LOL right? You could easily see the size from other reviews or the box in the store. Your upload speed wont magically be faster if it's capped at 20mbps.
You are saturating your upload speed that is all you service provider is giving you. This router really needs to be fed Fiber! The best router in the world isn't going to magically give you more upload speed if that is all you are getting in the first place. This router was designed for gigabit fiber with many devices connecting to it!
Were you expecting it to somehow make your upload faster? O.o The latest update that came up for Aliens has me floored how fast I can download on Wifi. with 2x2 connections I get 600mbs down almost all over my house and across the street in the basket ball court. My biggest issue is it causes interference with my DJI drone.
This video isn’t what I was looking for. It was less technical and more personal choice that influenced his decision. It didn’t help me make a decision. It might help someone else though and the content was easy to see and follow.
Just a heads up the xbox only can download in between 200 and 400 megs for max speeds. It's definitely not any routers fault. Xbox states it maxes out at 600 but no matter the router I've never came close to that for longer than a few seconds then it drops down again between the numbers I said previously. Great video though. 👍
Oh and I’m in the U.K., I beta tested the Alien and sent it back after a week. The screen is cool, but it gave me moderate Nat on my consoles, and the WiFi range was poor. I had and still use a UniFi Dream Machine which gives me better WiFi coverage and open Nat on my consoles.
It looks amazing but I honestly think it’s overpriced crap, and I like Ubiquity equipment, I own a few of their products but this is a faulted on their end I think.
@@AlexManMe No got rid of it long ago, it was a pain in the ass and wouldn’t work with a Unifi access point. Was a nightmare trying to get rid of get them configured. I moved on from Unifi all together, I just use Eero for now, may change to something else though.
I bought this router and my range is terrible it definitely does not cover the square footage it claims and I shouldn't have to buy a mesh point to cover what this is supposed to cover by itself.
wow glada i watched the video i thought there were ACTUAL problems with it. glad to see by the video and the comments that everyone loves theirs and has been great. im late the alien party but i wanted something ubiquity. as most other routers were so weird looking, and bulky with 8 antenna sometimes, sticking out.
I bought this to replace my nearly 10 year old Apple Airport Extreme (the tall one). It is better in every respect, including Airplay reliability - my only complaint is no WPA 3 but that's it. I have it in a dark hallway and even the green light at the bottom is genuinely useful for me. I don't use it as a router, just in bridge mode (WiFi access point) and the range is loads better than the Apple.
I'm not sure about the alien router, but the dream machine has option to use wpa2, wpa2/wpa3, or wpa3, and of course open. I would be surprised if they didn't offer an option to do the same.
Check your internet provider, they might be selling you megabits instead of megabytes per second (Mbps vs MB/s) Downloads are usually shown in MB/s. If you paid for 1000 Mbps, divide that by 8 ( 1 megabyte = 8 megabits), and that would be your top MB/s download speed. 1000 Mbps / 8 = 125 MB/s
I own an Alien but at this point in the product life cycle I would suggest those thinking of purchasing hold out for the 6E variant. As for your Xbox issue if you close all games yes even those suspended in the background your download will be faster.
I was on the verge of returning this mesh system until I decided to dig down into the issue(s) I was having. First the Mesh wouldn't mesh, second the 2.4 Ghz wouldn't connect to some of my devices ( mostly older but not always ) that I was using before I upgraded. 1st I Learned to focus on just the issue at had because it's easy to get confused. The App and the connection of the mobile device is the key, it needs to be on your band. Second, you need to know what's happening with other channels around you. Third don't be hesitant to reach out to tech support. The system works, it just needs to know your environment.
First, it's megabits not megabytes per second. 1000 megabytes per second would be 8,000 megabits per second and NOBODY offers that(with the possible exception of some super tiny municipal ISPs that did fiber channel) There is no way you could get 1,000 megabytes per second on a consumer, or even prosumer router, as that would require 10 gigabit ethernet to the modem(plus overhead). Your ISP likely offers 1000/40 and there is nothing you can do to go above that. What the alien will get you, is better consistency over the ethernet portion of your network. So transferring a huge file will not bottom out as much and you will have fewer problems overall. Your Xbox is not transferring at optimal speeds because your ISP likely runs a caching server. My ISP does the same thing, and it is annoying as hell. To make the best performance, high traffic sites are mirrored at the ISP server farm and served directly to your modem. So instead of getting the data from the internet, you get it from the backbone at the CO, which is much faster. Now in a lot of cases, the files you want are not there, so the ISP has to fetch the files and then serve them to you, this is a lot slower until the ISP gets ahead of the curve(their connection is much faster than yours, obviously). As for wifi 6, yea, not a lot of devices support it, but a lot of devices can be made to support it for cheap. I bought a full set of intel 802.11ax adapters for all of my devices for about $22 each. You can buy the pci versions from amazon, and then just remove the mini pci cards from the adapter and install them in laptops or older motherboards that use the older technology, like 802.11ac. I mean, you do you, but the alien is a great upgrade from the HD, and offers a lot more stability. AX is a worthy upgrade. That being said, if you don't feel like upgrading to AX today, the cost will come down eventually and when the alien 2 comes out, the alien will likely be as cheap as the HD is now.
