Ubiquiti has recently launched the new UniFi Mobile Router (UMR) and in this review, we're going to look at its its features and whether or not it is a good choice in 2023. The UMR is a CAT4 4G LTE device that is managed with mobility.ui.com and in the EU and UK at least, it can be used with any unlocked nano SIM card. In the US and Canada, it can only be used with an AT&T SIM - regardless if it is sourced from elsewhere or purchased via Ubiquiti. When it is purchased from Ubiquiti, the data plans are more expensive.

What is the UMR?

The UMR is a mobile router that can be used as a 4G LTE hotspot. Ubiquiti market this towards fleet management use cases and have an optional cloud subscription via mobility.ui.com.

How do I manage it?

Ubiquiti have an optional cloud subscription, for $5 or €5 per month per device. This gives you things like remote management, access to its current location, logs and more. While, this is optional the only other way to manage it is via the UniFi mobile app on iOS or Android. The UMR cannot be adopted to HostiFi or any other cloud hosted UniFi instances.

Specs

The UMR has a 775MHz CPU, 128MB memory and only supports 2.4GHz WiFi. For some reason, Ubiquiti decided to miss out the support of 5GHz. However, due to the device supporting PoE in and PoE passthrough, you could technically disable the WiFi on the UMR and use a UniFi AP.

The most controversial part of the UMR is the lacklustre LTE Category 4 radio, which only provides a maximum of 150mbps download and 50mbps upload. Considering there are plenty of CAT6 4G LTE devices out there from Mikrotik and others, Ubiquiti could have put a CAT5 or CAT6 modem in here.

On the front, there is a 1.3-inch touchscreen, identical to the ones we find on the UXG Pro, UDM SE and others. You can use it show current LTE signal, uptime, IMEI number, WAN IP address, throughput and much more. The screen works well and is a much better solution than that seen on other devices.

On the bottom are two ethernet ports, one for PoE in at 802.3af and one for LAN and PoE out. The PoE out port can be enabled via the UniFi app or the cloud portal. There is also a ATX connector for DC power at 9V. Otherwise, you can use the USB-C port on the left.

On the top is the removable antenna cover which reveals the two TS9 ports, which can be used for an external antenna. There is also a nano SIM card slot.

Conclusion

Ubiquiti have a double-edged sword kind of product here. On the one hand, with UniFi Mobility Ubiquiti looks to be targeting the fleet management market, with GPS tracking of vehicles and this could be very useful for that segment. I can see the delivery companies finding this useful to see where vans are and the benefit of the WiFi connection from the UMR might be useful for the drivers to complete deliveries. Especially as the antenna gain on the UMR should be better of that from a smartphone.

However, as a standard 4G LTE hotspot the UMR is flawed. It requires a subscription to manage it remotely and has out of date specs. That said, the device is built well, has flexible power options and can accept an external 4G antenna using TS9 connectors.

How could Ubiquiti improve it?

For a refreshed UMR Gen2, Ubiquiti should make it be able to adopt to UniFi, with no subscription is required, offer an upgraded LTE modem with at least CAT6 or even 5G. Finally, the addition of 5GHz WiFi would also be a welcome change.

Pricing and availability

Ubiquiti offer the UMR in the EU, UK and US. For Canada, the device is listed as "coming soon" and this would be the first 4G LTE device from Ubiquiti to be offered in the country. It is available from the official Ubiquiti stores for $199 US and just over £200 or €200 in the UK and EU.

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HostiFi

HostiFi provides hosting for both Ubiquiti and TP-Link software-defined-networking (SDN) applications, with servers for UniFi, UISP and Omada. We also offer professional networking consulting, with HostiFi Pro.