Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsLots to like but we can do so MUCH BETTER!
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2024
Pros:
* Less than $100 US dollars.
* Software update process is transparent and automatic.
* Security updates for 5 years after the device is last available for purchase.
* Pretty sylish without visible antennas.
* Mesh setup easy to setup.
* 30 day trial for subscription features.
* Easy to rename devices, even if not obvious at first glance.
Cons:
* Must use a phone to setup. Sure a phone is convenient for ongoing management but a requirement to get working?
* Does not support WPA3 out of the box. Sure, they add it as a beta feature but WPA3 was unveiled in 2018 so hello, over 5 years ago.
* Subscription required for interesting features, some of which are available for free if you are more technically inclined.
* Cannot use ANY subscription features if you prefer to not let Amazon know every web site you visit. (Yes, the DNS server you use from Amazon provides some security/family features in exchange for you telling them every place you go...what could go wrong from a USA based company hoovering up this data?
* Cannot use profiles to manage devices on your guest network like you can on your non-guest one.
* 2.4GHz and 5GHz use a single network name...so if you have a device that does not work well on 5GHz you are pretty stuck. Yes, they offer the option under troubleshooting to turn off the 5GHz for a short amount of time. But once it turns back on I have devices that lose their ever loving mind...why not have one network for each frequency? I can only guess Google envy as those boffins don't break
out the networks either.
* Zero insight into what threats have been blocked. Would be helpful to know what was blocked as there can be plenty of issues to sort out!
* Zero insight into what ads have been blocked. No way to edit an allow list to select what to allow. Worse, ad blocking is on/off for the entire network or by profile. Remember, you cannot add guest devices to a profile so you are forced to put them on your non-guest network which defeats the reason for having a guest network.
So I am still hunting for the best device...
