TP-Link - Deco BE25 (BE5000)

I have the new Spectrum WiFi 7 router… sitting in a cabinet. Replaced it with the BE5000 mesh and it definitely improved my house coverage over a single access point.

I have a deco be85 connected as my "main router" and my pc is connected to a be25 in my bedroom that is connected to my network via wifi to that be85 My PC is ethernet to that be25 and I get 920/940 and my ping is 8 Good Luck on your networking adventures :)

I have a 600mbps plan and i use a deco x50. Could deco x20 do the job, yes in paper. But the protocol (wifi 6) is not the only consideration. For deco x50 it has 2x2 mu-mimo which better handles wireless devices. I have wifi 5 device in theory should handle 600mbps but it reality it only handles 300mbps. In conclusion, you may need to know what are your devices and how many. Also what is the structure of the home (concrete or wood walls) if wireless backhaul would be enough or you need wired. If you dont want to think much. I suggest get be25 for future proofing. Deco x50 if your not gonna upgrade anytime soon.

I ended up with BE5000 on clearance

I had 3 of these. Solid product. Upgraded to BE25s WiFi 7 last month.

I use a mesh system. Used to have 3x TP link Deco M4s. Now upgraded to TP link Deco 25 WiFi 7. Be used to have multiple extenders which were plugged into the wall and basically worked as repeaters but it was finicky. Go for a mesh system

I have 4 pucks of deco 25 wired backhaul. Awesome set up

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 use a mesh system and it is great. But it depends now on what you want to spend, I use a TP Link WiFi 7 mesh system, but there are many options. If you live in a small place you might not need a mesh network.

Eh whatever works. If you have an unfinished basement you can run it through there easily. Anyhow, back to your question: assuming you’re not super technically inclined and don’t want to drop a ton of cash, the tp link deco WiFi 7 system (BE) should serve you well for a long time. You probably only need two nodes but you’ll want them both to be wired - so wire the further node back to the node that plugs into your ONT. That way they’ll give identical performance without having to worry about whether they can communicate over WiFi (which would dock performance anyhow). If you’re technically minded and want to spend way more, ubiquiti

I got the Deco Wi-Fi 7 mesh and usually see 800+ on my devices except for devices that are only using the wireless backhaul. I’ve been very happy with it. Believe it is app only admin though. In my head, the wireless back haul is only done on 2.4 GHz so it would be limited throughput regardless of vendor. I think Unify is probably the leader for this , Orbi is probably a close second. Unless you want to get slightly complicated and use Fortinet.

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).

Tp-links newest WiFi 7 router is sick for the price.

Honestly, TP-Link seems to have the best value WiFi7 certified on the market. This ASUS router isn't even certified. I purchased mine for $170 on sale, only drawback is no 10G ports; they're all 2.5G (which isn't an issue for like 95% of consumers).

Stay far away from routers with fans, I returned a tp-link wifi 7 router over this exact issue. Sfp port was so hot it was unreal. Try to cool your place in summer with air conditioning, you don't want some fan blowing heat. Also moving parts is a bad idea for longevity. Also when I ran latency tests I was loosing O.4 to 0.8ms over fiber with the tp-link, my old router from 10 years ago never added that much latency, just to give you an idea of how bad fans are. This is not enterprise, cisco is enterprise and they use heatsinks not fans. If you want a decent router for home, Netgear rs700 uses heatsinks and has 1500 more sq ft of range than this thing, yep not 2000sq feet, but 3500sq feet, should get good reception in your backyard this summer. If you want enterprise you'll have to go cisco.

You can get something like a tp link deco and set it up yourself using their app, I’ve done it at my house myself and it works reasonably well compared to our old extender

No. Nest sucks. Deco or Eero if you want mesh.

There really is no one Wifi router that will penetrate all walls and building materials and give you a giant bubble of Wifi. As far as signal strength goes, they are about the same. For the best experience on a budget and easy to set up, mesh is typically the go to, like Deco or Eero. Running a wire between the two or more for wired backhaul will make it even better better.

TP-Link Deco work quite well, I've installed plenty of them. Even with wireless backhaul they cope well.

Even the mid range TP-Link mesh stuff goes well for your average home user with a couple of 4k TV's and a console plus phones and kids.

