Thank you again. I was aware of the speed cap but didn’t realize it was underpowered. So I’m assuming the amplifi alien would be the same. The reason I was looking in that direction was that my understanding was they were capable of handling more IoT devices than consumer level hardware like Asus. I also hadn’t thought about the Unifi dream machine and Vlan route for devices. That makes a lot of sense. Although I suspect it would be a lot more expensive than the Asus path.

Another question, any thoughts on the Asus RT-AX88U vs a ubiquiti dream router? Both are close in price. My situation is: empty nesters in larger house with a small but growing collection of smart devices. At some point point I’ll add wired access points in the basement and upper floor.

Good to know. Thank you

Why specifically the 88? Versions? Is there some feature that other Asus routers don’t have? I’m currently researching to replace my aging linksys, so your comment caught my eye.

Thank you again for this and for letting me know about the dream router’s speed cap. I’ve read a few comments here and there but wasn’t sure if it was just user error or actually true. Right now I have 500 in my house but everyone locally is really pushing gig speed since one of the isp’s recently installed fibre to the house. I like the dream router because I’m reading that it’s better able to handle a lot of smart home devices. It’s just my wife and I so not high demand from us. My current router is getting ancient so it’s time to change and because I want to start adding a number of smart home devices, that seems to be the main criteria for router selection.

I really appreciate you taking the time to write this response as it’s very helpful for me too because I’m kind of at the same stage as OP. Just one thing I don’t understand from your explanation. Does the ubiquiti system include this hardware based controller, or will I still need an always on computer running some software? I considering either the dream router plus one access point, or a pair of Asus routers so I can use one in AP mode with AImesh. Right now I don’t have a lot of devices but I’m going to start that journey soon