TP-Link - Deco XE5300

I am using TP AXE5300 mesh with a wired backhaul. It's a little laggy, but the setup was a breeze and it is a pretty rock solid system all in all.

I just set up AXE5300 today and I was very impressed, set my xfinity modem in bridge mode, easy set up for the deco, I was getting 850 mbps down ten minutes later.

I had TPLINK Deco Mesh - TP-Link Deco AXE5300 Wi-Fi 6E Tri-Band Whole-Home Mesh Wi-Fi System, 3-Pack Every time Spectrum went down, which is about once a month here on eastern NC, I had to call Spectrum and ask them to “reprovision” the modem. And then the TPLINK mesh would reconnect, I finally gave up and replaced it with Spectrum router Same equipment works flawlessly with Verizon FIOS 1GB in Northern Virginia, same stuff. Do not use TPLINK mesh with Spectrum, you will regret it. Also, you will get NO HELP from Spectrum. Their tech support is awful and worse than no support, they give the illusion of helping

got the xe5300 , its great.

MESH doesn't magically fix everything. If you have a pretty small Apartment, Wifi should work pretty well. You don't have COAX anywhere else? You could try Powerline, it's hit or miss. Getting 900+ on Wifi, I have my doubts, you'll never remotely get that with Powerline. If you are lucky you'll get over 100Mbps. MESH really just means that the Wifi Access Points are Wireless. As in not connected back to the Network. Wired Wifi Access Points are always the best. You can try mesh. You have to disable to built in router that is part of the modem. You can't have 2 routers fighting over the same network and being DoubeNAT. You have to place your MESH units like in the middle of where it's strong and where it's weak or dead. As it has to pick up good enough Wifi from the main router, and then transfer that signal further away into the dead zone. Speed wise, you may hit 400Mbps. There are just so many factors when it comes to Wifi. I would would at a Tri-Band Mesh Setup like from TP-Link. Something like [this!](https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AXE5300-Tri-Band-Whole-Home-Renewed/dp/B0BGQLRLW4)

I have the AXE5300 with an extra XE75 in the garage. Working great for me. All wireless back haul.

Consumer “mesh” products are very similar, whether you get it from Costco or anywhere else. I got my Deco M9 Plus from Costco 3 years ago for a great discount and it’s running strong to date. All the specs and “numbers” you see printed in the labels are but a marketing ploy. The AXE just means it follows the wifi 6E (802.11ax enhanced) standards, which adds the 6Ghz band. The 4900 number is the aggregate total of all the maximum theoretical link speeds across all bands: - 6GHz: 2,162 mbps (160 MHz channel) - 5Ghz: 1,922 mbps (160 MHz channel) - 2.4GHz: 574 mbps - Total: 4,658 mbps (and they rounded up to 4,900 mbps) What you’d want to look at are the number of antennas (both has 4 high-gain), ethernet ports (both has 1-2.5 GbE and 2-1 GbE ports), and other wifi specs (pretty much the same). So they aren’t really that far off from each other. Although there’s no point of getting either as they both only have 1-2.5 GbE ports. I’d rather get the TP-Link Deco AXE5300 from Costco at 249 bucks, with the only difference is having 3-gigabit ports.

Just put in the XE5300, the ones on the lower shelf in your picture and it worked amazingly well. Went from the older Deco M9 and the 5300s now get me full speeds everywhere

I had a huge change in speed and coverage by changing out my old Deco M9s to the XE5300s for what it’s worth

I have been using this for about two years. It works fine in AP mode, I game on it every night for two hours. In fact I just upgraded from x60 to xe5300 yesterday, which was a nice upgrade software and hardware wise. Modem speeds of 750mb was only hitting 120 at my WiFi desktop. Now it is 250, both speeds from not being connected to the main Deco.

It's a good set but I would say get the XE5300 Deco units, cheaper and is 6E not 6.

