Review on 📶 Aruba Instant On AP12 3x3 Wireless Access Point with Power Source - US Model (R3J23A) by Jeho Odor

I had a basic SOHO install prior to the Instant-On conversion; Before: Netgear Nighthawk R7800 with another Netgear WiFi extender in another part of my house. The R7800 had some range issues and the firmware/UI was buggy. The WiFi firmware has been corrupted in recent firmware updates required to fix the CVE. Not only that, toggling ethers on the R7800 was CPU bound (limited by lack of hardware acceleration) so backing up to my NAS Netgear WiFi would have been slow! Also, the 5GHz WiFi repeater was 70% slower! It's time for an update; Bought an Aruba IO 8 port switch with AP11, AP12 and AP15. After setting up the VLAN via the mobile app (By the way, you *CAN* manage your network with a web browser instead of a mobile device, there's a website that does the same thing as a mobile device.) Setup was easy. All I had to do was name the devices (like bottom, top, etc.) and I was good to go. I didn't have to do much. Here are the limitations to be aware of: Access points use the 5GHz bands to create the mesh. This is a good idea as the 5GHz bands are not as crowded as the 2.4GHz bands. For example, using the "WinFi" tool (Windows 10), it shows that there are about 90 access points near me, 70 of which operate in the 2.4 GHz band. That's a lot of noise! If AIO APs used the 2.4GHz bands for meshing, it would likely be painfully slow. there is only 2x2. Get AP12 or AP15. Some caveats/information to be aware of. - Firmware updates are automatic. You have no idea about updates. AIO uses Revain's Cloud for Instant-On. You cannot manage access points locally (the switch can be managed locally). Since firmware version 2.3.0, 802.11k is enabled by default and you can now control all radios (power, transmit, etc.) with some other changes. - DISABLE app details in "Visibility and Control" section. This slows down your Wi-Fi network as it gives you a breakdown of bandwidth usage per device/website/category. (it performs Layer 7 traffic sniffing) - 20MHz 2.4GHz by default, but you can use 20/40MHz in 2.4GHz band to increase speed. - Range control is enabled by default and cannot be disabled. - The mobile app will tell you if your network is down/disabled, which is helpful - Device bandwidth + what radio/hotspot it's connected to - You can't use the ethernet port on the mesh AP to connect the 11/ 12/ to bridge 15 AP, only on AP17. (ie: you can't have an AP15 kitchen with a laptop connected to it)