Cost of Building in a Unifi Network in 2024
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- Building a home is an awesome process but what does it cost to build in a great network in 2024? This video is going to cover some of the cost items you need to think about as it pertains to building in a great Unifi network in your home - including security cameras.
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How to choose your router video: • Which Unifi Router is ...
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:05 The alternative to not doing this
6:37 Different types of costs
7:25 Infrastructure costs
12:01 Head end costs
14:26 Unifi equipment costs
22:18 An example of a cost breakdown
25:24 Is it Worth it?
I am a retired IT technician. I have a house that I wired years ago and lately getting rid of some of my longer Cat5 cables with fiber. I did this all myself even with that cost out-of-the-way and upgrading to 100% ubiquity products one UDM pro 316 port manage switches, the new Wi-Fi seven for the main house and two U6 APs for satellite buildings. This is still not cheap. I’m going from a Eero base system, which is actually a pretty good system, but doesn’t even come close to what I can do with Unifi. I just stumbled into this CZcams channel and I think I’m going to enjoy the channel and who knows maybe I could help someone out
I agree. I wouldn't call them "cheap", but they are definatetly more affordable than some of the other options out there.
And, I think you get a lot of value for the price. The cost can add up quickly though - even if you do the cable pulling yourself. Thanks for sharing your story and I hope you can help out the viewers. The community needs guys like you for sure! Cheers!
I think the bang for the buck is awesome. As some that comes from a network environment of mostly Sonicwall, Cisco and HP environment, the days of going from one GUI interface to another, I wish this was around 20 years ago. Some of this was out there but very cost prohibited. The software fees alone to be able to view your network like we can now, was out of crazy expensive. To able to go into the DM pro and see every device on the network is something that would be cost prohibited for end users, small business and non-profits just a few years back. There are companies for what I call a modest fee, will come in remotely setup the entire system and also train the end user is pretty darn awesome. Even someone from my background can learn a ton from this service. When this process is complete, I will be happy to answer any and all questing about my migration.
Looks like you may have to become my new sales guy LOL. I look forward to your future comments helping my viewers. Sounds like you have some good knowledge in this area!
All up and running. I am having an issue with some wifi bulbs that just don't seem to want to connect the wifi network even though all the other devices are having no issue. All the same brand the inter face is surplife. Not to worried we will figure that one out
@@ethernetblueprint
So if you were building a new custom home.. what strategy would you use today?
Delighted I've found your videos. We moved into our self-build in 2021. My husband isn't really bothered but ,as someone who works from home as well as being smart home curious, I noticed immediately that our internet situation was lacking. We've been dealing with it since then as we (I) don't know how to fix it, though I am trying to learn. Homes in Ireland are built - by and large - with blocks. Now we have next to no coverage in several areas of the house and our outdoor cameras often lose coverage. Add to that the fact that our house is "airtight" and we end up with a very difficult situation. We can't just drill a hole in the ceiling. Anyway, long comment over. Love your presentation and look forward to learning more from you.
I just started swapping equipment in my house. Ubiquiti dream router and a u6 long range ap. But a cisco 16port managed switch. Just in those is 680$. I built my home in 2007 where I just had cat run to TV locations. Basement is 80% finished , so new runs were near impossible, but I fished a few. Happy to say with what few things I upgraded made a huge difference. Ubiquiti may have an odd name but dang ,the price and quality is worth it.
I have always liked Unifi and am glad you found a nice solution. Thanks for sharing this. It sucks to fish cabling after the fact.
I’m in a process of remodeling a 1915 farmhouse. I’ll definitely include some Cat6 cables in the process.
Great video ! Thanks for posting !
Happy to. Good luck with your project.
I truly enjoy your videos, Keep them coming!!!
Thank you so much. That is the plan.
