AmpliFi HD Wifi Router by Ubiquiti Labs, Seamless Whole Home Wireless Internet Coverage, HD Wifi Router with Touchscreen Display, 4 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 WAN Port, Ethernet Cable, Expandable Mesh System

I really like how this works once I got it set up. But for all the slickness of the app interface, it didn't go as easily as it should have. So my review is five stars, but I offer these cautions and additional instructions. Note that my setup is probably unusual because I use two routers and "ethernet backhaul" as opposed to the standard wifi mesh.INITIAL SETUP: Like the manual says, plug your modem into the router's Internet port and turn it all on. These things take FOREVER to boot. Just be really patient and always wait for it to make a happy sound and give you something encouraging on the little LCD display.SETUP WITH ANDROID APP: The android app is really slick. However the initial connection to the router is a bit clunky. It connects via wifi, and it offers an SSID on boot, but DON'T CHOOSE ITS SSID with the phone wifi. That's right. Phone wifi must be enabled, but don't actually connect to the router ssid yet. Instead, let the app find the router WITHOUT connecting your phone to its wifi. Which BTW takes a LONG TIME (sensing a theme, here?). And you might get notices on the phone about "unable to connect to wifi" during the process, which you just ignore. Once connected, you'll see a ready screen in the app, and you edit the router's settings. Set the SSID name and the password and CLICK THE LITTLE CHECK MARK AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN TO SAVE IT. Wait for happy sounds.SSID NAME: I had a lot of trouble reusing our previous SSID from the old router. Devices would be slow or show "no internet". I suspect that the devices had some settings cached which were not compatible. Once I started over with a new SSID everything was clean. So just use a brand new SSID. I don't think this is the router's fault, it is just how it goes with a lot of devices.SECONDARY SSIDs: I couldn't make 2.4Ghz secondary SSIDs work. The connections were buggy and slow. Turns out I don't really need it, and you probably don't need it either.BACKHAUL SETUP: Almost the entire reason why I bought this product. This is a special thing for areas that cannot be reached by a strong wifi signal from the base station, but which miraculously have ethernet cable. Such is our house and outbuilding. In that case, you buy a second router unit instead of a mesh point. You must follow the setup instructions very precisely or things get weird. What I'm calling the "base station" is the first router. Follow these steps:-- Set up your base station normally, as if it were the only device.-- Set up the new router "as a mesh point" in the same room as the base station, not in the remote area. Don't connect any ethernet cables to the 2nd router yet.-- Add the new router as a mesh point using the LCD touch screen on the base station, not your Android app, it seems to work better.-- Once that is done, wait for happy sounds from the routers and for your app to show both are happy-happy (once again, be patient). You might need to exit the app and re-enter to get a proper refresh.-- Connect ethernet from a base station LAN port to the new router's Internet port.-- In the app, choose the new router and edit it's settings. Give it a real name while you're at it. Find the "Ethernet backbone" setting and turn it ON. And then... this is VERY IMPORTANT... scroll to the top and press the little check mark! Otherwise nothing saves and you'll wonder why it didn't work.-- Wait some more for both devices to update and make happy sounds. If they show "Connecting..." on the little LCD screens, just wait some more.-- At this point, you must get a LAN port from the base station connected via your wired network to your remote location's ethernet jack. Hopefully you know what I mean. If not, call a friend who does.-- If you can, use a laptop, go the the remote ethernet jack and verify that it has wired connectivity.-- Finally, move the new device to the remote location and plug its Internet port into the ethernet jack. Wait some more for it to boot and make happy sounds. And voila! You should have wifi everywhere. (Note: some devices won't automatically move to the stronger signal, you might need to do that manually by reconnecting wifi).-- Bonus: Your remote router has four LAN ports, which you can use for wired devices like laptops and printers.If things get wonky and weird, use a paper clip to factory reset the routers and try again. I had to do this, because I probably didn't do the setup in the right order and probably tweaked too many things before I knew what I was doing. No shame. I'm just sayin'

I am an IT consultant and use these routers for very small satellite and temporary offices for a couple of my clients. I can manage several of them from one cloud login account, which is nice. Adding additional mesh/extender/bridge devices is easy. I also like that they can be used in just about any application (router, access point, bridge, etc).- SET IT AND FORGET IT =) truly, once you configure this it will just work.- good range for such a small device- front display is nice to have easy confirmation of status and error messages- when firmware update is available, it will let you know and you just touch the display to do the update- I wish this did DFS bands in 5GHz, but at the price point that's not expected.- Love that the first thing it asks you for is your custom network name and password- All options are easy to access and tweak through the phone app- small footprint is attractive and if you don't like the screen and lights you can dim or disable those- If you have a big house (>2300 sq ft) you will need one of the mesh points or a second one of these- if you have a LOT of wifi devices and a huge house (4000+ sq ft) then you have enough money to get the Unifi Dream Machine, so I'd just spend the extra on that and use FlexHD or nanoHD for extenders/extra access points.- although, if you have a big house and need to keep it simple, these work fine. Or get the Alien model if you like spending lots of money on the fastest stuff available =)

People you need to understand that WiFi does not work thru mirrors or walls with a lot of copper plumbing in it. If you're trying to push WiFi thru bathrooms and kitchens, doesn't matter who's WiFi mesh system you're using, you're gonna have problems. This mesh system works very well if you can plan on placement so the signal does not need to pass thru mirrors. Do not place by 2.4 phones, keep it away from Arlo cameras, Sonos, Z-wave, and Zigbee devices. If using in bridge mode, be sure to disable your ISP routers WiFi. And if possible use Ethernet backbone between mesh points. The system will work 10x better than is Mesh Mode and then you don't have to worry about mirrors so much. Disable Band steering and create a separate SSID for the 5G band. Also use guest WiFi and point devices like TVs, stereos, bluray players that only need internet access and don't need to be controlled by a tablet or phone across the main network. Set the channel width to 20mhz on both 2.4 and 5g if you live in condos, apartments or anywhere where their could be lots of WiFi from neighbors. You may have to play with the WiFi channels to find a clean, less used channel. I like to use channels 1 & 35.