Mesh routers are the latest technology upgrade for home Wi-Fi networks. Mesh networks have been used for years in large places where a secure network is critical, like military bases and businesses. (In such cases, the network is often isolated and not connected to the internet.) Now, residential wireless-internet users can optimize their home Wi-Fi with a form of mesh networking, too.
If you have a large home — at least 3,000 square feet — or one with an unusual layout, more than two stories or interior brick walls, you probably regularly encounter Wi-Fi dead zones, and your setup could be a good candidate for a mesh-router system.
- Eero was the first company to develop and release a Mesh WiFi System. Other prominent technology brands, such as Google, LinkSys, and D-Link, were quick to add their own mesh WiFi systems to the marketplace.
- And, just recently, we've seen a new generation of 'mesh' networking systems, which use two or more routers linked together to provide wider coverage that can send the Wi-Fi signal even into.
- Here are the best Wi-Fi mesh network systems you can buy for your home and the reasons to buy them. Best Wi-Fi mesh network solutions Each solution on this list requires that at least one piece of hardware is plugged into your modem; all provide Wi-Fi coverage, while some also work with an Ethernet connection.
Best Selling. Google WiFi system, 3-Pack - Router replacement for whole home coverage (NLS-1304-25). Creates a Mesh WiFi network that blankets your home in super fast. ASUS Lyra Trio (3 Packs) Home Mesh WiFi System (AC1750) - Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Dual-Band Wireless Mesh Network Routers with Parental Control, Free Lifetime. Netgear Orbi Wi-Fi System Blankets your home with Wi-Fi At $400 for a set of two units, the Netgear Orbi is expensive, but it might just be the best Wi-Fi system on the market.
MORE: Best Wi-Fi Routers
Mesh Routers Compared
Eero | Google Wifi | Linksys Velop | Luma | Netgear Orbi | Ubiquiti AmpliFi HD | |
Starting Price | $160 Amazon Marketplace | $99 Amazon Marketplace | $219.25 Amazon | $47.5 Amazon Marketplace | $196.00 Amazon | $109.99 Amazon Marketplace |
Color | White | White | White | White, black, orange, gray | White | White |
Form factor | Square hockey puck | Round hockey puck | Small tower | Hexagonal hockey puck | Small tower | Cube, plug-in dongles |
Admin interface | Mobile app | Mobile app | Mobile app | Mobile app | Mobile app, browser | Touchscreen, mobile app, browser |
Max coverage area, in theory | Unlimited | 4,500 sq. ft. | 6,000 sq. ft. | 5,000 sq. ft. | 4,000 sq. ft. | 20,000 sq. ft. |
Parental controls | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Smart-home integration | Alexa | Philips Hue, IFTTT | Alexa | Alexa | Alexa | |
Ethernet ports | 2 per node | 2 per node | 2 per node | 2 per node | 4 per device | 5 on base |
USB ports | 1 per node | None | None | 1 per node | 1 per device | 1 on base |
Several big names have emerged as popular mesh-router solutions in the last couple of years. Top names include familiar networking companies, like the Netgear Orbi, Linksys Velop and Samsung Connect Home Pro, while others are making their name with mesh systems, like Google Wifi, Ubiquiti Amplifi and Eero Mesh Router.
With such a spike in popularity, you may be wondering whether a mesh router would work for you. If so, here's an overview of this latest upgrade in home Wi-Fi networking, to help you decide if this solution could work in your home.
The basics of wireless mesh routers
At the center of traditional Wi-Fi networks is the router, the key piece of equipment that broadcasts the wireless signal to which your devices connect. A router, as its name suggests, seamlessly routes internet traffic between a connected modem and Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets such as computers or tablets. Most people completely forget about their routers — that is, until the Wi-Fi signal goes down.
The main issue with traditional routers is that the reach of the signals they send out is limited. Large buildings that need internet access on multiple floors often have areas with limited or nonexistent service, sometimes called dead zones, when the main network uses a standard single-point router.
