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Linksys Launches New Affordable WiFi 6 Mesh System

jurmous said:
Why stay away? What were your issues?
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Where do I start?
Ok, so the one I bought was advertised as supporting HomeKit. Said so right on the box. Get home, install it and found out it does not support HomeKit. Did some googling and came across the linksys forums. Had I done this before, I never would’ve bought it.

It took over a year for HomeKit support to be added. And all the while every update was filled with bugs.

Right now, my nodes will stop talking to each other even though they are hardwired. One node with suddenly decided to work at lower Wi-Fi speeds for no apparent reason.

I’ve had to restart these multiple times.
 
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munpip214 said:
Only 25 devices per node? Is this 2000?
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To be fair, most routers with theoretical capacity of 50 devices or so suffer significantly after 20-25 devices.

Mesh routers with beefier processors and memory can handle a lot more than 50. Eero claims up to 128, but for data intensive devices, the recommended maximum is 30.

For this reason, for your smart home needs, avoid Wi-Fi when alternatives exist (e.g., Thread, bridged-based solution like Lutron Caseta). Some devices like security camera, need to be Wi-Fi. But avoid Wi-Fi-based for trivial devices like light switches and light bulbs.
 
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I upgraded from the Google Wifi mesh system to this:

NETGEAR Nighthawk Tri-band Whole Home Mesh WiFi 6 System (MK83) – AX3600 Router with 2 Satellite Extenders, Coverage up to 6,750 sq. ft. and 40+ devices

and it is literally the worst headache I have ever had in networking. It is somewhat stable at the present but was not for a VERY LONG time.

I would NEVER buy a Netgear system again.

The app sucks, the web interface sucks, and pretty much everything else about it sucks except for the appearance. It is kind of cool looking.

I'm waiting on another vendor to get stock of their product and then I will be swapping.
 
hybrid_x said:
"Easy set-up & control through the Linksys App"

Please tell me they also have a browser interface. I hate managing stuff through dedicated apps.
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I have the 5GHz Velop version of their routers. If you don't want to use the app, there is a web interface on it. Presumably there would be on these routers as well. It has more settings and capabilities. They designed the app version to be "easier" to use. I had mixed results with the app. It worked fine the first time, but then I ran into problems. When I called their customer support, they had me use the web interface.
 
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nutmac said:
To be fair, most routers with theoretical capacity of 50 devices or so suffer significantly after 20-25 devices.

Mesh routers with beefier processors and memory can handle a lot more than 50. Eero claims up to 128, but for data intensive devices, the recommended maximum is 30.

For this reason, for your smart home needs, avoid Wi-Fi when alternatives exist (e.g., Thread, bridged-based solution like Lutron Caseta). Some devices like security camera, need to be Wi-Fi. But avoid Wi-Fi-based for trivial devices like light switches and light bulbs.
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I've found this is true even with the "Enterprise grade" wifi access points from Ubiquiti or Cisco. They just don't seem to have the CPU power it takes to properly route traffic from more than 25 or so simultaneous devices without performance issues, or outright dropping connections.

I'm sure at some point, the airwaves just get over-saturated too. How many devices can transmit using the same limited range of frequencies before a router becomes unable to decipher all of it?

I'm told that near the end of Apple's manufacturing of the product, their "Airport Extreme" wifi routers were designed with firmware that would attempt to "load balance" traffic among multiple Airport Extremes. They were never true "mesh routers" (which use dedicated frequencies other than the ones the wifi uses to link to each other). But you could deploy more than one of them, assigned the same SSID, and they'd move users off of one and onto an adjacent one when it was still a strong enough signal and the first one had too many connections to it.
 
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NightOne said:
I upgraded from the Google Wifi mesh system to this:

NETGEAR Nighthawk Tri-band Whole Home Mesh WiFi 6 System (MK83) – AX3600 Router with 2 Satellite Extenders, Coverage up to 6,750 sq. ft. and 40+ devices

and it is literally the worst headache I have ever had in networking. It is somewhat stable at the present but was not for a VERY LONG time.

I would NEVER buy a Netgear system again.

The app sucks, the web interface sucks, and pretty much everything else about it sucks except for the appearance. It is kind of cool looking.

I'm waiting on another vendor to get stock of their product and then I will be swapping.
Click to expand...
Mesh systems even if billed as reliable do have their issues per article.

Its far more reliable (less latency) to use large good multi-band WiFi 6/6E router for a large house and use a extender only if you find coverage lacking because of the structure layout with app on phone.

This YouTube example shows how easy it is to setup a non-mesh system for someone. Linksys used to be Cisco but got sold twice, so not the classic quality they were renowned for, but Netgear was also used extensively within enterprises using wired extender access points.

 
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Christoffee said:
So far I have learned to avoid Linksys and Netgear routers. To make my life really easy could I have a few votes against Eero.
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I'm at work without details handy, but I recall that I initially had a good experience with Eero, but had to dump it when I found that I couldn't have separate bands for 2.4 and 5 ghz, and I had devices that wanted a 2.4 ghz band. The Eero desire for "simplicity" lost at least one customer!
 
pianophile said:
I'm at work without details handy, but I recall that I initially had a good experience with Eero, but had to dump it when I found that I couldn't have separate bands for 2.4 and 5 ghz, and I had devices that wanted a 2.4 ghz band. The Eero desire for "simplicity" lost at least one customer!
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Multiple band routers need to be looked at for two parameters. First does the router allow some form of smart connect, which is the router intelligently select the best band based on the Wifi Technology it is connected to. In a ideal setup, your older 802.11G/N is using 2.4 Ghz, while AC/AX are using 5 Ghz, and if you have a new enough 6E router then 6E devices are connected to 6gHz. You also need the router being able to intelligently select the best channel for each band based on WiFI usage of other detected routers. You don't want to do that manually.