If you can, the units can be wired back to the main unit and do not need to use wireless to connect to each other, this is the ideal solution, also if you can just wire one back that is fine too the other will just use wireless to connect. I set the 5300 set up for a friend long ago now, he has been happy with it. I also suggest anything near a unit you connect to the unit via ethernet cable regardless if the unit is wireless connecting back to the main unit.

I ususally recommend this mesh setup for most people, I would get the 5300 though, 6E upgrades 2.4ghz and is overall a solid setup for a good price. My suggest is to always wire them back to the main node or if you cannot that is fine, but plug whatever you can in to them instead of them connecting to the device over wifi, the best way to get better wifi is to get devices off of it. As for the dual vs tri, the 5300 will use 6E band as a dedicated channel to communicate between the units and leave 2.4/5 free for you to use, so not a gimmick.

The Deco XE75 is a good all around choice, if a Costco member or know one the XE5300 is the same thing but much cheaper there for the same three units.

My Deco AXE5300 just died. They were solid for 18 months. I decided I wanted to get a more SMB/Enterprise solution, I looked at everything. I settled on 2 Zyxel NEA130BE AP’s hardwired to my switch. Happy with it so far. I wanted to dip my toes in WiFi 7, & wanted local (no controller) or web based configuration/monitoring. Priced comparable to Unifi, and Aruba. My LAN is multi gig (2.5/10gig) and I couldn’t find affordable multi gig Aruba switches. Unifi product availability was hit or miss when I was looking.

As others have said, the AXE5300 is better than the AX5000 because it's Tri-Band. A month ago it was on sale for $250 (originally $350), but the price tag in your photo doesn't indicate a sale which means that it must be the normal price now. So it might get discounted again in the future to $200. Anyways, I found the Nest Wifi Pro 6E at my warehouse for only $100 (normally $450) for some reason. I think it's an objectively worse product than the AXE5300, but I couldn't pass on the price.

Thanks. How much further distance did the 3 pack eero pro 6 mesh units worked in your case? I have tried the Deco AXE5300 mesh and it didn’t even work more than 30-40 ft away.

I bought the AXE5300 from Costco a few weeks ago and have the same experience. We live in a two story house and have max speeds in every room.

I just installed the TP Link Deco AXE5300 from Costco in my townhouse. Works great. Is it the best? IDK, but it was only $200, so I'm happy.

*| I’d rather get the TP-Link Deco AXE5300 from Costco at 249 bucks, with the only difference is having 3-gigabit ports. |* That's the one I have. Very solid system. I didn't need 2.5Gb ports because everything is 100% wireless except my main node connected to my ISP's gateway, but my internet speed is only 300Mbps down so..... Having 6GHz is very useful though since you can use it as a dedicated wireless backhaul instead of clogging up the 5G and 2.4G bands.

In theory a 2-pack "should" be enough but I've found that most companies are incredibly overly optimistic about the square footage their mesh systems will actually cover. I have an AXE5300 that came with 3 nodes and claims to cover 7200 sq ft but my place is 2.5 floors and 2300 sq ft and I had to add a fourth node to cover everything. My guess is they calculate the coverage in a large warehouse with no walls, single-story, no interference from other wifi networks or anything like that. But in a real house/apartment/whatever, with walls, stairs, different levels, some devices outside, etc, I'd say to estimate the real coverage to be about 1/3 of what they claim. Although, you could probably get by with two if you place the second one in Bath 2.

