Is The tp-link Omada SDN platform A UniFi Alternative?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Use code 10LAWRENCE for 10% off the TP-Link Omada Products at www.amazon.com/stores/page/preview?tag=meastus-20&isPreview=1&isSlp=1&asins=B07GX6GVB6,B08QTXNWZ1,B08ZHGT2ZP,B07953S2FD,B07GRCMJWH,B08JB1C41Y,B08TRPMC69 Code Valid from 4/8-4/14 Amazon Affiliate Product Links Omada OC200 amzn.to/2PIUaqy EAP225-Wall amzn.to/3wAnGzk EAP225-Outdoor amzn.to/2OpVQ7Q TL-SG2210MP amzn.to/3cRekaO EAP 620 HD amzn.to/39MNVch

[@bensonmunyan4145]

Any idea if TP-Link has supply of their Omada SDN Switches? I've been unable to find them anywhere. Great video!

[@Billyfelicianojp]

Any new coupon code for this?

[@davidsteckley8846]

I am a newbie when it comes to running this type of stuff. I appreciate you and your channel. I'm learning a lot here. Thank you for your time and effort.

[@rmtv4612]

How to add 2 eaps on omada contoller diagram

[@DanSchreck1]

I've been running this system for a little while. Started with just one EAP245 AP and after it ran reliably for a few months I went all in with: * Omada Software Controller, running on raspberry pi I had laying around, so it's free. * 2 X EAP245 Access Points * EAP-235Wall (make sure you buy the newer 235 model, the 225 doesn't have gigabit networking) * TL-SG2428P POE Switch - great but fans are loud, will be replacing with Noctua fans very soon. * ER605 Router Coverage in my house is amazing. The system has been very reliable and is far more fault tolerant than a Mesh system. Feel free to ask me any questions on my experiences.

[@MrNodoz]

Where did you manage to get the SG2428P?

[@Noodles.FreeUkraine]

Granted, that EAP245 looks a lot better than the new WiFi6 models. God knows what triggered them to go back to the Stone Age design-wise.

[@DanSchreck1]

@@MrNodoz Got on Amazon in February for $230. Same item doesn't seem to be available anymore.

[@MrNodoz]

@@DanSchreck1 Lucky. How do like that model? I've contacted about five dealers and retailers. The best response was from Provantage with an outlook to when they may be carrying them which is the end of April.

[@DanSchreck1]

@@MrNodoz Switch works well with the system. Fans are a bit loud, I have some Noctua fans that are slightly lower flow rate, but should be much quieter. I hope to put them in this weekend.

[@SerialkillerinTraining]

Love watching you guys. As a former AT&T and Comcast employee I can honestly say that I enjoy looking at your content. It has helped me out on so many occasions while working for the ISP side that has no IT or unreliable IT service.

[@Highqman1974]

Ive had the OC200 controller, (2) EAP245 APs and a EAP225 wall in my house for almost a year now. Might aswell be bullet proof. I set it up and have never messed with them again. TP Link does great.

[@jasonanderson1341]

I have the OC200 and two EAP660HD, never had an issue except my Cisco SG300 POE didn’t like them. But I have them in POE injectors now, and you’re right they are bullet proof.

[@jimprior180762]

Thanks, new to Omada myself, found your video incredibly useful. I've been asked to build a temporary 2-day annual event WiFi network for a large agricultural /horticultural village outdoor showground (150m x 650m!) approx 30,000 people attend, which we will reuse each year. It's for private network for 250 trade stands use (no public access ). Omada seems to be the way to go.

[@Jayme]

TP Link: hey can I copy your homework? Unifi: yeah sure but Make it look different TP Link: ok I got you.

[@daphbobo]

looks promising. its good to have competition.

[@itzahoax934]

Revisiting this video 2 years later as I am setting up my own home Omada network. The EAP circular indoor mounts have gotten much slimmer and smaller. I believe videos like this as well as customer insight definitely helped change that. My only problem right now with Omada is I cannot for the life of me find a 16-18 or 24-26 port 2.5g POE Switch.. My whole setup is ready for 2.5g except for the switch they only have 8 port poe ones and I can't afford to waste money buying those in multiple. Thanks for the video! Even if it is 2 years later!

[@kastallion]

Fun fact: "Omada" probably refers to 'ομάδα" which translates to " team" in Greek.

[@thanosmourtzoukos5048]

ναι αλλα τι ομαδα εισαι ???

[@SerialkillerinTraining]

You must be the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding...

[@212MPH]

I've bern fitting Omada SDN for a while using the oc300 controllers, superb reliability cloud access to controllers are free, no cost, APs will get smaller, I have to say my preferred vendor is now TPLINK.

