TP-Link - Deco BE85

This is your best option to get 2.5g ports / and good value for $ [https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/deco/deco-be85/](https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/deco/deco-be85/) Its a mesh system so you should get good speeds, id expect to get 600-900 on the mesh in your office so a cable is better, but saying that 600-900 is still amazing. Id even suggest dropping down to a 1g connection at the house to save some $ and you can get a solid mesh system for cheaper.

Yes. Barring any potential for back doors baked in via firmware, I'd consider TP Link. They usually pull consumers in with price. The specs on both the BE 75 & 85 look very nice. Better than the Orbi, actually. 4x4 on all bands. And you don't absolutely need that dedicated backhaul band on the 85. The Orbi 770 wouldn't be a terrible choice for a smaller network, but your 5 Ghz WiFi 6 clients would suffer with those 2x2 radios. When I see 2x2 on 5 Ghz, I think pre-2020 tech. Although some can get by perfectly fine with it (especially with Ethernet backhaul to mesh nodes), it's not ideal for someone with the odd range consideration or latency via WiFi considerations.

Definitely not. Speaking from experience, I have six BE805s BE19000s spread over 3 different locations mostly running in router mode with all units running the latest firmware. Using latest gen Macbook Airs and iPhone 16 Pro Maxes all consistently show worse results utilizing the MLO network in all venues. All OpenSpeedTest runs are done on 10GBE wired networks between wired and wireless devices. This is anecdotal but the results have convinced me beyond any doubt that MLO isn't ready.

I have had terrible experiences with it, and unfortunate to also hear it's a Chinese company--can only imagine what they're doing with said data. That point aside: I spent a boatload of money upgrading to Wi-Fi 7. I bought a full mesh setup of using 4 TP-LINK AX6600 in 2022. Performance was pretty decent overall. Then, with new Wi-Fi 7, in 2024 I scrapped it and bought the TP-Link - Deco BE22000. I actually think performance is markedly worse, despite still having 2.5gig fiber. Routine lags, pages not loading, gaming has ton of lag even through wired. Then, also to find out they keep downgrading your band automatically. Not impressed for the money paid on these products, and to boot discussions about U.S. TP-Link ban. Regardless of how one feels about that, paid a ton for no real improvement...mild upgrade at best if I wanted to be super, super generous. Looking for better alternatives if anyone has some. Not worried about the money here. As an engineer working from home, very disappointed with them. Sorry, TP-Link...do better.

When you run quad band it allows for a band to be dedicated to back haul. This increases throughput between the nodes. But with wifi 7 MLO you can probably do without the extra band and save some cost. I personally like the deco BE 85 from tplink. With the tech which is onboard its price is justified enough to me. And that all the satellites are the same device. Keep an eye out for more systems as they get released as you will be able to get lower speed devices soon for a better price. There are wifi 7 routers with dual band (no 6Ghz) which are and will hit the market I.e BE3600 (deco BE85 is BE22000)

I've had good experiences with Netgear Orbi and with TP-Link Deco mesh systems. I'm currently on a Deco BE22000 WiFi 7 3-Pack mesh and it works very well, some teething pains when it first came out that were fixed via firmware but that's about it. I get well over 1Gbps via on WiFi 6E and 7 devices. My past Mesh was an Orbi and that worked great for 5 years or so. Primarily consider the speed of your internet connection and try to look for a mesh that can make use of that bandwidth. Generally speaking a WiFi 6E mesh should do the job and considering your layout, a 3-unit mesh would be ideal specially if you can connect them via ethernet cable for backhaul.

Read this: [https://dongknows.com/tp-link-deco-be95-wi-fi-7-mesh-system-review/](https://dongknows.com/tp-link-deco-be95-wi-fi-7-mesh-system-review/) He talks about yes, you get two 6 GHz bands, but to avoid contention, it really just cuts the bandwidth in two to get the two bands. Hence the one you get for front haul for your devices, your devices will likely end up with smaller bandwidth. Anyways ... good read. I went with the BE85 3-Pack. For the Amazon Prime Day sales a few weeks back they had the 3-Pack on sale for $900 (vs $1500). I scooped them up.

Even when having an ISP router you could just turn off DHCP and WLAN and bridge your og router credentials with PPPOE, that way no double NAT. Is worth to mention not all Deco models have SFP ports… since this is a “global” community, should be specific to models like BE85 and not X55 or M5 which are Decos. Depending on the country some isp providers “feed” you thru GPON so in ‘unsupported’ models you’ll need a modular adapter for SFP. At the end it is recommended to use Access Point Mode for simplified configuration, but Router Mode is not evil.

I have BE85 and beside some stability hiccups which are result of new tech meet old tech. It's working good. I wonder if there is any benefit for full wired backhaul for all 2 satellites?

Regarding (3), BE85 MLO can be also 2.4ghz altough what I seen in this situation is that many devices which are not playing nice with MLO are trying to connect and expirence stability issues. I was able to resolve most of these issues with setting a dedicated IoT 2.4ghz network for all smart devices I can seperate and disabled 2.4ghz from MLO for devices running in the main SSID.

Altough I had some hiccups with BE85 in regards to smart switches from the same brand. I found the system to work now very well and if you get a deal on it like there was on prime day, it's no brainer. And yes, Costco BE65 is also solid.