Mesh routers can help eliminate dead zones. Rather than broadcasting Wi-Fi signals from a single point, mesh router systems have multiple access points. One point links to the modem and acts as the router, while one or more other access points, often called satellites, capture the router's signal and rebroadcast it.
The benefits of mesh routers
In addition to creating a strong, reliable Wi-Fi signal, mesh-router systems have a few other prominent benefits. Here are some of the biggest pros.
1. Easy network management: One main feature that distinguishes mesh-router systems from traditional routers is the easy network access they provide. Many mesh-router systems are totally automated, allowing for easy management through a mobile app, even when you're not at home. Many mesh-router apps let users quickly scan their speeds, cut off Wi-Fi access to certain networks, create guest networks, test the quality between the various connection points and even connect to smart home devices. Some high-end traditional routers have similar features, but you'll usually have to be connected to the local network from a desktop web interface to turn them on.
2. Streamlined connections: With traditional routers, devices known as range extenders are often used to repeat the signal so Wi-Fi can be accessed from long distances. However, many extenders require you to create a separate network, with a separate name, for the range extender. This means you may have to switch Wi-Fi connections, sometimes manually, as you move around the house. A mesh-router system, on the other hand, doesn't require constant reconnection, even as you move from room to room. You also won't have to deal with as much lag, as the access points all broadcast the same signal, rather than having to route requests through multiple networks.
3. Tight security: Along with easy management, some residential mesh-router kits come with good security support. Thanks to the aforementioned easy network management, it's not hard to keep your router devices safe — many automatically check for, and install, firmware updates. (Until recently, most routers had to be updated manually by the owner.) The Luma takes security a step further by screening out known malicious websites.
The drawbacks of mesh routers
Mesh-router systems, like most pieces of networking equipment, aren't without drawbacks. Here are a few of the bigger ones.
1. High costs: A good mesh-router kit will cost $300 or more, with add-on satellites costing $100 to $200 each. A good traditional router usually costs in the ballpark of $100, while range extenders run anywhere from $20 to $100. That's a big difference in price, even for the most basic mesh-router setup.
2. Wasted resources: In small homes and buildings, mesh routers generally present a bigger solution than is needed. If you don't regularly deal with Wi-Fi connectivity issues, or if you don't have extensive internet demands, mesh routers might be excessive. A few Wi-Fi dead zones can easily be remedied by using a range extender, by putting the existing router in a more central location or by upgrading to a better traditional router with a longer range.
3. More equipment: Best free anti malware for mac. Although most mesh-router system access points are small and discreet, you may need several of them to take full advantage of their capabilities. This means finding places for multiple devices throughout your home — which could be problematic for users who prefer to keep networking devices limited to one or two inconspicuous locations.
Do you need a mesh-router system?
Many traditional routers won't cover large houses with multiple floors and walls that block wireless signals. Additionally, if you're interested in smart-home features, the easy remote management that mesh routers offer through their mobile apps is a huge plus.
On the other hand, if you live in a small home or apartment and only deal with dropped Wi-Fi every so often, you can probably pass on mesh routers. A simple range extender, or even a long-range router, would work just as well to patch dead zones.
You don't have to deal with slow internet speeds or gaping dead zones. If you're tired of constant router resets or antenna adjustments, now is a good time to upgrade to a new traditional router with longer distance capabilities, a mesh-router kit or a range extender — whichever product best fits your situation and budget. All are optimized to deal with home obstructions and can connect homes on numerous frequencies.
There are plenty of wireless networking products that can help boost a home Wi-Fi signal, so analyze your Wi-Fi needs to determine which solution is best for your home.
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Linksys Velop Whole Home Wi-Fi (three pack)
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Linksys bid its time before jumping into the consumer mesh Wi-Fi router market, watching Eero, Luma, Netgear, and Google wade in with new products in 2016. Now Linksys is making a splash at CES, where it debuted its Velop Whole Home Wi-Fi system. We’ve benchmarked the heck out of a three-node system and found it to be one of the best yet. It’s also one of the most expensive, with a single router priced at $200, a two-pack at $350, and a three-pack going for $400 (a substantial discount over buying three singles).