[@jcgoobee]

I heard a lot of good things about TP-Link products. I purchased a TP-Link 24 port switch many years back at work and it's still up and running all these years without issues at all. Yet, if they want to mimic the UBNT's UI model, it might take them some time to catch up though. The bottom line is, the more competition out there, the better for us. :)

[@CAHOP2401]

I've been using TP Link's Omada environment in my home for over a year now. I use a docker controller on my unraid server and two access points and it's been rock solid. I want to add a 16 port PoE switch to play around with it and may move a small business I manage from a 48 port older cisco switch and consumer grade WAP to the TP-Link platform simply because of how easy it is to manage

[@Jamesits]

22:16 it is not the error message for only accepting SSH key based login, it's just the server requesting an old deprecated cipher. You can try bypass client-side check with `ssh -oKexAlgorithms=+diffie-hellman-group1-sha1`.

[@carlvidnic9454]

Thank you for this very informative and much appreciated video. I've been using this TP-Link system in a home environment for a 3 years with zero issues except the learning curve to set it all up. As a prosumer/home user the cost of entry was extremally reasonable compared to Ubiquiti so TP-Link was a no brainer. I'm sure my system in on the larger size for most homes, but nothing compared to the scale your company is working with so I don't know what my recommendation is worth. I have a half dozen computers and a full time Server doing backups and media streaming running 24/7 supplying the home with 16TB of movies, TV and Music behind the TP Link system. Backups are wired. Any of the media streaming is wired on the server end, but frequently wirelessly sent to airplay devices everywhere. I also have an extensive network of 30 sum Alexa powered devices, lights, switches and anything else reaching out to servers in China all running on the 2.4gig GUEST Network part of the EAP225's completely separate from my main network. The system is the ER605, OC200, TP Link Unmanaged PPOE switch for power, (5) EAP-225 wall mounted access points. I can't recommend it highly enough. I don't need to remote into my system from outside the network so looking to save a few watts, I deleted a small computer running pfsence as my firewall for the ER605. I must admit, coming from pfsence, I'm always looking at the ER605 a little sideways wondering about it. For any normal home user coming from a consumer router I think it's fine. For my setup the EAP225's are cheap, look great and blend right in with the LED's turned off. For my home that EAP620 is an absolute no-go. It looks like something that 80's band Devo wore on their heads. I'll buy one if they ever hit the 225 formfactor. ;) I must admit, I do love sitting on the beach somewhere and using the iPhone app to check that it's all running the latest firmware. Thanks again! Best wishes.

[@DivzAshCanada]

I work for TP-Link CA and that is an excellent comparison with Unifi you did there. Thank you so much

[@francoislachance7901]

I have purchased their WAP (AC1750) for my home and run the Omada controller on my Windows machine. I already had an older 8-port switch that supports VLAN. Granted, this is not exactly a big setup, but I chose TP-LINK over Unifi because it was cheaper. Works great for me.

[@MikeSongster]

Thanks Tom@Lawrence Systems! Love your channel and appreciate the work that goes into these. I went from a $200 consumer router/FW/WAP/switch to a FOSS router/FW and one $90 TP-Link Omada EAP-245 WAP managed using the Omada controller. This model isn't reviewed here, but it's much better looking than the flying saucer shown. I couldn't be happier with it. The signal is strong throughout the whole two-story house, devices stay connected and it gives the whole family rock-solid internet connectivity. The controller doesn't offer much over the web configurator with only one device, but it's good to learn the system in case I expand. One note with the EAP-245 model (and possibly other Omada devices): adopting can sometimes be an issue. I've installed two and if you don't have the same IP range as the WAP's default it may cause problems. One of them adopted a link local IP (169.254.0.0/16) so we had to go in and change it manually. It can be frustrating.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Thanks and we did not have the adoption issues but all the devices received a DHCP address from our router first.

[@vijgai3]

Looks good. However, I am happy with my UniFi setup for now. Replaced the USG 3P with a Protectli Vault running OPNSense firewall/router. Also replaced the UAP-AC-PRO with the UAP-U6-Lite. Upstairs I have the UAP-AC-LR. It's been rock solid with zero issues. No disconnects nothing. I have close to 50 devices at home. I run the controller on a Linode hosted Ubuntu server - $5 a month.

[@wampler11]

I've been using some EAP-245s for a bit over a year now and they've been rock solid. Just added an SDN capable POE switch that I've been happy with as well. One thing to note is that the EAP-225 wall only has 10/100 ports, which might be a limitation for some. I'm interested in trying out the new EAP-235 wall unit that has gigabit ports. Would make a nice office unit to allow me to use ethernet when needed without needing a switch sitting around.

[@markmolyneaux9662]

Are you able to separate IoT devices on to their own VLAN without DNS and retain Homekit/AirPlay and Chromecast features?