@@HandsomeGadgets That's fine, and most of what I said had nothing to do with the decision, merely pointing out what the issues were. I went the other way and had to try a lot of other routers and various networking configurations before settling on the alien as the best possible choice. I had the HD(which I returned) and the HD "Gaming edition"(which I returned), the asus wifi6 solution (which I couldn't return fast enough, it was terrible). My use case involves several servers in my house, tied to a switch, then going to the router, then attached to the modem through a security appliance(that I built) My main machine is attached to a 10gb ethernet card to a split use 10gb/2.5/1gb switch (2 ports are 10gb, 1 port is 2.5gb and the remaining 3 ports are 1 gb) The other 10gb port is sent to a home made NAS that stores all the files, does the backups, does the offsite stuff, etc. the 2.5 gb port goes to the cold backup and the remaining ports go to home automation and misc devices that need wired internet. The extra 3 downlink ports on the alien go to extra machines for the kiddos and lan parties and whatnot. In this config, the HD starts dropping packets like crazy, and even shuts down or reboots under high workloads. Moving a 20gb file across the network will cause the little HD a huge headache, but the alien has a much more robust processor, that can handle a lot more traffic before giving up. I had thought that the gamer edition of the HD could be adapted by way of the QoS rules to allow the machines that needed extra bandwidth to get it, while throttling the kids on netflix. That wasn't the case. There is also a HUGE difference on wifi 6 going to the laptop. I can watch raw, uncompressed video wirelessly over wifi 6 where as 802.11ac would stutter badly. I still have a little issue where if the server decides to wake and sync cold storage while I am doing something on the NAS drives, it can severely degrade throughput, even though it only has to direct the traffic, not actually transfer it. I plan on pulling the Asustor and thecus NASes out of mothballs to try and spread the load a little to mitigate this. I suppose my point is that the alien is great for one reason you didn't mention, the CPUs in that device rival prosumer or even professional grade networking components, at a fraction of the cost of those components. That allows you to do things that would not be possible on the HD or even things with much higher price tags, for example the asus RT--AX89X, that costs more than $50 more and falls to pieces under any reasonable load. It also bears repeating that the alien allows mesh with different hardware and has a back channel that can be redesignated for other things. That is insanely useful. Set one channel that has no access to all the servers, backups and whatnot, but does have access to the lighting and smart home stuff without having to deal with Vlan tagging and all the hassle therein. But if the HD works for you, in your deployment, that's great. For me it was a great space heater that rebooted every hour or so, lol.
The current retail price of this router is only $379. I have a significant amount of amazon gift cards, but on amazon the cheapest I'm able to find it for is $419. Why can't amazon or amazon sellers sell the router at retail value. I don't understand why its $40 above the retail price. I've noticed that happening more often on amazon more and more items listed at prices well about their retail values?? Suggestions??
I had this issue in the UK. The Ubiquity site quotes prices in Euro not GBP and they charge for delivery whereas the Amazon price is free delivery, it still worked out as 10 GBP more on Amazon. I guess the rest of difference is currency exchange charges.
Download AND uploads are limitations of your provider, its sounds like you're blaming the upload speeds by the device. Also, the last point is good, but it needs to be easier said "to do research before purchasing the device". After slapping myself about your second point, it's overall not a bad video. The thumbnail is going to get more clicks from tech nerds, but I can see why you're returning the device. Not that its a bad device, its just not something you currently need and is worth more to get your money back.
The Alien includes the Amplifi Teleport instant VPN to connect to your home network from anywhere. It used to require it's own device to use Teleport but it's built into the Alien.
My alien is going back to best buy as well. Why? Range... or lack thereof. It has very bad coverage in my house. I've been testing the Alien along with the ASUS AX86U, the ROG AX11000 and the new ROG AXE11000. I've also got that ubiquiti Unifi AP6LR, a Ruckus R710 and an Aruba IAP315. The AX86U is basically untouchable for the price. The AXE11000 is nearly identical in every way to the AX11000 other than the AX not having wifi 6E but nothing really in my house has the capability to connect to 6E so that one's going back and despite all the antennas of the AX1100 vs the AX86U, I couldn't tell a difference in normal device usage. They have the same CPU/RAM/etc and when I had every device on my network streaming TV and netflix and amazon prime all at the same time, both devices performed great. I don't need all the gamer stuff or anything like that and the AX11000 is huge compared to the AX86U. The AX86U's range is better than the Alien and signal strength was identical in far away areas of my house compared to the AX/AXE11000. The Ruckus was right there very close to the same range but not quite and the Aruba was lowest coverage of all of them but does come with the cloud management option to add more AP's into a mesh. The unifi AP had the best coverage of all of them but was not all that fast. Max download speed I saw when right next to it was 400~450mbps down vs 700~800 on the Alien and Asus units. What id DID have going for it was the ability to sustain relatively fast (150mbps ish) download speeds at a distance where the others had dropped to below 100 mpbs. the downside to it though was you have to have a ubiqiti controller to do the initial setup and change any configuration info but if you set it up with the SSID info, it's essentially plug and play assuming you're running the same DHCP network range as you were when you originally set it up. So which one stuck around? The AX86U.... and the AX11000. The AX11000 is fast, was in the budget for a main home router, has all the features I want but I kept the AX86U as the AI Mesh node on the other side of the house. Initially I planned to use the Unifi AP6 LR plugged into the ethernet back haul across the house but the ASUS device manager doesn't really know anything about those devices or how they're connecting. They all show up as ethernet devices because they're being carried back to the router via that ethernet backhaul despite all the devices actually being on Wifi. So having another ASUS router setup lets me view all the device info, what wifi band they're on and more importantly, lets those devices use the auto-negotiation of the channel they connect to that's managed by the main router. Also, the Alien only has the most basic of management features and I initially thought I wouldn't care, aka "just make all the devices work", I just couldn't relinquish that much control. On the plus side, it was by FAR the easiest to setup and would probably be my top choice for a consumer needing a fast and easy to setup router with zero tech skills and a small enough work space that the range won't be an issue.