First thing about a mesh system, any brand mesh router works better if it is back wired with a cat 6 or 6a Ethernet wire. (Using a cat 7 or cat 8 is a waste of money for the price difference.) Personally I have used two brands. Both have worked well. TP Link and Asus. I just returned by TP Link BE11000 from Costco which worked well. (Most box stores like Sam’s Club and Costco might have the same model number router, but there are differences. The Costco one has a 2.5 GB port for example). I had the TP Link AXE5300 before that which actually worked the best out of any mesh system I had. The reason I returned the TP Link is because of what I read about the potential TP Link ban in the United States. There are many reasons for this from geopolitical reasons to a possible backdoor that would allow hackers to use multiple US based routers to be used as a botnet. My main concern for returning it was if it was banned, there would be a chance there would not be any firmware updates. I could not find any firmware that I could flash onto it if that happened, (I checked OpenWrt, DD-WRT and a few others for alternative open source firmware.) i did not want to take that chance of losing out on that investment, if, the ban occurs. There is no guarantee it will happen. It was me being overly cautious. I was still within my 90 day return window and chose to return it. No one thing I want to be clear on, no brand mesh router is 100% secure, there are security issues that can happen and have happened with any of them. I decided to switch to Asus AIMesh routers for my home. I would have loved to keep WiFi 7, but the prices are higher than TP Link. (I got the TP Link routers on sale at Costco for $399, normally $499 for the price.) I would have loved to get a 3 pack of the Asus BT10, but that was way out of my budget. I ended up getting a three pack of the Asus ZeWiFi AXE7800. It is a 6e system. It works good enough for my home. With Asus there are more options that I like having. I have had some hiccups with it, but worked through them. (For example I have the AI Protection turn on with the malicious sites option turned off because it is too aggressive and there is no whitelist. AI Protection uses Trend Micro’s cybersecurity system at no extra charge. TP Link had a Home Shield Pro, but that is a monthly charge which I chose not to pay. A lot of other mesh routers have security but it comes with a paid subscription model. Part of the reason I chose Asus for no additional charge. I also liked Ubiquiti system the most, but was out of my budget. I would recommend that you check out dongknows.com. He reviews a lot of mesh routers and probably provides too much information. I also watched landpet on YouTube and used rtings.com ) Good luck. (Sorry for the long response. Too much coffee.)

I upgraded to the 5300 coming from a Linksys dual band system, and the tri-band hype is real. Having a dedicated band handling the traffic between routers sped up our WiFi considerably. We only have the main unit hooked up to a modem via Ethernet, and the two satellite routers don’t give any noticeable lack of speed. It’s also convenient because I have devices spread throughout the house that I want connected to Ethernet, and I’m able to place a satellite unit wherever and plug those devices into them. I did have one router crap out after about 2 months, but the company quickly replaced it under warranty. Edit: Typo

Get tp link 5300 3 pack at Costco. The 6e one. I changed from nest wifi to that, best decision I ever made. Super fast and reliable now. I use 3 pods all wired back haul.

Get the 3 pack of tp link 6e 5300 at Costco. Best hardware upgrade I've ever made coming from nest wifi.

I went from the first gen Google Wifi to the AXE5300 from Costco. No issues for me. Anecdotally, I get better coverage throughout my house and I had four of the Google pucks.

I literally just switched this week from ac1200 to deca axe5300 and I had a backhand wired network. I went from sluggish 80-100 mbps to about 600 mbps on wifi on the new system. if you have the opportunity to do a backhaul, then a new system like mine would be super great upgrade. otherwise if you're running on wireless mesh, you would still get a great upgrade (I tested wireless and got about 300mbps dl/up consistent on wireless).

FYI. I had mesh in my old house. Worked great. I moved house and put in unifi full set up. I got bored of messing around with it to try maximise 1gig around the house so I got rid of it and ran a 3 mesh TP link system (hardwired) Pretty much faultless. It was wifi6e and nowhere in the house did I get less than about 600mb on phone speed tests. I literally last week moved back to unifi just to play around with it for fun. But overall speeds have dropped. My personal opinion…..if I had faster than 1gig and wanted to maximise it??….id buy an unmanaged 10g switch and then buy a set and forget mesh system that has 10g ports

Still going well? Just ordered some myself. Originally had a TP-Link Deco 6e, and the speeds were fantastic, but constantly had connectivity issues where devices would randomly just lose connection. Had eero 6 before that, and I’ll say the speeds were pretty terrible. Hoping this ASUS does the trick!