[@nathanreynolds3779]

Great video, thanks! @LawrenceSystems FYI, Unifi does allow you to manage devices individually as well. I have done it many times when I started with just APs to save clients money and add router/controller later. You only need the controller to tie them together.

[@Noodles.FreeUkraine]

Great review Tom, much appreciated! Seems like a possible UniFi replacement candidate after all. That said, there is no way I could put that AP on my ceiling and live to tell the tale. WAF is certainly several miles below the Challenger Deep.

[@Zinic_]

I wonder if they have a smaller one in the works.

[@ihaveworms2078]

I feel the same way. That AP is huge.

[@invictuslegend4405]

Hey Tom, over at Reddit, I have been a huge supporter of TP link products. I am a sys admin and have tested TP link products for small business use and its quiet scalable, highly stable and dependable, at a very affordable price. Beats ubiquity in many levels.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Thanks

[@zadekeys2194]

What time frames have they been in use for roughly? Any failures? How's the firmware support been? What kind of scaling did you have user & hardware wise? I've heard that a handful of Ubnt Ap's can handle atleast a few hundred clients each.

[@invictuslegend4405]

@@zadekeys2194 these APs, generally perform at par or sometimes outperform unifi APs, from my experience. For half the price, this is a win-win. I also found wifi range is good better than unifi.

[@techguy3424]

How is the router/firewall? Better than usg?

[@eointhomas2914]

TP Link Switches have always been solid for me, finding it hard to justify unifi switches these days due to the price

[@George-kj6bm]

I would like to see a video on setting firewall rules with Omada TP-Link if you make one. Thank you

[@misku_]

It would be great if you could make a quick comparison video of Omada and UniFi again. I bet a lot has changed in 3 years. Especially on Omada side which was emerging back in 2021. Keep up the good work, Tom 👍

[@LampJustin]

Actually having a VLAN on the Wan port is a must in Germany since you're only able to use PPPoE on VLAN7 with DTAG

[@psedog]

Finally you are reviewing the TP-Link Omada system. I've had it in my cart for months, lol. It also explains why the eap660hd is out of stock, lol.

[@gunsho26]

I worked with TPlink for some time, and we are moving away for a few reason. A minor reason is that it is very tedious to maintain firmware, because every device has a couple of hardware versions, and you can get two of the same model router, and one will go out of support if it is the older hardware version. When a big control update came around, we suddenly had to swap out a ton of "old" access points that were no longer supported, despite being a year old.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Interesting.

[@allenperera6158]

i more or less saw this coming. i was gonna use replace old APs (when they die) with EAP-115 and add-in an OC200 for a 4 star hotel but by the time the old APs die, the version numbers of the APs would have changed or phased out.

[@markhaus]

If I end up getting these I'll definitely be trying to create a amore compact enclosure with my 3d printer

[@jrector666]

If you make a good one, please make the pattern available in some fashion. ;)

[@johnqsak]

I love my EAP225-Outdoor. I linked it up with my Phone using the Omada App, simple and easy setup for the garage.

[@rml596]

Tom loved the video, and all your videos! My only comment is the ssh error at 22:33 is just the key exchange method failing, not ssh rsa keys. If you run 'ssh -oKexAlgorithms=+diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 192.168.0.1' it should work

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Thanks, I will try that.

[@SintaxBSD]

Beat me to it! I noticed that as well 😂

[@ipab]

Thank for this review. Starting to see many guys reviewing Omada series the last view days. Looking forward for more.

[@BerkeleyTowers]

A lot of tp-link haters out there! I suspect the majority haven’t parted with their own money and are keyboard warriors. I love mine to bits. I can’t speak with authority beyond the narrow confines of my own system, but my experience is nothing but positive. In my domestic/homelab/pfsense/unraid system, with 2 external and 2 internal AP’s it has been flawless. My only criticism would be that I tried to run with a virtual Omada controller but gave up and bought the physical one.... money well spent.... The step up from even top end consumer systems was spectacular. Family members can move from the back fence, through the house, to the end of the front drive, seamlessly. It’s completely invisible to them and has never missed a beat. I can’t say that about ANY of my domestic equipment of ALL makes that precede it. I considered Ubiquity, but didn’t go there for two reasons. 1. Price 2. Price. Oh.... 3. They're not as visible in the UK

[@AaronSchmidt52]

Do you use the tp-link firewall/router in your system or your pfSense firewall/router? Seems like you should be able to replace the tp-link firewall/router with something else considering more robust. However hard to know until you test it out.