Yo need to get your facts right bro. First of all, who buys the Alien without having WiFi 6 devices? Another important thing is that upload and download speeds depend on the server and your ISP provider. Have you made your speed tests without any consumption whatsoever in your home directly through your modem? Is your ISP server provider saturated ? There's a LOT of things you need to know before posting these videos bro. Sorry, the Alien IS the best out there right now, based on performance, functionalities and technology. This is for PROS.
Are you bypassing your providers router and using the alien as your primary router? I’m getting 900 up 900 down. Did you properly set this router up? I don’t just mean plugging it in and connecting to it.
I have 3 of these. One as the main router and the other 2 as extended mesh points for range. My room however is connected to the 3rd one since my room is furthest from the main router. So my question is how should I connect my Xbox through the 3rd one? Through wifi or connect it straight to it with Ethernet?
Weird, there is not a single argument you hadn't known before buying this. Was it just clickbait to do a review on something you didn't want to pay for?
@@HandsomeGadgets You know, it would be much more helpful if you had your honest opinion on things like features, reliability, speed, usability instead of stuff you should have known before ordering and then stating the obvious on the net.
I have a UDM and just bought an Alien today. gonna hook it up tonight and see where the chips fall. I've been using Unifi stuff at home for years and have deployed over 50 small business unifi environments but the UDM fan is loud and spins up all the time and is super distracting in my office near me. On the other hand, you do have all the advanced control over your network, devices, full remote management web UI, etc but with the recent ubiquiti hack, the noise from the fan and (though not a huge deal for my virtually no wifi 6 device environment) no wifi 6, I'm ready for a change. I DO have the new ubiquiti AP6 LR AP that I'm going to keep using on my network and if I need to reconfigure it, I'll just hook the UDM back up and change whatever. It's a fast AP and has tremendous coverage so zero complaints about that. Hell, I'd actually go so far as to say if you want good wifi 6 coverage, you could just get that AP and then setup the controller software on your computer to manage it and the rest of your network/client devices. I used to do this when I had the Ubiquiti UDM and their 8 port POE switch.
@@FastRedPonyCar thank you for you input looking forward to hearing your update on using AP vs UDM. My needs are simple and trying to understand if I should future proof for wifi 6 or stay with wifi 5?
@@DPpl-nu6km So far, so good. The Alien is much faster than either the UDM or the UAP6 LR access point but the coverage of the UAP6 is huge. So you sacrifice speed for coverage (though it's still fast). If single AP coverage is what you are after and you want as plug and play as possible, the Alien is hard to beat but you get basically zero management capabilities on the unit and your connected devices. I've actually got 2 new routers ordered to test vs the Alien. One is the Asus AX86U (arriving today) and the other is the ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 still on backorder with NewEgg. I think that (as someone who really does like to have more management control over my network) I'm going to be taking the Alien back to best buy when I get the AX86U hooked up and when the AXE11000 arrives, if it's not much better than the AX86U, It'll go back but if it is really as badass as it looks on paper, I'll put it in my office where my internet connection comes in and then setup the AX86U as an AI Mesh node somewhere else in my house. For the $250 price, the AX86U seems like the best bang for the buck and it's still fast with full management capabilities if you want it. So yeah, long story short, I probably would just get the AX86U if I were you. The ASUS routers are really simple to setup and if all you want is plug and play, you get that but if you DO want to really tinker with the network settings, you have that ability also. The Alien's sleek aesthetic and built in display screen is awesome but not enough to win me over. That's kind of the thing I'm gritting my teeth on with that AXE11000. It's absolutely hideous but I get why it needs to look like an upside down spider. It can potentially cover my whole home but since I've already got an ethernet cable running across to the other side of the house, I'll still have a wired mesh node there.
From what you've said, returning it is the best option. It is an expensive router and WiFi setup, especially if you don't need what it offers. You clearly don't need to upgrade from WiFi 5 to a 6 or 6E capable router setup as you don't have any devices that support it (though it's fairly cheap to upgrade laptops and PCs to do this). Also, it's clear your uploads are limited by your ISP, not your router. You could get the fastest router in the world and you'll still be limited with the bandwidth you get from your nearest exchange. If you ever revisit this and do want a good WiFi 6 mesh setup, I'd recommend one with backhaul or look at wiring up some access points from Ubiquiti instead.
@@HandsomeGadgets The Amplifi HD definitely looks better and will give you more bang for your buck. My house is wired so I'm still swaying between a good mesh system or just getting access points. APs are probably the better bet.
@@HandsomeGadgets yes you do know, because the Ethernet port on your router doesn’t care if it’s downlink or uplink, it’s always going to be a gigabit port. Also, you can check your internet service plan on your ISP’s website.
