eero - eero 5

Gotta say my Eero 5 has been bulletproof since buying when it first came out years ago. I was looking forward to getting past that Wi Fi 5 bottleneck and on to Wi Fi 7.

I’ve had my Eero 5 for 9 years now, it’s been bulletproof. I want to upgrade it and looked into using my T Mobile service’s mesh system but read it doesn’t work nearly as well as other mesh systems so I’ll be sticking with Eero, I’ve got no good reason to change.

Get it from Woot.com, which is an Amazon company, so they have official refurbs. Amazon also sells official refurbs. Right now Woot has some 6 expansion nodes (not 6 pro, so no wired backhaul), and some 5 kits, I think.

That happened to me with Eero 5s but I was just able to buy one new in box on eBay for a reasonable price.

Go buy some Eero 5s off eBay or something. I got 4 for $50 a while back. Granted that was a particularly good deal, still a lot out there. I’d stay away from tplink if possible for security concerns: https://www.wired.com/story/tp-link-router-ban-investigation/

Sure. The Deco does not have nearly as much engineering put into it as the Eero does. Eero has a bunch of unique (patented) technologies that make it work better in certain environments.

This won't work. If your modem is also a router and you have the eeros in bypass it will work, but not well. Modem -> Eero -> Switch -> Eero is the correct way. If your concern is the lack of multi gig ports on the Eero or the need to home run to a place where there is no need for an Eero, pick up a POE gateway.

The biggest driver of newer Eero products being released is the approval of new WiFi standards, which support faster speeds, lower latency, and make meshing system like Eero perform significantly better. In 2016 when the OG Eero was introduced, the average internet speed in the US (according to ooma) was 39 Mbps. It has continued a steady increase in speed since then with more and more fiber being deployed and cable companies moving to newer standards like DOCSIS 3.1 or 4.0. In 2025, ooma reports a 214Mb/s average, which is greater than a 5x speed gain (on average) nationwide in less than 10 years. Verizon FIOS, for example, was advertising 100Mb symmetrical residential connections in 2016, and today they are deploying multi-gigabit symmetrical residential connections. There is no technical reason to expect that this rate of increase won't continue (it will slow down for sure), and this expected continued increase is taken in account with the following recommendations. Eero advertises a number of square feet that an individual Eero can cover, and while these numbers can help you compare the relative strength and capabilities of one Eero verses another, these numbers are not absolute facts that will apply in your home. A number of conditions affect the actual range of an individual Eero, including wall construction, gaps under doors, carpet vs hardwood, glass surfaces, proximity to other electronics and more. \*\* The following eeros are not recommended to buy in 2025: \-OG Eero (2016) \-All 2nd Generation Eeros (aka Eero 5, Introduced 2019) - this includes Eero Beacon, Eero 5, Eero 5 Pro - While all of these products had a reason for existing at one time, the slow processors, limited RF capabilities, and limited throughput make these not a good buy in 2025. \-Some 3rd Generation Eero (Eero 6, Eero 6+, Eero 6 Extender ) - Limited RAM, slow processors, mismatched Phy speeds, limited MIMO, and poor performance with modern software make these poor choices for new implementations and ideal candidates to be upgraded in existing networks. \-Eero 7 - The promise of Wifi 7 and low price make this a tempting choice, but the unit doesn't support TrueMesh 2.0, which is Eero's latest topology-management technology. These units are mostly usable in 2025, but they will not age well, which makes them a poor choice for long term value as homes are moving to symmetrical high speed connections. The Eero 7 is also the only indoor 7 series product that doesn't support 6Ghz connectivity. \*\* Recommended to buy in 2025, in order of performance (best to worse): Eero Max 7 - Tri Band, lots of RAM, lots of horsepower, 2 10 gig Ethernet ports, and 2 2.5 gig Ethernet Ports. 4x4 MIMO on 5Ghz and 6Ghz. This is an ideal gateway Eero and the best "mesh" product currently made by Eero. Eero POE Gateway - Eero has notoriously been picky about network switches and many Eeros have a seemingly 'sluggish' fabric inside them that you can't quite put your finger on. The engineers at Eero delivered the best switch they could design, and it has incredible throughput, POE for powering access points, cameras, phones (etc), and and has the smarts inside it to be the network gateway. When it was introduced, this was the highest horsepower product Eero made, although the Max 7 now gives it a run for it's money (but without POE). If you're considering an Outdoor Eero 7, Eero 6 POEs, or if your "wiring closet" is in a place where it's really stupid to put a wireless access point, this should be the center of your network. Eero Pro 7 - Limited by 2x2 MIMO, but has 6Ghz capability and a fast processor. This is a popular choice to use as a mesh node, or even as a gateway in smaller installations. It's quite a bit cheaper than the Max 7, but you get what you pay for. Eero Pro 6 - This is no longer manufactured, but can be found in the used market or sitting on pro installers shelves when they were bought up at the EOL sales. While these aren't great gateways, they have more RAM and faster processors than their other 6 series counterparts. These are still solid choices for mesh units, especially in lower traffic areas. Eero Outdoor 7 - Eeros first approved outdoor unit, this works surprisingly well. While it is capable of meshing, because of its 2x2 MIMO it works best when wired back to a gateway. Because it needs to be wired anyway to be powered via POE, it's not a far stretch to assume that most of these will be installed by professionals and hardwired to a POE gateway or a POE switch. Even powered via a POE injector, they will mesh like any other Eero. Eero 6e - This Eero isn't going to win any awards for raw speeds, but it is Eeros first entry into the 6Ghz spectrum. When it was announced, all the installers were 'encouraged' to take webinars where the Eero sales people talked endlessly about the empty spectrum and the incredible potential. Unfortunately, it's sort of worthless if you live near an airport, and its range is a bit more limited than anyone would like. But, like the Pro 6, these are really solid choices for mesh units. Eero POE 6 - Another Eero that isn't going to win any awards for raw speeds, but it is very rare for it to be used as a gateway. Because of this, the performance is considered acceptable in today's environment (and, well, there isn't a Wifi 7 POE Eero yet). It's worth pointing out that this product does not need to receive POE from the "WAN" connection, so it can function as the gateway and be powered by the LAN POE switch. This can be helpful in temporary setups, homes under construction/renovation, etc. If you are reading this text, my home network (outside the lab) are all POE 6s hardwired back to a POE gateway and the spouse has no complaints.

