Sorry you are having problems mine works flawlessly. i installed it, it updated i loaded my engines and ran my trains.
I only paid $ 359.00.
The range has never dropped, i even walked out to the garage about 125 ft and still no problem , i decided to connect a cat 5 cable to my router and i like that because i am still connected to my home system and the range on it exceeds my property limits.
i was concerned about liking the app but after a brief period to adjust i have to say i like the app over the remote. i will still get the USB adapter when it becomes available but probably will not use it .
So far the only downside is the 2 minute bootup time
( more of a " get use to it" rather than a downside thing )