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Linksys Tri-Band Velop Routers Gain HomeKit Support
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I've already posted about some of my gripes regarding the Velop Tri-band mesh setup in an older thread. But here is another fresh example. I recently suffered a power failure at the house, and while each of the 3 nodes is connected to a separate UPS, one of the secondary nodes went down because the battery suddenly died on the UPS it was connected to. When power was eventually restored to that node, it came up fine. But to my surprise (umm, ok, so I wasn't really surprised), I discovered after several hours that the 3rd node (that was connecting to the primary via the node that had lost power) was blinking red. So, after a power loss to one node, the only node that had a persistent issue was one that never lost power. Totally lame. The nodes are arranged in a triangular topology and that 3rd node could easily have automatically reconnected directly to the primary (indeed, the Linksys app often reports both secondaries as being connected directly to the primary after restarting). But, alas, I instead witnessed the blinking red plea for manual intervention.
Awesome. Thanks for the reply! I’m on the same firmware as yours for v2
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They can absolutely be mixed which is why I grabbed the WiFi 6 system instead of adding more WiFi 5 tri-band Velop Nodes. The WiFi 5 nodes don't downgrade the WiFi 6 nodes as each act independently and my main node connected to my modem is a WiFi 6 node and it's all ethernet backhauled. If anything, my speeds increased and have remained such. The system will always default to the WiFi 6 nodes and speeds. Anything connected to the system will always connect to the WiFi 6 nodes first. If devices cannot connect to the WiFi 6 nodes for whatever reason(s), they'll connect to the WiFi 5 tri-band nodes which (obviously) connect to the WiFi 6 nodes. I've not noticed any detriment to speeds and the devices that do connect to the Velop nodes are Smart locks that are farthest out (garage doors and back foyer for example) and they run on 2.4GHz. Everything else - my Philips Hue, legrand, shades, etc - all use hubs connected via ethernet.
TL;DR theWiFi 5 and 6 nodes are fully compatible and the WiFi 5 nodes do not bring down my speeds. My system is also ethernet backhauled which may make a difference but regardless WiFi 5 nodes should not bring speeds down, just ensure your main node connected to your modem is the WiFi 6 node (of course).
Hope this helps!
I have experienced this issue a few times in the beginning but after setting up the nodes wirelessly and ensuring channels connected well, I setup an ethernet backhaul which eliminated this issue (which I also experienced with Eero, AmpliFi HD, etc). Having the ethernet backhaul makes a big difference, yet it is crucial to ensure the three Velop WiFi 5 nodes are properly placed within distance to the primary node (essential to any mesh system, simply check each node to see which node it is "speaking" to). Ideally, you want the primary node connected to your modem to be central and all other nodes connected to that node. If you see any node connected to another node that isn't the primary node you will experience the issues you described on any mesh system. If any node is having trouble connecting to the primary node, move it closer and check the nodes connection. I had the most difficult time with this on the AmpliFi HD and Eero systems I tested, especially as there is no ethernet backhaul on AmpliFi HD's nodes.
My NY home is approximately 6000 sq ft and the 3 WiFi 5 tri-band nodes covered it well. I did run into a few dead-spots due to concrete walls and what ended up being a defective August smart lock Connect. At the time, I grabbed a Linksys WiFi 6 as it was $499.99 instead of buying more Velop WiFi 5 nodes. The biggest difference is not needing to worry about each node directly connecting to the primary WiFi 6 node. Any nodes connected to the secondary WiFi 6 node don't drop nor slow my network speeds down. If you're experiencing any nodes on any mesh system not reconnecting properly should a node lose power or such, try moving secondary nodes one at a time and ensure that each node on a WiFi 5 mesh system is connected to the primary node. Repeat with each node. You may believe that the nodes are properly distanced and connected upon restart of any mesh network, but if any node is just within limits to the primary it will have difficulty should it restart which would require powering down the node and restarting it. This is not an issue limited to Linksys Velop's. I had experienced it on just about every mesh system I tested when I made the move from AirPort Extreme Base Stations after Apple dropped the line. Setting up an ethernet backhaul is highly recommended.
Once properly done I never had a problem with nodes not properly connecting, and especially not with my WiFi 6 nodes.