[@BerkeleyTowers]

Hi Aaron, I used my existing switch with PoE capabilities and continued with pfsense in routing/firewall duties. Stepping away from consumer combined routers/firewall/AP devices has been the single biggest improvement in the reliability/performance of my system. ATB, Paul

[@JosephMcParland]

Mongo issue I bumped up against on a raspberry pi experiment in the last few months: The last mongo version built that would run on the pi's ARM processor is a version or two out of date. If this thing is running on an ARM, I suspect the devs are up against the same issue.

[@qrcline]

I went the Omada route for my house. Has lots of the features when compared to Unifi at almost half the price.

[@switlle]

What do you mean? Please explain

[@PipatEamsherangkoon]

Good overview cover. I deployed TP-Link for 320+ room hotels a year ago with no problem together with the pfsense firewall. I prefer TP-Link warranty to Unifi and like its simplicity. In fact, the in-room AP performs better than Cisco in-room APs that I used at another 300+ room hotels. The Omada controller is great for managing and monitoring multi-site environments.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

How do you remotely manage the switches in the multi site setups with the controller not being on site?

[@abrahamamit2580]

How's the stability of the the whole system? Still running good? I need to get rid of our expensive Meraki system and their not friendly licensing cost at the campus here, with the license free Omada ecosystem.

[@OpletalRobin]

I am also as Tom wondering how the management works with having the controller off-site

[@PipatEamsherangkoon]

The cloud-based controllers were used to monitor and remote configure APs in each site. Later on, we were concerned with security and stopped the synchronization between the local per-site controllers and the cloud counterpart (TP-Link cloud). Currently, we use VPN to access local controllers to manage all operations. Covid-19 forced all IT operations to be centralized with less staff.

[@EXOgreenMC]

FYI, I installed the software in a docker container to keep it all contained and it works great! You can find the one I used with a quick search on google. Everything including the cloud access seems to function just like normal.

[@tad2021]

These looks very promising competition we've been needing. I've been looking to dump Unfi for a number of reasons.

[@bren.r]

What reasons? My experience is different - I've had a rock solid unifi home deployment for several years now and haven't looked back.

[@futurecactus]

I have a U6 lite in my entry and it's a thing of beauty. I like TP Link in general but their WAP is a deal breaker for the whole system, I couldn't install that thing in my home unless maybe it was flush mounted or hidden but that could cause range or cooling problems.

[@mikewa9097]

Well done on pointing out that the Omada management system is an OPTION as all the devices have their own built in Mgmt. Small home environments can benefit from that :-)

[@PatrikKron]

My experience with TP-link is mixed: I have not tried any of their new things. ADSL router: recurring reboot every 1-2 days (wifi connected but to pages loaded). Unmanaged switch: rock solid, slight coil whine from powersupply though. Powerline: slow, but quite stable day to day. Looses connection every 6-8 months. Every other time I just unplug and replug it, but half of the time it requires a full reset. Modern consumer router: only one security patch, seams to be abandoned after just 2-3 months. Stable and fast though.

[@pasyvr6]

We have been doing Omada deployments to the Hotel Industry and I can tell that the systems are running smoothly even with Voip and IPTV (Multicast)

[@Shadoweee]

Any updates?

[@pasyvr6]

@@Shadoweee Stable setup's

[@WatchfulListener]

Over 300 AP's (eap 330 & eap245) installed with a oc200 & oc300. Works like a charm.

[@aaroncheatwood1]

Realize I'm hitting a yr old comment, but what else is in the system? What firewall? TP Link switches? Hotel?

[@WatchfulListener]

@@aaroncheatwood1 Pfsense firewall, TP link switches.

[@robertbarta2793]

"... if my wife sees this, she will kill me.". Good, so I'm not the only one on this planet with that problem.

[@TrickyTree84]

4 weeks after installing a TP access point in my living room ceiling...."what on earth is that and why is it there"

[@juniornunes]

so new comment old video but i did start running only the omada SDN which was a major upgrade my ISP combo unit they give you. BUT after watch your videos more and more i changed my firewall to pfsense and ive tried OPNsense, nope switched back i even tried using omada's firewall again and i learned i got so comfortable with pfsense that i got annoyed that features i used like DDNS and even just the firewall rules werent what i wanted. idk but the more "complex" looking pfsense is easier for me.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

pfsense is a great firewall

[@d00dEEE]

Thanks for the info about the standalone mode for the devices, that's exactly what I've been trying to find out. The ability to manage the devices in "unadopted" mode seems like a big selling point to me, allowing for you to swap out bits without having to invest in a controller.

[@juleswilko]

Also - Perhaps this was a UK frustration - There are still loads of the older hardware versions of the same model numbers that aren't Omada compatible. I've had to clarify with suppliers (sometimes with difficulty) what hardware version of the EAP225 or PoE switches they actually have in stock. And then even some of the newer hardware versions need a manual firmware update before they can be brought under Omada control.

