the GUI. All the bad press about this unit aside they knocked it out the park with this one for the price!!!!!
Timothy Drake
Great product; obnoxious fan noise
The fan is every bit as loud as other reviewers say. I bought two of these, one for each office I have. In my main office the unit is in a server rack in a fully closed closet several feet down the hall from where I work and the high pitched whine is bad enough that I plan to replace the fan as other reviewers have done. That said I love Ubiquiti products, they are truly enterprise grade and with a Cloud Key they are extremely easy to set up, monitor and maintain. Do yourself a favor and get a cloud key. Yes you can set up these products without one but why? For $100 to $200 USD (depending on which unit you get) you will save hours, headache and enable things you can't do otherwise. How much is your time worth? I have 2xUSG 4's, a 24 port hub, a 16 port POE, an 8 port POE, 2 pro AP's (adding more) and an 8 port POE along with 8 cameras all managed with a Cloud Key Gen2+ (in a rack mount which I ordered direct from Ubiquiti - it is a really slick product). I have good IT experience but that is not my "job" - high grade industrial strength components and systems are within reach of any tech savvy user. I am amazed Ubiquiti let this fan issue persist - their stuff is such high quality (and BTW looks incredible - great design). The fan is so obnoxious and the fact that I have to go down the route of replacing it so annoying I almost took a star off what is otherwise one of the best things I have ever purchased; that is my testament to how good this unit is.
Jerrie Pat Gale
Great Enterprise Gateway
Great Enterprise Gateway. Fans are not as bad as I thought and read in some reviews. Performance is outstanding. I use it with a 1GiG CenturyLink fiber line. Perfect replacement for my USG 3.