I spoke with Linksys this afternoon as I have a mixed WiFi 5 and 6 system. They are working on HomeKit for the WiFi 6 system but it will be a few more months as they focused on the Velop's due to consumer demand as WiFi 6 adoption is still "niche" as most aren't investing in WiFi 6 until prices drop and there is more demand. Yet it is coming.
They are the same. The model numbering can be confusing as Linksys internally refers to the WHW03v2 as WHW0302. The 0302 is essentially 03 version 2. All WiFi 5 nodes should get the firmware update as it rolls out over the upcoming weeks.
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I don’t believe that you nor Jamone have the update. you two both know that that’s the current firmware (1.1.13.200506) that we all have and doesn’t have the HomeKit update yet. It’s all in the changelog notes below. It’s a slow rollout
I don’t believe that you nor Jamone have the update. you two both know that that’s the current firmware (1.1.13.200506) that we all have and doesn’t have the HomeKit update yet. It’s all in the changelog notes below. It’s a slow rollout
Yeah I knew the firmware I had was released back in April I believe, and it wasn’t showing any HomeKit options. Guess we’ll have to see how long this rollout will take.
The ethernet backhaul was one of the deciding factors in going with Linksys Velop. My Stateside home has roughly 6000 sq ft and a thought I had a few dead spots running three tri-band nodes. In actuality it was one August Smartlock and Connect that I thought wasn't getting enough signal but ended up being a defective Connect that was replaced. Last year, I decided to try out the WiFi 6 system instead of buying more tri-band nodes as they're compatible and simply swapped the main tri-band node with one of the two wifi 6 nodes (also like the ethernet ports in the wifi 6 system - wish they would add more ethernet ports to their Velop systems but I get it, they want to keep them as small as possible - the wifi 6 nodes are about twice the size but not much larger than an AirPort Extreme Base Station and have a USB port with 4 Ethernet ports in addition to the main Ethernet port for the modem). It's been perfect. Haven't had any issues or need to restart the system since. The only issue I had was the app as it lacked a few things and I used the web portal and logged in via Safari for port forwarding, etc. However, they've since revamped it and I haven't had the need to use a web browser. They even improved the UI/graphics so it's much more in-line with what you would expect for such a product line.
I made use of BestBuy and other company return policies when testing out systems. Only the AmpliFi HD was one I couldn't return as it had a 14-day return window and I wanted at least 21 days or more of testing (sold it online for what I paid for it). BestBuy has 30 days, 90 days for Elite, etc members which made it much easier to test systems.
Hope my long posts help
I have 8 nodes in my space. Working with their te h support has been an utter nightmare. For me it’s not reliable and devices constantly disconnect. They shipped me brand new units and still have issues. In fact our Lyric 5+ by Honeywell will no longer connect to HomeKit after about 5000 calls and even a swap out. I’m inclined to say - do your homework and most importantly check out each companies tech support FIRST and deem them competent..I’ve wasted 40-50 hours with Linksys tech support people.
Their latest Gigabit modem has:
WiFi 6
Bluetooth LE
switchable mid strip
4 antennas
dual band
maximum throughput 2.5 Gbs
4 ethernet porfs
that is hardy "outdated".
No.
Yeah, I was locked out because of the break-in of their online system. But my history goes longer than that. I had the mesh built. It was working fine for about a week, and then... One node would drop. Then it would come back up. Then it would drop again. And come back up. Then, sometimes at the same time, and other times just at random too, the other node would drop. And sometimes the main node would drop, and surprisingly the children would stay up. Sometimes the whole thing would just go down, no wifi at all.
So, after dealing with this for a couple of weeks, and rebooting each node after they would flake out, I called for support. It was 7pm. I was on the phone with them until just before midnight. They finally offered to replace the node that was the most flaky, would drop the most. I got the new unit, and followed their instructions to add it to the mesh, and it would not connect. I had to wipe all of them, and rebuild the network from 'scratch'. Then, a few days later, the dropping nodes started again. I checked that they were all up to the same version, they were, and tried wiping them again, and resetting up the mesh, new name, new passwords. I was then told on another call that I could 'fix all my problems if I connected each node to the wired network'. But that wasn't what I was sold before I bought them. So I connected all three to the wired network. It lasted for about a week, with intermittent dropouts along the way. Someone suggested using dedicated wire to connect the child nodes to the parent. WTH? Sure, I want to pull new wire.
