Opinion on Ubiquiti AmpliFi Alien

[PunZ5K]

I'm looking to upgrade my router. I want to get a mesh network or something that could support 10+ devices and gaming. I was looking at Ubiquiti as an option and saw their new Amplifi Alien router. Any opinions on this? Or should I go with something more of a staple like Netgear or Asus?

[brwainer]

The Amplifi Alien hasn't been out long enough for there to be good reviews by really technical people - it went from being unannounced/rumored, to being available for purchase.

 

The hardware looks nice, although if you want to expand it you have to buy a whole second (or third) Alien unit, they don't have a cut down mesh-only (non-router) unit like the Amplifi HD or most other Mesh systems offer.

 

The feature set of Amplifi is the same as their other competitors in the mesh space - you'll get a wireless system that lets you view and control clients, but it won't have the ability to connect each SSID to a different VLAN, for example. For most home users the feature set is adequate.

[Donut417]

11 hours ago, PunZ5K said:

I'm looking to upgrade my router. I want to get a mesh network or something that could support 10+ devices and gaming. I was looking at Ubiquiti as an option and saw their new Amplifi Alien router. Any opinions on this? Or should I go with something more of a staple like Netgear or Asus?

WiFi 6 is NEW. Plus the fact that 3/4 of devices dont have WiFi 6 radios yet. Its going to be hard to figure out how it performs. Small Net Builder doesnt seem to have reviews yet and they are pretty much the authority on networking gear as they do all the testing. Im the type to say wait for WiFi 6. Wait a year or so for more support and better hardware. 

[PunZ5K]

so any recommendations on a new mesh system? 

[Donut417]

20 minutes ago, PunZ5K said:

so any recommendations on a new mesh system? 

The only system I have even a remote expirence in is the Google one. My sister set it up, so it doesnt take a rocket scientist to do. Seems to work well, at least for them. When ever I go over there my phone seems to work well on the network. 

[ITTECH]

On 11/30/2019 at 11:31 PM, brwainer said:

The Amplifi Alien hasn't been out long enough for there to be good reviews by really technical people - it went from being unannounced/rumored, to being available for purchase.

 

The hardware looks nice, although if you want to expand it you have to buy a whole second (or third) Alien unit, they don't have a cut down mesh-only (non-router) unit like the Amplifi HD or most other Mesh systems offer.

 

The feature set of Amplifi is the same as their other competitors in the mesh space - you'll get a wireless system that lets you view and control clients, but it won't have the ability to connect each SSID to a different VLAN, for example. For most home users the feature set is adequate.

Um that is not correct. Yes you can buy a mesh point. This has already been heavily tested by "network people". Its been iperf tested as well.

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Edited January 7, 2020 by SansVarnic
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[brwainer]

48 minutes ago, ITTECH said:

Um that is not correct. Yes you can buy a mesh point. This has already been heavily tested by "network people". Its been iperf tested as well.

Check youtubecitdumbass.

You are quoting a post that is over one month old, and was written before people really tested them thoroughly. Do you expect me to go back and update every old statement I’ve made? I’m sure I can go through your posts and find things that were true at the time you wrote them but not true now. 
 

Specifically I was talking about the fact that most Ubiquiti products go through Early Access with semi-public beta testing. The Amplifi Alien did not.

 

50 minutes ago, ITTECH said:

Yes you can buy a mesh point.

What is the model number of an Amplifi mesh point with Wifi 6 that is not the Alien? It doesn't exist as of 2020-01-07. The available mesh units (ones that don’t have all the router bits inside) are not Wifi 6. The selling feature of the Amplifi Alien versus the prior Amplifi models is Wifi 6, therefore although it may work with the units without Wifi 6, I don’t consider them as being in the same family. The “TRUE GIGABIT MESH” they advertise will not work with the existing Amplifi mesh units. The Alien product page says “Buy additional units to increase range and add capacity.” which means Ubiquiti expects consumers to buy multiple complete Alien units, they don’t advertise a mesh-only Wifi 6 point. https://amplifi.com/alien

[Alex Atkin UK]

I'm still rather surprised they released a WiFi 6 unit at all right now, as WiFi 6 wont be ratified until the end of the year so its STILL not guaranteed to be 100% feature complete.

 

Its why I upgraded to a unifiHD in the meantime with the goal of switching to a WiFi 6 unit later. (but then I keep my router and WiFi as independent devices so I can upgrade either without impacting each other)