https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-802-11ac-Dual-Radio-UAP-AC-PRO-US/dp/B015PRO512/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YM2VMR4
Total is about the same as what you paid (less not including tax, actually), but the quality you're going to get is ASTOUNDING compared to Netgear. Truly 2020-level technology and interfaces for your money.
You deserve it for that amount of cash.
Good morning.
Yikes.
I think that you're going to have a hard time, no matter which mesh system you have. For example, look at what's involved with the Eero.
My impression is that if you use a mesh Wi-Fi system with a Firewalla, you're going to have to make some tradeoffs. I don't think that this is specific to Firewalla, though. I'd be worried that even if you can get your Google Nest mesh system working with the FWG+, you'd have a brittle and unstable network that would require unexpected maintenance, and even if you were willing to do it, it's not clear that you'd be able to use the Firewalla to monitor your individual devices.
My other impression is that mesh systems all use routing hacks that cause problems for routers. If this is true, then personally, I'd avoid a mesh system and just buy and deploy discrete AP's, and wire them directly to the Firewalla's ports, or to a managed switch (I have a Cisco SG350-10MP) attached to the Firewalla. I just have a single UniFi AC-Pro AP, but if I needed more, I'd do exactly this, and the speeds would be faster than with a mesh network, where you have latency.
Is there a reason that you need a mesh system, specifically? Using individual AP's seems like the way to go. It would give you the fastest speeds and individual device monitoring, as well as full compatibility with the FWG+.
I think your problem isn't a problem with Firewalla, but with the inherent nature of mesh Wi-Fi systems. You're basically trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. If you had an Eero mesh system and a UDM-Pro, you'd still run into the same type of problem, even if the details and symptoms were somewhat different (due to somewhat different hacks).
Regarding technical support, I don't think that even large enterprises paying Cisco or a similar company a huge support fee can get a response in three hours. Firewalla, Inc. is a small company with many customers. Despite that, they usually respond overnight, and are quite diligent about solving problems. With Ubiquiti, I suspect that a retail customer wouldn't be able to get any help at all apart from online forums.
I know that all of this is upsetting, but TCP/IP networking is difficult. I wouldn't have known that mesh networks are a problem unless you'd mentioned it. Most of us just want to buy something and have it work out of the box, but setting up a home network that's secure and robust isn't really something that most of us are equipped to do; we don't have the background knowledge.
If it's any consolation, your ordeal has convinced me to never buy a mesh Wi-Fi system. I'm also very aware, from my own experiences, that it's very important to carefully consider what one is trying to accomplish, come up with a concrete design (ideally with the help of a network engineer), and then thoroughly investigate options and buy hardware. It takes a lot of planning because so many things can go wrong.
I'm sorry that you're going through this. It helps the rest of us to know that we need to be wary of mesh Wi-Fi systems. I'm very glad that you posted.
Good Luck,
Artem
I'm only on 60/60 since I'm not the account holder, but my setup is more than capable of handling gigabit. It's way more than you'd need for a basic UniFi setup. All you need for a basic setup is either a UDM (which is an all-in-one device) or a USG, switch (doesn't need PoE, AP includes an injector), AP, and controller (which can be installed on any PC, it doesn't need a standalone device).
This is my network rack. The equipment is, from top to bottom:
Keystone patch panel
US-24
Shelf with Raspberry Pi 3B+ (for Pi-hole), US-8-150W, USG
Cloud Key Gen2+ in its rackmount adapter
Rackmount surge protector
Oh, and this is the rack itself.
The ONT is off to the left and connects to port 1 of the patch panel and port 1 of the main switch. Ports 1 and 24 of the switch are in a separate "WAN Passthrough" VLAN which isolates them from LAN traffic. This wasn't necessary, it just makes the wiring neater. Port 24 on the switch connects to the USG's WAN2/LAN2 (configured as WAN since WAN1 died), and LAN1 connects to the LAN via port 22 on the switch. Port 2 on both the patch panel and main switch goes to the 2nd floor, I was only able to run a single Ethernet cable between floors, so this goes to another PoE switch that powers the 2nd floor AP. The rest of the lines on the main switch go to Ethernet jacks in various rooms. Ports 3 and 4 on the patch panel are connected to the PoE switch, and power the basement and first floor APs. The PoE switch also powers the Raspberry Pi and Cloud Key. Its four remaining ports will be for security cameras. The Cloud Key Gen2+ serves as a NVR for UniFi Protect (in addition to running the UniFi Controller), so everything's all ready for them.
The two switches are connected by their SFP ports in order to not take up any of the normal ports for this purpose. I used two pairs of these transceivers and two of these cables, which actually was cheaper than using RJ45 SFP modules. The SFP ports are set up as a link aggregation group on both switches, so they essentially become a single 2 gigabit link, avoiding any bottlenecks.
The basement AP is a Lite and the 1st and 2nd floor APs are Pros. The Pro has since been supplanted by the NanoHD, which is my main recommendation for heavy-use areas. The Lite is still perfect for light-use areas.