Here in the U.K. it’s not worth buying it as it’s only a dual band system, so if you want to use it as a Mesh system the back haul won’t be as fast as the US model. And most tech reviewers have UniFi kit, not Amplifi, or Asus routers.
@@HandsomeGadgets yeah, have no idea why they did that. The Alien looks great though and much better then those routers that look like spiders on their backs.
Just saying Megabytes per second ....... its not Megabyte per second normally, Megabyte per second is done as MB/s mbit, which you have, which is GIGABIT... is Mbit or shorter mb/s (SMALL letters). And the download speed you got... because nobody else is as fast... well.. yeah you should go better using Amplify HD, thats a good one. Just waiting for the Dream Router
I'm sorry to break it to ya, but EVERYTHING ever posted on the internet is click bait. click·bait /ˈklikbāt/ Learn to pronounce noun noun: click bait (on the internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page
So, you're basis of returning this is that you don't have Wi-Fi 6, the upload speed isn't any faster (well probably because that is the upload speed of your ISP if it's only 40mbps), it's too pretty, and it's too big and whatever other reason you gave.... Gosh, that is literally useless information. Thanks...
''wasted time'' u can click away if u dont like it and its only 5 min, i think he did a great job explaining why he is returning the device. thats what the title states ''5 reasons why IM returning...'' not why you should buy it or get rid of it
Mega bytes and mega bits are different. You keep saying mega bytes '200 mega bytes per second'. No, you are not getting 200MBps, that equals 1600Mbps, are you sure??? I don't think so. Bad review. You knew the price before buying but later make it a reason to return.
You talk about the speed. I am sorry but all you do is talking, talking, and talking on front the device. It is better to show proof which I dont see it. I think you better sustain your arguments with real info. Like speed from your Internet carrier Upload, download. Today corrobatated info is better than talking.
My. Alien has been the best router I ever used. Speeds are incredible and reliability is great.
Nice 👍. I'm glad it's working out for you.
Same here! Beast!
Same here. Never have to reboot for some dumb reason like my previous routers.
Terrible reasons for a return. This has been one of the best routers I’ve owned.
literally all these reasons are your own fault or lack of knowledge of the technology.
That's why it's my own reasons why I returned it.
LOL right? You could easily see the size from other reviews or the box in the store. Your upload speed wont magically be faster if it's capped at 20mbps.
You are saturating your upload speed that is all you service provider is giving you. This router really needs to be fed Fiber! The best router in the world isn't going to magically give you more upload speed if that is all you are getting in the first place. This router was designed for gigabit fiber with many devices connecting to it!
Unfortunately, fiber isn't available in my area.
@@HandsomeGadgets oh dang that sucks
Were you expecting it to somehow make your upload faster? O.o The latest update that came up for Aliens has me floored how fast I can download on Wifi. with 2x2 connections I get 600mbs down almost all over my house and across the street in the basket ball court. My biggest issue is it causes interference with my DJI drone.
This video isn’t what I was looking for. It was less technical and more personal choice that influenced his decision. It didn’t help me make a decision. It might help someone else though and the content was easy to see and follow.
Thank you for understanding. This video reflects only my opinion.
Just a heads up the xbox only can download in between 200 and 400 megs for max speeds. It's definitely not any routers fault. Xbox states it maxes out at 600 but no matter the router I've never came close to that for longer than a few seconds then it drops down again between the numbers I said previously. Great video though. 👍
Thank you 🙏
These guys running on 100-300mbps and here i am running on 2mbs. . .
My connection downloads and uploads perfectly
Oh and I’m in the U.K., I beta tested the Alien and sent it back after a week. The screen is cool, but it gave me moderate Nat on my consoles, and the WiFi range was poor. I had and still use a UniFi Dream Machine which gives me better WiFi coverage and open Nat on my consoles.
Nice 👍
It looks amazing but I honestly think it’s overpriced crap, and I like Ubiquity equipment, I own a few of their products but this is a faulted on their end I think.
@@Jinkle I don’t use any Ubiquiti products. Now, sold them all, they are buggy messes. The Alien is way overpriced for what it is.
I’m also in the UK just wondering are you still using the dream machine?
@@AlexManMe No got rid of it long ago, it was a pain in the ass and wouldn’t work with a Unifi access point. Was a nightmare trying to get rid of get them configured. I moved on from Unifi all together, I just use Eero for now, may change to something else though.
All devices including legacy devices support Wi-Fi 6. It is the Wi-Fi 6E that is not supported by Legacy devices
I bought this router and my range is terrible it definitely does not cover the square footage it claims and I shouldn't have to buy a mesh point to cover what this is supposed to cover by itself.
I never had an issue with range, but every home is different.
wow glada i watched the video i thought there were ACTUAL problems with it. glad to see by the video and the comments that everyone loves theirs and has been great. im late the alien party but i wanted something ubiquity. as most other routers were so weird looking, and bulky with 8 antenna sometimes, sticking out.
I bought this to replace my nearly 10 year old Apple Airport Extreme (the tall one). It is better in every respect, including Airplay reliability - my only complaint is no WPA 3 but that's it. I have it in a dark hallway and even the green light at the bottom is genuinely useful for me. I don't use it as a router, just in bridge mode (WiFi access point) and the range is loads better than the Apple.
I'm not sure about the alien router, but the dream machine has option to use wpa2, wpa2/wpa3, or wpa3, and of course open. I would be surprised if they didn't offer an option to do the same.
