I have 3 story 7,000 sft home. I have had an Amplifi HD for around 5 years and it's working OK. For me 3 nodes with 1 node on each floor seems to work well. I had some wifi issues 2 years ago and decided to try something else. I thought I just had too many devices for the Amplifi. I have around 80 devices that connect.
So bought 3 Asus AC3100 routers and created an AIMesh network. I don't remember all of the issues I had but the main one was around separate networks and some of my home automation quit working and it was a real pain to get it up and running again. I ran into other issues I don't remember all that well (I am getting old). Eventually I figured out I had a different issue, it was related to a giant stereo that was automatically turning on with my home automation and causing interference with main router. I move some stuff around and fixed that issue. The AIMesh was such a mess that i tore it out and put the Amplifi HD back in.
My preference is to find a good mesh network that supports 3 nodes and is easy to setup. I don't care about "roaming" devices, the devices that matter don't move. I don't think that technology really works all that well anyways. I have just enough networking experience (and persistence) to be dangerous but from the last go around I just want something that I plug in and works and isn't going to create more than one network and try to connect them and fail to do it right without me digging in to make it work.
Smart connect is important to me. I do not want separate 2.4 and 5 networks. I don't really care about 6. My house is wired for old ethernet and none of it is hooked up. It would possible for me to do a bunch of work to get it functional again but unless it's going to be way better I prefer to go the easy route and just use wireless backhaul. The ability to set device groups and put them on timers is also important (I could live without it but it's nice to turn off all the streamers when the kids should be in bed).
I am considering buying the Amplifi Alien but it's not even listed on SNB mesh systems. Maybe these other newer system are just way better. I will have to research Alien again but I remember researching it before and coming to the conclusion i would need to buy 3 routers and not one 2 node system and a third router. I don't remember why but I will figure that out if I consider Alien.
My main question is around if I should give any of these others a try. Amplifi is rock solid but the HD is starting to strain. The number of devices I use has tripled since I bought it. I don't want to drop the $1100 for Amplifi Alien if I don't need to. I have had other Ubiquiti products and they are good. If someone convinces me its way better I would even consider going back to them. I had Unifi wifi mesh setup in my old house but just went away from it because it was overkill and when they came out with the consumer Amplifi system it was good enough.
So bought 3 Asus AC3100 routers and created an AIMesh network. I don't remember all of the issues I had but the main one was around separate networks and some of my home automation quit working and it was a real pain to get it up and running again. I ran into other issues I don't remember all that well (I am getting old). Eventually I figured out I had a different issue, it was related to a giant stereo that was automatically turning on with my home automation and causing interference with main router. I move some stuff around and fixed that issue. The AIMesh was such a mess that i tore it out and put the Amplifi HD back in.
My preference is to find a good mesh network that supports 3 nodes and is easy to setup. I don't care about "roaming" devices, the devices that matter don't move. I don't think that technology really works all that well anyways. I have just enough networking experience (and persistence) to be dangerous but from the last go around I just want something that I plug in and works and isn't going to create more than one network and try to connect them and fail to do it right without me digging in to make it work.
Smart connect is important to me. I do not want separate 2.4 and 5 networks. I don't really care about 6. My house is wired for old ethernet and none of it is hooked up. It would possible for me to do a bunch of work to get it functional again but unless it's going to be way better I prefer to go the easy route and just use wireless backhaul. The ability to set device groups and put them on timers is also important (I could live without it but it's nice to turn off all the streamers when the kids should be in bed).
I am considering buying the Amplifi Alien but it's not even listed on SNB mesh systems. Maybe these other newer system are just way better. I will have to research Alien again but I remember researching it before and coming to the conclusion i would need to buy 3 routers and not one 2 node system and a third router. I don't remember why but I will figure that out if I consider Alien.
My main question is around if I should give any of these others a try. Amplifi is rock solid but the HD is starting to strain. The number of devices I use has tripled since I bought it. I don't want to drop the $1100 for Amplifi Alien if I don't need to. I have had other Ubiquiti products and they are good. If someone convinces me its way better I would even consider going back to them. I had Unifi wifi mesh setup in my old house but just went away from it because it was overkill and when they came out with the consumer Amplifi system it was good enough.