I had the TP-LINK BE85 and hated it. All my Nest cameras disconnected from it. Switched to the Eero 7 Max and could not be happier. Eero has the best reputation for having mesh systems that work fantastically out of the box with no further tinkering. They may not be the fastest out there, but they don't disappoint.

Hello everyone! I have owned the 2nd generation Eero mesh system since its release sometime around 2017. I have a very large multi-level home with 3 pro units and 1 beacon. Two of the Eeros are backhauled at either end of the house. With a 1GB Fios connection, I am seeing speeds on my WiFi 6 devices at 360mbps near one of the nodes and 150mbps at further points. Nothing close to what I had hoped given my incoming speed. So, now I am looking to possibly upgrade to a 3-pack of the Eero PRO or PRO MAX. Of course, the PRO would be a more affordable choice. Some thoughts before my questions to all of you... I have researched these new Eero models. The PRO MAX isn't getting great reviews on Amazon. In fact, some people have slammed the units for not providing promised coverage or speed. So far, the lower-cost PRO is getting better initial reviews than its more expensive sibling. I did try the TP-LINK BE85 3-pack a few months ago. It was a horrific experience. It initially seemed to provide faster speeds, but my NEST devices would not connect to the network (using the same SSD name and password) and the Internet signal would constantly drop. The second I hooked back up my older 2nd Gen Eeros, everything worked fine. For that reason, I knew I had to stick with EERO. So, her are my questions for all of you... To date, I don't have any WiFi 7 devices outside of perhaps the iPhone 16 Pro Max (if it has WiFi 7). Yet, I would love to see increased speed and range in my home. Can I get close to 1GB wireless in my home with either the PRO 7 or the PRO 7 MAX? And since Eero usually gets praised for dependability but criticized for performance against other brands (DONG KNOWS TECH really dislikes Eero), would it be worth looking at another brand that would provide the kind of speeds and coverage I am longing for? It definitely would not be TP-LINK. ASUS gets high recommendations but Amazon reviews are not consistently great. Do you see further price drops happening on either of the Eero Pro models? Thanks, in advance, for your insight into all of this

I purchased the TP-Link BE85 Wi-Fi 7 mesh system in October last year, amazing bit of kit 👌🏻

Just bought the deco 85 and hate it. New modem too. New 2.5g Ethernet switches. HomeKit the worst. Updating. Devices constantly disappearing and reappearing. I’m at the end of my HomeKit rope. I’d gladly pay a network engineer to actually trouble shoot all the things and figure out what the problems are. I’ve spend months trying to get a handle on this. I might go bankers my asus 88 router. Still had issues but nothing like this. Funny how it was great out of the box and then over ddts it got worse and now it’s unusable. The deco 85 is the be22000. So 🤷‍♂️

Having separate AP’s just for 2.4ghz iot devices is the worst way to go about it. Get better network hardware. Deco XE200, BE85 or Unifi are the way to go. You can create a separate network for iot devices if you want but it’s not going to make a difference in terms of stability or reliability. You’ll need to setup rules in your network so your HK hub will be able to talk across your main net and vlan. Most people do it for security purposes but there’s so much encryption and security in place already it most likely won’t have any benefit unless you’re hyper paranoid. Just make sure you’re not leaving ports open or doing something dumb like allowing wan access. Buy devices that talk through Zigbee, their own proprietary frequency like Lutron Clear Connect, or Thread devices, limit smart devices that talk over wifi.

What kind of walls? I helped a friend recently and their old home had concrete walls, Google did the best of the three Mesh systems I tested, Deco next, I ended up adding more points for better line of sight, but got her up to 400MBPS where she couldn't hit 50 before. I have a much smaller home, 3000SQFT and my Deco Mesh works great, but I have it backhauled with just the main router and one other MESH point. Used Nighthawk router with 2 AP's before, my current setup increased my speeds everywhere and eliminated those outside dead zones where I have cameras. Good luck.

I run the 22000 version of these in my main home and the wifi6 version in a 2nd home, where they have been for over 4 years now. I have mine wired backhauled and get solid, fast connections with both. I upgraded from a nighthawk router with the 22000's about 6 months ago and saw speed improvements across the board. The app that comes with it is very intuitive and works for me. I have been reading the articles on the possible ban and I am not concerned. I know others will tell you to go cheaper, or avoid TP-Link, and their opinions are just as valid as mine, but for me the TP-Link mesh just works. Other mesh I have tried and not been a fan of include Google and eero. Good luck

Deco BE85. 3 units in 340m2 on two floors. Perfect WiFi and not a single issue with over 120 smart devices.

i use deco be85, pretty good

I highly recommend the [TP-Link Wi-Fi 7 Tri-Band Mesh System](https://www.reddit.com/user/unwelcome_frown15/comments/1jxaza0/mesh_wifi_system_recommendations/). It offers blazing fast speeds, low latency, and rock-solid coverage, great for large homes or demanding smart setups. Future-proof too with Wi-Fi 7 support.

I have the tp link WiFi 7 mesh and it's been nothing but issues with their app and connectivity. I'm bailing and looking at orbi

for that amount of money you get 2 tp-link mesh wifi 7, that's better than 1, besides netgear is too overkill for ordinary users

just fyi - I tried new Deco wifi 7, HP Instant On and then Firewalla AP7. Very Happy with the AP7 from Firewalla and got full coverage with 3 units (needed 4 or 5 for the others as I couldn't put them on ceiling).