The wireless backhaul is nothing to sniff at on the better domestic mesh systems. I've got a higher end orbi system, and move an absolute boatload of data around, with more than 50 attached devices on the network, and it holds up very, very well. Your average home user will be well served by a Deco mesh.

7,299 right now on Amazon for 3 unit TP link deco.

Buy 2 unit mesh for 5k and check coverage. Then add more if necessary.

I’ve got a Deco. Didn’t want either Amazon or Google monitoring my WiFi.

I’m a big fan of the TP-Link Deco mesh stuff. The “will they be banned” stuff won’t affect firmware updates. You can always get them online; you just wouldn’t be able to buy them new again.

In similar situation: put in a TP Link Deco mesh. Omada is overkill.

Agree with this. Go with mesh routers (TP Link Deco is a good option). I was able to cover a 3 level house using two units (one of the ground floor and second mounted near the roof of second floor near the stairs. This covers all 3 floors completely. If you can still do it, I highly recommend installing a CAT6 Ethernet cable from the point where you will keep the primary router (most probably somewhere in ground floor) to a central point in second floor to act as a wired backhaul. This will give you a better consistent connection from the second floor/ third units. And yes you can install this by the yourself without any networking knowledge.

Hello!! I also use Deco Mesh and Homekit, i noticed a BIG improvement once i conected all my decos via ethernet. I hate cables but it was a game changer, i use smart products from different brands and now i don't have any issues with disconections!!  Some meross plugs disconected all the time before wiring my decos, now they work flawless! Hope you can find a solution that fits your needs! 🙌🏻

I agree with promo pawn - a 3 pk mesh will cover a large house. I'm using TP Link DECO without wired back haul and pull 700-800 down wireless on an 800 download service.

the best solution will be having ethernet cable and attaching an ap at the end. or use existing coax with moca adapter. next best is to get a wifi mesh eg tplink deco get 2 or 3 and position them accordingly around the house.

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

better than mesh is to use ethernet cable with AP. mesh wise tplink deco are easy and quick to setup.

wiring use cat 6. for equipment i would go with unifi for the complete package, or tplink omada, or deco if you dont need multiple vlans. wifi go with wifi 6 to make sure of the 2.5gb speed.

Ditto for TP-Link Deco. I forget which specific ones I have, but they’re easy to set up, and the app works well for device management.

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.

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.

TP-Link Decos have worked well for me. Lots of devices including iPhones, MacBooks, HomeKit, and Nintendo and PlayStation gaming devices of several gens. They make it easy to set up a separate IOT network if you want one.

I have a tp-link deco mesh. Worked ok once I played with the locations to ensure that the radios had strong signals. Became FANTASTIC once I strung some ethernet cables among four of them including the one serving as a router in strategic locations (our house is rather large and some walls contain metal lathe). We now always have excellent connectivity and fast roaming.

it's easy enough to DIY, the TP-Link Deco is so easy to set up it barely requires any networking specific knowledge.

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 have good luck using my deco home mesh, go through Walmart and you'll most of the time find it on sale for less than $100. I picked up my 2 pack for around $80

You're probably better off looking for a WiFi mesh solution that can daisy chain between each other. A cheap kit that'll do the job would be one of the TP link Deco mesh kits.

Yeah, extenders don't work in big houses. For 3500 sq ft, get a mesh system like TP-Link Deco or ASUS ZenWiFi.Covers everything, no dead zones, no 5G or 2.4GHz.

Look at TP-Link Deco or Eero. Both are solid mesh options. With 2 floors and a basement, a mesh system with wired backhaul (if you can run Ethernet) will give you the best performance. You can always start wirelessly and run cables later if needed. Just make sure whatever you get supports Wi-Fi 6. It'll handle gaming, streaming, and working better than anything else.

+1 for the Decos. (Decoes?) They've been pretty reliable over the year and a half-ish that I've had them. The app is a bit funky (esp for more advanced stuff), but as far as being a router, they seem great.

I used the deco mesh system in the end. Honestly I really like it, I have only had a few minor hiccups but the control I have is great and it was easy to set up. It also helped I got them $100 off

TPlink Deco/some other mesh network system where you can just buy 2-3 of them and hardwire them all together. Should give you plenty of speed and coverage

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.

