Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I don't usually write negative reviews, in fact, this is my first. But when faced with such a truly awful product as this, I feel it my duty to warn my fellow humans what frustrations await them when you purchase a Broadlink RM4 Pro. To be fair, I don't know if this device will control IR or RF products or even sync with Alexa, Google Assistant, or IFTTT, as promised. I actually CAN’T know that because I couldn't get past the installation. For a device marketed as a bridge for the smart home market, this device is anything but smart. In fact, its designers had so little disregard for their customers that they thought it acceptable to exclusively REQUIRE 2.4ghz WiFi in a device sold in 2020. That in itself would not be so bad, there are plenty of older, dumber, simpler devices that use this frequency but Broadlink appears to have gone out of their way to ensure 5ghz dual band systems absolutely, positively, cannot be compatible with their product. As evidenced on their support site, which actually recommends that first you disable the 5ghz band for as long as you use their product. Disregarding how unacceptable it is to recommend one stop using a superior technology that was finalized over 11 years ago, the site further recommends that if you cannot disable the band, then you should try to walk far away and see if it’ll connect to the 2.4 band then, or install a temporary router or hotspot with the same SSID/PW. If those methods fail, you should simply get another router. Easy peasy. I actually tried the first two recommendations because I really didn’t want to have to through the trouble of returning… also because I’m an idiot. So after walking down the street with phone, Broadlink, and USB battery bank in hand on 101* day with no results, I setup the mobile hotspot on “phone B”. The issue then arose that, because again it is the year two thousand and twenty, my hotspot was inundated with connection requests from 80+ devices throughout the house wondering where their precious network went. So after shutting off power to the house (yes, really) and manually killing multiple tablets, a couple of UPSs, and a smattering of cell phones, I was finally within the hotspot’s capacity to connect. Only nothing happened. The same stupid app giving the same stupid message. “Could not connect”. 5 days and uncountable hours later, I’m done. I’m sending it back and posting this review. If you have a router made in the last 5 years or have more than 10 devices connected to your network, run away. This device will not work. It is a device marketed to smart home hobbyists, but built for people who have 1 PC hardwired to Facebook for the “news”. I know this review was initially to serve as a warning, but at this point I just don’t care anymore. This was my therapy. If nobody reads this, fine. At least I have bled the poisonous Broadlink experience from my system. Thanks for the refund, Amazon.