Eero hasn’t deployed MLO yet, refuse to publicly state if their Max 7 will ever support it. TP-Link and Asus WiFi 7 routers have MLO deployed and being used by Samsung’s latest phones and latest Pixels too.

First question that should be asked, which speed are you subscribed to? Also when did you switch? If you're on the Gig you should be running wifi-7 and that router is free. If you're on 500mbps you should have the newer wifi-6e router and modem. With my ISP (not spectrum) I'm running the deco home mesh system which is wifi-7 because my ISP equipment is 3 generations behind. You can get them from Walmart, best buy, or amazon

They are incredible and simple. I’ve had a setup with the WiFi 6e ones, and now have one with WiFi 7 ones. Literally stellar performance. Do you have first hand experience?

+1 for TP Link Deco Tri Band - had it for over a year and has been great so far

I use a deco. I had disconnection problems when I was using the fast band and I saw someone recommended that Google home prioritize consistency over speed and that I should switch over to 2.4hz. I did that and my Google home has never had a disconnect since.

I have tp link Delco each has ethernet back haul works great.

I have a pretty good TP link Deco but need to check the model. Not sure about the backhaul. Either way this helped for me. It was surely more than 4 ms too. 

Saw that too. I have TP Link Deco in my home. It’s been amazing but may look for another mesh alternative.

I'm using TP Link Deco's. Wish I'd gone for UniFi (which I've just installed at work - my word it's good)

Not HomeKit compatible since that was short lived, but I’ve had good luck with TP-Link Deco. I have an Ethernet hub I connect to the main Deco that I can then plug my AppleTV and gaming systems into. I also think most TP-Link routers will mesh together anymore. I was shopping for a fourth Deco this last week since I’m moving and couldn’t find a single Deco in store, but the TP-Link that aren’t sold as part of a mesh set all said they were compatible on the packaging. Although I will be getting another Deco on Amazon because they’re cheaper and faster. I’m getting Google Fiber at my new place and want to maximize that gigabit speed.

I’ve had good luck with TP-Link Deco. I have a combined 5ghz and 2.4ghz main network, but I also have a separate IoT network that is 2.4ghz only. It’s worked well for a SwitchBot Hub Mini and a Lifx bulb. Another thing to consider is not using WiFi devices. Devices that use Thread or their own hubs are going to be more reliable. Zigbee devices are rock solid.

Another vote for Deco! I have a set of three that worked really well in a two story rental house and a two story townhome. They’re a little weaker now that we’re in a 2300sqft SFH, but I just may need to adjust placement or add another unit.

I was using decos until last week. Never been happy with them, random disconnects, rubbish app that won't let you change settings 9 times out of 10. Stuck with it since lockdown. Finally got fed up last week, ran some cat 5 cable from my router to an old router set up as an extender, more cat 5 from that to the next old router and now I have 4 daisy chained around the house and workshop. Rock solid wifi everywhere, and as a bonus, plenty of ethernet ports everywhere for pc's and tvs

Seriously, set it up at my parents too a couple of years ago. So easy to use and good price point and the security concerns are actually wildly overblown I find.

Lmao, I knew the minute I saw this that it was going to be someone with a tp-link deco. Same headaches here. I just manually restart them occasionally. One day I’ll switch to a different brand, just waiting on WiFi 7.

I'm with u/eternal_peril here wired is always better regardless of connections however a step down woulkd be mesh, I would stick with TP link deco.

I'd go mesh, if you have a cable already running to the back use that as wired back haul. I've been happy with my decos

Honestly... If your budget is limited I might just keep running on your Deco's. They're decent units. Unless you have 5+ people streaming/working/gaming at once... You're probably more likely to saturate your uplink. Save you're $ until you can build a good Unifi system or just save it, pay off debt, etc.

TP Link Deco definitely requires an app and an account and although there is a web interface, it can't do much. Nice gear, but not acceptable under your policy. Netgear Orbi may have required me to install an app and get an account to get it setup (I didn't try to get around it.) But the web interface is full fat and I've never opened the app since installing.

I got the tp link deco setup like this. Using 2.5gb back haul. Works like a boss, I've got a fairly large double lot rectangular property and I can get damn near full speed at the water. Haven't had a single issue yet. Honestly not quite sure what the beef is with them.

Deco here as well and never have any Sonos issues, 160square metre house so I have 3 decos to cover it.

I'm using the unify mesh backhaul. It's not great / weaker then the tp link deco meshing setup i was using before. Lower connection speed and more frequent disconnects. Maybe with the dedicated meshing AP it works better, I'm just using i7 Lite Models.

TPLink Deco Mesh user here with no issues.

I did this with TPLink Deco system from Costco. Builder ran Ethernet to each room but didn’t finish them 🤷‍♂️. So a $50 crimping kit from Amazon and I now have whole home LAN. Set the Decos in AP mode and wired all my AppleTVs, Lutron and Hue bridges. HomeKit is nearly bulletproof. Being able to set hub in iOS 18 will be last step (every once in a while my upstairs ATV takes over)

Your internet speed (150 vs 600 Mbps) affects how fast stuff downloads/uploads, but not your WiFi signal inside the house. For better wifi coverage, I’d skip the “powerful modem/router” and go with a mesh system, like a TP-Link Deco series which will plug straight into the ONT/Modem depending on your ISP. Super easy to set up and reliable.