[@roberttv7758]

I have that omada system for my small business. The UI is new. Maybe updated late 2020. I use them since 2018.

I have a to managed L3 switch in my house. But I have to say setting up a trunk port is confusing. Seems tp has a different approach to this than cisco. I will expand with more of their hardware. It's solid hardware, good priced and once you get used to the tp logic easy to work with. 😋

[@icrtouch-byles]

Hah, I found that too. I thought the thing was broken until I finally figured it out..

[@drooplug]

I have the eap 225 access point. It supports vlan. I can tell you that the bultin management software does not support all features, such as, vlans. You have to use omada for those features.

[@amynguyen3950]

Grand stream has everything you need. Integrated controller is free, cloud controller is free, captive portal is free and easy to create and manage your

[@SquirreliciousMe]

We’ve deployed a fair amount of Omada - not the insane 6ax giant model mind, in production use in a mix of regular and guest (hotel style) deployments. Thus far, not seeing any issues. It’s working, the app works to our controller (we didn’t use cloud, we statically setup), we host the controller in our “cloud” (eg hosted on our infrastructure). Haven’t yet used the firewall they provide, we leave that currently to other kit. But certainly thus far, it’s working out more cost effective for customers and has repeatedly gotten better as firmwares and controller releases have changed. It has a few quirks but I honestly think that’s just because people now think the UniFi way is “the” way - if that didn’t exist nobody would say anything.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

I took a look at their remote adoption process and it seems very basic and does not look like it would scale well to manage lots of clients. Is this the only way to do it? www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/2763/ Or is there a better way that I am just not finding?

[@SquirreliciousMe]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS I'd say is it no more annoying that the Ubiquiti process. It's actually trivial to use the Omada App on iPhone/iPad, stick the APs on a network giving DHCP and use that to set/adopt them all. In our case we're adopting them on a network to a non-local controller (eg hosted in our infra), and we tend to do them on arrival to us - eg we buy them in bulk, do a bulk adoption and then leave them in stock until needed.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

@@SquirreliciousMe I am not seeing a place in the controller to set a FQDN or does that not exist in their controller like it does in UniFi?

[@SquirreliciousMe]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS If you mean on the SDN Controller itself rather than telling the APs themselves, then it is under settings (bottom left) > controller > Access Config you set it's Hostname/IP,

[@SquirreliciousMe]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS So, I got a switch. You log into the switch, (192.168.0.1 or whatever DHCP assigned), change the default password, then click controller, enter the URL of the offsite controller and voila, it's done and managed?!

[@ercanyilmaz8108]

I'm using TP-Link network routers for years. One of the things what I don't like is that TP-Link does bring out few upgrades on hardware. Also they don't bring out upgrades for old version of hardware. So if you have model Archer C6 for example with version 2, then you can download upgrade for V3 but not for V2 etc. So I hope that this issue will be solved by Omada Conrroller software.

[@NickyHendriks]

Installing the Omada software on my Ubuntu machine was quitte the hassle. It wouldn't start because some issues with Java but after some time searching on Google I got it working and now it's quite easy. Once you have the software manager up and running it will work just fine, I see no reason now to buy the OC200/OC300. I probably will one day but maybe just migrate it to a Raspberry Pi instead.

[@jimnorrison8481]

MongoDB version 4 is now supported with Controller 5.0.29: 2. Supported Linux distributions Omada Software Controller on the Linux platform supports the following distributions. It is recommended that you use one of these distributions. Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04 CentOS 6, 7 Debian 8, 9, 10 3. Installation Examples Omada SDN Controller requires the following dependencies: OpenJDK 8 and above MongoDB v3 or v4 JSVC CURL It's supported on Debian all the way back to version 8! Looks like TP Link's not messing around. Regarding MongoDB, seems they're too aggressive with EOL'ing.

[@brettgoldenberg926]

you don't need to install java. you can download the JRE tar balll. unpack it any where you like. launch the controller on command line like. -jar

[@pkt1213]

Great timing. I need to order new home network stuff for our new house. I know just enough to get my self into trouble.

[@markmcnamee6390]

Hi Tom, at 29:13 the WAN config shows a subnet mask field, doesn’t that allow you to set a /29 etc for multi IPs?

[@DanEllis12561]

I was wondering the same thing.

[@RobNeyhard]

I would love to hear a follow-up on your Tp-link Omada deployment!

[@macb.631]

Looks like it will never come...

[@robkircherjr]

Tom, I pretty sure that the Multiple WAN IP features are in the most current general release of the UniFi controller. I don't have a use case so I haven't tested it but I do know there is a way to add multiple WAN IPs and create rules based on those IPs.

