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Linksys Launches New Affordable WiFi 6 Mesh System
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I've been sticking to Linksys Velop because of their supposed HomeKit compatibility. But I have issues with the devices every now and then.
I made a big jump and tried TP-Link's Deco series with Wi-Fi 6E mesh. Unlike Linksys' setup, this was faster and flawless. Just set up any of their nodes as the master. Once that's done, you start plugging in the rest of the slave nodes and it will automatically set itself up knowing there's already a master node.
The best part is the HomeKit devices are more stable than Linksys' HomeKit-certified. All I had to do was remove Linksys mesh router and nodes from the HomeKit app.
Never coming back to Linksys.
I made a big jump and tried TP-Link's Deco series with Wi-Fi 6E mesh. Unlike Linksys' setup, this was faster and flawless. Just set up any of their nodes as the master. Once that's done, you start plugging in the rest of the slave nodes and it will automatically set itself up knowing there's already a master node.
The best part is the HomeKit devices are more stable than Linksys' HomeKit-certified. All I had to do was remove Linksys mesh router and nodes from the HomeKit app.
Never coming back to Linksys.
I don't get the fascination with eero. It's fine, but leaves much to be desired and their new 6E routers aren't that well received. I'll be getting something else when my Wifi5 eero system needs to be upgraded.
My Linksys Velop system wouldn’t stay connected. Nodes would lose connection to the main node, so you would be connected to node 3, but node 3 would not connect to node zero and thus the internet.
I tried rearranging and re-setup and buying more nodes despite have enough for a home twice the size of the one I live in. I do not live in a Farraday Cage. Linksys offered no help unless I wanted to pay to talk to them.
I replaced it one router from a competitor and have been fine since.
I tried rearranging and re-setup and buying more nodes despite have enough for a home twice the size of the one I live in. I do not live in a Farraday Cage. Linksys offered no help unless I wanted to pay to talk to them.
I replaced it one router from a competitor and have been fine since.
Unless you live in a small open floor-plan home, mesh is the way to go. The faster wi-fi standards have a weakness - walls and distance. You may get a good signal, but the speed drops out, especially with Wi-Fi 6E. So you would want to have a node at least per floor, if not per room.
The biggest problem I face with routers today isn't coverage or speed (well, TBF speed is a small issue but not really noticed since my iMac is where I really need gigabit and I use ethernet for that). It is number of concurrent devices. That is what is killing my current ASUS Zen WiFi 6 mesh network. I put a bandaid on it by installing a MoCA to hardwire my upstairs unit and connecting everything I can through Ethernet, such as my iMac, game consoles, Raspberry Pi that runs HomeBridge, Apple TV, TV set, and Ring Alarm. That also cleared up the wireless backhaul to be used as an additional 5GHz connection point. That seemed to clear up about 80-90% of the frequency of my issues. I think I need to get a WeMo bridge connected to Ethernet because I'm running WeMo off WiFi and I have about 10 of those. I've been thinking about getting a couple Eero WiFi 6E Pro but I'm hoping Apple will come out with something better and more privacy focused running their custom silicon to provide a really powerful solution. I miss their routers. My old AirPort Extreme AC WiFi couldn't handle my home gigabit and concurrent devices. Was starting to have issues and was slow, especially at the corners of my home and outside and things like my garage door opener and some Ring cameras I wanted outside couldn't connect.
I have whatever Wifi version that the apple AirPort Extreme uses and I never had an issue with coverage (2 stations in opposite corners of 1800 sq ft property)
There are too many articles promoting Mesh for larger dwellings. Really you can do very well with a single powerful router if placed in a good position for a large house. Like the quality of cheaper to better routers connection/range speeds vary, so do Mesh packages vary widely on their performance. So yes you need to buy a good model with good software, not just any router or Mesh package. You can always buy a model and try it out to see if it is acceptable.
That is 802.11AC. The WiFi 6 (802.11AX) give a lot better throughput/range then AC models. I went from at best 50% connection speed with Airport extreme compared to ethernet, to near 100% just updating to a Tri-band WiFi 6 Netgear on sale.
thx, I'll wait and see if the rumors of apple bringing back their networking line are true or not
Yeah I've had very similar issues.
Purchased the Velop system specifically for Homekit. Only to find out my particular model wasn't supported.