Finally, one morning, all of them had a red light. The wifi was completely down. I disconnected all of the nodes, powered on the main node, and added the others. I had wifi, but by the evening, it was down again. In frustration, I unplugged all of them, and tossed them in a box in my office. I dug out the old Apple Extremes out of the 'donation box', and installed one of them. I have since installed the other two and setup the wifi with them, and it's been solid. Nothing has dropped at all. It just works.
So, they blamed it on my house. Barely 2,000 square foot ranch. The master was in the middle of the house, the child nodes were not even at the ends of the house. (they are about 60 feet away from the parent) I have gigabit wired network with a fiber backbone. I have never had connectivity problems on my wired network, but the Velop system just failed every way it could have failed. (They also refused to replace the entire system, we got the three pack) It got so bad, my wife had to go to the office for her virtual meetings. Driving nearly an hour away to go watch Webex meetings in her office, in a vacant building, and drive home. Yeah, it sucked.
So, Velop has burned us. It's proven itself to be unreliable garbage. I could buy the idea that it was something here, something 'wrong' with my house, but the Extremes just keep on trucking. I get wifi throughout the house, where that Velop crap was just so much drama. I had nodes drop while I was using the signal from it! Nice 'reliable' system.
I'm glad so many aren't having issues with their Velop equipment. I just don't know what kind of crap we got. So disappointed, disgusted, tired of dealing with it. I am very disinclined to want to try to set their crap up again, to have my hopes dashed, again. *sigh* It's not rocket science...
First, the Xfinity Wifi6, it's a combo modem/router. They are always dumbed down when compared to a separate system. The Orbi, Linksys and Alien AmpliFi are all much more powerful. Plus you buy them once, they are yours. You pay Xfinity monthly for years for a dumbed modem/router and it's never yours, plus you end up paying more out of your pocket. Here I'm showing the top of the line models but you can still buy your own Wifi6 for less money.
The Orbi Wifi6 mesh System $699 USD
8 antennas
12 streams
Tri Band
Quad Core 2.2 Ghz
8 Ethernet LAN ports
Maximum throughput 6Gbps
A 2.5G Ethernet WAN port
Wireless backhaul for extra nodes
5000 Sq ft. Coverage
Voice Controlled via Alexa
Netgear Nighthawk AX12 Currently $499 (single unit)
8 antennas
12 streams
Triband
Quad Core 1.8Ghz
10.8Gbps max throughput
160Mhz
2.5G WAN Ethernet Port
5 Ethernet LAN ports
(2) USB 3.0 Ports
2500 sq ft. Coverage
Voice Controlled via Alexa
If you want a single Combo Unit then Netgear's CAX80 $429 USD
Smaller unit
Maximum throughput 6Gbps
8 Streams
2.5Gbps Ethernet WAN port
USB 3.0 port
4 Ethernet ports w/port aggregation
160Mhz
Dual Band
There are plenty of great options but if you prefer to throw money at Comcast to rent something that will never be yours be my guest.
HAH! I had an AT&T box that I paid on for years, that I 'didn't own', yet when it looked like it had failed because of a power issue, they sure wanted to have me pay for a new one, in full, and continue paying 'rent'. The nerve. I had already paid enough to get a new one. At the time they didn't let people supply their own. That may have changed, don't know. (Back in the day, we had ISDN and supplied our own device. They didn't have a problem. Charging 'rent' on the modems/RG's is 'free money' for them.
I remember the story of the old woman who died and the family found a Princess phone that she had been paying on for decades. She had paid thousands of dollars in 'rent' for the device, and had received a notice that she was behind on her payments by the time the family got her mail. I think they ended up suing to get the money back. Yeah, it's like charging for carryons and water on a plane. Just greed.
I remember the story of the old woman who died and the family found a Princess phone that she had been paying on for decades. She had paid thousands of dollars in 'rent' for the device, and had received a notice that she was behind on her payments by the time the family got her mail. I think they ended up suing to get the money back. Yeah, it's like charging for carryons and water on a plane. Just greed.
I have two Linksys Velop Wifi6 modem/WiFi (AX5300) on the first and second floor and an older WiFi 5 at the third. No problem, speeds on the attic is a bit slower (but no problem for the use) and the two wifi6’s are much much faster.