I have used EERO since 2020 in two houses. I had WiFi 5 and 6 units and now 7 eero pro 7’s (not EERO pro max). All have been excellent. There was a period of time, about six months ago, that the firmware would not connect to my Tesla wall connector and one or two Samsung TVs after a firmware upgrade. I could manually reboot and reconfigure and all was well. That issue has disappeared, no more problems. I have been on 1 GIG and now 2 GIG Cox internet service using a cable Modem Arris S33 and now Arris S34 (Both Docsis 3.1). I really like the way the system maintains itself by installing new updates and distributing the updates automatically to all EERO mesh routers wired and wireless. All products have their nuances and occasional problems but, by and large, EERO routers are outstanding and I highly recommend them!

I've been in IT for 20ish years. I spec'd out a Ubiquiti setup. Cost was going to be way more than double the Eero 3 pack from Amazon. In a moment of clarity I realized that bc all the people on r/Ubiquiti say "I set up Eeros at my parents/brothers/friends house, it just works", I should just get some Eeros and call it good. The longest part of completely revamping my home wifi was untangling the CAT6 strewn through my basement. "it just works" is a huge selling point for people who don't want to do netops as a hobby.

I use and can recommend eero mesh for "non-techie" parents and grandparents. Very easy to setup, and you can administer it remotely if you have to, which isn't very often. Your parents might actually enjoy the setup process, as the phone App walks you through it completely. Eero mesh goes on sale often too. Black Friday while be here in a blink, and they are guaranteed to be on sale then. If your parents aren't gamers and aren't moving huge files regularly, even the dual band eero mesh gives good coverage at a fair price. If you can wire them in, you'll only need dual band as long as each mesh node has Ethernet ports (do not buy the "Extenders" that lack Ethernet ports if you ever envision wiring them up). If they want maximum performance using *wireless* backhaul between mesh nodes, then Tri-band eeros are what you are looking for, but they are pricey. Using mesh wirelessly is all about placement of the mesh nodes. Just keep in mind that strong 5 GHz connections between nodes is necessary for best performance. This means the nodes should be closer together than most people think. Putting units directly above or below each other is good, as well as on the same floor, but directly above or below the "dead spots" too.

It highly depends on the layout of your new apartment and the building materials used, but, generally, one unit can cover 1400 sq ft. If possible, try to find out the location where the router will be. Unless it's in the very corner, you are *probably* good with one router. If it's in the center of the home (like the center of the second floor), your chances are very good. What you can do is buy a single mesh unit, and use it as your only router and see if it's enough. If not, then you buy the second mesh unit of the same model and mesh them together. So you can do it in two stages, and stop at one if it's enough. I would advise against buying anything less than WiFi 6 (AX) if you're buying brand new. It's not really a savings with WiFi 5 if support for that unit ends years earlier than a WiFi 6, 6E, or 7 device. 6E and 7 routers are still expensive, so the value buy is WiFi 6 (AX) for now. If you want something simple to setup and manage, look into eero mesh. Just buy one unit, and then all of their other models can mesh together with it.

Since you have cable Internet and it runs into the basement, you hopefully have coaxial cables available to you throughout the house, and usually in key locations. Just look at the area where all the coax ends should meet, likely in the basement where your modem/router is at and plugged into. If you do find this bunch of coax, you can use it with MoCA Adapters to build a wired Ethernet network inside your home. If you can achieve that, then getting good WiFi everywhere will be easy, as well as providing wired capabilities for other devices in needed locations. MoCA Adapters can be a bit expensive, but worth the cost. If you can build this MoCA network, then whatever you choose as the router and Access Points will work very well, including a 3 pack of a reputable mesh brand. For mesh, I use and can recommend eero. But ASUS Zen mesh is also praised a lot, and has more configurability. If you want to go higher end, you can get an Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway router, a Ubiquiti PoE switch, and some Ubiquiti Access Points. It's more expensive, but very capable of advanced setups, and is very stable. I use Ubiquiti at another home and in my office location, and I can recommend them personally as well.

Agree, the Eero 3-pack at my house, and the 3-pack at my parent’s house works flawlessly, but we are using wired connections between all of the Eero devices instead of relying on them to link together wirelessly. Linking them wirelessly just did not work reliably for me, and the speeds were poor. I’m using old coax connections with MOCA converters to turn the old coax into Ethernet connections.

Get a Eero 3 pack and call it done