[@notbernard65]

I have UniFi and used to have a USG which I used with 2 x VSDL connections (via their own routers). AFAIK the controller GUI in UniFi does allow for basic configuration of 2 x WAN (e.g. LB) but in my experience it was very basic.. I wanted some traffic to favour WAN1 and other to WAN2 and couldn't find a way to do that. Also the controller GUI only shows WAN1 in the graphics. Seems that Omada might have a few more options here?

[@ovntguy]

I've been using the Docker version of Omada Controller and 3 - EAP225 v3 in my homelab for 3 years. I have 40+ WiFi devices connected. It's been rock solid the entire time. The only issue I encountered, which was totally my fault, was upgrading from version 3 of Omada Controller to version 4. The controller was down for a few days, but the access points and WiFi network continued to function flawlessly. I was able to fully recover from backups files. Very good system for homelab use case.....Side note, the EAP225 v3 have exceed my expectation regarding my kiddos Oculus Quest 2 VR WiFi PCVR.

[@mikedooley1685]

Hi Tom. Don't know if you already know this. But Omada finally has 2 factor security on their portal and other areas. Make it much more likely I might use a Jetstream Switch, it omada router, for clients. 2 currently it might work for, Let property. Not too complicated but need Vlans. Looking to use the Aruba IO AP11D as in room AP and rj45 ports, available. Coupled with an omada front end, especially as Unifi and Aruba poe switches are hard to get. Trying to keep costs down. Nice to finally see 2 factor on omada. Was something putting me off. That and the not great APs, mainly the wifi 5.too may drops, bad signal, etc. Didn't get to testing wifi 6. Aruba APs have been so much better in Home lab testing. Just a heads up. Regards Mike UK.

[@dosansss]

I have 4 months experience with tl sg1016pe and sg1024d. They are doing great powering 3aps and 4cctv on my home. 4months without downtime and the vlan works well enough. But its not as easy as unifi system to configure vlan.

[@abbyck]

Check advanced settings on the settings tab, there should be an option to enable SSH

[@nahco3994]

The lack of an option to go standalone is what irks me the most about Ubiquiti. I just bought their USW Flex Mini switch (mostly because PoE powered switches are kinda rare), only to realize that they completely hide its "smart" features behind the Unifi controller. Without that, you essentially get a regular "dumb" switch. No web interface, no SSH, no nothing. Now, to be fair, I don't need a smart switch in this case, and the price point of ~33€ is still very much acceptable even for a dumb one. But still, this just rubs me the wrong way. Also, Ubiquiti all but abandoning their EdgeMax product line is disconcerting to say the least. Not abandoned in the strict sense of the word, but unlike the Unifi stuff, their Edge products see immense supply shortages (the ER-X has seen price increases similar to NVIDIA graphics cards), and their EdgeOS has... problems. All in all, it seems very clear what Ubiquiti **wants** you to buy.

[@markchambers7147]

The access point looks like a rumba vacuum cleaner ........

[@christophhaug]

I just got rid of my Unifi Nightmare Machine and switched to Omada. I like the UI better (except for dark mode missing), seems more intuitive to find stuff, but that's probably subjective. Issues so far: cannot change the controller's default network before you adopted a device (which can be a problem if your controller is running on a box whose IP you can't change). No support for mDNS. Devices seem slow to show up and adopt. oh, and no 5 GHz DFS channels is also a bummer, but I think those are supposed to come in a firmware update soon. But generally, I'm a lot happier than with Unifi.

[@jimnorrison8481]

The large size is to reduce the heat buildup no doubt.

[@nekotherion7317]

Try adopting some unifi gear with tp-link controller, or tplink gear with unifi xD

[@pkt1213]

I like this and the pricing but have some unify ap

[@traxeonic3600]

You can set up a Unifi AP in standalone mode

[@---GOD---]

You guys need to make a collab video with crosstalk solutions lol

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

We have a few times and will again at some point.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS You don't have a crystal ball.

[@elminster8149]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS You could test the site to site VLAN function. :)

[@paullyjay]

SSH - you need to run the diffie helman ssh which is older - you need to enable it on your computer...

[@martinbirrell57]

SCOM also alerts about heat beat... The seller for me is that it still works with no internet connection - Unifi fail. Also if you are setting up an advanced home network cost is a factor - need I say more. That wifi access point isn't the only choice you have either. That all said the TP-link support has made me see red on a couple of occasions....

[@bober1019]

i bought an unify AP 6 enterprise, and it has been nothing but problems. i feel that unifi has been labelled as a good alternative to big enterprise contenders, but in my limited experience, it has been quite the opposite/disappointment. I'm looking forward to buying an tp link EAP690E. has anyone had any issues with that AP? my main problem with the unify AP is abysmal download speeds regardless of settings. it's properly powered and not overcrowded. 2.4ghz works fine but 5ghz and 6 are jokes. can barely get 500mbps DL on 5ghz but arounb 1200mbps upload, and on 6ghz i belive i might have an issue with my s22 ultra as i cant get more than 200/200mbps.