Wifi 6 might nog be fully baked yet, but the 6GHz isn’t going to be available in my country for years to come and 6GHz has really bad reach (no walls, solid wood doors even will hamper it, tripple layered coated glass will be a problem, so basically only the room that has a node will have 6GHz.
For other features most might be updated via firmware, if the company is inclined to do so.
Best reason for me to buy these over wifi5 is that 2 out of 3 airport extreme’s had died/serious issues. And if I’m going to buy a new network set, why not buy the best for the next 7 or 8 years?
If I buy wifi 5, I’m going to be stuck with that for the next 7 years.
And having gigabit optic fibre it’s really nice to get those high speeds.
I thing that has more to do with the size of the antenae then with the WiFi 5 or 6. The antenna on the MBP is perhaps 10 times as large And much better tuned, when compared to the aluminium/stainless band around an iPhone.
Edit: after about 10 years of airports extreme’s the Velops are a joy to use. Have been using them now for about two months or so. Much better coverage, much better speeds, keeping connections better, more agressive switching between nodes. might have something to do with better/newer tech
I have tried the Orbi’s, but didn’t care much for their design and I found them not as easy/good as the Velops.
Setting the regional approval issue aside, which is obviously a gating issue, 6Ghz penetration is nearly equal to 5.4ghz, not much difference in real life. So if 5.4ghz words for you, 6ghz will probably work too. The benefit of 6ghz will be more wide channel availability, which is needed to have the full benefit of the wifi6 improvements anyway.
I agree it's best to buy network equipment for long-term. I just think anything wifi6 right now is not long term. It will be like those folks that jumped onto draft-n equipment and then had to upgrade again a few years later.
A good wave2 AC signal can exceed gigabit as it is. Wifi6 is definately better for this, no debate, but I think folks really need to have faster than gigabit speeds, internal and internet, to really take advantage.
I have no idea what "Does Homekit work with Google Mesh?" even means. HomeKit uses WiFi. It has zero interest in what WiFi brand you are using.
If you believe that Alexa (and Google home) provide "Completely automated home" you clearly have a very different idea of automation from what I do.
Automation is not voice control, automation is the house doing things without human intervention. HomeKit is terrible at this -- and yet is still by far the best option available, which is a pretty sad comment on the world...
What sort of things do I mean?
I have blinds that go up and down based on things like suntracking (ie not based on time, but where the sun is in the sky) and the temperature outside. I have lights that go full brightness when I enter a room, and dim three minutes after I exit. I have a humidifier that switches on when humidity gets too low. When I leave the house lights go on and off in a semi-random pattern. etc
This is automation. Even so, what you can do SUCKS!
You can create rules based on
- when a trigger occurs (time, sensor value, leave/return to the house, things like that)
- AND certain conditions hold
- then do various things.
That sounds good until you try to do anything sophisticated. For example there are no comparison operations ("when outdoor temperature - indoor temperature >=5 degrees"), the delays that are offered are limited (and don't seem to work in many circumstances), the programming environment is extremely clumsy, there are no debugging tools (eg logging), etc etc. You can make some progress by running HomeBridge (which allows you to control non-HomeKit accessories and, more usefully, provides a variety on synthetic accessories like virtual weather stations, sun position, virtual switches, virtual timers, ...
So let's be honest and adult here. If you want to boast about your voice control, go ahead.
But AUTOMATION is a word with an actual meaning...
Ubiquiti sell the professional line, which is for people who really want to control everythig.
But the Amplifi line is, right now, the closest you can get to an Apple experience. Looks nice, works well, doesn't try to offer every setting you can imagine, just the ones that normal people need. And it's easy to extend one mesh point at a time, you don't have to commit up front. I bought the (HD) base station first then a mesh point a few months later when I realized I needed one for that part of the house.
My friend has Orbi. I'd say Amplifi looks nicer, and the app is nicer (and IMHO easier to use). In terms of performance and reliability they seem the same. Amplifi probably costs more, especially if you want two rather than zero or one mesh points -- but I'm happy to pay that extra for the niceness.
(And if money is an issue, get the Amplifi HD. The Alien is of course ax, and full of newness and coolness. It's also a lot more expensive. Do you need those ax features, or at least expect to need them over the next five years?)