"I like a nice clean set up" as you show us a crowded messy desk 🤣. I get the smaller form factor but come on.
Organized... Messy desk lol
@@HandsomeGadgets 😂
You didn’t know anything about Wi-Fi technology. So better send it back yes 🤣
Check your internet provider, they might be selling you megabits instead of megabytes per second (Mbps vs MB/s)
Downloads are usually shown in MB/s.
If you paid for 1000 Mbps, divide that by 8 ( 1 megabyte = 8 megabits), and that would be your top MB/s download speed.
1000 Mbps / 8 = 125 MB/s
I own an Alien but at this point in the product life cycle I would suggest those thinking of purchasing hold out for the 6E variant. As for your Xbox issue if you close all games yes even those suspended in the background your download will be faster.
Cool. Thanks for the advice.
Is there a mesh network that offers Wi-Fi 6E that you know of?
@@CarlosMiranda-id4vd Not at this time later this year they will start to roll out. Prepare to pay a premium though.
@@ShawnLangford thanks for getting back to me I really appreciate it.
@@CarlosMiranda-id4vd Yeah the $1200 Linksys Atlas Max.
I was on the verge of returning this mesh system until I decided to dig down into the issue(s) I was having. First the Mesh wouldn't mesh, second the 2.4 Ghz wouldn't connect to some of my devices ( mostly older but not always ) that I was using before I upgraded. 1st I Learned to focus on just the issue at had because it's easy to get confused. The App and the connection of the mobile device is the key, it needs to be on your band. Second, you need to know what's happening with other channels around you. Third don't be hesitant to reach out to tech support. The system works, it just needs to know your environment.
Unfortunately they have now closed the online help forum on the Ubiquiti website for Amplifi, it has now been moved to Facebook! Not a good move IMO.
one thousand megabytes a second, *triggered*
I went with two alien routers and my AmpliFi hd mesh system is in the closet with the orbi.
send them to me then
First, it's megabits not megabytes per second. 1000 megabytes per second would be 8,000 megabits per second and NOBODY offers that(with the possible exception of some super tiny municipal ISPs that did fiber channel) There is no way you could get 1,000 megabytes per second on a consumer, or even prosumer router, as that would require 10 gigabit ethernet to the modem(plus overhead). Your ISP likely offers 1000/40 and there is nothing you can do to go above that. What the alien will get you, is better consistency over the ethernet portion of your network. So transferring a huge file will not bottom out as much and you will have fewer problems overall. Your Xbox is not transferring at optimal speeds because your ISP likely runs a caching server. My ISP does the same thing, and it is annoying as hell. To make the best performance, high traffic sites are mirrored at the ISP server farm and served directly to your modem. So instead of getting the data from the internet, you get it from the backbone at the CO, which is much faster. Now in a lot of cases, the files you want are not there, so the ISP has to fetch the files and then serve them to you, this is a lot slower until the ISP gets ahead of the curve(their connection is much faster than yours, obviously). As for wifi 6, yea, not a lot of devices support it, but a lot of devices can be made to support it for cheap. I bought a full set of intel 802.11ax adapters for all of my devices for about $22 each. You can buy the pci versions from amazon, and then just remove the mini pci cards from the adapter and install them in laptops or older motherboards that use the older technology, like 802.11ac. I mean, you do you, but the alien is a great upgrade from the HD, and offers a lot more stability. AX is a worthy upgrade. That being said, if you don't feel like upgrading to AX today, the cost will come down eventually and when the alien 2 comes out, the alien will likely be as cheap as the HD is now.
What can I say, sometimes I make mistakes 🤷♂️. I'm still content with my decision.
@@HandsomeGadgets That's fine, and most of what I said had nothing to do with the decision, merely pointing out what the issues were. I went the other way and had to try a lot of other routers and various networking configurations before settling on the alien as the best possible choice. I had the HD(which I returned) and the HD "Gaming edition"(which I returned), the asus wifi6 solution (which I couldn't return fast enough, it was terrible). My use case involves several servers in my house, tied to a switch, then going to the router, then attached to the modem through a security appliance(that I built) My main machine is attached to a 10gb ethernet card to a split use 10gb/2.5/1gb switch (2 ports are 10gb, 1 port is 2.5gb and the remaining 3 ports are 1 gb) The other 10gb port is sent to a home made NAS that stores all the files, does the backups, does the offsite stuff, etc. the 2.5 gb port goes to the cold backup and the remaining ports go to home automation and misc devices that need wired internet. The extra 3 downlink ports on the alien go to extra machines for the kiddos and lan parties and whatnot. In this config, the HD starts dropping packets like crazy, and even shuts down or reboots under high workloads. Moving a 20gb file across the network will cause the little HD a huge headache, but the alien has a much more robust processor, that can handle a lot more traffic before giving up. I had thought that the gamer edition of the HD could be adapted by way of the QoS rules to allow the machines that needed extra bandwidth to get it, while throttling the kids on netflix. That wasn't the case. There is also a HUGE difference on wifi 6 going to the laptop. I can watch raw, uncompressed video wirelessly over wifi 6 where as 802.11ac would stutter badly. I still have a little issue where if the server decides to wake and sync cold storage while I am doing something on the NAS drives, it can severely degrade throughput, even though it only has to direct the traffic, not actually transfer it. I plan on pulling the Asustor and thecus NASes out of mothballs to try and spread the load a little to mitigate this.