20:38 I went with the standard 24 PoE GEN 1, because it is $399 ($20 more) and has 250w of PoE power available. I was personally a little concerned with potential fan noise due to some peoples posts online, but as long as it is not in your living room it is nearly inaudible. Even if it was in your living room I think heat may be a bigger deal, and it doesnt even put out much heat. I have mine in a closet, and if you stand right up next to the door, with the closet door cracked, you can barely hear it. Plus personally, the fans do make me feel a bit better knowing that there is air flow. Plus 95W of PoE (the fanless one for $379 that you showed) can get used up fairly quickly if you start adding cameras and APs, especially with newer tech requiring PoE+ (30w PoE power required). Also, new home built in 2020 by MI Homes, ethernet drops were an addition, they were not standard which was surprising. Only 1 drop from the exterior to the interior for internet connectivity. Better than just coax though.
Great video!
Thanks for sharing your story... I agree with you on your lack of power comment. The "standard" switches from Unifi are definately light in that area. I have Gen 1 16 port switch from Unifi and I love it. all 16 ports are POE+ and it has 150W of power. It is for this reason I recommend using the SE if you have cameras. Haveing those extra ports and power come in handy. As far as your 2020 home not having cat cabling... (shaking my head) - I see it all the time.!
Same here, the builder installed coaxial in my house that is not used. They would not replace the with cat6. I paid additional for each cat6 run, they actually stapled each run. When I build again, cat 6 in each room and behind each tv.
Same, I'm stuck using MoCA adapters for my APs
I feel your pain. Seen it so many times! Mocas can help, but they are clunky.
I bought a Udm pro se to start my Unifi journey mainly for the poe and nvr features. I ended up expanding to include a few UPS’, some cameras, a few more poe switches and various antennas. I really enjoy the system. And comparatively to past systems my network is no longer a chore requiring regular attention. It just works.
Thanks for the video
That is great to hear. Welcome to Unifi and thanks for watching!
Hi ethernetblueprint,
Did just stumbled on this channel and I like the way how you explane it as simple as possible.
(I'm not native english, so sorry for any misspelling)
I live in Europe and my 3 floor home was build without any drywalls, but with bricks and without any ethernet cabling installed onfront.
This ended me up up with a lot tinkering.
So wanted to share my experience as a senior network geek, that you may can use for a future video.
In chapter "Head end costs"
You mentioned "build in closet". be carefull for overheating.
The temperature of my UDM SE went up to 60 celsius / 140 Fahrentheit (So not healty for the hardware)
In my closet, there was also another small internet router, unifi USW-Lite-8-PoE and some RaspPi's for home automation installed.
But what I mean is, install a fan in the closet, if possible!!!
Type of cables you should use is also important:
I use cat6 sftp for all my patch to patch panels cabling.
But I you want to use the same cable for your camera's, it's not easy to hard connect an rj54 connector on it. (Had to buy special onces for this).
So now i just just use udp cable from my patch pannels to the cam's, because it only needs 100Mb throughput.
Power for access points / cam's
Like mentioned, it was an existing house without any ethernet cabling.
So I wanted as less as possible cables to install from my (closet / rack) to the other floors / garage.
Thats where I found out about the unifi USW-Flex or USW-Ultra switches.
They get there PeO from the main switch and can deliver power to other endpoints (access points / cam's) with a single ethetrnet cable.
So my problrm was solved for no extra power outlets at those switching equipment.
BTW, I'm in no way affiliated with ubiquiti (Just stared to buy stuff from March 2024) after having a mix of tp-link and random cheap cam's
Thanks for the follow and thank you for sharing this information. I'm guessing you may have had some wifi coverage issues with no drywall and all brick. That is tough for WiFi to penetrate that.
To follow-up on some of your points here, I typically recommend any "closet" used for equipment to be vented or have some kind of air flow however, that doesn't always get done in the builds. I typically recommend running Cat6 throughout a home and have moved away from cat5 although it works perfectly fine for up to 1Gb speeds.
Sounds like you are working through everything - Nice work!