Only if you want Wi-Fi 6 and to go down the mesh route, it depends on your devices. With a mesh system like the Deco, you won't need the AC1900 anymore. However, if you really want to keep it, you could just add an access point to increase the wifi coverage. Who is your ISP? I would just look at something like the X50s; you can pick up a 3-pack for cheap, solid units.

for me personally high end gigabit router then lagay mo sa 2nd floor tabi ng modem. if mesh naman, 2nd and 3rd floor merong mesh, pero ung sa deco tp-link ko, hindi ganun ka "reliable" yung never disconnect feature nya eh. pwede naman 3 mesh, lagay ka din isa sa first floor for solid reception. Note: gusto ko din itry ung wifi 7 routers

1. probably other, as google products cant use wired backhaul. Look into TpLink Deco. 2 extenders usually do not act as routers. Whatever you add to extend wifi, needs to act as as access point only. Only when using two routers with their router functionality enabled, double nat can become a problem. 3 keep the At&t router. just turn off its WiFI. That means it will still be en charge of everything apart from Wifi. When setting up the deco system, make sure to set them up in AP mode. So that it will only do the job of wifi access points

Same here

I like my TPLink Deco. Many features Ubiquity has at a cheaper price (VPN, mesh affinity, separate networks for guests and IOT, etc). Plus, it has cheap outdoor mesh nodes.

Yep all absolutely true. I ended up trying to downsize and optimize picks but the lag and need for content reboots remained. Switched over to Decos and never looked back. Incredibly fast solid coverage throughout and no downtime. Light years better.

I was hoping to use Deco with Ethernet backhaul in my house wired with 5E, but the two satellites have that fun red blinking light – I may have run into the issue with the IEEE spec they seem to require. I'm using Netgear gigabit switches, and the idea of dropping a few hundred on switches blessed by TP-Link seems… annoying at best.

Works fine. Not a single issue

We have a two year old tp-link deco mesh system (can’t remember exactly what model) but it’s been great. Stays updated, app is simple and easy to use, pretty solid coverage for a 3 story town house. I’d definitely recommend any of their stuff. Like other people have said upgrading to the higher model wouldn’t be a bad idea. It never hurts to future proof yourself for a bit with routers.

It’s a good system…..until your modem looses internet and the whole LAN side of your network stops functioning. It’s a known issue with many still waiting on a fix. For whatever reason, TP Link decided not to designate one of the Ethernet ports as “WAN” and instead relies on auto sensing. When the internet goes down, Deco gets confused and the general response is that the LAN also goes down until internet is restored. I ended up just running these as APs and put in a different router.

Deco system would be your best choice. It does support mesh as well as wired back-haul if you wanna go for an access point route. Either way, you'll only be having a single SSID

I have one of their combined routers and modems. I still run 3 decos across the house broadcasting is own signal. No issues.

I did. I have one house with 3 decos and spectrum and another house with 5 decos on optimum and no issues on either. I named both ssids on the decos the same so every device connects in both houses.

It works pretty well. I think bridge or pass through mode is a better way. But if you can’t change the settings, then this way works

Exact same setup and results (TP-Link Deco). We couldn't be happier - including multiple family member Internet power users. Life is good.

More customization helps though. My TP-Link Deco units don't allow you to change the network channel, instead they have an "algorithm" that always picks the most congested channels.

Using some Decos in mesh mode, works perfectly, although you can't use their traffic prioritization features, I wasn't interested in that anyway. Setup is dead simple, DHCP is handled in my pihole and vlans and routing managed in firewalla.

Deco is horrible for not moving to a channel that’s free and instead layering with other wifi signals around. There’s no advanced control what so ever and I can have my scanner going and I can see where they over lap. I can restart devices and still they don’t change channels. TP-Link has a bad track record of lying to end users about fixing this on their support pages. At first it was acknowledged as an issue and was going to be fixed then it turned into “it’s working as expected and it’s smart to change channels when needed”.

I have a similar set up with TP Decos - one on each floor of my house all in access point mode. Works great and never have issues with devices switching

\+1 for deco, I have 3 of them at home (one on each floor) and it works great!

Initially, I had an issue where DNS resolution was failing on only some web sites, so they were just not loading and if TM reset things on their end, it seemed to work for a day or two but problem returned. Long story, short… factory reset on their end Deco fixed the problem. I think the AI didn’t like me changing to TM. No problems since.

Both should work, no issues at all. Etisalat tech lied to you. All their hardware is bargain bin stuff. You can get Deco or get multiple tp link routers with Easy mesh ethernet backhaul - the latter is cheaper and what I'm using these days.

I don't think it would honestly. The XE70 pro is a freaking beast still, you will not be disappointed. Just make sure to get a solid modem. I recommend the Netgear CM2000, or CM3000 if you want to future proof for multi gig plans down the road. I tried a combination of arris modems, top recommended routers with Merlin firmware... so much trial and error. The CM3000 and deco mesh just worked right off the bat - blazing speeds and zero issues. I 100% recommend deco

Deco works really well with extending range. Actually better than a range extender, as Mesh systems are designed from the ground up to work with each other in the system. I had a Ge800 tied to a be550 and a WiFi 7 range extender. Super good stuff right? But it's half ass "patched up" jerky jerky mesh was no match to a Deco. Deco was snappier, more reliable, and longer range.