I suppose my point is that the alien is great for one reason you didn't mention, the CPUs in that device rival prosumer or even professional grade networking components, at a fraction of the cost of those components. That allows you to do things that would not be possible on the HD or even things with much higher price tags, for example the asus RT--AX89X, that costs more than $50 more and falls to pieces under any reasonable load. It also bears repeating that the alien allows mesh with different hardware and has a back channel that can be redesignated for other things. That is insanely useful. Set one channel that has no access to all the servers, backups and whatnot, but does have access to the lighting and smart home stuff without having to deal with Vlan tagging and all the hassle therein. But if the HD works for you, in your deployment, that's great. For me it was a great space heater that rebooted every hour or so, lol.
it's reliable, good speeds, but for the life of me i can't figure out the IP to access settings outside of the app.
The current retail price of this router is only $379. I have a significant amount of amazon gift cards, but on amazon the cheapest I'm able to find it for is $419. Why can't amazon or amazon sellers sell the router at retail value. I don't understand why its $40 above the retail price. I've noticed that happening more often on amazon more and more items listed at prices well about their retail values?? Suggestions??
I had this issue in the UK. The Ubiquity site quotes prices in Euro not GBP and they charge for delivery whereas the Amazon price is free delivery, it still worked out as 10 GBP more on Amazon. I guess the rest of difference is currency exchange charges.
Megabits I believe
No, belief needed. You are correct. When it comes to the net we are always talking bits which is 8 times smaller than a byte.
I have HD, can I just the alien the same sssid number and everything will
Connect
Download AND uploads are limitations of your provider,
its sounds like you're blaming the upload speeds by the device.
Also, the last point is good, but it needs to be easier said "to do research before purchasing the device".
After slapping myself about your second point, it's overall not a bad video.
The thumbnail is going to get more clicks from tech nerds, but I can see why you're returning the device.
Not that its a bad device, its just not something you currently need and is worth more to get your money back.
Exactly. I still love and use the Amplifi HD. That little cube still works best for me.
Try Asus AXE11000 router
I return this Alien router too. Speed is great, range too, but im more advanced user, no VPN, cannot connect to my Sinology from outside.
I've heard some have the same issue as you.
Lol and i was almost buying this for my synology lol
The Alien includes the Amplifi Teleport instant VPN to connect to your home network from anywhere. It used to require it's own device to use Teleport but it's built into the Alien.
Get a Unifi Dream Machine instead. Much more functionality.
My alien is going back to best buy as well. Why? Range... or lack thereof. It has very bad coverage in my house. I've been testing the Alien along with the ASUS AX86U, the ROG AX11000 and the new ROG AXE11000. I've also got that ubiquiti Unifi AP6LR, a Ruckus R710 and an Aruba IAP315.
The AX86U is basically untouchable for the price. The AXE11000 is nearly identical in every way to the AX11000 other than the AX not having wifi 6E but nothing really in my house has the capability to connect to 6E so that one's going back and despite all the antennas of the AX1100 vs the AX86U, I couldn't tell a difference in normal device usage. They have the same CPU/RAM/etc and when I had every device on my network streaming TV and netflix and amazon prime all at the same time, both devices performed great. I don't need all the gamer stuff or anything like that and the AX11000 is huge compared to the AX86U.
The AX86U's range is better than the Alien and signal strength was identical in far away areas of my house compared to the AX/AXE11000.
The Ruckus was right there very close to the same range but not quite and the Aruba was lowest coverage of all of them but does come with the cloud management option to add more AP's into a mesh.
The unifi AP had the best coverage of all of them but was not all that fast. Max download speed I saw when right next to it was 400~450mbps down vs 700~800 on the Alien and Asus units. What id DID have going for it was the ability to sustain relatively fast (150mbps ish) download speeds at a distance where the others had dropped to below 100 mpbs. the downside to it though was you have to have a ubiqiti controller to do the initial setup and change any configuration info but if you set it up with the SSID info, it's essentially plug and play assuming you're running the same DHCP network range as you were when you originally set it up.
So which one stuck around? The AX86U.... and the AX11000. The AX11000 is fast, was in the budget for a main home router, has all the features I want but I kept the AX86U as the AI Mesh node on the other side of the house.
Initially I planned to use the Unifi AP6 LR plugged into the ethernet back haul across the house but the ASUS device manager doesn't really know anything about those devices or how they're connecting. They all show up as ethernet devices because they're being carried back to the router via that ethernet backhaul despite all the devices actually being on Wifi. So having another ASUS router setup lets me view all the device info, what wifi band they're on and more importantly, lets those devices use the auto-negotiation of the channel they connect to that's managed by the main router.
Also, the Alien only has the most basic of management features and I initially thought I wouldn't care, aka "just make all the devices work", I just couldn't relinquish that much control. On the plus side, it was by FAR the easiest to setup and would probably be my top choice for a consumer needing a fast and easy to setup router with zero tech skills and a small enough work space that the range won't be an issue.
The fast speeds of downloading is for multiple devices using the internet at once. Your never going to get 1gig download on one device.
I see 🤔
I bought mine and still enjoy mine
Yo need to get your facts right bro. First of all, who buys the Alien without having WiFi 6 devices? Another important thing is that upload and download speeds depend on the server and your ISP provider. Have you made your speed tests without any consumption whatsoever in your home directly through your modem? Is your ISP server provider saturated ? There's a LOT of things you need to know before posting these videos bro. Sorry, the Alien IS the best out there right now, based on performance, functionalities and technology. This is for PROS.
