Unifi Router Buyer's Guide in 2021
If you use Unifi at your home, you are probably not so happy with the speed and stability of the WiFi network. That’s because TM is still a business and they cannot give an expensive router while remain profitable. But, luckily, TM doesn’t stop you from buying your own router.
While the router provided by TM isn’t too bad, they have slower CPU and weaker WiFi coverage. This means they aren’t very good if you stay in a bigger home or if you have more WiFi devices at home. Thus, in this article, I will show you some WiFi routers that I’ve tested that will recommend for you to upgrade your home WiFi router.
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⚠️ This guide is only intended for Unifi Fibre users!
Table of Contents
Unifi Fibre Equipment Overview
All Unifi Fibre installation come with 2 devices which is the fibre modem and WiFi router. The Fibre modem comes with lifetime warranty from TM and it is non-user replaceable. But, don’t worry as the WiFi router rarely breaks down and it performs well. What we will be focussing is the WiFi router part which will impact all your home networking performance.
Unifi Router Brands
Once you purchased the new router, please request your Unifi login ID and Password from TM. You will need them when configuring your new router. Once you got everything ready, remove your old wireless router and connect the new router to the ONU. You have to reconfigure your new wireless router. The process depends on the brand of the router but generally, you just need to insert the PPPOE ID and password and select the Unifi profile on the router.
TP-Link Unifi Router
TP-Link routers are fully compatible with Unifi. TP-Link offers really good value for money as their routers are usually cheaper while delivering the same level of performance compared to their competitors. They offer a 3 years warranty on all their networking products.
You can refer to my guide on how to setup TP-Link Unifi router here.
Model WiFi Specification Suggested Plan Beamforming MU-MIMO Maximum NAT speed Retail Price Archer C5400X Gaming AC5400 800Mbps ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM1499 Archer C5400 AC5400 800Mbps ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM949 Archer C4000 AC4000 800Mbps ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM999 Archer C3150 AC3150 800Mbps ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM799 Archer C2300 AC2300 800Mbps ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM639 Deco M9 Plus Mesh AC2200 500Mbps ✔ ✔ 800Mbps RM999 Archer A10 AC2600 800Mbps ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM639 Archer A9 AC1900 500Mbps ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM439 Archer C9 AC1900 500Mbps ✔ – 941Mbps RM469 Deco M5 Mesh AC1300 500Mbps ✔ ✔ 800Mbps RM439 Deco M4 Mesh AC1200 300Mbps ✔ ✔ 800Mbps RM399 Archer C7/ A7 AC1750 500Mbps – – 800Mbps RM312 Archer C6/ A6 AC1200 300Mbps ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM209 Archer C1200 AC1200 300Mbps – – TBD RM279
Do note that HyppTV do not work on their Deco mesh series of products but Internet is working properly.
Asus Unifi Router
Asus is another well known brand in the wireless router industry. They are slightly more expensive but they have really solid performance and the AsusWRT firmware offers the most comprehensive set of features. Asus also pioneer their AiMesh technology which allows you to use several compatible Asus routers to form a high performance mesh network. Asus routers come with 3 years of warranty in Malaysia.
You can refer to my guide on how to setup Asus Unifi router here.
Model WiFi Specs Suggested Plan AiMesh BF MU-MIMO Maximum Internet Speed Price Range RT-AX88U AX6000 800Mbps ✔ ✔ ✔ 941Mbps Unreleased Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 Gaming AC5300 800Mbps ✔ ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM2489 RT-AC5300 AC5300 800Mbps ✔ ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM2209 RT-AC88U AC3100 800Mbps ✔ ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM1809 Asus Blue Cave AC2600 800Mbps ✔ ✔ ✔ 941Mbps RM1099 RT-AC68U AC1900 500Mbps ✔ ✔ – 850Mbps RM1039 Lyra Trio Mesh AC1750 500Mbps ✔ ✔ ✔ 850Mbps RM1579 Lyra Mesh AC2200 500Mbps ✔ ✔ ✔ 850Mbps RM999 RT-AC66U B1 AC1750 300Mbps ✔ ✔ – 941Mbps RM859 RT-AC1300UHP AC1300 300Mbps ✔ ✔ ~500Mbps RM569 RT-AC58U AC1300 300Mbps ✔ ✔ ~500Mbps RM479 RT-AC1200G+ AC1200 100Mbps – – ~400Mbps RM449
D-Link Unifi Router
You probably heard of D-Link before as they are one of the oldest brand selling networking gear in Malaysia. They also produce some really great networking equipment. New D-Link routers are fully compatible with Unifi. They are also rather affordable while delivering good performance.
