This past weekend I experienced a rare moment with consumer tech…
I installed something that actually worked and worked well.
Some history of my WiFi woes
I’ve been bouncing around between internet routers since my Apple Time Capsule died around 2016. First we went with Google’s WiFi but I was never comfortable with Google and they weren’t very reliable so I replaced them.
For a couple of years we had a UniFi setup. It seemed cool because I could make it more private than most routers and each part of it was separate so I could upgrade components as needed.
The UniFi worked well for a couple of years but then they released new models and software and my setup just couldn’t keep up. It came to a head in 2020 when a component died and, thanks to the world that year, I couldn’t replace it with out a few weeks’ wait. As I worked from home that wasn’t an option so I bought what BestBuy had, a Velop AX4200 mesh system.
This worked well for almost 5 years. Last fall they started getting flaky on me and requiring too many reboots, often a few times a day. It was time to upgrade.
I decided that, since I still liked the idea of UniFi, I would give the UniFi Express a try. It is UniFi’s cheap all-in-one system and I really thought it would be perfect for us. I bought two (even in our little condo we need an extender because the walls are really solid) and set them up last November.
Right from the beginning the UniFi boxes ran so hot I could barely touch them. In looking online, though, folks told me this was normal so I ignored it. They did about 130-140mb download, about the same as the Velop and it seemed like the right choice for us.
Problems were apparent pretty quickly with them in that they required reboots every 5-6 weeks, a strange thing for new tech, but otherwise they seemed OK until the last month or so. That’s when they started requiring far more reboots, I had reboot them 3 times just last Friday, in one case interrupting a work meeting. I was done with them.
My ISP
Before talking about what I replaced them with I should mention I push all of this through Astound/RCN as my ISP. It’s a broadband connection since fiber isn’t available in our building. We pay for 600mb down and 20mb up and had never seen more than about 140/12, even after buying our own modem. So be it. It was good enough for our work.
WiFi that works
With our failing UniFi Express units (I’m pretty convinced they just burned themselves out running as ridiculously hot as they did) I decided it was time to permanently ditch UniFi. A number of folks suggested Eero as a replacement so I went for it and bought a two-pack of Eero 7 Pro routers.
Eero advertises they should be easy to setup, but so does everything else. The UniFis were a full-day project. The Velops took an hour or two. Against my better judgement I decided I would risk setting up the Eeros on Saturday night knowing full well something would go wrong and I would spend all of Sunday messing with it. I wasn’t even going to change anything and would reuse the network name and password, but something always goes wrong.
In this case it was me that was wrong.
It took me as long to unbox the routers as it did to setup the primary unit and get my WiFi rolling. I couldn’t believe it. Less than 5 min in and… it “just worked.” I figured the 2nd unit would be where it went bad but it was even quicker and I had it running in probably 2 minutes.
Sure I spent a few minutes learning its app and features but… it really did “just work.” I can’t remember the last time I had tech that did that. Nearly everything I setup because an exercise in managing frustration.
Bonus:
They’re FAST. Very fast.
I’ve gone from never seeing more than 130-140mb down to 700+ and from 10-15 up to over 60 up! It was never my ISP that was the problem but my WiFi! I couldn’t believe it.
No, the Eeros aren’t as customizable as UniFi but I don’t really need that. What I need is reliable internet and, at least so far, they’ve delivered that and then some.
For once I was impressed with tech and for that I’m actually happy with my purchase.