Those two features will make life a a lot more enjoyable no matter what brand you are using.
 
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red elma said:
Is there a reason for these things to be tower style, tall and bulky?
We've had our Eero units for a while and their minimal design allows them to be easily be tucked away from plain sight.
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To remind the Appleverse of the Time Capsule design created by Apple??? A modern-standards, next-gen Time Capsule (sans internal storage)? ;)

My more serious guess is basically by comparing the 2 pictures in the article. A tall box could have several antennas standing vertical hidden inside, behind the plastic vs. the more traditional design that will stand several antenna vertical very visibly.

Tiny little spheres & cube (mesh) options are obviously using shorter antennas. Conceptually, that would seem to imply that perhaps their range is more limited.

But wow, there's MASSIVE speculation being made by me in those 2 paragraphs. Someone with specific knowledge about this should chime in. Else, see paragraph 1 for what might be the actual reason.
 
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I spent enough on my Netgear Orbi and one satellite. Think I'll keep it around for a while.
 
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2010mini said:
Where do I start?
Ok, so the one I bought was advertised as supporting HomeKit. Said so right on the box. Get home, install it and found out it does not support HomeKit. Did some googling and came across the linksys forums. Had I done this before, I never would’ve bought it.

It took over a year for HomeKit support to be added. And all the while every update was filled with bugs.

Right now, my nodes will stop talking to each other even though they are hardwired. One node with suddenly decided to work at lower Wi-Fi speeds for no apparent reason.

I’ve had to restart these multiple times.
Click to expand...
I had a few post acquisition junk boxes from Linksys. Used to be a fan of the company. Not anymore. Tried several. Issues from running hot enough to hurt if touched, constant signal dropping, no ability to run open source software, older devices couldn't see them who knows why, etc etc. All returned. Absolute junk, all of it.

Currently I'm running an old Gen1 Google mesh setup. For a while it just worked, then Google inexplicably discontinued and FORCIBLE TURNED OFF THE CONTROL APP (Google WiFi) and said I had to use a completely different app (Google Home) that was utterly broken for a year so I actually could not access the mesh for that entire year. Thankfully it all still delivered signal during that time, but if anything had gone wrong I would have had to start from scratch with all new equipment. Eventually they managed to make the Google Home app barely useable enough to see the nodes again so all is well again... but who knows for how long. At this point I'd do Eero only. Nothing else.

I've been using WiFi since 1998. I know my way around the block.
 
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I have a Linksys Mesh system that's a few years old. It has been very reliable so far. My biggest complaint, however, is a design issue. Linksys tells you to locate the routers up high, but when you do that you CANNOT SEE THE STATUS LIGHT!! It's on the TOP of the unit! Duh! One of the dumbest design choices EVER.
 
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I'm mostly happy with my Linksys Altas Pro 6 Dual-Band mesh WiFi 6 system. I am only using it for its WiFi function as everything else is offloaded to my firewall device. I rarely have to reboot it, it's stable, fast, gets near to my 1GB advertised speed.

I came from years of having Netgear, but after using one of their latest WiFi 6 routers, I was really disappointed in the performance. Also tried their Orbi Mesh and didn't like it and it wasn't any faster than what I was using at the time. Not to mention they were HUGE!

Also tried the AmpliFi Alien WiFi 6 Mesh Router, which looked awesome, but it was just too buggy and just couldn't customize it enough.

I like these Altas Pros since I can create different SSIDs, has DFS channels, wired backhaul, etc. but mostly because I get consistent stable speed, which I need working from home and have a lot of streaming devices, and kids that play game and we all do video calls at some point through the day. No hiccups or buffering.
 
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Kaitain4 said:
I have a Linksys Mesh system that's a few years old. It has been very reliable so far. My biggest complaint, however, is a design issue. Linksys tells you to locate the routers up high, but when you do that you CANNOT SEE THE STATUS LIGHT!! It's on the TOP of the unit! Duh! One of the dumbest design choices EVER.
Click to expand...

You have a lot more patience than me if you use the status lights to troubleshoot. Whenever my router acts up I just jump on a forum and start spamming how terrible my router maker is.
 
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pianophile said:
I'm at work without details handy, but I recall that I initially had a good experience with Eero, but had to dump it when I found that I couldn't have separate bands for 2.4 and 5 ghz, and I had devices that wanted a 2.4 ghz band. The Eero desire for "simplicity" lost at least one customer!
Click to expand...
They may have a solution for the problem you had

I'm a big fan of eero. Have installed it in many households (I do residential and small business IT services for a living). Their stuff just works. On the rare occasion where I've needed help they have great support and make it easy to get their number and call.

I'd stick with the eero Pro 6. A 3-pack is currently on sale at Amazon for $479, normally $599.
 
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Realityck said:
Not a fan of linksys either, I use only Netgear RAX70 which works great without the need of a mesh arrangement. Range is phenomenal.
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Asus are the best for me. After AC87U and AX88U routers, using 3 XT8 in mesh. Can´t be happier.
 
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