You can refer to my guide on how to setup D-Link Unifi router here.
Other Brands (Tenda, Netgear and etc)
There are also other brands in the market and most if not all Enterprise level gear can be configured to support Unifi. But, we do not include them in this list as they may be harder to configure for most users.
Netgear is known for requiring manual setup of VLAN for it to work with Unifi.
Hi Alvin, does android box work with deco mesh routers?
Hi there, yes it is supported.
Alvin, will the below be compatible with UNIFI 100Mbps, 500Mbps turbo:
TP-Link AC1750 Smart WiFi Router – Dual Band Gigabit Wireless Router, 802.11ac Internet Router, Wireless routers for home(Archer C7)
Yes, you can read my review here
I bought dlink dir 867 router for my 300 mbps unifi and sucessful setup wifi but my unifitv blank did not work how to solve the problem please help.
Do you select the Unifi profile?
hi alvyn, thank you for posting this article up. i am currently on the 100mbps unifi plan (an upgrade from 10mbps previously) and tm has just replaced my older router (802.11g) with their brand new free router. before they replaced my older router, i was only able to reach about 80mbps on a wired connection but thanks to tm, i can easily reach 100mbps even on wireless. having said that, i noticed that coverage seems to be much weaker than my previous router. i live in a double storey terrace house and my router is located at the back part… Read more »
Hi there, the Archer C6 will definitely help. Having full house 5Ghz coverage may be harder as 5Ghz is known for poor wall penetration.
I just bought a dir882 yesterday and managed to setup to get unifi 800mbps.
However, even after upgrading the firmware, I find that it tends to reboot itself from time to time.
Was wondering if it’s because of unifi reset the connection periodically causing dlink router to reboot or is it a faulty router or is there some tweaks I could do?
Have emailed dlink support awaiting their reply
Any advice appreciated
Hi there,
I do not face this issue with my DIR-882. Have you tried to update the firmware to the latest version?
Hi, At 1st TM gave TP Link Acher c5 AC1200, been a pain in butt for 2 years with frequent disconnection and slow speed. Now my unifi is turbo-ed to 500mbps, the TM tech suggest i should upgrade the router to Archer C1200 (3 antennas). So i did, which in turn a big mistake. Past 3 days the wifi connection keeps disconnecting, Lan speed was bad… than finally today, the whole day wifi signal was down, only Lan wired was working. I am so feed up with this crappy TM is providing to us. Can you please suggest which router… Read more »
Get Asus RT-AC86U
Im currently using Archer C2, always have unstable connection and usually lost connection when i go downstairs. Thinking of buying new router. I live in 2 storey terrace approx 3,000sf. Any recommendation ?
I suggest you to consider a mesh solution for such a big house.
What is the different between mesh and range extender ? Appreciate of tou could provide me few recommendation on which brand i should use 🙂 thank you :))
Check out my review of the Deco M5. I included a section there. Deco M5 review
Thanks Alvyn! 😉
Can you help me to confiq my router to the best setting? My router RT-AC5300 and my Unifi plan is 500mbps.
Sure, what help do you need?
Can Netis DL4480V support unifi 300mbps? What do I look for in the specs to judge whether it is suitable or not?
This is a copper installation incapable of more than 100Mbps.
My current router is D-link DIR-816L. Unifi upgraded to 500mbps.
Do I need to buy new router?
Yes.
Now tm upgrade my speeds from 100mbps to turbo 500mbps..my router is dlink dir-850l..i think is not support to 500mbps..if u recomended which router better for support 500mbps..
I recommend TP-Link Archer C6.
is it not possible to replace the ONU (where the fiber terminates) with another device that also acts was wifi router + ONU? i got bumped to 300M but only getting around 50M….Unifi tech told me to get CAT 5e cable to enjoy up to 300M…but im using wifi, so the tech is going to open a ticket to find out why their wifi router doesnt support above 50-100M…..there’s a cable connecting the ONU to wifi router/TP Archer C1200. i dont think this is a CAT 5e cable. what wifi router (with Unifi 300M) do you think i should get… Read more »
Make sure all cables are CAT6 including the one between the TP-Link and the modem. For router replacement, you can consider Archer C6.