Modems & Wi-Fi

[MartinC]

Hi,

I have been watching an online tutorial where a guy sets up his home network using USG (Unifi Security Gateway) raspberry pi (on which he installs the Unifi Controller). Could I use a vodafone router and still control it using a Unifi Controller or do I have to use their hardware?

I am not planning on changing routers at this stage (no budget) so what would be a good substitute for this set up?

The substitute would need to be installed on a Raspberry Pi (where I can install Linux or whatever is needed). Although I am technical I have very little experience with networking and home networking.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards, Martin.

[hpatel]

Hi @MartinC,

The UniFi Controller software (or Cloud Key etc) is only used to configure other hardware in the UniFi ecosystem (e.g. the USG, access points, switches and so on). It can't do anything without other UniFi hardware, and it can't be used to control hardware from outside of that ecosystem (including our modems/routers and even Ubiquiti's non-UniFi hardware).

That's not to say that you can't use a mixture of UniFi and non-UniFi hardware; for example at home I use a UniFi switch, access point, and security camera configured with a controller, with the Vodafone Ultra Hub as my router. Maybe that's more in line with what you're trying to achieve?

Cheers,

Hayden

[MartinC]

Hi Hayden,

Thanks for the info in your message. Much appreciated.

I wanted to do what is explained in the videos below where Craft Computing creates a Raspberry Pi home server. He then also installs a VPN and a filter to filter the internet access of his kids. The reason I really liked it is that it is really accessible for someone like me - I already have a Raspberry Pi and I could follow those instructions. So I am wondering what software I could use that would be a replacement for the Unifi Controller so that I can still do this installation. I don't have the budget to buy a new router right now. I am a programmer but I haven't worked with networking before. I thought apart from installing this very useful stuff it would still be a good learning experience for me.

I included the links below in case you want to take a look.

Again thanks for your time.

Regards, Martin.

Raspberry Pi Home Server - UniFi Controller Tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIrveJGPFrM 

Raspberry Pi Home Server - NxFilter Tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4mOFRQZoOU 

[MartinC]

@hpatel 

Hi Hayden, Just wondering if you have any input on my follow up comment?

Regards, Martin.