Can confirm. Have Deco. Am miserable.

To echo what plenty of others are saying, but also provide links to specific items to Do-It-Yourself and save money but still get good finished product. Assuming you have roof/attic access above the rooms and can run power to the attic: * buy bulk CAT6 cable, shielded twisted pair, not CCA (CCA stands for copper coated aluminum). [Get good shielded copper wire, like this](https://a.co/d/ijNWYa0). * buy a [crimper toolkit like this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7GRX9DW) * watch a few youtubes on terminating Cat6 cable. * buy a mesh wifi system like Amazon Eero, tp-Link Deco, Asus Zen Wi-Fi, etc. [Here's a good article / review of mesh systems and what to look for](https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/best-mesh-wifi-routers/) **NOTE:** mesh wifi is the consumer grade solution. If you can afford it, you're better off getting Wifi Access Points (APs) - the business grade solution - Ubiquiti is the best known of the AP options. Connection works similarly, with one key difference -- APs require power over ethernet (POE) instead of an electrical outlet / power supply. There are pros and cons of installing either Mesh or APs. * buy at least one [Unmanaged Ethernet Switch like this](https://a.co/d/88WLwNn) - this one is 8 port (1 connection in, 7 out). * You'll run an ethernet cable from your Comcast box to your wifi mesh router. Then you'll run a **long** ethernet cable down toward your L-corner dead zone. You'll plug that long ethernet cable to the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch. Then you'll run another ethernet cable from the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch to one of your mesh wifi satellites. BAM! Good internet within reach of that mesh satellite. You'll need to estimate/experiment with how many satellites the system needs (get multiple people to watch netflix on iPads, and spread them along rooms close to the mesh satellite -- see how many people / how many rooms you can cover before you need to add another mesh wifi satellite). I did a low-key simplified version of this at my house. Reply here if you have questions / need help. # You can do this yourself.

I have TP-Link Decos. You can setup an “IOT” network on one band, a main network on another band. That’s how I achieve this

Not sure what prev post is about but I am using the deco app with extensive parental controls and have never been asked to subscribe to anything. We have 6 nodes set up around the house and have not had any issues at all. Don’t even need the 6 nodes but upgraded to get higher bandwidth and just left the prev nodes in place - was super easy to add new nodes to existing network as well as convert the primary node from old device to new one. Will never go back to non-mesh network

Wow, not good at all. I just double checked my app and confirmed all options available and nothing locked behind subscription that I could find. Running app version 3.7.65 if that helps. Yours looks a bit diff than what I’m running so likely due to age of your network devices and its related app software.

on TpLink Mesh Deco App, you can set the preference GHz for each device in the app. it appears as a single SSID, the switching is handled by the Mesh. lets say my phone is connected to the Mesh. if i leave the apartment, it would switch to 2.4GHz by itself to ensure my phone is connected when i stand outside.

For the less network savvy, it's worth mentioning that many of the fancy features the deco router offers through the app will not work in AP mode. I consider that a good thing, but YMMV. I 'upgraded' to a deco system months ago, unaware that this is meant for the average user and advanced features are crippled, e.g. browser config is minimal as they want you to use the app. No luck querying the DHCP reservations from a script. I'm now moving to a separate OpenWRT wired router behind my cable modem and switching the deco to AP mode. This gives a lot more control. Another upside is that upgrading the WiFi system is then possible without losing all the painstakingly configured DHCP reservations and port forwarding rules.

Tp link deco. Just a no fuss system. Plug in, download the app, set ssid and don't worry about it anymore for years. Mine has been stable and working for years. There are better systems out there for sure, but at the price point, it's good value

Naka deco mesh ako spread across a 200sqm home with thick walls/floors 3 pack mesh solid na for your setup.

Strange, I use vlan tagging on my deco system. It has allowed me to replace my ISP modem.

Yes, supports Ethernet backhaul with mesh within the same network.

My TP-Link Deco (with all nodes connected via Ethernet backhaul) has been superb for me, easy to setup, zero black spots, seamless transition between nodes, decent and pretty consistent speeds throughout the house.

I recently bought a Netgear WiFi 6 router from Costco. Used it for like a week, and returned it for a TP-Link Deco solution. Deco isn’t perfect either, but that Nighthawk was a true piece of garbage. I know this is a newer model, and I don’t want to compare apples and oranges. But I would not buy another Netgear device.

I am pretty happy with my Deco system. All these systems are typically discounted on prime day if you have surrendered your soul to Darth Bezos and if you can wait until then. I know the standard advice on this sub is to do hardwired APs. But without enterprise grade system with controller, devices (I am looking at you fruit-phone) tend to cling to APs. I think the mesh systems are somewhat better at making the devices hop since the stations can “talk” to each other. Read about 802.11 k/v/r if interested. Also, most mesh systems offer wired backhaul that will always make things better.

I do this as well. It works wonderfully.

Don't they are an Archer You want a Deco Mesh System EasyMesh, OneMesh and Deco Mesh are not compatible with each other [https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/deco/](https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/deco/) Choose carefully and use 'Ethernet Backhaul' where you can to improve communication between Deco's I have 4 Deco's for a large apartment and I have strong signal everywhere. You may need more Deco's but start with 4 Also take note you do not need to buy Wi-Fi7 right now. Most of your devices can't use it fully, and, they may be more unstable using BE & MLO I would suggest Wi-Fi 6E tbh, cheaper and much more reliable (without upgrading every single piece of technology in your house)

Yeah I have a Deco and only one of the are hardwire to the internet and I never really had a problem with it.