You’ll find benchmarks conducted with a MacBook Pro further down, but I performed the same tests with an HP Envy x360. (Click here if you’d prefer to read that version.)
The Velop’s slightly rounded columnar form factor hews closer to Netgear’s Orbi (next on my review to-do list) than the puck-shaped devices from Eero (benchmarked, but not officially reviewed yet) and Google (Google Wi-Fi has been fully reviewed). And like the Orbi, the Velop is a tri-band router with three 2x2 radios (two uplink and two downlink) operating three independent networks on the 2.4- and 5GHz frequency bands. One of the 5GHz networks utilizes the lower channels on that band (36 and up) while the other uses the upper channels (149 and up). The router automatically steers clients to the most appropriate network, and each node automatically chooses a different channel for its backhaul duties (i.e., data traveling from client devices back to the router). You can also set up one guest network.
The Velop’s off-white vertical enclosure is perforated with ventilation holes on the left side, the back, and the top. With its six antennas hidden in the top of its enclosure, and its cables emerging from a cutout in one corner, the Velop looks more like a room air freshener than a router. But that’s typical of mesh routers—manufacturers are doing their best to design network devices that consumers won’t object to placing out in the open. Be that as it may, everyone who buys an understated mesh router will still need to plug it into their ugly old broadband gateway. I suspect a lot of these routers will still end up in closets, but the access points might see the light of day.
A single multi-color LED on top reports the Velop’s status, and there’s a silver Linksys logo printed on its solid face. Two ethernet ports and a power connection are located inside a two-inch-deep well inside the bottom of the unit. There’s an on/off switch and a reset button here as well (you won’t need to bend a paperclip to reach the latter).
The ethernet connections automatically configure themselves for WAN or LAN duties, and each satellite Velop can also function as a wireless access point or a wireless bridge for clients that would otherwise need to be hardwired to your network. You’ll need a smartphone or tablet to set up and configure a Velop router, as there is no web client. The app (there are Android and iOS versions) pairs with the router’s Bluetooth 4.0 radio and then guides you through the rest of the process, which includes setting a Wi-Fi password for the router.
Best Wifi Mesh Network
As you add each node, the app automatically evaluates the strength of its connection to the next closest node and will suggest moving it closer if the connection is weak. Bluetooth discovery process took longer than I’ve experienced with other mesh routers, and Linksys tells me there’s a bug that causes the app to time out if you leave it to do something else. The wait is annoying when you’re setting up a three-node system as I did, but you only need to do this once.
Linksys says the Velop will work with Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant, but that feature wasn’t ready in time for us to review. Once Amazon certifies the Velop skill, you’ll be able to use voice commands to turn its guest network on and off and request login credentials for its main and guest networks. I’d also like to see support for prioritizing client devices with voice commands (you can select up to three devices for bandwidth priority if your internet connection is constrained. As it stands, you’ll need the app to perform these tasks yourself.) The Velop app also has basic parental controls.
Benchmark results
If you live in a smaller home or an apartment, you might be able to get away with a single Velop. When MacBook Pro client was in the same room as the router, nine feet away and without any walls between the two, the Velop delivered TCP throughput of 475.3 megabits per second. That’s 41- and 43-percent slower respectively than the non-mesh routers I compared it to: a Linksys EA9500 and an Apple AirPort Time Capsule. The Velop was three percent slower than Google’s Wifi mesh router, but it was 42-percent faster than Eero’s mesh router at this location.
The Linksys EA9500 delivered the best performance of all the routers when the client was further away, in my great room, with the AirPort Time Capsule coming in second. At that location, the client is 33 feet from the router, with a wall, plywood cabinets, and several kitchen appliances in the signal path (a refrigerator, double wall oven, island-countertop range, and a ceiling-hung ventilation hood). The Velop also got beat by the Eero and the Securifi Almond 3 at this location.
