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.
Model WiFi Specification Beamforming MU-MIMO Ethernet Port Price DIR-895L AC5300 ✔ ✔ 4 x Gigabit RM1599 DIR-882 AC2600 ✔ ✔ 4 x Gigabit RM698 DIR-878 AC1900 ✔ ✔ 4 x Gigabit RM518 DIR-867 AC1750 ✔ ✔ 4 x Gigabit RM399 DIR-868L AC1750 ✔ – 4 x Gigabit – DIR-842 AC1200 ✔ ✔ 4 x Gigabit RM289
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.
Just receive msg from TM that my unifi had been updated to 500mbps but currently using router Asus RT-N12HP. Understand that current router can’t support speed up to 500mbps. On budget, i’m currently thinking to get Tenda AC18. But i didn’t use this brand router before and i’m not sure on the signal stability. I’m staying in double storey house. Will this suitable for me?
I am not a huge fan of Tenda due to their firmware being slightly harder to configure. I recommend the TP-Link Archer C6.
What is the different within TP-Link Archer C6 & C7? Just the speed?
C7 comes with USB port .
Meantime, for D-link DIR-867 & TP-Link Archer C7 which router is better?
DIR-867
If I want to use the hypp tv , is it possible to connect deco mesh to the router ?
Yes
Hi. Im using 500mbps now and I would like to know which affordable wireless router I can get the max WiFi speed for my phone? Now I only can get around 60-90mbps using 2.4ghz and 5ghz I can get only around 250mbps
Archer C6.
I am thinking of getting the Archer C6 for my Unifi 500mbps. Does the C6 support the existing telephone (VoIP I believe) call provided by TM? Thanks.
The VOIP phone is connected to the modem so it shouldn’t be affected.
TM upgraded my unifi to 500Mps and currently I’m using TM’s original router D-Link DIR-615. Does the existing router support the upgraded speed? I can get 86Mps using LAN port but not on my WiFi device (only <20 Mbps ), Should I change the router, if yes any recommendation for an affordable one.
Thanks
You definitely need to change your router to enjoy the speed upgrade. I recommend the Archer C6 as an affordable budget option.
Hi my Unifi upgraded to 800mb. I’m using the TP-Link link router from Unifi. Did a Speedtest n was running 300mb. How do I get the speed up to 800mb? Which ASUS router do U recommend? I’m not really into gaming. More into streaming movies. Tq
Hi there, not all models support 800Mbps so that’s the reason we maintain a list here. If you are into Asus, we really like the Asus Blue Cave for not only the looks and also the great performance.
Hi Alvyn,
Thanks for your valuable information! 🙂 Currently i am using UniFi Pro 100Mbps. If my speed is upgraded to 800 Mbps later, can i still using the router provided by TM?
http://global.dlink.com.sg/site_pdtpdfs/DIR-850L/DIR-850L_ds.pdf
Thanks!
Zaid
Hi there,
I do not recommend using the DIR-850L as this router is unstable and slow. You can refer to our list to select the best router for your needs.
Unifi will upgrade to 100Mbps. Could you recommend the suitable router to use?
For 100Mbps, I would say the Archer C6 from TP-Link is good enough.
Hi Alvin
Firstly thank you for valuable information shared in your website.
Last week TM has just upgraded my Unifi from 50Mbps to 500Mbps. I understand my current Asus RT-N12D1 Wifi Router not able to support the turbo speed. Which brand / model you highly recommend?
By the way, in case if I plan to upgrade to highest speed in future, can I use those router which support highest speed 800Mbps for the current lower speed e.g 500Mbps or 300Mbps?
Please advise and thank you.
Boon
It depends on your budget but I think the Asus Blue Cave is a great router. It performs really well and it is priced well too.
Unifi upgraded my WiFi to 300mbps currently my router is D-link DIR-816L.Should I change my router and wat router should I chg for super speed WiFi on double storey teracce house
Hi there, you need to change to better wireless router. I think the D-Link DIR-867 is a good choice.
Hey there,
I have 300mbps unifi the WiFi is very slow.Sometimes I don’t even get the wifi.May ik wats the best router for super speed WiFi in my double storey teracce house.
If you have the budget, maybe you can consider high end routers like TP-Link Archer C23O0.
Hi Alvin, I was told that deco mesh still need the unifi router to use it. Is it necessary? I want to replace unifi router at the same time I want coverage on my 2nd floor too. Please advise. Thank you
Hi, the Deco can replace the router but it comes with a caveat, it does not support HyppTV.