There are a few things that I need for my internet services in my home. A reliable router. A functionally efficient router and a fast router. I checked the AmpliFi Alien and it's the same price as the Orbi RBK852. I'm not sure which Orbi your friend has but the RBK852 offers more functionality and efficiency in speed over the AmpliFi Alien. Both products are the same price of $699USD.
Firstly, I don't need a fancy touch screen UI on a router. To me that's a wasteful feature that the money is going to and in order to be price competitive with the Orbi the Alien skimps on some features. Once I setup my routers they are strategically placed in my home to get the best coverage without being in my face. That means they are generally hidden inside cabinets or up near the ceiling behind the curtains, so having a touchscreen is useless. That's why there's an app for all of that. Furthermore how nice a router looks is of no care to me. Routers have never been display decorations in the home.
What "Apple experience" are you referring to? You mean how it looks? If that's what you need then great but I need my router system to work, not to look "pretty". The Orbi's app is very "Apple Like" in terms of graphics, simplicity and ease of setup.
The AmpliFi Alien is a Tri-Band but its not utilized in an efficient way like the Orbi. The reason why the Orbi gets such rave reviews for speed is because the 3rd band is used for the 5Ghz Wifi6 backhaul. The AmpliFi Alien doesn't have backhaul. It uses the 3rd band for 5Ghz Wifi5. The Orbi is backwards compatible too without doing that.
Another thing, I have two Macs. I have a 16" MBP and an older 2011 iMac. The iMac has a wireless N card so it can't take advantage of my 1Gig speed from Comcast. The Orbi Satellite (node) has (4) 1G ethernet LAN ports. That's actually a total of 8 LAN ports between the Router and the Satellite. On the Satellite I use one for the iMac and one for my Apple Time Capsule for Time Machine. The AmpliFi Alien's node has only 1 ethernet port. That wouldn't work for people who have multiple products in the home that would be better suited with direct connection rather than wireless.
Lastly the Orbi has a 2.5G/1G Ethernet WAN port. The AmpliFi Alien only has a 1G WAN port. That means the fastest wifi that can be achieved is 1Gbps. The Orbi offers more than twice as fast Wifi.
I fully checked out the AmpliFi Alien and while it "looks good" it lacks when compared to the Orbi RBK852. The great thing is we all have choices when it comes to Wifi6.
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Does anybody here have any experience with the Asus ZenWiFi AX? At least on paper, it seems to be a very worthy WiFi 6 mesh setup.
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Can you share which model of orbi you have and is it HomeKit compatible? Linksys has been a utter disaster for me
You should visit UniFi forums to see what each new firmware release does to the UniFi APs. My UniFi network is extremely reliable but I haven’t upgraded the firmware in close to two years now.
I've read a few reviews that said it has great coverage and it's one of the top in speed. These reviewers said the problem is the buggy firmware and Asus hasn't seemed to fix the issues.
I looked at the UDM and was pretty excited after watching reviews from people on youtube. Then I spent a bunch of time in the Ubiquiti sub on reddit and its reliability is almost universally panned in there. Youtube and standard reviews are fine, but with routers - longer term reliability and stability is really important and something that doesn't usually get caught in review.
For example, one thing I only really picked up on after trolling reddit is that the UDM firmware is still in Beta. It's technically UDM Pro firmware w/ beta support for UDM (or at least that's how it's labelled by Ubiquiti). The actually non-Beta UDM firmware is stuck at 1.5.6, which in the sub is almost universally considered unstable.
UDM software (as well as UDM-Pro and UXG-Pro) lacks basic features and buggy as hell. UDM hardware is outdated at this point. It’s not WiFi6 and the AP integrated in the UDM is a low-cost UAP-NanoHD, which covers only about 1,000 sq feet. You would need to get additional Ubiquiti APs or range extenders to cover a larger area.
I own a lot of Ubiquiti devices. At this point, if you want to buy new gear, go for WiFi6. In my case, I use Ubiquiti WiFi5 APs that are a class higher than the cheap AP integrated in the UDM. My network is stable, but it took me a long time to get it to the stable state because every Ubiquiti firmware upgrade broke some functionality on my network. I finally decided to stop upgrading the firmware about 2 years ago. That’s not a good solution for the network stability.
If you want to go with Ubiquiti, check out their new consumer-grade Alien WiFi6 mesh router with a satellite unit for $699 or without the satellite unit for $399. It’s a much better solution than the UDM for a consumer environment.