Archer BE550

yep. i made that mistake too. archer uses "easy mesh" where deco uses "deco mesh" and they dont talk to each other. so if you choose to go with easy mesh (tplink say it is the new standart) go for a easy mesh compatible satellite or if you like deco get another one. it is your choice both are great. (used to have 2 decos for over 3 years now i got 2 x archer be9300 for easy mesh)

currently using 2 x be550 with easy mesh --> solid no problem used to have 2 x deco m4 with deco mesh --> solid no problem

I was recently researching on budget setup to replace my old mesh Deco M5s and M9 pros (not well supported already, old FW and issues with new iphone 17s and guest network DNS). Purchased two archer BE550, they can be setup as mesh and its 3-band wifi 7, and 2.5G eth backhaul. I hoped to utilise all 3 bands for access only, as MLO. Reality check is - 1) MLO is a separate to main network (OK no biggie), 2) using only 5+6GHz bands (hmm.. I hoped for automatic fallback to 2.4 in worst case far from endpoints in backyard), 3) but worst is - MLO only works on main mesh node, it’s not roamed, hence reception is always pretty bad. This is CONFIRMED with Tplink support. They even said its common issue across models (eg. BE63) and other vendors. Maybe they can enable MLO roaming in future FW releases, maybe not. Looks like its not easy in implementation for consumer level hardware. I ended up “forgetting” about MLO, disabled it. And enabled 6GHz band as separate network. Little hack is that I assigned same SSID as main network, so that new iPhones, iPads and my Mac M4 pro prioritises 6GHz while its same SSID and creds like a main network. Oh yes another one big downside is - main network can not contain 6GHz band, only 2.4 and 5. Due to mandatory WPA3 auth. But, great plus was that my new devices hook up that 6GHz network even being far from routers. I still can not believe it, but its stable and much faster than in main network. I had 1.2Gbit/s in my synthetic local network tests across mesh. I would summarise that 6GHz band is a great advancement. 2-band Wifi 7 is a weird animal. Essence of 6e is new 6GHz band and Wifi7 adds improved latency and speed/modulation. Wifi 7 with only 2 bands is like premium Mercedes on manual transmission. 2.4+5 bands will be Ok for most of us, but 6GHz is already delivering huge speeds, and we can expect improvements with using it in next firmwares.

I did an ethernet backhaul with my TP link BE series routers (BE9300 and BE3600). Both lan cables are connected to a Tp-link omada link aggregator since I have 2 parallel lines. It's significantly more stable and faster than wireless backhaul. Whichever router you get, make sure they support it.

I have 3 TP-Link Archer BE9300/BE550 routers (just got the 3rd) for a 3k sq ft house. Only reason I got the 3rd was for wired ports in a bedroom that I'll move some stuff to eventually. I have 2Gbps fiber and only have 1Gbps wireless devices. Plugging Ethernet into my laptop to the farthest router I get 600Mbps down/400Mbps up. They work very well and have good ping with no packet loss. I will eventually run Ethernet in the attic but that's a project for another month. This works amazingly for now. I moonlight from my computer in an unused room to my Legion Go anywhere in the house. I also have my Xbox plugged into the second router 30-40 feet from the main router and stream from the Xbox app all over the house flawlessly. Take this info for what it's worth. Edit: My Legion Go connects to wifi 6G just fine everywhere. The mentioned routers go on sale for $180 each regularly. "Refurbished" go lower.

I also have a TP-Link mesh but mine is WiFi 7 with 10GBe onboard so the pack of 3 costs almost $1500 for my setup. Never have any trouble hitting full gigabit speeds over WiFi with my WiFi 7 certified gear.

I think WiFi 6 is enough for an average user. I recently got the WiFi 7 mesh and ended up not even using MLO (WiFi 7 feature). People said it drain their device's battery even faster when it connects to multiple bands.