I've got two deco units due to my previous apartment having solid brick walls. They've been amazing for my use case. Easy setup with advanced options for what I needed. Works with TPG and now Aussie broadband. Only issue I had while with TPG and the dexo unit was not having a setting to change the packet size. With my works VPN on Microsoft teams would have a packet size just slightly over what TPG's system accepted so my teams would just stop working. Switching to Aussie fixed the issue as it was too hard to explain to IT that they need to change some backend operating system settings.

Don't do this if you have a home network and semi-regular internet outages. I just discovered that Decos and TP-Link's gaming routers require a modem connection to route traffic for physically connected devices. This is probably no big deal for a lot of folks, but for those of us with a NAS, or PCs that require a physical connection, it's obnoxious. The Deco unit ports are WAN/LAN ports, and they default to WAN until a modem is detected (same for their gaming routers). During an internet outage, most modern modems go into a reboot cycle, and every time they do a full power cycle, the Deco no longer detects them, and flips all of its ports back to WAN. This results in your physically connected devices getting disconnected from your network every 15 minutes or so while the modem reboots, effectively rendering your home network useless.

For the price that’s good, I like the mobile app and the setup is pretty easy. I installed this one at my parents house and am able to reset their router remotely from my phone or show them the password I run a nighthawk setup at my apartment and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between them if I wasn’t the person that set them up

im a fan of tplink deco. for the best speeds get wifi 6/7 capable, and buy a few nodes to increase their range.

> The Decos do not daisy chain—they all connect to their main router directly connected to the modem at the far end of the house if each deco ap is connected back to the main router ie back hauling, does this include the one near the office also? how far is the AP to the office? maybe a map/floor plan could be helpful and distance.

best solution is to use ethernet cable, or coax with moca adapters and backhaul the AP. next best is wifi mesh.. eg tplink deco

I just set up a new deco connected to my ISP-supplied router (I did not put it in bridge or IP passthrough mode). The Deco set up did not prompt me with anything like the choice to put the Deco in "Access Point" mode, and prompted me to add a network name. Does this mean it's in router mode?

Thank you. I did later find the setting and switched the Deco to access point mode. I found it confusing because, starting the setup assuming the Deco is in router mode means that I specified an SSID name (I used the same name as I used for the wifi from the ISP's router) and later when I switched the Deco to access point mode, that 2nd duplicated SSID hung around for a bit looking like another wifi network with the same name.

Now I understand that both the router and the Deco access point have their own SSID. I have now turned off the wifi coming out of the ISP's modem+router, while leaving the main Deco in access mode.

Totalky agree, Orbs is garbage. I switched to Deco and I've never looked back.

I’d stay away from the nest pros. I “upgraded” from these and have Ethernet backhaul and was having issues all the time with drops and lagging. Since I got them from Costco was able to return them (after over a year) and switched to the deco system. With the way these systems are setup now it seems you need points in every room because signal can drop so much with the environment. Example- my kid had a Stanley water battle near the point on their desk and the cut down the signal strength by half while only standing 2 feet away.

Was happy I remembered I bought my set from Costco and returned them after about 15 months for a refund. Had the same issue and ran through so many hoops trying to get them to work properly even on wired backhul. Switched to decos and seem to be working well but may need to add a few more WiFi points.

I have this setup,no issues whatsoever.

A mesh probably wouldn’t help with interference much. The only benefit they have is an ‘optimise’ feature where they move to different channels based on which has the lowest interference. I would keep your existing router in place, but disable wireless and operate it in modem mode. Mesh devices aren’t great running as a router. This also means you keep Ethernet ports and reduce the need for a switch. If you have an existing wired connecting from your router to your office you can use it as a wired backhaul from mesh to mesh. I’ve used the TP-Link deco system, it works fine and was significantly better than my ISP router alone, but I’m now looking at installing wired access points around my house and moving away from a mesh.

No, it will be fine. I like the tplink Deco range

I recommend TP-Link Deco or Omada systems.

I’ve got arlo cameras on my deco mesh setup. Never a problem. And my network has a lot going on all the time.