[@BigZeus]

Growing tired of my 3 month old UDM UI crashing and being inaccessible even from the ip address, seems its been a known issue for awhile. May end up switching to this. Thanks for the vid

[@ThePopolou]

Seems TP-Link have pulled a blinder by sending their products to the usual pack of UI reviewers after the recent and successive PR and technical mishaps that has plagued them. Interesting to see such an assertive marketing push.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

I avoided diving into the TP Link Omada for a while but with all the UnFi mishaps of 2021 so far the number of people asking me to review this made sense. I know there is a large homelab audience that follows my channel and this gear is something they are interested in.

[@maximilianheinrich2537]

I have to admit I have mixed feelings about unifi by now after several years. Not bc. of the mishaps lately but a) lack of features in their usg especially with more than 1 WAN led me to replace it with an opnsense box at the office and b) from the roundabout 10 APs I manage on two locations I have to manually reboot some of them every few weeks on one of the locations. They just disconnect or start flapping on/offline and c) the wifi range/coverage of my ISP-provided FritzBox is surprisingly a lot better

[@forestbirdoriginals4917]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS I’m definitely in this boat. I am into home labbing and I am not even considering Unifi/Ubiquiti. I won’t use Netgate either. We have to vote with our dollars. So, I know TP link copied Omada’s concepts and there are things I hate about Omada as well. BUT, competition is important and we need companies to give us the features we want. So if people only buy Unifi, then that will be the only option available in this space. I beg for disruption.

[@Jsak666]

Have you got a follow-up to this system? Looking at implementing this in my home.

[@jadamsnz]

To all those people saying Omada/Unifi is great/problematic it would be really useful and informative if you gave some details of your installations. It would help people like me trying to make purchase decisions by giving a means to compare our circumstances with yours.

[@zadekeys2194]

I wonder if Omada will "inherit" the various issues that affect the Ubnt inform url not communicating with the AP.

[@balla2172]

If im not mistaken license is required. That by default makes it a no go for me unless performance gains are quite substantial

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

It does not require a licence.

[@eointhomas2914]

Firewall rules are kind of similar to AWS where default subnets can all talk to one another :)

[@Essentialcomms]

Howdy. Love your videos I'm a Cambium Networks & Ubiquiti ( Unifi) engineer, the answer to the question that I'm hunting for is the following. With Cambium you can put all your clients devices on a single cloud ( a single pane of glass Cambium call it ) & we do precisely that With Ubiquiti as long as you put a cloud controller at the clients premises you can log into the Unifi cloud and see all your clients devices Can you do a similar thing with TP-Link can you setup a TP_link cloud, install TP-Link devices at your clients premises as well as a Hardware ( cloud ) controller say a OC200 for example that you have previously on-boarded on the TP-Link cloud that you setup earlier click on that in the TP-Link cloud and see & control your clients devices for them ?. It's a pretty simple question but try as I have I cannot seem to find the answer to it. Thanks in advance. Regards Wayne.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

The TPLink can only talk to one omada controller.

[@Essentialcomms]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS I'm aware of that after a lot of searching ( & shaking the tree from the top ) I've finally got the answer that I was looking for, such a shame that it is so hard to get any real answers from, for or about TP-Link Omada, we might have to do our own review.

[@EViL3666]

Hey TP Link... Give us a 16 port 10GbE switch and you'll have a new customer

[@Valthonis]

Closest I could find is this guy T1700X-16TS Only has 12 standard 10GbE ports, but 4 SFP+ 10GbE ports too.

[@ericnewton5720]

I was thinking a 16 port 1gb with 2 or 4 sfp+ but yeah

[@aljeffcoat1327]

@@ericnewton5720 Maybe this? www.fs.com/products/122281.html?attribute=5257&id=230053 These work quite well, have been replacing my unifi gear with them, so far in @ 6 months they've worked very well. Only downside is that 12 ports are SFP+, so extra cost in SFPs.

[@fcssbdk]

Man that OpenVPN client thing has me contemplating switching. I hate the lacking feature sets in regards to VPNs on my UDMP.

[@monty671]

Would love to see it setup with pfsense firewall and multiple vlans

[@CodySmiley]

Not suitable for homelab. Not enough functions. You can definitely see that target is extended networks with many switches and ap's. I tested for a few days because I didn't want to spend on unifi, but it has no comparison with unifi.

