Somehow we had to publish this piece of information. Despite many blogs and forums with in-depth discussions about UNIFI broadband, there are still gross misconception of what is actually inside a typical UNIFI client premises equipment (or CPE) set up.
First timers are usually baffled as to why traditional cable routers with PPPoE does not work with UNIFI broadband, a service that uses PPPoE encapsulation similar its DSL sibling; Streamyx. Well, not that it doesn’t. There’s a just another layer in UNIFI’s high speed broadband network; a layer called VLAN.
Inside UNIFI physical lines that are laid into our homes, bandwidth is tunneled in a virtual LAN (VLAN) and separated before they are routed to our computer devices. UNIFI Broadband is a true triple play service, i.e. we get all three; data, voice and video services piped to us through a single channel high speed plastic fiber cable (FTTH) or vDSL. Hence the reason why VLAN networking is in the design from day one.
FTTH is deployed on landed properties like terrace houses and bungalows while vDSL being similar to traditional ADSL services like Streamyx, is used in deployments for high rise buildings where the laying of fresh fiber cables is no practical option.
The first component in a UNIFI Client Premises Equipment is either the Fiber BTU or vDSL modem. This device bridges raw network back to the nearest UNIFI Point-Of-Presence (POP). With a physical connection established between our homes and a UNIFI POP, the next immediate thing we have to do is to segregate the bandwidth and video tunnels by deploying any smart switch with IEEE802.1q VLAN tagging capability. Yes, any smart, managed switch can be used as long as they support the 802.1q networking standard.
The stock wireless router provided by UNIFI is an all-in-one device with VLAN, routing, firewall and wireless broadcast functions.
In the stock router provided by UNIFI, typically the D-Link DIR-615 wireless router, a standard D-Link wireless routing platform has been adopted and modified to include 802.1q VLAN tagging inside the same box. For this reason, UNIFI users will encounter the common scenario where only UNIFI routers appears to work in a UNIFI network and other commercially available routers apparently don’t. Again, it is not true that other wireless routers don’t work. It is just that they have not been essentially modified like the stock DIR-615, before the virtual tunnels in UNIFI’s VLAN-ed network can be traced by your router. Unless you have a VLAN switch or a virtual VLAN function inside a routing hardware like the D-Link DIR-615, this cannot be accomplished.
We have many questions posed to us, asking whether the TP-Link TL-SL2210WEB smart switch sold at our techSTORE can be placed after the router. No, you can’t. And it is due to the technical fact that VLAN tagging has to be done before the routing stage and not after. Also, there is no reason for home users to implement VLAN in a private network. Practical usages for VLAN are in aggressive networking environments where there are hundreds of users in the network and VLAN tagging is implemented in order to prevent problematic computers from affecting other computers or bringing down the availability of the entire network altogether.
TP-Link’s TL-SL2210WEB is a favourite component deployed by many UNIFI subscribers in their quest for better networking performance and equipment.
After you have segregated the respective VLANs data and IPTV, you can then focus on what routers is suitable for your usage. Choose all-in-one wireless routers (like the TP-Link TL-WR1043ND) if you have less than 5 users at home and where download and uploading activities are minimal.
For slightly heavier users, consider the combination of dedicated boxes like the TP-Link TL-R470T+ wired router and TP-Link TL-WA801ND wireless access point. By dividing the routing function and wireless infrastructure into two separate hardware, bandwidth performance will certainly become more efficient and faster.
Obviously it cost more to have a multi-hardware solution but the benefits are pretty significant. For example, users will immediately notice considerable speed performance even with one or more computers downloading files, while other users are hardly affected when doing web browsing or reading emails. Hardcore gamers too will benefit from lesser lag because the wired router can handle far much more data packet transfers than the stock equipment provided by UNIFI.
Simply put, purchasing a networking solution for your home is like buying shampoo. You can either choose between 2-in-one, all-in-one or you can pick the shampoo, conditioner and treatment in separate bottles. Experience tells us that the more bottles we buy, the better justice it does to our hair.
For full router replacement kits, check out our parent category link by clicking here.
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