Ubiquiti - AmpliFi Alien Wifi Router

I had a TP-Link BE85 setup before this and returned it because of constant disconnects which is a known issue with them. I felt like their speeds were higher than Eero but the disconnects and the complexity of three separate SSID’s versus a single one made Eero a better choice. Prior to that, I owned an AMPLIFI Alien setup that I really liked. One of my units started having issues and needed replaced after several years. AMPLIFI has decided not to continue supporting the Alien product anymore so that was stuck on WiFi 6. Before the AMPLIFI setup I owned a Linksys Velop system and it was absolute trash. I don’t think there is a such thing as a perfect mesh system because if there was I would have bought it. That being said, I am sharing the same frustrations as you with the recent firmware updates.

I had the UniFi Amplify Alien mesh system and it was ok, but like the other posters said, it’s 1000x better to go wired even if just to one other spot. I upgraded to a dream machine and a few APs and it’s night and day now, especially if you have friends or kids who do a lot of WiFi gaming.

Currently using 2 Amplifi Alien routers with wired backhaul. I have 116 connected devices which isn’t an issue. However whenever I cast music to my larger Google speaker groups, the music will stutter and then the WiFi goes out for about 5 minutes. Once in a while this will cause the router to reboot by itself. Everything works fine when casting to 9 simultaneous speakers but anything more usually causes the router to crash. I actually have 23 google speakers and it would be ideal to play them all at once. Thanks in advance.

Believe it or not I think ChatGPT just explained my issue. It's quite interesting. Google Cast speaker groups rely heavily on multicast + mDNS + UDP burst traffic. When you cast to a large group, Google doesn't send one stream—it sends many synchronized streams, plus constant timing correction chatter. At ~9 speakers: •Traffic is heavy but manageable At ~15-23 speakers: •Multicast floods • CPU spikes on the Alien • mDNS table overload • Wi-Fi driver watchdog trips • Wi-Fi collapses → sometimes the router reboots to recover →The fact that Wi-Fi drops for ~5 minutes is a dead giveaway: that's the Alien's radio stack crashing and slowly restarting. This is not a bandwidth problem This is not a device-count problem This is a firmware + multicast handling limitation Solution: Add an additional access point that handles Multi cast well and set it up with a dedicated SSID on 2.4ghz. The Unifi 6+ is ideal for this. I will try this tomorrow after my parts arrive.

If like to add that although I have 116 connected devices, they all see light use besides 5-7 devices. The router and wifi is completely stable until I cast music to 10+ google devices. That’s the only time the Alien router gives me any troubles.

I have two aliens and they are the best and most reliable routers I’ve ever had.

Amplifi Alien bridged to Opnsense on Protectli hardware.

Amplifi Alien. Yes, it's a bit old. But rock solid. Runs my entire HomeKit system (about 70 devices) with no issues at all. Unifi is also a great option too.

I run all my stuff through Ubiquity AMPLIFI Alien mesh (3 nodes) everything works great. I figured it was a good solution since they sell them on the store app.

I love the range of my Amplifi Alien Mesh system. I don't like the limited configuration options though. I needed the range.

I really like the alien AMPLIFI 200 bucks covers my whole house 2000 sq ft 2 story’s I use 500 speed game do it all security system no issues

I like the alien don’t have any issues and it’s on sale u can get the mesh duplicate for 300 great ping I have no range issues

I highly doubt it’s a traffic bandwidth issue (music is measured in the kbps not mbps…so even if all 116 devices were streaming the music…I know they’re not…you’d be looking at a few mbps which any consumer/prosumer level gear can handle with ease) nor is 116 devices too many (don’t let anyone here tell you otherwise). The aliens are every bit as capable as a unifi. My guess is you are likely experiencing a broadcast/multicast storm. This is very common in music streaming systems.