Deco XE200

Never used Google Mesh tbh I've always used TP-Link, both Archer and Deco and have been impressed all the way. I mean sure like computers routers need an occasional restart but twice in 1 year, that's not exactly a problem

Same 552 days and not one restart :) Even when the internet goes down it knows when to immediately reconnect

If you're willing to spend a bit more money the XE200 has 1x 10Gbe port and 2x 1Gbe ports, all being auto sensing Depends on your budget. I chose this model because of the 10Gbe port as I run it into a 10Gbe Switch and all my NAS's connect to the switch as they are all 10Gbe **The only point for you is if 1 day you upgrade your internet to 2.5Gbps, you will be limited to 1Gbps ISP because of no 2.5Gbps ports on your Deco**

Deco and Archer are not compatible mesh systems......they do not work cohesively. So yes you did buy two incompatible systems. You can still use them like that but one will need to be router and another AP

TP-Link XE200 user right here Could not be happier with the lighting fast performance and stability Obviously now they have Wi-Fi7 you NEED to do more research as with old tech you can and will make Wi-Fi7 unstable to a certain extent

**It's not the product people don't like** People are creatures of habit, even though TP-Link's customer based asked for a simpler way to setup.....the ones complaining are the ones who loved the WebUI interface I have 6x XE200's and yes the change to the Deco App was a big one but it straight up works and I have access to all the features, just in a different way :)

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.

TP Link Deco 6E - had it for about 2 years and it's been good and super reliable. There were some concerns recently about TP Link routers phoning home to China, so something worth looking into I guess if you're worried. The management app (so take it for what it is, requires a phone app to manage) is decent, although a little annoying with the upsell of the safety suite. The feature set is great - guest network, IoT network, QoS, VPN server and client, 3 ports (only gigabit though) on each device, and 6Ghz wireless backhaul (or wired is also supported). At the time the Wifi 7 model just came out and was much more expensive so I didn't really see the point. If I were buying a new router today I'd probably go for a Wifi 7 model. Another upgrade in that is it looks like the Wifi 7 model has 1x10Gbps port and 2x2.5Gbps so that's some good future-proofing right there. Came from having Google Wifi, which I think was overall a little bit better, but I'm not upset about it. Obviously Ubiquiti is the gold standard if you wanna go that deep into it, but for a more casual (and much more affordable) solution I am not upset with my Deco. It's about $300 for 1 - have a 3-pack (~$700). If you don't need mesh, I've had good luck with Asus routers in the past and last I heard reviews for them are pretty good. Around $300 the TUF BE3600 looks like it might have all modern features you'd want.

Happy New Year fellow Sonos addicts! I’m older and probably the most tech-challenged participant on this sub. Even still, I stumbled across something yesterday that might be helpful for other Sonos lovers, particularly those like me that shop for electronics and have absolutely no idea what they are doing. BLUF: When shopping for Mesh WiFi systems you may want to check to see if the ones you’re considering provide the capability to manually change the channel selection (i.e. 2.4, 5, or 6 GHz). I was very surprised to learn yesterday that they don’t all have this capability. For example, EERO has automatic channel steering but has no way to manually select the channel. I found three that do provide the manual channel selection: TP Link, Orbi and ASUS. I’m sure there are others. So why post about this?: The Sonos app has always worked perfectly for me but I’ve had mind-numbing connection issues that turned out to be my WIFi (imagine that). Namely three Sub Minis and two Move 2s that on initial setup my TP Link Deco 6e WiFi mesh system automatically steered to the 5 GHz channel. All the other components were on 2.4 GHz. The fix was just a matter of going into the Deco app and changing the components from AUTO (RECOMMENDED) to 2.4GHz. The Move 2s I mentioned above worked great on the 5GHz but I couldn’t group them with other rooms on the 2.4 GHz. Switching to 2.4 GHz resolved the issue. One of our fellow Sonos sub participants owns an EERO system and is grappling with this “channel steering” issue right now. If they read this post I hope they will chime in and share their solution. Hopefully this will be useful.

👍 That’s great and I certainly hope you never do! It took me forever to figure what was happening with my first Sub Mini problem. It was actually Sonos Support that figured out the cause. From there it was easy because of the Deco app. I could tell from the person’s posts yesterday that they were exasperated with troubleshooting their issue. It’s just a “happy accident” that I have a TP Link Deco system. I just bought a Deco 7 for a second home we own.

Aha! Now I’m tracking! Deco is just the name of the TP Link mesh WiFi system. Within that system each WiFi or hardwired component is called a “client”. For each of the WiFi clients there is a section called Connection Preferences. You can do several things in that section and one is manually change the WiFi band. The screenshot I posted is that area within Connection Preferences to choose the preferred WiFi band: Auto (Recommended) or the 2.4, 5, 6 GHz bands. When I had the Sonos connection problems, the Sub Mini’s “client” setting in the Deco app was Auto and the system selected the 5 GHz band. I just changed that setting to 2.4 and it resolved the problem. What I learned yesterday is that many of the mesh WiFi brands don’t provide a way to change the WiFi band. I accidentally bought one with this capability and it’s come in handy five times. The point of my original post was to spread the word. With Sonos gear we need all the advantages we can get! . Sorry for using “channel steering” in the wrong way. Thanks again for your response and helpful advice! All the best in ‘26!! https://preview.redd.it/4iuha0dr52bg1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1820043ffcdcc6be34dc833d4cfaaba55402f336

I have a 2 pack TP Link Deco mesh system and it works great for me.

I have a 1gb connection and about 100 feet from the main unit through a brick wall I can get 25 megabits a second down.

Fully happy with my Deco WiFi 6E, which uses 6 GHz as both backhand and user. I can force 6 with one network, 4/5 (guest) with another, and main is 4/5/6. Backhand is on all three, slightly different center channel.

Putting your own mesh router system in front of the BGW620 would be more advisable, even with the price bump. Eero and Deco are the most recommended mesh systems. I would recommend investing in the units that support WiFi 6E, it's going to be essential for you reaching the speeds you're paying for, especially if you live in a busy environment.

Unpopular opinion: I did the ubqiuiti rabbit hole and it’s not worth it. They don’t update their hardware fast enough. When things failed it was a pain in the ass to get back up. I’d have to reboot the whole system more. I put in a deco system at my sisters and was amazed how much faster it was than my network. I ripped out every one of the ubiquiti boxes, put in 2.5 gig managed switches, got deco 6e, pfsense router and have far less issues and money & time spent. Running them as just ap’s is great and I only need two now versus 3 ap’s with ubquity. I was able to upgrade my internet past the 1 gig to 3 gig plan now that I could actually hit those speeds. I have close to 70 devices on the network between iot, hosts and a nas. I can easily get over a gig on my phone now to the net and transfer files internally far faster. Save your money and time. Don’t go ubuiqiti. 20 year network admin here.

I have the Wi-Fi 6E deco with the dedicated wireless backhaul and it's been bulletproof.

I have eero 7 / no major issues but all three satellites are wired to the modem. Without that WiFi 7 is horrid in my brick/plaster house despite it being small. The only gripe I have with it is not being able to specify which satellite devices should connect to if I want something to not roam nodes. Some devices just don’t work well on mesh - especially devices on very secure VPNs (eg my work devices). I was having a lot of issues with calls dropping on WiFi calling to if I walked around - satellite hopping can cause dropped calls but I was able to fix that with some setting changes. I switched to this from a tplink 6e mesh system that was exceptionally bad. Def do your research on if WiFi 7 is worth it. I don’t think it is right now.