Ubiquiti is going Plus Ultra today with the reveal two new home networking accessories. The new UniFi Cloud Gateway Ultra comes joined by a PoE switch with the same Ultra naming scheme.
The new UCG-Ultra from Ubiquiti, or the UniFi Cloud Gateway Ultra, is the company’s latest way to run its UniFi Network management suite. It follows up many of the other releases we’ve seen lately from a design perspective, with a compact white box that packs a tiny display on the front for monitoring system stats.
It runs off of a USB-C power adapter that’s included in the box and can handle 1Gb/s routing for 30 Ubiqitui devices and as many as 300 clients – at least with Intrusion Detection System (IDS) enabled.
The Cloud Gateway Ultra features a 2.5GbE input for its WAN port, and then four Gigabit Ethernet ports off to the side for connecting in with other gear. This is just the router, and does not include Wi-Fi capabilites. So you’ll need to pair it with one of the company’s access points to get started.
The UniFi Cloud Gateway Ultra is now available for purchase directly from Ubiquiti. It sells for $129 and is now shipping.
Alongside the UniFi Cloud Gateway Ultra, Ubiquiti is also launching a new PoE switch for the ecosystem. The fittingly-named Switch Ultra features an 8-port design with seven gigabit Ethernet PoE+ ports. It has a single PoE++ input that can not only power the switch itself, but also distribute power to anything that’s plugged in. It can accept up to 42W of power from a host switch or wall adapter with the PoE++ standard. Those configuring it with just typical PoE+ will be able to push 16W of PoE wattage.
The new Switch Ultra is also clocking in at that same $129 price tag as the cloud gateway. That base price does not include an AC adapter, but there are bundles that include them if your installation calls for it.
Electronicsforward’ Take
Ubiquiti has yet another way to run UniFi, and it looks to be pretty compelling – at least on paper. It seems like a great entry to the lineup compared to the new UniFi Express, which bundles in mesh Wi-Fi 6 functionality for an extra $20. There are the same design cues with the screen and boxy white design, just without the mandatory Wi-Fi router.
What’s really baffling to me is that this is the same price as the UniFi Gateway Lite. Please feel free to sound off in the comments about what use case would benefit from the Gateway Lite over just using the UniFi Cloud Gateway Ultra, but I have a hard time seeing why you wouldn’t just go with the new Ultra series gear – at least for home use.
I just finished setting up my UniFi Express, and I am already a little bit jealous of the new Ultra series lineup. I know they serve different customers, but I don’t think I’ll be able to hold back on buying the new Cloud Gateway for myself and seeing if this really is too good to be true.
Catch up on UniFi Diary pieces at Electronicsforward:
- Ubiquiti’s first Wi-Fi 7 access point is finally here with 2.5GbE uplink and $189 price tag
- Ubiquiti debuts new UniFi Express AiO mesh Wi-Fi 6 router for just $149
- UniFi Diary: Detailing my 80TB Synology NAS, Mac mini, and Ubiquiti setup
- UniFi Diary: After 3 years with the USG, I’m finally upgrading to the Dream Machine Pro
- UniFi Diary: Wi-Fi 6 is finally here, but is it worth upgrading your Ubiquiti setup?
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