Great Video! In 1980, when I built a new 3,600SqFt home at the Wisconsin boarder, I had (2) 1.5" Electrical Conduits (metal) installed between the basement and the attic, and that was a life saver. The hard wired alarm system (at the time) used most of the space along with Coax for TV's, speakers and phone lines. Sold that house in 1998 and purchased a 1,000SqFt 50 year old home here in Florida. I now have UniFi and love it. I am currently in the documentation stage of the entire home, Network, Electrical and Plumbing. Practically rewired the entire house and added about 30 Cat6 cables (all labeled). At 75 years old I need to give my son an equipment/network layout/instructions for all the things I upgraded and or installed. The problem is that I keep adding new things, it never stops.
Now there is a future video for you... documenting the network, a network diagram, floor plan for all the various devices both Unifi and Home Automation devices/sensors... and how they work together. So far trying to create this with basic instructions has been, to say the least very interesting. Again GREAT video.
Thanks for the tip, That is a good idea for a video!... and congrats on the new project. Where does it end? Hahaha! I have been there too!
@@ethernetblueprint- definitely a great topic for the future video !
I can’t remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, and know, I will not remember what is hiding behind each wall.
Built our home in 2020 southeast South Dakota, they included 1 coax and 1 ethernet to each room. Anything more then that was an upcharge. I came in and pulled an extra drop to each room and ended up pulling 2 when I saw they pulled cat5. Wasn't even cat5e. I now have 2 cat 6 and 1 coax in each room with the exception of kitchen and dining.
Running second hand forti right now, looking at upgrading so video was helpful
Sounds like the infrastructure is there so you can run whatever you want... And that is the purpose of these videos. It is GREAT to have have options! Nice work.
These are great videos. For me all I need is a Ultra Gateway and an AP. more than enough.
Thanks! Simple can be affective!
I'm a network engineer and I enjoy your videos on home networking.
Keep it simple and SECURE With IOT devices coming fast, this info is great for average non technical home owners.
Thank you very much. I appreciate you watching!
What do you mean by IOT devices ‘coming fast?’
Awesome video! I am building a house and this video was invaluable.
That is awesome to hear!!! Thanks for the comment.
I am rebuilding my house after a total loss from a house fire. Old house was 50 years old. Ranch with a full basement that had a 2bedroom apartment that had family living in it and my wife and I live on the main floor. Had no chaseways for pulling cables to the attic. So I did a lot of measuring and drilling holes hoping I hit the wall cavity. So on this rebuild I am having cat6 pulled to all 4 corners, the front porch, and each door for cameras and doorbells. And a single drop to each TV and each desk. Plan to use a small switch to multiply the ethernet if more than 1 drop is needed. And doing 2 AP’s mounted to the ceiling. Your suggestion for putting in an empty flexible conduit for future needs is really good advice. I am gonna call my contractor and have that added. We are waiting on rough in inspections right now. So no sheetrock has been put up yet.
Sorry about the fire. I’m sure that was super tough. Glad this was able to help you out.
My other advice not talked about is to take picture after cables are pulled before drywall. That has helped me tremendously after the home was built.
Great video. One thing I did to bring down the cost dramatically was opting to use non-Ubiquiti POE switches. I have two TP Link POE switches, something like 24 ports on each, and estimate I saved at least $600. Some advanced features are not available to me by doing so, but I don't anticipate using those features anyway. I still have the Unifi access points and router and it's been 100 percent worry free going on 4 years.
That is a great option. I'm glad you brought that up. Having a mixed environment is not a bad option as long as you performs the way you need it to. Thanks for weighing in!
Good info. as a person working in Telecom I wired my home with spkr, cable tv, and Telphone in the 1970 cat 3 now 40 yr later new home I wired with Cat 5 in 2005 and now have changed to Cat 6 as getting new Fiber internet. had DSL for a few year and Wi-Fi range extenders and waited for the UMD Pro Se as what a POE device as a small Protect and Wifi to cover the inside and outside of our 2 acres around the home to have some connection as poor cell signals
And next year it will be Cat7......
I think you should be safe for a little while with Cat6 being able to handle 10Gb speeds... but who knows! Thanks for sharing!