As a part-time streamer myself, how I had my Converge set-up in my old apartment (before it got flooded) was that I used a TP-Link Deco setup that is connected to the main router, with three of those Decos spread between three floors. For the first floor where I used to reside, it was connected to the second floor Deco (which was connected to the router) via ethernet backhaul. Basically, to improve ping times on mesh, you really have to connect it via ethernet cable. WiFi is too unreliable for anything related to livestreaming or online gaming (unless you spend harder on better WiFi gear). If you're missing out on LAN ports, TP-Link says that you can buy a separate switch and connect that to the Deco. For your use case, I would recommend something similar. Get a three-pack of Decos and put them in the first three floors; the attic doesn't need one. Don't worry, mesh WiFi, especially the Decos, are just as easy to set up as normal routers. (Unless you're dealing with Ubiquiti, but that's mainly for the IT/corporate crowd lmao.) You need a mesh on the first floor too because the thick flooring could hamper streaming media over WiFi. Then connect the third floor Deco to the second floor Deco via ethernet backhaul. The first floor Deco doesn't need to be connected via ethernet, that's personal preference for you now. (Edit: Looking at your stats again, you may not need a Deco on the first floor, as the Deco on the second floor may be good enough to get to the first floor. In my experience, it's better to be safe than sorry, but if you really can't afford a three-pack, a two-pack will do for now and then you can just get an extra one if you want to in the future.) As for turning off the WiFi on the Converge router, we didn't end up doing that and it didn't affect the performance in the second floor that much; we keep it on as a backup to connect to in case the Deco fails for some reason or if we really only want to test the WiFi coming raw from the router and from Converge. But if you want to turn it off, as far as I know you can do that yourself from the router admin panel. The problem with routers is that they don't really play nicely with each other when you have multiples of them spread to each floor and you get a bad WiFi signal because your phone just happened to connect to the wrong router with the same SSID. And if you change the SSIDs to a unique one per router, that's just pure inconvenience. A mesh is well-suited for multi-floor or large environments, like a really wide house, and can get your devices to connect better to the nearest access points. If you're a pro gamer who wants those pro gaming routers, I've never tested them nor do I know if they work well in a multi-floor setup. Makes more sense to me to just get a mesh system. Gaming routers make more sense when requiring low ping on phones, not so much on PCs IMHO. Note: When buying mesh WiFi, doublecheck the max speed of the ethernet ports. The cheapest of the Decos, the E4, can only handle a max of 100Mbps for ethernet, so get something like an S4. The benefit of Decos is that all the models work with each other, so you can get cheaper models like the E4 for areas that don't need gigabit/200Mbps. Hope this helps!

I have a TP link Deco with all nodes hardwired it works brilliantly. Anything wireless is not going to perform it’s best especially as most people put mesh nodes in the wrong place

Deco was OK until they started putting features behind a paywall. Things like "screen time" etc were all moved to be on their subscription service.

I tried this on our living room. The main deco's range is really small. The ISP's router reaches farther like up to our neighbor next door. Should I wall mount the main deco to increase its range? It is just set on the center table. This is why I didn't turn off the WiFi from the ISP's router. My other decos are in the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor. 3rd floor has really good range since there are lesser walls. 

Works great.  Been using it a year now. Everything connected seamlessly 

The main network is T-Mobile, my decos are connected to that,but the,decos are named a separate network. I can connect to the T-Mobile main or my deco All decos are one network name. I don’t know how to describe it but it works and I have signal all over the house.

Any tutorials out there to show how to do this? I just picked up a tp link deco mesh

Love my TP-Link Deco mesh setup. We have 8 satellites spread throughout the house (long ranch) and two outdoor buildings. Some are wired backhaul and others are wireless. Works great.

TP-Link Déco is cheap and simple to install. Other brands got more features, I don't need.

I don’t know if it would suit your needs, it’s kinda barebones, but I’m using TPlink Deco line for this. I have one of their outdoor units outside in Minnesota, and it sees up to 100 F in the summer and -20 F as extremes. It’s lasted fine for two years now. I have it attached PoE outdoor Ethernet I ran along my fence.

Deco is the best mesh I have had experience with but I still wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is tech savvy and has the ability to wire up APs. The wired back haul is a great solution, I have the ability to do that so I could get mesh to work really well if my APs were not already working perfectly for a fraction of the cost.

Mesh systems are great but you still aren’t going to get your full internet speeds via WiFi unless you only subscribe to sub 500mb service. Maybe if you’re standing in the exact right spot compared to the wireless routers. Depends on the capabilities of the d vices you’re connecting to WiFi as well as distance, height and interference. I run tp-link after finally ditching my slow ass eero mesh setup but WiFi is WiFi and it’s never as good as connecting directly to an Ethernet port.

I would get a deco mesh WiFi system and use a switch off of the main router for all of your wired needs(gaming, large file transfers internally, etc). The deco routers each have two Ethernet ports. The one that you designate as the main router will have both used(1 incoming from your cable or fiber modem/terminal and the other one out to a switch to feed Ethernet devices. You can run Ethernet from your switch to each of the other mesh devices as a faster backhaul or connect them wirelessly if there’s a strong signal. You will get some speed loss here, no doubt, but without a lot of interference or great distance the speed loss won’t be terrible. If you do run Ethernet to each one as a backhaul then you can use the other port on those mesh devices to connect a device via Ethernet as well. I have one sitting in my living room anyway that’s connected to the others via WiFi with a strong signal but my tv has a crappy WiFi card in it so it doesn’t always have the best connection so I just plugged the Ethernet port on my tv into my mesh device and it works like a champ. You may not even need to use a switch very much if you strategically place your mesh devices and backhaul then with Ethernet. You can attach two Ethernet devices to each one (other than the main one) if they’re open because you didn’t use any for backhaul if and chose WiFi as your backhaul instead

Another vote for deco, just works.

I would get one that does absolutely then. I've had good luck with the TP-Link Deco systems

I concur that you need a mesh Network. There's a lot of options out there and for your building you could probably do it for under $1,000 easily. I myself have a deco and we have four modules through a long rambly ranch house and we have nearly 300 MB per second everywhere because we have about 1 GB per second fiber to the house.

