Ubiquiti - U7 In-Wall

Went nearly the same route. UCG Fiber > 2x Pro XGs > 2 10gbe flex 2x mini’s > 3 U7 pro walls & U7 XGS. Door bell 3 4ks. 25 IoTs 4 PCs 1 NAS etc. it’s rabbithole for sure but the bgw320 made me mad enough to jump down it. 2.5mbps ISP symmetric WiFi anywhere end to end 3 floors 3500sqft.

You can't use any cloud gateway as a mesh with another cloud gateway except the express. You could wireless mesh a U6-IW or U6-Enterprise-IW with UDR7 and use the 4 downstream switch ports to connect devices however. Or U7-IW but it only has 2 downstream ports.

I've used Netgear Orbi, Eero, and Ubiquiti UniFi WiFi 7 systems all long term. If you want an excellent ecosystem all behind one very sleek pane of glass WITH better performance and reliability and control than the other stuff, just get UniFi. The only caveat is lack of a dedicated wireless backhaul channel but this is often inconsequential because of better range and overall bandwidth. If you want to set it and forget it and have tolerance when a forced botched firmware update is pushed with no rollback option, consider Eero.

This is incredibly misleading. The signal penetration and range of the Eero Max 7 and Eero Outdoor 7 are dogshit compared to the UniFi U7 Pro and XG lineup. Compare them one after the other in the same topology / env. The U7 Pro Wall I run consistently provides better signal range and wall penetration than the Eero Max 7 it replaced, albeit only 1200 Mbps on 6E vs 1400 on the Max. The U7 XGS (similar price range) blows it out of the water entirely in speeds and signal. MLO tops 3 Gbps on U7 XGS, 6 GHz 6E peaks at 1600 Mbps. If we're talking the same retail price, you'd be able to get an E7 and there's just no comparison in performance to an Eero Max 7 from that. The U7 Pro Outdoor provides VASTLY better range on 5 and 6 GHz than the Eero Outdoor 7 I had deployed. 1200+ Mbps vs 900 Max. Almost double the 5 and 6 GHz range with AFC. Oh but I forget... The Eero Outdoor doesn't even provide 6 GHz or AFC. And the U7 Pro Outdoor is also cheaper at only $279 vs $400+ retail. And neither is a full router.

I’m using Unifi APs with that same Firewalla model, and they work great.

No issues at all, wired backhaul. 2 U7 XGS, 2 U7 Pro Wall, and 1 U7 Pro Outdoor.

I left for Unifi, and couldn’t be happier.

I have 1gbps fiber, I use UniFi hardware. There’s lots of choices in what to get. My setup: UniFi Cloud Gateway Ultra, UniFi USW Ultra 60W, UniFi U7 Pro Wall. 3 story house with a U7 on every floor sending out 2,4/5/6ghz bands. Average speed I get on my iPhone 17 pro max is between 800 and 900 mbps.

LOL if you have concerns about Google / Amazon, you may not be feeling much better w/ TP-Link (China). If you have an ethernet cable between the two, as you mentioned you do, I would go with a very simple Ubiquiti setup. 1. Unifi Express 7 ~ plug this in as your "main" node. 2. Some Ubiquiti WiFi7 Access Point ~ plug this in via ethernet + PoE injector. This setup should roughly cost $350, and you'll be on Ubiquiti, which is arguably the best platform out there.

I don't know why availability would be an issue. All the items are in stock. This is what you would need for a "complete" setup. 1. https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/ux7 -- That's your main unit. They are just as plug-and-play as most consumer routers these days. 2. https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/all-wifi/products/u7-pro-wall -- Ubiquiti has a LOT of access points. I'm not sure what your ethernet cable terminates. If it terminates into a wall plate, then you may want one of the nice wall mounted ones. If it terminates in the ceiling or in a cabinet, then maybe you choose a different one. 3. https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/accessories-poe-power/collections/pro-store-poe-and-power-adapters/products/u-poe-plus -- That's the PoE injector for your second access point. To your questions... Configuration and management: Honestly if you're even slightly network savvy, it's so much cleaner and nicer than the other systems. The Asus / TP-Link stuff is now either typically locked in an app or has a crappy web UI with infrequent updates. Google WiFi is fine. I have it for my parents, but you don't get much control. At least it "just works" most of the time. Range: In my experience, much more than the Google WiFi Nest Pro. Similar to you, I installed that at my parents' house. I upgraded them from the previous Google WiFi system, and I found the range got a bit worse, but if you're in range, the speeds are much better. PoE Injector -- Most Ubiquiti stuff is powered by what's called "power over ethernet." It atually sends a DC current over the cable. It provides both power and data to the access point. For homes / businesses that require multiple access points, it's so convenient to just drop an ethernet line where you want to add the access point, versus needing a separate power source. Most mid-range or high-end Ubiquiti stuff has ethernet ports that are already "PoE enabled." With the device I recommended to you, the ethernet port there doesn't have PoE, so you need an "injector" which takes wall power and sends it through the ethernet line. An alternative device is the Dream Router 7. https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/udr7 -- One of the ethernet ports on this device is a PoE port, so in this case, you wouldn't need the injector. BTW - I agree it's awkwardly hard to tell if wired backhaul is working w/ the Google Home app. As I mentioned, I have it set up for my parents w/ 3 nodes, all wired, and I find it so frustrating how NOT intuitive it is. Like, they really hide the visibility of it. That being said, it DOES pretty much "just work" for my parents. You said you "added" the Nest Pro. Google doesn't allow you to run mixed mode. I'm assuming you have swapped both old units out for the newer Nest Pro, right?

It was so good for me that when I accidentally messed up some wiring it was doing wireless back haul from an older udr to u7ap’s and I only noticed it due to the app showing topology looking wrong. This is 2 story house with udr in basement and aps on the 2 above ground floors.

Ubiquiti's UniFi system is difficult to recommend without running some ethernet cable. Even the Eero, Orbi and TP-Link mesh routers I cannot recommend without wired backhaul. Some of the U7 access points are capable of doing mesh but the ethernet backhaul to a PoE switch is crucial. Being that your current house is a ranch, do you have access to the attic? All you'll really need to do is run maybe about 1 or 2 ethernet cables (2 if you use the UCG Fiber which I recommend getting or 1 in the case of the Dream Router 7) in the attic which you could theoretically take with you when you move. I've shopped around for mesh routers as my dad has a Lorex Wifi Flood Light camera above the garage that our current router can't reach and the best combination I've seen so far is the UCG Fiber and any of the U7 access Points. I've priced everything and the Eero Max 7, Orbi 970 & TP-Link's equivalent came out to over $100 more than any UniFi equipment combination that I need.

I use TP link Deco X95 2 nodes system at home and Unifi 7 at work works without any issues for over a year though we will replace Eufy at work as we rolling out our own cloud platform

If you’re heavy on Apple devices then WiFi 7 won’t be coming for a while and you should be okay with a WiFi 6E router for the next 5 years. However, if you want to go forward with you can look at Ubiquiti CG Fibre and U7 or UX7 AP. The router should be future proof and allow you upgrade your AP nodes based on which band you want. If you want a different mesh brand then you can look between Deco (best on budget), Asus Zenwifi BT10 (tri-band) / BQ16 (quad-band) or Orbi 770 / 870 / 970. This are the top 3 brands with top mesh systems and best coverage. Nevertheless, your bandwidth and devices should decide your choice (added with budget) Honorable mention will be Eero Max 7 but it’s barely customizable and you have to do things the Eero way