[@zyxwvutsrqponmlkh]

Let's force everyone's network administration tools to run in the cloud, what could possibly go wrong. Thanks ubiquity, your the best! There are a lot of things I'm seeing that I like from TP link, but I'm kinda married to ubiquity and the divorce would be panful.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Also, they are not forcing people that run their own controllers to connect to their cloud interfaces.

[@billcovington1422]

LOL... they changed the name for the ER605 to ER605(TL-R605)... See they did listen to you Tom!

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

I think Chris from Crosstalk pointed it out as well, but still happy they chnaged it.

[@paulkosm5882]

It seems like TP Link has bought the network software from Ubiquity. They just use a little bit different decorations and have not deployed certain features as seen in the UniFi controller. I bet the controller has exactly same hardware inside as UniFi controller, maybe v. 1. Even the very first boot of the controller regardless it is standalone or on PI takes few minutes. Anyway, interesting.

[@mooretyler]

Is there a way to host the Omada in the cloud (google cloud, digital ocean etc). Can the access points be informed to look for cloud based controller?

[@kevinross5091]

I don't see why not. I run the Omada software controller on Debian Buster in my own network, but you could easily recreate that setup on a cloud VPS. And yes, the various hardware (access points, switches, router) can be configured with the IP address of the controller. Actually you can configure the router to advertise that IP address to the various other hardware, if the router is also the DHCP server, so the only thing you would have to configure manually would be the router.

[@bkseitz]

Took a snap (jpg) of my property google map and uploaded to Omada C200, it does work. Placed my EAP-225 Outdoor devices on the map. What would be great if it could also adopt the TP-Link CPEs. The Pharos control S/W doesn't appear to work on Windows 10

[@Walterz930]

I really like the look of these but sadly don’t think they would work for my needs and would need a old compatible router for my needs with two outdoor access points

[@dominikdobrowolski3908]

Looks better than Unifi. Also prices are better

[@Breeegz]

I recently set up Unifi at my house, UDM-Pro, multiple SSID's (Main, Kids, IOT) with firewall rules between each, and I'm running Unifi Protect. I probably won't be migrating since I'm pretty happy with my setup, but I am the "tech guy" in my circles and get asked about equipment recommendations regularly. Since the price tag is a little softer than Ubitquity, this looks like a good start. In your follow up review; 1. Could you expand on the WiFi options, I assume that each access point can transmit more than one SSID, but is it limited to 4 networks like Ubitquity? Is it less? 2. Can you test some of the particulars of remote management? Let's be real, if I suggest something like this to a family member, I'll likely be the one configuring it. 3. Finally, evaluate the Firewall setup compared to Ubitquity's. I suspect that all the regular options are there, but it wasn't clear in the above video.

[@pasyvr6]

1.More than 7 but I do not recommend it. 2. You can do many things with the controller , locally or remotely is the same thing.

[@KH-ql5ib]

POE schedule - nice job, need! why Ubiquiti does not implement such a simple but at the same time necessary function???

[@maxamps45]

do I need a gigabit omada hardware? I have a gigabit bandwidth. all of my omada compatible access points are gigabit capable. I'm not sure if I need a gigabit omada (OC300) over 10/100mbps omada (OC200). I don't know if any bandwidth will be running through omada. as far as I know, omada only manage the EAPs.

[@EduardoAMarin]

no, the OC200 is just for management, traffic will go by the switch/router. OC300 is however a much capable hardware but really only if you need to do a big deployment with more than 100 Omada devices

[@melorama808]

God this Omada stuff seems almost perfect as a home network alternative to UniFi...but they blew it with the aesthetics of the APs! Like Tom, my wife would kill me if I put those ugly-ass TP-Link APs smack dab in the middle of the ceiling of our living room and upstairs hallway. Hopefully TP-Link is listening and will hire some product designers who also have good aesthetic taste!

[@desnetamane5785]

If you don't need vlans or managed switches, you can try the TP-LINK Deco Mesh series. They look a lot better, and I got a 3 pack of Deco M5 AC1300 for the price of a single UniFi LR AP, and works just fine at home.

[@evanjeffrey9677]

One thing I noticed, the EAP660 that has 4x4 antennas on both 2.4 and 5 GHz and a 2.5G uplink is in the exact same enclosure. As a guess I would say they needed the space for the more powerful access point and just didn't want to make a separate smaller enclosure for the less powerful access point.

[@cyclemoto8744]

Do you not have an attic space (just a man hole to get through and it's an out of sight install on a rafter or rafter tie for example?). If not I guess you're out of luck but if you do, you're crazy to be installing APs on the ceiling in a domestic environment.

[@zxcvb_bvcxz]

With TP-Link's security track record I'm not sure I'd use them

[@mehodgsonsr]

Great content as always. I'm curious to know the source of the unique slim network patch cable with a metal spring strain relief shown at time stamp 18:25.