I personally own and really like my Ubiquiti Edgerouter ER3Lite, and was curious if I were to stock up on a few extras if this would be a wise choice. They are obsolete now and was wondering if this poses much of a security risk? After using this equipment since 2014, I am not sure I would ever be able to go back to consumer grade garbage ever again.
Any risk in using old routers?
- Thread starter Fordiesel69
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Yes it's true that old routers don't get updated and are thus no longer "secure" but honestly no. The security concerns are overblown in day to day life. There's a lot of security in the traffic protocols used within the internet services you use. It's why you see https on every site. They might be able to break through the firewall to steal your traffic data but the traffic data is encrypted.
All true, but sometimes those devices are used for DDOS attacks and compromising the owners system isn't the motivation for exploiting it.
I don't know that I would "stock up" on them since most will never fail, but why not just update to the newer supported version of what you have when or if it ever fails? Speeds of internet and hardware are only going to get faster.
YES, obsolete/non supported hardware are a security risk. Why would you not get rid of your obsolete router/firewall, and buy the latest up to date router/firewall? The manufacture is not fixing vuls in the code on an obsolete router/firewall. They are fixing it on their supported newer hardware. And to top it off you want to buy multiples of high chance security risk hardware for a rainy day?
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True. But ddos attacks are rare for everyday people unless you have a kid who managed to anger some decently knowledgeable neck beard that's never held a girls hand on like minecraft or whatever video game is popular nowadays. But if that happens the loss of service is inconvenient and is not a hack.
After reading the title, I hope I'm not the only one that thought wood working tools.
Ubiquiti makes good equipment. I wouldn't stock up on them but I would keep the one you have going until it no longer fits your needs or stops working.
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I think he's talking about a vulnerability that allows remote access to the device that could then allow the device to be used as a bot for DDOS attacks.
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Looks like the current firmware version is 2.0.9-Hotfix6 and was released on January 23rd, 2023, so it's pretty current:
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Do you have that update installed?
The newer ones will surely handle a higher bits/second rate.
Its not a matter of new. Ubiquiti's Unifi line is not good. The edgemax line of stuff was truly carrier grade. Never had to reset any of their stuff, it just plain works in home and small office. Friends used them in remote rural areas the higher end ones and never had issues.
It would not be wise to hoard Edgerouter 3 Lites. Their CPU is very slow by today's standards. Even the puny MT7621 in the Edgerouter X is a better chip (as well as smaller box, more ports, lower power consumption). Both of these can run OpenWrt, however the 3 Lite may get dropped due to the age and obscurity of the CPU.
Ok i will get the erx then instead.
FYI for local spectrum internet I only have a 25/5 connection and can overpay for a 100/5 or in some areas a 250/5 connection. Our area is the last to get anything good. Verizon fios is not avail yet. So when the cpu is slow, you will never notice. What you will notice is the perfect 7 year record uptime without issues. (Battery failed on UPS so my 7 year record was gone).
FYI for local spectrum internet I only have a 25/5 connection and can overpay for a 100/5 or in some areas a 250/5 connection. Our area is the last to get anything good. Verizon fios is not avail yet. So when the cpu is slow, you will never notice. What you will notice is the perfect 7 year record uptime without issues. (Battery failed on UPS so my 7 year record was gone).
It looks like there are firmware updates from a couple months ago, so if it works then why replace it until you need to?
Delete.
Strange. Our basic Spectrum contract is for 200/10, which is actually 220/12, but they've just increased that to 300 down. (I'm sure about the "up" speed.) The tech we had out for another issue said I am actually getting 400 at the cable modem, so I have some work to do there. Router is 1900AC, and a copper switch I have is 1000.
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I have had Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X's since 2014. Really great devices.
Presently I have an EdgeRouter X SFP with Spectrum 500 Mbps service. Usually pull about 550-585 Mbps down and 20-22 Mbps up. The ER-X is fine with this. Have also implemented an ER-X on FiOS Gigabit service. It was pulling 940 Mbps down without an issue. I am sure the CPU in it would be overloaded if you were symmetrically maxing out a Gigabit connection.
For as old as they are, and that UI keeps pushing out firmware updates... there not a bad little unit. I'll keep running them.
Presently I have an EdgeRouter X SFP with Spectrum 500 Mbps service. Usually pull about 550-585 Mbps down and 20-22 Mbps up. The ER-X is fine with this. Have also implemented an ER-X on FiOS Gigabit service. It was pulling 940 Mbps down without an issue. I am sure the CPU in it would be overloaded if you were symmetrically maxing out a Gigabit connection.
For as old as they are, and that UI keeps pushing out firmware updates... there not a bad little unit. I'll keep running them.