I agree—Get the Deco 6E. It goes on sale fairly often if you can wait a bit. It was a signal strength improvement for me vs Google Mesh, but I miss the feature of being able to test the internet speed from the app.

WIFI 6 =/= 6Ghz.... Wi-Fi 6E = 6Ghz I have a Deco 6E mesh system, I do not use 6Ghz for devices even though I have capable devices. I only use the 6 GHz for a mesh backhaul for one of the nodes that is unable to be wired. I can still max out the nodes at 1 Gbps on 5Ghz no problem. Though if you are in a apartment or other high dense area, you might need the 6Ghz for devices and it would be a good option to have as well.

Do you have any recommendations? I have tplink deco 6E with 4 nodes currently and it is constantly dropping internet for many of my smart devices. I have them all wired together. So if one router with aps is better what do you recommend?

Right that makes sense. For non IoT devices like phones, laptops, etc, I know with mesh they advertise move freely around the house with seemless switching to best connection. With my eeros and tplink I have noticed this doesn’t actually work when running from one side of the house to the other while on a Teams call. All that to say with a wired backhaul going back to a traditional one router with multiple WAP seems to be the right move. My only question is do devices switch to the best connection automatically. Maybe not seemless like mesh is advertised but will they at least switch if I go from side A to side B of my house?

Agree with the Deco 6E. Easy to setup, and hasn’t had any issues since I bought it a few weeks ago. It was on sale in store when I picked it up too.

I ended up with a TP-Link 6e Mesh system from Costco. This has been the best most reliable mesh system I have used. I also created an IoT network for my 2.4ghz smart devices. Been working awesome. I also found that TP-link smart devices have rapidly connected and stayed connected in HomeKit.

I just went through 3 different 3-node mesh systems to find one that worked well. Linksys Velop was fast, but for some reason, its router was throttling upload speeds on my wired gaming PC that was plugged into it. I returned it and tried Eero 6+. No router issues on that one, but it was 100 MBit slower around my house on WiFi. Returned that and tried a TP Link Deco 6E. Finally found something that was fast and had a good wired router. Now I’m finding out there’s some privacy issues with TP Link, but at this point I just don’t care because I’m done trying mesh systems

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?

I would thing that you would want to ideally stick with X-series Decos for their features. If you are outdoors a lot, you could actually consider the X50-Outdoor as it could help provide a mesh to your backyard, rather than just your office. This could also help since you will not need your wireless backhaul to travel as far, or through two exterior walls.

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.

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

I second that recommendation to get a mesh system. Also make sure the mesh system is capable of “WPA3 security”. I am using a TP-link Deco system, with 3 units. I have a 2 story 2100 sq ft home and this system covers all areas well.

Keep the TMO gateway and the hardwired Deco about 6 ft (or more) from each other. Then just put the other Deco where you need it. All Deco have ethernet ports so you should be good to go for your hardwired needs. I have G4SE and a 3 pack of TP-LINK Deco covering 5400 sq ft across three floors. Works great!

What I recommend for best Experience is Mesh configured in Backhauling connection via LAN cable. That is the best option if you want good signals all through your house. A sacrifice in installation, Yes? but way better results than any other option. For this setup you may need 3Pack Mesh. you may refer to this website to answer your questions. [General Questions About the Ethernet Backhaul Feature on Deco Mesh Systems | TP-Link](https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/1794/) High End Gigabit routes, no matter how expensive and good still suffers from signal losses. you may feel that it is good enough kasi hindi significant ang drops pero still, Losses are losses. in terms of latency and in speed.

Got rid of my Netgear Costco router and replaced it with Deco mesh with three stations. No change in performance with the eufycams. Everything else connects great though.

Changed out my Netgear for a Deco mesh network with three towers so the whole home is covered. Fiber optic with 1Ghz and the cameras have full bars at every location.

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.

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

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 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.