You might not be wrong... LOL
I tried upselling this as a feature around 2003-2010 in the Midwest with just cat and coax to future proof with banana peel that had coax, cat, and fiber and it never went anywhere. Some of the houses were 1/4 $ million plus, we were lucky if people opted for wired smoke detectors with battery backup. To have your house networked after drywall is 2-3 times the cost and most times you need to hire a drywall person to repair the needed cutouts. Even if you don't plan to use it right away or at all on a new house its worth having all the drops and runs done during construction.
I agree. However when you are building, everything seems expensive so this just adds to the pile of costs... It is so worth it though!
I had a network head, which came with certain Ethernet and coax drops, then had to have and upgrade for Cat 6, then added camera and other Ethernet drops. Worked with a HomePro service company, quite pricey.
It can be. Depending on the location, contractor and builder. Glad you did it though. I think it will be worth it in the end.
Mostly it costs a lot of frustration: on UDM-SE + 24 Ports PoE, 2x 8 Ports and Enterprise AP's. Can't get port forwarding to work, no matter what I try and a speedy 1gbit download with steam crashes my whole internet connection. Hard reboot needed to fix it. I also need to install a script for my TV to fully support IGMP proxy, otherwise no wife approval factor. Updates often break things or I need to look for settings in different locations. Thinking of going the "sense" direction and ditching unifi.
Sorry for venting my frustration, it might very well possibly be my own limitations of unifi knowledge. Great content!
Sorry that you had issues. I have never heard of those issues happening. Have you tried rebuilding you UDM SE to see if that fixes the issue? What streaming are you using that requires an IGMP proxy and scripting to work? That sounds a little out of the norm... no?
The pre-planning is more important than ever with a new home due to insulation being in internal builds in modern builds. I am lucky as I live in a mostly 80's built home so "dropping a cable" isn't too hard in a single story home. Internal walls in the new part of the house have insulation - far harder to "drop a cable". I assume building codes are similar in the US. I've run a unifi network for the last 6-7 years. 16 port POE with 8 cams, + 3 APs, + a SIP phone some I'm driving the POE ports pretty hard.
Well done on your home. I completely agree. It’s one of the reasons I’ve dedicated this channel to helping in this area. I am hoping to be able to add value when planning AV and smart devices like blinds ver soon. But for now, my focus has been the network portion.
Get a Unifi gateway ultra, a generic *used PoE switch and two *used UAP-AC-PRO's. All in you are around $200-$250.
And will have a great network!
I run low voltage cabling for my company and d cost of the materials are expensive too. And many builders don’t leave slot for the cable box to fish from.
Thanks for sharing... Everything is expensive. And, I have found that anytime someone has to fish a cable, it sucks. There is always something that makes it difficult
If you have business insurance, you might want to check with them if you are the installer of any security cameras. In Mass. it drastically raises your premiums as they claim in puts a lot more liability on the installer.
Good Tip.. I haven't run across that here.
In CA they do not add ethernet drops into homes at all unless you ask and pay out the nose for it. The drops are typically $150-175 right now per location for cat5e, and can go as high as $200-225 each for basic cat6. Many dont even offer Cat6a at all. Those costs are with the walls already off too, its much higher to add them in to an existing home
Yikes... That is steep. I am helping design a system in NJ and their drop price is right in that ballpark too. Crazy... For an essential part of a home.
Just bought my first Uni network! Cloud Gateway Ultra for $153 (w/ taxes), Switch Lite 16 PoE $229 (w/ taxes) and a AP AC Lite for $48, which works great for my small home. So $430 to have a network that I can manage and implement VLAN, VPN, use IDS/IPS and have load balancing is pretty kick a**! I LOVE UBIQUITI!!!
Awesome. Welcome to the world of Unifi. I hope is serves you well!
The same happened to me. Granted, it was 16 years ago, but my builder wanted to wire the house with coaxial and cat3 for phones. :D
I hope you were able to step in and get that corrected...
@@ethernetblueprint I was lucky to have a builder that did not mind changing things. While he was not aware of CAT5/5e back then, he did not have a problem wiring those.
