Amplifi hd mesh wifi system - a review

[Mad153]

Coronavirus took a toll on the house WiFi. Mainly because our isp router doesn't play well with many devices, so I decided I needed a mesh router. A refund from Amazon after a terrible experience with Netgear later and I ended up with a ubiquiti AMPLIFI HD (gaming edition). 

 

I bought this router for £275 on sale. It's typically 300£ or 380 USD

 

#this is a review of what I have used of it or seen#

 

I bought the gaming edition because it was the only one that was in stock. (It's virtually identical to the non gaming one). 

 

My setup:

Bt gigafast internet over copper (average speeds of about 130, but is only guaranteed  of 100)  > generic Huawei modem form openreach (mt992) > AMPLIFI

 

 

Looks

i don't have any pictures to hand, except of this shot of its box and it on a desk:

It looks quite good on a desk and i like it's Matt black looks as well as the clock in the middle, which is touch sensitive and can be used to enable WPS or to show your current speed usage, total usage this month and the amount of devices connected as well as it's ip.

 

It also changes to show if something is wrong, for example if there's an issue with the internet coming into it. 

 

If you're not a fan, you can turn both the light and the screen off, forever or at schedules using the app. 

 

The mesh points are small and have led status lights on them (which can also be turned off or on). They look quite nice, again with that matt black and very minimalist design. Sort of looks like an apple product, except without the "magical" advertising.

 

I have used it with about 20 devices at the same time and it handles it just fine.

 

Now, for the speeds:

 

The amplifi has been a great success imo, but it's not for everyone. The mesh point speeds are about 70 ish down (I get 130 ish to the modem) but i don't really mind because my rig is a room away from the router. For those looking for ethernet speeds throughout your house, look elsewhere.

 

When you are connected to the router, it delivers constantly fast speeds that are only a few Mbps off an ethernet connection.  It has a built in low latency mode with the gaming flavour, but it sacrifices speed so I use "throughout" mode.

 

It's also very flexible, being a ubiquiti product. You can hardwire two routers together (providing they are from the AMPLIFI range) and have one act as an AP. This is handy because we have hardwire ethernet downstairs in my house, but upstairs we rely on the mesh.

 

And for the rest of the things it does:

 

The app (which is basically the only way to interface with it) is really thought out and has really helpful features, like a built on WPS button so you don't have to run about your house to press it. It also has a VPN (*let's not talk about those*) which seems quite good, except the fact it doesn't have a native windows app.

 

The app also has buttons to disable internet access for all devices or certain devices as well as a content filter for malware and other content.

 

There are other nice to haves too, such as a meter to see how much Mbps up and down you are pulling and a speed tester that takes priority over devices.

 

 

support

my start with this device was shaky. It had issues with Android devices disconnecting randomly, but both the thriving Reddit community and the live chat had me sorted, with a few manual controls changed in its limited online web GUI. The response times are very quick, with a guy ready to help on the livechat who continued with me on email, with an impressive fast response time of just a few hours. It also has a phone number, if you like talking to someone (although it's a us number only, but is free from hangouts or Google Voice) and an email based support.

 

Updates have been regular too, with a couple in the last few months (although updates are completely optional and rolling back an update is very easy). Some on the subreddit have complained that recent updates have made the system unstable, but from my experience, it works fine.

 

 

final thoughts

my amplifi system works great for my use case. It's fast near the router and stable throughout the house, with speeds everywhere that can sustain 4k yt and video calling programs. It's quite the hands on experience though, and I'm still dialing in my settings to my liking.

 

It's not something I would set up at my grandma's house, to say, as a set and forget system. It's not that at all. It's not an overly complicated system though either and I'm sure anyone can understand the settings needed to use it. 

 

I would recommend to anyone that needs a stable router and a mesh system. Just don't expect crazy WiFi speeds from the mesh points.