Luckily a couple of months later, it was announced that Homekit was available for my Velop system. Immediately installed - only to find countless issues.
Essentially daily at around 8pm - would have to reboot my system. As I would lose internet connection... Daily.
Turned off the Homekit, system work okay - though frequently loses connection about once a week. Even if the device is hardwired.
To make things worse, I initially purchased a 3 pack system. Each Node eventually bricked themselves. Ended up having to replace each one.
Initially hoped that Best Buy - would just replace the entire system, since that's where I purchased them from. Was informed that is not their policy and I would need to reach out to Linksys Directly.
The workflow with Linksys to get a replacement involves calling Tech Support. Going through the Debug process. Then it goes to a level 2 technician who can approve that you need a replacement. At that point someone from Customer Service is alerted - and will get back to you in a couple of days. In which you have 2 options.
1. Ship them the defective Node and once it's received they'll send you a replacement.
2. Pay up front $250 for the Item. They'll ship a replacement right away - and refund you once they receive the defective Node.
When it was the Child Nodes, didn't mind the workflow. But when it was the Parent Node, and there was no internet... this was quite problematic.
If I could do it all over again, would certainly invest in another system. Can't believe that I have to reboot weekly just so my Xbox Series X can see that there is internet... even though it's hard wired.
Seriously miss my Apple AirPort Extreme... never had these issue.
2400 sq ft two story here with brick exterior.
No issues with a Nighthawk WiFi 6, but loads of issues mentioned above with Linksys Velop.
I can get 500-600Mbps wirelessly anywhere in the house.
Radio signal propagation in buildings is far from simple. A lot depends on the structural materials, and the floor plan certainly has a big impact. The signal propagates by reflecting off surfaces, and there are a lot of quite obscure interference phenomena which make the coverage spotty. Higher frequencies have poorer propagation, and higher attenuation along the signal route means lower transfer rates (Shannon's law).
I live in a small/midsize two-floor house — far from being a mansion — and there is no way I could cover all rooms with a single access point. I have two (wired) Ubiquiti access points, and even with them finding the optimal locations took some time.
One thing to note is that the requirements vary a lot. If you just need an Internet connection for web surfing, things are not that difficult. On the other hand, if you need to have low and stable latency (gaming, special needs in online video conferencing), creating a good wireless network can be deviously difficult. Meshes may have high transmission speeds in good conditions even over several hops, but the latency (and latency jitter) is not their strong point.
Happy user of a Linksys VELOP system here. 3 nodes, pretty good coverage, speed, rock-solid stability and ease of use.
I would buy from them again. I just reboot the nodes every month or so to keep them fresh (that helps a bit with speed). Otherwise it is set and forget.
I would buy from them again. I just reboot the nodes every month or so to keep them fresh (that helps a bit with speed). Otherwise it is set and forget.
Here I am still with a… -what, decade+ old 2TB AirPort Time Capsule?
I know I have to change it, I know it’s old, but darn… it works, it backups my work desktop, I have no connectivity or other issues, work from home is fine for a 3 people household with also tons of devices (several iPhones, desktops, laptops, Apple TVs, Switch, ps4, ps3, iPads, etc) connected to it.
I would change it but paying attention to the comments here there doesn’t seem to be a “one router to rule them all” looks like, at least this one seems to not be it.
There was an Asus mention in passing and no backslash from anyone yet… would that be one good option?
I know I have to change it, I know it’s old, but darn… it works, it backups my work desktop, I have no connectivity or other issues, work from home is fine for a 3 people household with also tons of devices (several iPhones, desktops, laptops, Apple TVs, Switch, ps4, ps3, iPads, etc) connected to it.
I would change it but paying attention to the comments here there doesn’t seem to be a “one router to rule them all” looks like, at least this one seems to not be it.
There was an Asus mention in passing and no backslash from anyone yet… would that be one good option?
Is it possible to connect a drive to it or similar to have a centralized TimeCapsule backup support by any chance?
I’d give Ubiquiti a look. Their access points support 300+ clients. I installed two older models a couple years ago (support a mere 150 clients/each) at work for our 12 employees haha (granted everyone has a smartphone, wifi security cameras, and three wifi thermostats). Why two? Because of the length of the building. One in the middle would still have worked, but I liked the idea of having one right outside my door
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