One Velop node wouldn’t be sufficient for my 2800-square-foot, single-level home; then again, none of the single Wi-Fi routers I’ve tested can sufficiently penetrate my well-insulated home theater—at least not wirelessly.
Adding a second Velop node was enough to blanket my entire home with Wi-Fi coverage, including the home theater. The Velop delivered impressive throughput of 173.2Mbps there and 174.2Mbps in the sun room, which is 65 feet from the router with three insulated interior walls and two fireplaces in the signal path. The Linksys EA9500 managed a paltry 19.1Mbps in the home theater, and the AirPort Time Capsule couldn’t reach the client at all.
Adding a third node was overkill for my space. Throughput at close range and in the sun room increased marginally, but it dropped a bit in the great room and the home theater, presumably because the third node increased the hops the data packets had to make. I wouldn’t spring for that third node unless I lived in a larger or multi-story home. Buying a two-pack and adding the third node later would cost $50 more than buying a three-pack to begin with.
When I tested the Velop with a Windows PC client, the router’s close-range performance dropped as I added nodes. As you can see from the chart below, I didn’t see that with the Mac. Throughput jumped considerably when I added the second node and dropped back only a bit when I added the third (this happened even more with the Google Wifi). In my home at least, two mesh nodes is the sweet spot.
The chart above compares the baseline Linksys EA9500 and Apple AirPort Time Capsule to the Linksys Velop and Google Wifi with one, two, and then three nodes deployed. None of the mesh routers delivered fantastic range on their own, but adding nodes to the Velop and Google Wi-Fi networks increased throughput at range. Deploying a range extender with the EA9500 (or an additional base station for the AirPort Time Capsule) might help improve the reach of those routers, but that strategy can significantly reduce the router’s overall bandwidth due to overhead. That doesn’t happen with mesh networks, and adding Velop nodes significantly increased throughput compared to Google’s product, as you can see in the chart above.
My final performance chart shows how the Linksys Velop performs under pressure. For this test, I run wireless TCP-throughput benchmarks on three pairs of computers (four Windows machines and two MacOS computers) placed 33 feet from the router while simultaneously streaming 4K video from a Roku Ultra streaming box that’s wirelessly connected to the network (with three active nodes).
The Velop crushed the competition on this one, including its cousin, the Linksys EA9500. It was more than twice as fast than some of the other routers.
Notice how much higher the MacBook Pro’s numbers are compared to the Windows machines? That’s attributable to Apple’s choice of a 3x3 Broadcom Wi-Fi adapter. The vast majority of Windows laptops, including the HP Envy x360 I used, have 2x2 Wi-Fi adapters. I plugged a Linksys WUSB6100M USB Wi-Fi adapter into the second Windows laptop, which is an older machine with an 802.11n adapter onboard. While the WUSB6100M is only a 1x1 part, it offers native support for MU-MIMO.
Is the Linksys Velop right for you?
The Linksys Velop is one of the best mesh networks we’ve tested so far. It offers a strong collection of features, very good performance, and comes with a three-year warranty with 24/7 tech support. The less-expensive Google Wifi was slightly faster at close range while operating solo, and it was considerably faster at that distance in a two-node configuration. But the Linksys router trounced it and the rest of the field at range when running two or three nodes. The Velop is also the only one of the few routers to support MU-MIMO right out of the box. While there aren’t a lot of MU-MIMO client devices on the market right now, you won’t have to wait for a firmware update if you own one.
![Network Network](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126030348/481356481.jpg)
Best Wifi Mesh Network System For Macbook Pro
Linksys is taking pre-orders now and expects to ship the new router on January 15.
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Wifi Mesh Network Equipment
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Linksys Velop Whole Home Wi-Fi (three pack)
See itThe Linksys Velop is one of the best true mesh-network routers we've tested, but many Wi-Fi enthusiasts will still prefer a more conventional model.Pros
- Robust feature set
- Exceptional performance under stress (and at range, with two nodes or more)
- Attractive, unobtrusive industrial design
Cons
- Only two ethernet ports
- No USB port for storage or printer support
- Expensive