My question is what specifically is the issue that is making the Almond+'s "useless" to some? I have run both the original firmware that came with the device a few weeks ago and a beta since then and aside from features not being available just yet, the router functions and zigbee sensors work in their basic forms on any firmware I have run with a few minor bugs of course. I repeat, not all functionality is available on any I have run but the basics are there which means useless seems like a bit of an exaggeration. I have worked with the Securifi support people on a few minor issues I had and found it was quite painless to get those things fixed. The thing that would be most useful to help figure out why your device is "useless", a person would need specific functionality that is not working which is making it useless for you. At least with a specific issue, the rest of us that have "functioning" devices can provide some idea on what the issue may be or even if the functionality that is not working is even available yet in any firmware. Just a suggestion to try to help.
So I will tell you why I am just about ready to unplug my almond+?
1. The hodgepodge firmware doesn't have iptables functioning correctly. Posted here asking what the heck was going on. Silence.
2. VPN isn't working either. I am pretty sure it is related to the first issue.
3. Almond+ screwing up routing of my smartthings hub.
So how do I know it is an issue with the Almond+? I have gotten all three things working perfectly on both a router running Tomato firmware and a different router running DD-WRT. I am not asking for difficult things. Having the implementation of iptables broken is just mindboggling.
I got smartthings working with my almond+ by having the smartthings hub plugged directly into the almond+. If I use a switch, the almond+ is screwing up the routing. Again, how do I know? I take out the almond+, plug in my tomato router, and everything works perfectly.
I totally understand why people are frustrated. I wasn't expecting a router that was perfect, but I did expect some basic functionality that I can get off the shelf to work correctly. Heck, I would have been happier if Securifi had spent more time on functionality that works than the dumb UI overlay on openwrt. I would rather just use the openwrt interface for the "router" capabilities since the almond+ interface has so little when it comes to functionality.
I would love to switch off my smartthings hub as well but like heck I am going to do that when the almond+ can't even handle being a router right now. Add to the fact that a firmware update is coming out that probably doesn't address much of anything and has been on the cusp of coming out for over a week now.
EDIT: I also forgot about my wireless ethernet bridge. The almond+ drops the connection after about 3-4 days. I have been through 3+ routers over the past 6 years and never had the issue. Again, if I put any of my other routers in place, it doesn't happen. No configuration is changed outside of unplugging the almond+ and plugging in either of my other two routers. Everything works like a charm.