Definitely get a mesh Network and you can actually make it use 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and you can't tell the difference. I have The Deco and it works super well in this old thick plastered house

I moved recently, and in my current situation, my PS5 is nowhere near my router and there is no way to plug an ethernet into it. This made it impossible for me to use my portal via the PS5 (it would not even connect), it would only work via streaming. Of course, this frustrated me a lot. This prompted me to go on a journey to upgrade my home network. I previously never even thought about improving my network setup, I just always used whatever router the internet company provided or a cheap / normal one. The first thing I tried was using powerline adapters. I read that this is hit or miss depending on your electrical wiring. It sucked a lot for me, so I returned them. The next step I took, and what worked for me, was buying a high end modem and building a mesh network using tp-link deco. I was expecting the wifi coverage at my home to improve, after all that is the goal of the mesh network. What I was not expecting and am blown away by is just how much faster my internet is overall. Probably because I’m using a good modem and good router vs what I had before. I just never knew the impact would be so high. I use two decos, a main and a satelite, and my PS5 is connected via the ethernet on the satelite. My Portal now connects and works amazing. Fast connection, zero lag. Just wanted to share this because I know a lot of people have connection issues - when connecting directly to your main router isn’t an option, a mesh might be just as good.

I like TP-Link for both consumer (Deco) and commercial (Omada, though I lean toward UniFi), but it's good to be aware of the differences between the lines. (As for this question, both make it pretty easy to do a 2.4ghz only network)

You can also not use VLANs and use OPNSense as it was meant to be used, as a router, and route traffic at the IP layer. You'd be able to use your existing Deco WiFi in its own separate network. In fact, this is what I do. with my Deco.

While Wi-Fi 7 Devices are limited in availability, I think you may be surprised at the devices that can support Wi-Fi 6E. For the most part, 6e functionality has been limited to phones and tablets, as computers and laptops only received compatibility in a recent Windows update. At this point, most devices will support the 6GHz network and we will begin to see more Wi-Fi 7 devices released over the next year. For Decos, there is another reason to choose Wi-Fi 7 nodes, and that is the fact that the wireless backhaul of your network will take advantage of Wi-Fi 7 when communicating between nodes. This means that your entire network, without even considering your devices, will become more efficient, will support a higher bandwidth, and will use the new features such as MLO and 4K-QAM.

Same. Plus all Decos are compatible with all other Decos, which makes upgrades easy.

Tp-Link all he way. Either Deco (if you want ease of installation) or Omada (if you want configurability). You can run the Omada Controller locally as a HA Add-On and also there is an Omada Integration giving you control over all your Omada gear, including control over PoE management on switches.

I use the hub 3 in modem mode with a netgear router, it works good but the range isn't the greatest, just about gets around my small house. In hindsight i would use a mesh system, I use one at my workplace that's bigger than my house and it works great, just 3 deco's around the building and is much easier to setup

Take the Spectrum modem, get a TP-Link Deco Mesh system (don't listen to the nonsense about them being banned in the US). My house is about 2500 sq ft, I have over 60 devices connected to it, and have ZERO issues.

I do not have much experience with the powerline kits so won't comment on them other than to say you would need to know how your circuits are laid out since they use the electrical cable to carry the signal. The mesh route using 3 devices should work and I believe a good cost effective solution would be the TP-Link Deco range. They do sell them in 3-packs.

Hit or miss. Get deco

After having the same issues I ended up doing the same. 0 issue since using my old Asus router with the Decos as APs.

I upgraded to TP link deco this year and everything about it has been miles better. I get faster speeds and the app is so much better. On my Google WiFi I never got the upload speeds I was supposed to get from my IP. On top of this, I had devices connecting to pucks that were further away in the house. It never made any sense. It makes me realise how Google really doesn't care about maintaining their products after the sales volume dies down a bit.

Decos work

I used orbi for several years. Never had problem. Switch to Deco for several months. The speed is good but there is one problem. It took about 5 minutes for my TVs to connect to the wifi every time I turned on the TVs. Didnt have this problem with Orbi before.

I’ve got the same setup. Works great, just make sure you set it up in access point mode instead of router mode, or you’ll get double NAT.

I've had my hands on a fist full of different mesh solutions. Cost to performance the Decos are winning for now. However given the issues your describing, I don't think a mesh solution is right for you. Look into a more traditional wireless access point solution. Downside is you need to run CAT5e or CAT6 from your router to the APs. My go to right now is the TP-Link EAP670 or the Mikrotik cAP ax. You can use the supplied POE bricks and just hook them directly to your ISPs router. (there are better ways to do this, but its the simplest/cheapest)

Depends on construction materials but assuming wood and drywall your issue won’t be area per floor it’s getting the signal between floors. Wired data to Wi-Fi per floor is best but if that’s not available a tp-link deco mesh system on floors 1-3 ought to do you may need a 4th node on the fourth floor it’s just hard to say. It’s relatively inexpensive and easy to set up. TP Link is getting a lot of news right now so you’ll see some opinions on it. All I can tell you is that if you’re looking for ease of set up and solid operation at a good price its a good fit.

The cheapest will be TP-Link but everyone will tell you to stay away from them because they're under fire by the US Government right now and might be banned from being sold in the US. I'm personally riding my Deco system out until that time comes though.

This works on Deco in AP mode.

if you want speed, you definitely need deco in each room. if you just want coverage, whatever I guess. get the one you can afford, just make sure that the deco your buying is gigabit capable, at least the main deco that is going to connect to your ISP provided CPE ONT, tapos you can go cheap with the satelite/slave devices to widen the coverage.