I appreciate the advice.
do u have to pay for it monthly or can you just buy it and it’s unlimited internet??
Yes, I have to pay monthly for my internet.
@@HandsomeGadgets what is your current Internet speed and does this maxes out the speed?
I get about 400 down and 45 up.
@@HandsomeGadgets i know that will sound stupid but I have 20 download and 7upload. Do you think this would increase my speed?
Only if you're paying for faster speeds and not getting them.
Is the amplifi HD good for gaming or is the alien better ?
It depends on how far away from the router you'll be.
Its the opposite for me. I get more upload then dowload
Dang... What's your speeds?
Are you bypassing your providers router and using the alien as your primary router?
I’m getting 900 up 900 down.
Did you properly set this router up? I don’t just mean plugging it in and connecting to it.
Same here 900-1000 up and down with CenturyLink no modem.
What about amplifi gamer's edition?
I haven't tried that yet.
I have 3 of these. One as the main router and the other 2 as extended mesh points for range. My room however is connected to the 3rd one since my room is furthest from the main router. So my question is how should I connect my Xbox through the 3rd one? Through wifi or connect it straight to it with Ethernet?
It's always best to connect it via eithernet. That's how I have mine connected.
Dude... your upload speeds are capped by your ISP.
Weird, there is not a single argument you hadn't known before buying this. Was it just clickbait to do a review on something you didn't want to pay for?
It was just my honest opinion. Just like the rest of my content.
@@HandsomeGadgets You know, it would be much more helpful if you had your honest opinion on things like features, reliability, speed, usability instead of stuff you should have known before ordering and then stating the obvious on the net.
I guess you didn't see the first video czcams.com/video/Ovovx4LkJ6U/video.html
Sooo you have no legitimate concerns about the router???
Not at this moment.
MEGABITS! Come on you should know better.
Sorry, I'm not perfect.
Got mine for $278
IF you are getting "2-300 Megabytes" download then this is the fastest router in the world. Or do you mean 2-300 MEGABITS?
How would you compare the unifi dream machine vs alien?
I have a UDM and just bought an Alien today. gonna hook it up tonight and see where the chips fall. I've been using Unifi stuff at home for years and have deployed over 50 small business unifi environments but the UDM fan is loud and spins up all the time and is super distracting in my office near me. On the other hand, you do have all the advanced control over your network, devices, full remote management web UI, etc but with the recent ubiquiti hack, the noise from the fan and (though not a huge deal for my virtually no wifi 6 device environment) no wifi 6, I'm ready for a change.
I DO have the new ubiquiti AP6 LR AP that I'm going to keep using on my network and if I need to reconfigure it, I'll just hook the UDM back up and change whatever. It's a fast AP and has tremendous coverage so zero complaints about that. Hell, I'd actually go so far as to say if you want good wifi 6 coverage, you could just get that AP and then setup the controller software on your computer to manage it and the rest of your network/client devices. I used to do this when I had the Ubiquiti UDM and their 8 port POE switch.
@@FastRedPonyCar thank you for you input looking forward to hearing your update on using AP vs UDM. My needs are simple and trying to understand if I should future proof for wifi 6 or stay with wifi 5?
@@DPpl-nu6km So far, so good. The Alien is much faster than either the UDM or the UAP6 LR access point but the coverage of the UAP6 is huge. So you sacrifice speed for coverage (though it's still fast).
If single AP coverage is what you are after and you want as plug and play as possible, the Alien is hard to beat but you get basically zero management capabilities on the unit and your connected devices.
I've actually got 2 new routers ordered to test vs the Alien. One is the Asus AX86U (arriving today) and the other is the ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 still on backorder with NewEgg.
I think that (as someone who really does like to have more management control over my network) I'm going to be taking the Alien back to best buy when I get the AX86U hooked up and when the AXE11000 arrives, if it's not much better than the AX86U, It'll go back but if it is really as badass as it looks on paper, I'll put it in my office where my internet connection comes in and then setup the AX86U as an AI Mesh node somewhere else in my house.
For the $250 price, the AX86U seems like the best bang for the buck and it's still fast with full management capabilities if you want it.
So yeah, long story short, I probably would just get the AX86U if I were you. The ASUS routers are really simple to setup and if all you want is plug and play, you get that but if you DO want to really tinker with the network settings, you have that ability also.
The Alien's sleek aesthetic and built in display screen is awesome but not enough to win me over. That's kind of the thing I'm gritting my teeth on with that AXE11000. It's absolutely hideous but I get why it needs to look like an upside down spider. It can potentially cover my whole home but since I've already got an ethernet cable running across to the other side of the house, I'll still have a wired mesh node there.
You thought your upload speeds would get faster with a new router? You do know that is also dependant on your IP.
You don't know unless you try 🤷♂️
@@HandsomeGadgets Yes you do. You simply call your IP provider. Duh!
From what you've said, returning it is the best option.
It is an expensive router and WiFi setup, especially if you don't need what it offers. You clearly don't need to upgrade from WiFi 5 to a 6 or 6E capable router setup as you don't have any devices that support it (though it's fairly cheap to upgrade laptops and PCs to do this).