I am glad to hear that. One of my other viewers commented that he asked the electrician to run Cat wires and the guy said no... Glad you didn't have the experience!
the biggest issue is buying the Dream router and the access points as they are out of stock and have been for weeks. They dont respond to email asking about when stock will be available. Maybe you should look at why they are not able to supply their own hardware??
When you are logged into the store with your Unifi Login, there is an option to notify you when the item is back in stock. I would recommend doing that if you haven't already...
Would love to have one someday
I hope you do!
Yanked out my Luxul system (and ring cameras) and fell 6k into the Ubiquit rabbit hole real fast
Yeah... it adds up... However, I also have seen Luxul prices and they aren't cheap either. After messing with both brands, Unifi blows Luxul away IMO.
Only thing that is annoying with UniFi products is when implementing their switches into an already existing architecture. The fact that default vlan seems hard coded. I mean who uses a vlan 1 in an enterprise? They need to lift this limitation. Using tagged management and keeping the default 1 for native (untagged) just seems to be a strange way of doing things. But it works.
I see your point. And from an business/enterprise standpoint, it does make sense. Not sure it matters as much from the home networking side. I do agree that more flexibility is always better!
I think you can change it from 1. Personally I would use something other than 1 for management and route untagged traffic Internet only. That way if some jerk plugs into my network they can’t access anything. I’m not sure Unifi equipment can do that though.
Is that "per drop" cost per location or per cable? If I want two or four cables to a location is that quadruple the price?
Many installers handle this differently, but in a lot of cases, it is the cost per cable pulled. Even if they are to the same spot.
@@ethernetblueprint 😢
What is the typical number of network drops per room that most people are installing in new construction builds?
I would imagine you'd only need 1, especially with a ubiquiti system because you can plug in something like a flex mini or the new ultra switch if you need more ports in a particular room.
Good Question. It really depends on the home and the needs of the owners, and you don't have to go crazy with this.
But typically, I see the following alot:
- 1 per TV accept for areas where there are additional devices like gaming systems or streaming devices, then I would pull an extra drop or two for the additional devices. If the TV is above a fireplace and the equipment will go in a lower built-in cabinet, always include a ENT tube between the areas for HDMI. I see people pull a cat6 drop to the TV area and the lower cabinet in these setups. Also, if you plan on having an AV system that is sitting in another room that you want to control with a universal remote or something, additional drops behind the TV are pulled for that. (consult and AV professional for specifics)
- 1 Drop per WAP or to your Mesh devices so you can hardwire them
- 1 Drop per Camera
- 2-3 Drops in an Office depending on the layout and if there is a TV in the room, but it is nice to hardwire a computer and a printer...
- 1 Drop in the garage for a TV or WAP to extend coverage
- Drops to Sonos Amps or Soundbars. I think it helps them run better if they are hardwired
- 1 Drop to Doorbell
Basically, if your device isn't mobile and can be hardwired, why not run a cable to it. As for just sprinkling jacks around the house, I personlly don't see those getting used very often, especially if you have good WiFi. I pulled a single drop in my kids room for school work and their school chromebooks don't even have ethernet ports on them. so they just use the wifi and the drops don't get used. You will never get it 100% right, but these are some basic principles that have served my customers well.
Hope that helps!
100% worth it!!
100% Agree
Building a house now in Ghana West Africa. Wants to have the unit set up but not sure if the dream machine works with other brand of cameras.
The UDM Se will power other cameras, but it won't be able to be the NVR for them. That is only for Unifi Protect cameras... The other system will need its own way to record... However many cameras have SD cards in them and record to the camera itself. Something like that would work with Unifi UDM SE
@@ethernetblueprint thanks so much. Now I have some clarity.
You are quite welcome!
One issue with running Ethernet to your TVs: Even current high end TVs typically only have a 10/100mbps NIC. For 4K HDR content or better you simply cannot get the bandwidth. For future proofing when they all start getting 1Gbps interfaces, sure.
