Eero<\/a> built its reputation on easy to use yet powerful mesh systems that offer a lot of good in a relatively small and affordable package. Setup is effortless, the app running things is clean and simple, and you get the added benefit of backwards compatibility with older hardware. Sadly, the issue with every Eero system is that so many basic management features, like parental controls, are paywalled behind the company\u2019s Eero Plus subscription for $100 a year.<\/p>\nAmazon Eero 6E<\/h3>\n
Eero Pro 6E is an \u201ceasy\u201d device, the sort a total novice can set up on their own and thrive with for years on end. There\u2019s little brainwork required to get things set up, and the app has a clean UI with plenty of hand-holding. But, as with the Eero Pro 7, the fact that so many basic management tools are paywalled irks me, especially since you can get plenty of them for free with Google\u2019s rival offering.<\/p>\n
Netgear Orbi 960<\/h3>\n
The Orbi 96T0 (RBKE963) is Netgear\u2019s flagship mesh Wi-Fi product, which the company calls the \u201cworld\u2019s most powerful Wi-Fi 6E system.\u201d It\u2019s also one of the most expensive consumer-level kits on the market, setting you back $1,499.99 for a three pack. It’s a fantastic piece of gear, but it’s worth saying that the subset of people who could, would or should buy it remains far smaller than you might expect. Ultimately, I feel that if you\u2019re paying luxury prices, you should expect a luxury product. There were plenty of times during testing that I went looking for a feature that was either only available via the web client, or behind a paywall. While, yes, much of your cash is going to the superlative hardware, but for this sort of money, the fact you have to pay extra for some table-stakes features is insulting. If you\u2019re looking for a new Wi-Fi system and aren\u2019t prepared to spend almost $1,500, it\u2019s worth considering our other top picks for the best Wi-Fi routers and mesh systems.<\/p>\n
How we test Wi-Fi routers<\/h2>\n
My home covers around 2,200 square feet across three stories with the office on the third floor. It\u2019s relatively long and thin, with the living room at the front of the house, the kitchen at the back and the three bedrooms on the first floor. Its age means there are a lot of solid brick walls, old-school lathe and plaster as well as aluminum foil-backed insulation boards to help with energy efficiency. There are two major Wi-Fi dead zones in the house: The bathroom and the third bedroom behind it, since there\u2019s lots of old and new pipework in the walls and floors.<\/p>\n
For mesh routers with two nodes, I place the first in my living room, connected via ethernet to my cable modem with the second on the first floor landing in the (ostensible) center of the house. For three-node sets, the third goes in my kitchen, which I\u2019ve found is the optimal layout to get the bulk of my house covered in Wi-Fi. Fundamentally, my home poses enough challenges that if it succeeds here, it stands a very good chance of succeeding in your place.<\/p>\n
Each mesh is judged on ease of setup, Wi-Fi coverage, reliability, speed and any additional features that it advertises. I look at how user-friendly each companion app is from the perspective of a novice rather than an expert given you shouldn\u2019t need to be a network engineer to do this sort of thing. Tests I do include checking for dead zones, moving from room to room to measure consistency of connectivity and streaming multiple videos at once to replicate common usage patterns.<\/p>\n
Mesh Wi-Fi system FAQs<\/h2>\n
This is the section of our mesh Wi-Fi buyer\u2019s guide where we talk about the stuff that most people just glide past. If you\u2019re not familiar with technology, it can be intimidating if people talk about these things as if you\u2019re expected to already know. So here\u2019s a very simple, very basic rundown of some of the stuff you might have missed in very basic terms.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the difference between a Wi-Fi router and a mesh router?<\/h3>\n
A Wi-Fi router is a box that usually sits close to wherever the internet comes into your home and pumps out information over radio waves. A mesh router, meanwhile, is a set of smaller devices, one of which sits next to your internet connection while the rest are scattered around your home. A single Wi-Fi router is great if your home is small, your needs aren\u2019t too demanding, or if your home doesn\u2019t have many radio-blocking obstructions that mean those signals can\u2019t reach every corner of your home. But, much like standing next to a radio transmitter and then walking away from it in a straight line, after a while, the signal will degrade.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the problem a mesh system is designed to solve, since it will take the signal from your modem and pump to the other mesh devices, known as nodes, in your home. That way, instead of having one big router in one part of your home, you have several small ones that ensure you have good Wi-Fi connectivity all over. It also helps ensure that there\u2019s no risk of dropping your connection as you move around \u2014 a mesh router system makes it easy to, for instance, walk from room to room watching Netflix and know you won\u2019t miss a single frame.<\/p>\n
What’s the difference between a Wi-Fi extender and a mesh system?<\/h3>\n
Oh boy. Wi-Fi extenders, or repeaters, are small devices designed to push Wi-Fi a little further than your Wi-Fi router can stretch. They\u2019re cheap, compact and often come in the form of little boxes that sit on your plug sockets with the hope of pushing Wi-Fi to a signal-sparse corner of your home. They are, and I can\u2019t put this delicately enough, often a big pile of rubbish and are often not worth your time<\/em>. Especially since the price of mesh routers has fallen to within most people\u2019s budgets.<\/p>\nWhat is a wireless backhaul?<\/h3>\n
As we explained above, mesh Wi-Fi systems work by connecting every hardware node to a single wireless network, letting them all communicate with each other. Imagine four people in a busy, noisy restaurant all trying to order their dinner from a weary staff member, all at once. Now imagine, while this is going on, that four more people at that same table are also trying to tell a funny anecdote. It\u2019s no surprise that it might take a long time for the right information to reach its intended destination.<\/p>\n
To combat this, higher-end mesh routers offer dedicated wireless backhaul; a slice of the spectrum for node-to-node communication. So rather than everyone talking at once in the same space, the conversations are essentially separated, reducing the invisible clutter in the air. Because there\u2019s less confusing cross-chatter, everything moves faster, offering a significant performance boost to those systems.<\/p>\n
Is it better to hard wire instead of using a mesh Wi-Fi system?<\/h3>\n
This is a great question that doesn\u2019t have a simple answer.<\/p>\n
It is (almost) always preferable to connect devices with a wire, in this case Ethernet, than to use Wi-Fi. The speeds are faster, it\u2019s more reliable and your data is less vulnerable to the slings and arrows of the laws of physics. Hell, I spent about a year trying to work out how to build an iPhone to Ethernet connector back in the bad old days of Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n
But your ability to do so depends on your level of DIY skills and \/ or how much money you want to spend on contractors. Wiring your home for Ethernet if you don\u2019t have the infrastructure already can be a costly and time-consuming process. Particularly if you don\u2019t want ugly wires running along your baseboards and under your carpets or across your hardwood floors.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re building your own home or can do some serious DIY, then hard wiring is a fantastic thing to have. It goes wonderfully hand-in-glove with mesh networks too, since you\u2019ll be able to hook up your nodes to the network for even better speeds.<\/p>\n
But if I\u2019m honest, advances in Wi-Fi technology mean I\u2019d only go for hard wiring if I really believed I needed the sort of speed it offers. Unless you\u2019re a Twitch streamer running your own 24\/7 content studio, it\u2019s probably overkill.<\/p>\n
When we started renovating our 140-year-old home, I had Ethernet installed in the living room, the master and second bedroom and in my office, all at the front of the house. I can\u2019t use it for my mesh since I\u2019d need to put the wiring through the middle of the house. If I ever had the wiring done again, I would do so as I know I\u2019ll instantly see a meaningful improvement in both my connection speed and reliability. But I wouldn\u2019t spend several thousand pounds to have it done just for the sake of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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