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 . just got upgrade to 100Mbps today. and i received a new router from them which is the TPLink Ac1200 model. but it seemed like the ac1200 doesn’t has a speed limit setting for guest network. do you have any other way to limit the speed for the guest users ?
I afraid there’s no way of doing that apart from getting another router with that feature.
Bro, i used d-link router ac1200 which is provided by the tm, subscribed to their unifi 30mbps which just launched. My laptop which connected to it had a quite stable connection speed by using lan, but when i used my phone to connect to the wireless line, it become super slow, like it can’t even load a simple instagram page, took me a long time to load them. I tried changing the channel and all, but still doesn’t really changed much and i saw that the router that i’m using is listed in your list of router usable for the… Read more »
Have you tried using 5Ghz?
Just installed Unifi Lite 10mbps today. The provided router is Archer AC1200.
Is there any better replacement for it below RM300? (Or is it good enough already since in your list that router is <RM400)
I can bump up my budget to RM300~400 too if there's a very good, recommended router for that price range.
In order to have a significant improvement you wil need to spend at least RM500 for the Asus RT-AC55UHP.
Hi blacktubi. What is the cheapest router you would recommend for unifi 50mbps to replace the stock tm one? thanks in advance
What router you currently have from TM?
Currently I have the innatech rg4332 from TM. The coverage is pretty bad, I’m living in a single story terrace house
I guess Asus RT-N12HP fit the bill at just around RM200. For a better experience, I recommend at least a wireless AC router else you will have a hard time obtaining 50Mbps over wireless.
Hi master Blacktubi,
I have problem with my wireless connection which connection always reconnection when I and my brother connect to the default TM router. Should I replace TM router or you have other opinion? Help me master
I guess the router is too weak to handle multiple connections. You can consider to upgrade to a better router.
I’m currently using dir850l and experiencing unstable wifi connection. There’s 9-10 devices connected to the wifi normally. My budget is around rm300, is there any recommendation to what router I should change to for a more stable connection?
Bump your budget to higher maybe around RM400++ then you can consider TP-Link Archer C5.
The DIR-850L itself cost RM300.
Hi BT,
Does D-Link Wireless AC1000 Dual Band Cloud Router DIR-820L compatible for UNIFI? Because it is not in your list.
I have no idea as I never try that router before.
Hi there blacktubi. I have a Huawei HG; I think it is something like an ONU and router compiled into one – then again I am a noob and don’t know much. Do you think it is possible to use the HG as the wireless router? Model is huawei hg8245t and it has an optical input.
It is not possible to replace the ONU by TM unless you have the PON password which they don’t give them out.
Thanks for the fast response. But configuring it just as a wireless router should be possible like configuring any wireless router?
Yes, you can refer to my Asus Unifi configuration guide.
hye, i got lag problem when playing dota. i use tenda ac1900 dual band. there is total of 30 devices in my house. may i know the problem. thanks
The router cannot handle when there is too many users. Sign of inefficient QoS. Try look around the configuration.
Hi! Is the Asus RT-AC55UHP good for a 2-storey house of around 1900 sqft. ISP provided router couldn’t reach the 1st floor. There are a couple of unmovable obstacles like a sharp corner and a fixed wall that separate the kitchen from the living room (access to 2nd floor is from the kitchen area).
It should be fine but if it is unable to fix the issue, you can consider a power line extender as well.
Hi. I would need your recommendation for a router for 50Mbps Unifi placed on ground floor near to sliding glass door. House is 3 storey with my home office on the 3rd floor with TV and ps4 for Netflix 4k streaming as well. 8-10 devices connected at one time with 2-3 using major bandwidth when used. I’m considering between Asus rt68 or dlink 890 or Tenda AC1200. Budget around rm 1k-1.2k.Thanks.
I think the Asus RT-AC68U and the D-Link DIR-890L are pretty good. The Asus is slightly easier to setup and come with more features.
Hi master Blacktubi,
Im staying in double storey house and still using standard TM router for my 50mbps unifi.
Signal is very slow at 2nd level area. Went to PC shop and told them about my problem. They told me to install another router upstair without changing the existing TM router at ground level. Is that true?
You have 2 choice. Either use a better router or buy an extender. An extender is cheap but may not be the most reliable.