I appreciate your comment, however I do tend to disagree. Even with a 100Mb port, that is more than enough speed for most things that you would ever stream. Maybe for 8K which requires 100Mb speeds, but I would hope that 8K TVs have Gb ports on them. When you factor in interference and cheap NIC cards they put on TVs, I prefer the stable hard wired connection.
@@ethernetblueprint I am new to learning about Cat6 vs 8 vs hdmi use in home network. I am also a fellow Nebraskan? Just purchased a newly built home, trying to find out which Cat wire was ran or even how to set up a network with the ran wire. I appreciate your very well explained video. One simple question, I'm running an 85' line from one side of my basement to a television, to have 2 televisions connected in network on my AVR and speaker set. Is it better to run a high quality 8k HDMI cable or Cat 8 connected to HDMI conversion?
My builder allowed me to run all the lines I wanted before putting up drywall.
Awesome. I wish mine did that. Lol
5:14 showing eeros…. I’m removing all my eeros. A 500$ wired backhaul system with a device limit of 75 for the whole network is quite frankly a joke in today’s day and age and for “cutting edge” technology. You mention 10 tvs in the video, with 10 tvs and 2 phones your network is nearly 20% full. That’s before computers, WiFi locks, cameras, etc.
switched to unifi system, 300+ devices per access point.
Granted I switched from a pea shooter to a cannon… but I feel like the eero is advertised as a cannon. It’s a plug and play trebuchet at best and the unifi system is a rail gun.
I’m not a fan of Eero however it is a popular brand and some users needs are smaller. Glad you’re happy with UniFi. Way better than any mesh out there if you ask me.
Neighborhood upgrades to fiber? Where is this? I've never seen it in a Comcast market, except maybe in Philadelphia, their corporate home. They want to spend as close to zero dollars as possible on their physical plant.
We have been fortunate. Recently, Nebraska received a few million in grants to install infrastructure like fiber. I have a second ISP adding fiber to my neighborhood now. I expect 1-2 more in the next 5 years. I’m can’t speak for Comcast but I do know that if they don’t something, better options will come along. Nobody is too big to fail.
@@ethernetblueprint Nice. We have some competitors in my state but they won’t directly compete with Comcast. Amusingly, this means rural areas have much better service options because both they and Comcast are wiring them with fiber to the home, while the built up suburbs make do with aging coax.
The thing I dont understand the most is .... WHY EVERYONE IS SUGGESTING UNIFY ... when there are other more affordable and good or even better options to choose from ?
Which brands do you like to use?
@@ethernetblueprint
- Aruba Instant On - Engenius - Cisco Meraki - Mikrotik - Tp-Link Omada - Arista - Ruckus - Grandstream
Lots of great options out there. I know a lot of IT guys that won't touch Unifi too, so you are not alone. Personally, it has always served me well and I like the direction they have taken things.
@@ethernetblueprint I totally respect that... its just the fact that I dont understand the price for such devices for a small network.
For larger scale or for NVR and access control its a great all in one solution ... but still too expensive.
PS. Having different systems for Network, NVR and access is not that bad because by having different distributors you enhance network security in case of a password breach.
I asked the electrician for ethernet drops and they said no. I had to run everything myself!!!
Wow... I find that everyone has a different experience with this. I'm glad you ran them though.
@@ethernetblueprint it was a good experience honestly. Learned a lot
i have also a new construction but have 5a and fiber 1G wont upgrade to higher speed.
just curious if i want to fish cat6a or higher myself not paying anyone else just to my room is it possible? my room first floor close to entrance and its 2 story house.
@@adamotak5145 if I were you I would run whatever cables you anticipate needing now. It’s so much easier and cheaper to do it now than to wait. Even if you have unused cables for a cpl of years that’s better than trying to fish cables through walls etc.
cable is king, but mesh is useful
I agree... It has its place!
It’s getting crazy to be honest……
Everything has a cost and the cost seems to be going up on everything. My question is always: is it worth it (to you) if you depend on it?
@@ethernetblueprint I’m wanting it cause it’s nice but I’ve not been able to justify it yet