Amplifi alien router has small range

[veisien]

I just bought 3 Amplifi alien router to replace my Netgear Nighthawk X6 AC3200. Everything about the Amplifi Alien router is great except when I am outside the house the connection is weak or I can’t even connect to my wifi. Setup was easy for this Amplifi Alien router and it looks sexy, wireless connection when inside the house is like wired connection, mobile app is amazing. For my Netgear X6 i don’t use any range extender with it. I put the Amplifi Alien Main router in exactly same spot, and using the other 2 Amplifi Alien as mesh spread out throughout the house, and the connection still weak Outside .   I also have Netgear Nighthawk XR500, and Synology RT2600ac, they all seem better than Amplifi Alien router when it comes to range. Youtube is the reason i bought this Amplifi Alien, every single review are positive about this router, now i feel like they all got it for free and paid to make positive reviews or their previous router are extremely old. My modem is Netgear CM1200, with 1000mbps down and 50up. Reason i need connection outside is both Of my vehicle needs internet for downloading stuff and security cameras.

[iCoExist]

I'm a Ubiquiti fan myself, though I've never tested out these Alien devices. I'm not going to get all science-y here, but one thing that I think can contribute to this is perhaps the antenna design. Your Nighthawk has external antennas that are (presumably) omni-directional, whereas the Alien is all internal and possibly has a different design. I suppose the power and gain of the antenna will be another factor in this as well.

 

I'm not sure how into networking you are, but there's also different frequencies for Wifi. Most of your ranged wifi comes from the 2.4GHz range, where it can better penetrate walls and other objects. However, if you're going for speed, we're probably using the 5GHz band and it has a much harder time penetrating walls and other objects.

[veisien]

5 minutes ago, iCoExist said:

I'm a Ubiquiti fan myself, though I've never tested out these Alien devices. I'm not going to get all science-y here, but one thing that I think can contribute to this is perhaps the antenna design. Your Nighthawk has external antennas that are (presumably) omni-directional, whereas the Alien is all internal and possibly has a different design. I suppose the power and gain of the antenna will be another factor in this as well.

 

I'm not sure how into networking you are, but there's also different frequencies for Wifi. Most of your ranged wifi comes from the 2.4GHz range, where it can better penetrate walls and other objects. However, if you're going for speed, we're probably using the 5GHz band and it has a much harder time penetrating walls and other objects.

I can see exactly which device are running 2.4ghz or 5ghz using the Amplifi mobile app. And i have placed the one of the mesh Amplifi alien router against the wall where my car is parked still weak connection, my car and the mesh is like 10 ft away from each other, maybe the exterior walls has something in it.

[iCoExist]

1 minute ago, veisien said:

I can see exactly which device are running 2.4ghz or 5ghz using the Amplifi mobile app. And i have placed the one of the mesh Amplifi alien router against the wall where my car is parked still weak connection, my car and the mesh is like 10 ft away from each other, maybe the exterior walls has something in it.

Given this, the signal may be having a hard time getting through the wall.