Also, it's clear your uploads are limited by your ISP, not your router. You could get the fastest router in the world and you'll still be limited with the bandwidth you get from your nearest exchange.
If you ever revisit this and do want a good WiFi 6 mesh setup, I'd recommend one with backhaul or look at wiring up some access points from Ubiquiti instead.
Thank you 🙏. In my situation, I thought returning it was best. I enjoy what the Amplifi HD has to offer.
@@HandsomeGadgets The Amplifi HD definitely looks better and will give you more bang for your buck. My house is wired so I'm still swaying between a good mesh system or just getting access points. APs are probably the better bet.
1:31 it's mega BIT per second!!
Indeed
So isit good for gaming?
It is, but so is the Amplifi HD.
Why would you think a router would increase your upload speed to CZcams? That’s your ISP’s job
You don't know unless you try.
@@HandsomeGadgets yes you do know, because the Ethernet port on your router doesn’t care if it’s downlink or uplink, it’s always going to be a gigabit port. Also, you can check your internet service plan on your ISP’s website.
Here in the U.K. it’s not worth buying it as it’s only a dual band system, so if you want to use it as a Mesh system the back haul won’t be as fast as the US model. And most tech reviewers have UniFi kit, not Amplifi, or Asus routers.
Yeah, that could be a problem.
@@HandsomeGadgets yeah, have no idea why they did that. The Alien looks great though and much better then those routers that look like spiders on their backs.
What about the coverage
Oh, so no performance issues. Just your preferences. So if we have an older router this would be better to upgrade to!
Yeah, it may work for you. But I just wanted to share my thoughts as to why I'm sticking with the Amlifi HD.
Just saying Megabytes per second ....... its not Megabyte per second normally, Megabyte per second is done as MB/s mbit, which you have, which is GIGABIT... is Mbit or shorter mb/s (SMALL letters). And the download speed you got... because nobody else is as fast... well.. yeah you should go better using Amplify HD, thats a good one. Just waiting for the Dream Router
I guess he got rejected
Yup.
Dam that’s deep
Alter, du hast keine ahnung. Das ist der beste router den es fur endkunden gibt.
I have 1Gbit from my ISP so I don't have a choice. HD can't handle it.
True.
Shouldn’t be reviewing network products if you can’t differentiate between megabytes and megabits.
Sooooo this was a you problem and nothing wrong with the unit.
Got it.
Yes, that's why it's 5 reasons why I'm returning it.
Gah megabits bro.. different than megabyte's
Indeed
Buy Linksys Velop latest mesh system, most say it's faster than Alien. If not, you can always return it))
I'll look into it, thanks.
Linksys was always the best in the consumer market, but the Velop is a train wreck.
You know that this dude ain't a reliable reviewer when he doesn't know the difference between bit and byte.
Yes, I make mistakes. It's part of being human.
5 reasons why im returning the router that have nothing to do with the router... pointless
The video delivers exactly what the title says. Thank you for the view.
@@HandsomeGadgets its low level click bait and you know it
I'm sorry to break it to ya, but EVERYTHING ever posted on the internet is click bait.
click·bait
/ˈklikbāt/
Learn to pronounce
noun
noun: click bait
(on the internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page
So, you're basis of returning this is that you don't have Wi-Fi 6, the upload speed isn't any faster (well probably because that is the upload speed of your ISP if it's only 40mbps), it's too pretty, and it's too big and whatever other reason you gave.... Gosh, that is literally useless information. Thanks...
You're welcome. Thank you for the view.
lol, how can anyone with some basic networking experience can take this review seriously.
Lol, it's not a review
What a dumb ass for getting rid of this awesome device 😂 😂 😂
Respect
TLDW : He doesn't like it because it's too expensive... where was the other 4 reasons... not much of a review in my eyes
I watched only 30 seconds and realized this wasn't worth watching.
No prob. Opinion videos aren't for everyone.
All five reasons are you not the router, honestly, can’t believe I wasted time watching this.
Respect
''wasted time'' u can click away if u dont like it and its only 5 min, i think he did a great job explaining why he is returning the device. thats what the title states ''5 reasons why IM returning...'' not why you should buy it or get rid of it
👏👏👏 well said.
Mega bytes and mega bits are different. You keep saying mega bytes '200 mega bytes per second'. No, you are not getting 200MBps, that equals 1600Mbps, are you sure??? I don't think so. Bad review. You knew the price before buying but later make it a reason to return.
stupy
Get your units right before reviews. Mbps and MBps are two different units. You have no clue what are you talking about....
I have committed a cardinal sin. Please admonish me.
So basically it's fucking brilliant your just stating things you can't get over
Lol nope. This guy is silly.
Lol - And this folks is the perfect example of why the youtube dislike button should still have a counter.
Exactly
You talk about the speed. I am sorry but all you do is talking, talking, and talking on front the device. It is better to show proof which I dont see it. I think you better sustain your arguments with real info. Like speed from your Internet carrier Upload, download. Today corrobatated info is better than talking.
Yes, this is an informative channel.
Talk about click bait video...
I don't see it that way. But I respect your opinion.
What is wrong with you dude???
A lot. I'm a flawled man that's trying to get things right, day by day.
@@HandsomeGadgets nevertheless you had really good points why you want to return it. And my comment was mostly sarcastic 😅
It's all good 👍
What lame reason to cry. Oh well, return it so that i can buy it used at a good price.
😭