Is this the place to talk about finally upgrading from Airport Extremes?

[Khalanad75]

I just recently did this. I skipped the mesh system, and went with the Netgear Nighthawk X6 r8000P. I went from 120mb with drops in the corners of my 1600sqft house, to 500-700mb throughout.

We have the wife and I both working from home and 2 kids distance learning with non-stop zoom streams. I have had 1 drop in the 2 months since I have upgraded, and it came back in 15 seconds.

Just looking and we have a total of 21 devices connected. And I can still pull a strong signal and 500mb in the back corner of my backyard.

 

[hobowankenobi]

I just recently did this. I skipped the mesh system, and went with the Netgear Nighthawk X6 r8000P. I went from 120mb with drops in the corners of my 1600sqft house, to 500-700mb throughout.

We have the wife and I both working from home and 2 kids distance learning with non-stop zoom streams. I have had 1 drop in the 2 months since I have upgraded, and it came back in 15 seconds.

Just looking and we have a total of 21 devices connected. And I can still pull a strong signal and 500mb in the back corner of my backyard.

And that is the difference between a fairly current setup and something 5+ years old. Not much of a comparison.

My setup is 3 UBNT Unifi APs, not even current gen..all 80211AC. Rock-solid for years, with a similar load to yours, including working from home with constant Zoom or Netflix streaming happening. Probably a bit slower speeds, but never any issues. I have not tested performance for a long time, but there has been no need to test or troubleshoot.

 

[pldelisle]

Penetration of 5 GHz is poor. Signal gets attenuated very quickly. That's why a direct "sight" from device to AP is required for best signal and reliability. Having one big router isn't the solution anymore.

 

[VintageMac]

@VintageMac

I had a similar situation and used that ethernet cable to go directly to the user's PC in the far room. Wifi on my Airport Extreme, last edition, was just not doing it for her as she had an older non-AC wifi adapter in that laptop.

I'm still soldiering on with my Airport Extremes, since I've acquired a few of the last model off of Ebay within the last 18 months.

I also did that with someone who was living there earlier, but the current person needs wifi for her phone and laptop, so she is not always close to that port.

 

[jrm27]

Well, we replaced our Xfiniti internet with Century Link Fiber. They included a modem/wireless Setup that is apparently wifi 6. I'm looking to replace it, but for now, everything seems to be working much better. I get a stronger signal in my back office from just the one wireless router in the living room on the other end of the house. I can see the living room, but it's not quite line of sight. I get better speeds in the office, but still... not great. So I think when winter break hits and I've only got me doing mission-critical stuff (not my wife and daughter) I'll look into installing a mesh setup. But for now, I think it is going to be time to unplug my Airport Exremes.

 

[Kasalic]

Like many here I was running AirPort Extreme with 2 Airport Express units. As a note, I manage the IT for a veterinary hospital, and have installed a full UniFi system there with 25 access points, as well as a UniFi Video CCTV system. At home I went for the Ubiquiti AmpliFi HD, and this was both easy to setup and has worked flawlessly since installing. Great covereage and good speeds throughout the house, garden and Log Cabin in the garden which is used as an Office.

I know I could have gone down the UniFi route at home, but the AmpliFi stuff looks good and is easy to maintain.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Like many here I was running AirPort Extreme with 2 Airport Express units. As a note, I manage the IT for a veterinary hospital, and have installed a full UniFi system there with 25 access points, as well as a UniFi Video CCTV system. At home I went for the Ubiquiti AmpliFi HD, and this was both easy to setup and has worked flawlessly since installing. Great covereage and good speeds throughout the house, garden and Log Cabin in the garden which is used as an Office.

I know I could have gone down the UniFi route at home, but the AmpliFi stuff looks good and is easy to maintain.

Thanks for the report. Real reviews are gold as far as I am concerned, especially from a tech or savvy user.

 

[lermal]

Anyone use either of these:

Amplifi Alien - https://amplifi.com/alien
Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine - https://store.ui.com/collections/routing-switching/products/unifi-dream-machine

I just sold my home along with my Ubiquiti wireless setup (switch, gateway, AC-AP-Pro (x2), cloud key) and looking for another (albeit simpler) setup. I like the Dream Machine, but no Wifi 6.

 

[FNH15]

Anyone use either of these:

Amplifi Alien - https://amplifi.com/alien
Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine - https://store.ui.com/collections/routing-switching/products/unifi-dream-machine

I just sold my home along with my Ubiquiti wireless setup (switch, gateway, AC-AP-Pro (x2), cloud key) and looking for another (albeit simpler) setup. I like the Dream Machine, but no Wifi 6.

Upgraded from two AirPort Extremes in a mesh config (used power line ethernet as a backhaul) to a single Alien. This is in a 3000 sq ft home where even with two Extremes coverage was variable at the outer reaches of the home. The Alien is amazing. I’m getting 370 down / 30 up over wifi, even at the outer edges where I previously saw about 150 / 30. Reliability is phenomenal, DNS adblocking and Teleport are a nice bonus.

 

[SuperMatt]

Upgraded from two AirPort Extremes in a mesh config (used power line ethernet as a backhaul) to a single Alien. This is in a 3000 sq ft home where even with two Extremes coverage was variable at the outer reaches of the home. The Alien is amazing. I’m getting 370 down / 30 up over wifi, even at the outer edges where I previously saw about 150 / 30. Reliability is phenomenal, DNS adblocking and Teleport are a nice bonus.

I am still using airport routers, but that Alien one looks great, especially the VPN feature...

 

[lermal]

I am still using airport routers, but that Alien one looks great, especially the VPN feature.

I ended up ordering the Dream Machine - I like the UniFi interface and the management features offered by Ubiquiti. Also, only have 1 WiFi 6 capable device (iPhone 12 Pro Max), so I can wait and always add a WiFi 6 (or 6E) AP if needed. I came close to pulling the trigger on the Alien though.