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)

I would say to stay one step behind the 'best in class' maybe the XE200, depending on the interference in your home you may need 3-4 Deco's but start with 3, its extremely easy to just add them 1 by 1. $200 isn't a lot so you're not going to get the best performing system........remember tech is like cars........you get what you pay for..........if you want your home network to perform like a piece of sh\*t spend $200 but I assure you with your internet plan.........you will regret it later. This won't be a case where you can call your internet provider and scream at them when your home router is worse than theirs

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.

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.

AP is an access point, it's what broadcasts your wifi network. Your extender is an access point, but not a router. Not all routers are access points, and not all access points include a router... Wireless routers are both routers and an access point. Contact your ISP and see if they offer a mesh unit that you can either add on to your existing unit or replace it. If you end up buying a mesh system to use with your current hardware, you would likely want to disable the access point in your current wireless router, and setup the main mesh unit as an access point thus disabling the router functionality... I have only ever used a TP-Link Deco mesh system and an Asus mesh system, and I much prefer the Asus units and interface, but to each their own.

I second the Deco, good software with it too.

I have this one too. If you can’t do a wired/coax backhaul between the nodes and have an older or brick house, I can’t recommend. The wireless bridge between access points is pretty horrible even like 20-30 ft from each other in my house. It works well once I added an outdoor Deco unit and ran coax extenders too, but it has way less 2.4 GHz range than our Verizon G3100 did.

I’ll second the Deco system. I have the installed at my parents and in-laws houses. My mom actually installed it herself with no problem. If you’re not familiar with networking it’s great system. OP, if you want to use the Ethernet to connect them (I’d recommend if possible) you may need a small network switch as they usually only have two-ports on each node.

If you want something less "heavy" then Ubiquiti people are recommending go get a good mesh system. We used to run Ubiquiti at our last house and now I hae a TP-Link Deco Mesh system with 7 satellites covering a 3600sqft house, two outdoor buildings, and a carport. Really happy with the setup.

What I don't understand is where do I even find cheap access points with wifi 6? Technically it would be cheaper to get an Router + 2 APs but most I can't even find consumer APs for cheap where I live so I had to go with a TP-Link deco mesh system on a wired backhaul.

Another vote for deco, just works.

I went from Deco’s that had devices drop off regularly to Eeros supplied by my ISP. It’s like night and day. Eeros are rock solid and work perfectly with my Apple Home setup. I intended to go down the Unifi route until I realised just how reliable and well performing the Eero’s were. They are ‘plug and play’ and you can’t change much, but are pretty much ‘set up and forget’. Just my own experience and it may be different for someone else.

I just got the same setup, it’s a big improvement in coverage over the Google mesh I had before. I bought the 3rd node separately in case I decided I didn’t need it, but it works better outdoors with it so I kept it. 

I actually went from Deco to eero because the deco wouldn’t play nice with my existing whole house tplink gigabit switch for the wired backhaul. Even though it was the same manufacturer. I tried forever, but finally I gave up and have now have 6 eero 6+s working great with better coverage at like half the cost. 3 packs were $199

I actually went from Deco to eero because the deco wouldn’t play nice with my existing whole house tplink gigabit switch for the wired backhaul. Even though it was the same manufacturer. I tried forever, but finally I gave up and have now have 6 eero 6+s working great with better coverage at like half the cost. 3 packs were $199

Went from a Timecapsule to two Decos in a mesh and its been great.

I love mine I bought it right away. It’s going to depend on your set up but I have tp-links deco mesh system and it’s rock solid. The only downside I see every once and awhile is some pixelation during very fast moving gameplay. But other than that it’s solid. I love mine and for the price can’t beat it.

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

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.

eero and tp link DECO units are gonna be the best options. i can’t believe no one has said this but orbi has very good options. i have tried tp links one mesh and it has a lot of problems. if your a gamer i wouldn’t buy one tp link router and then have wall access points. get a actual mesh set up as if you want best overall speeds EVERYWHERE then get mesh. deco have very nice, cheap and reliable options, eero is more expensive but has a lot more extensive security settings and parental controls which i do believe is included with the piece if you add there subscription. the biggest thing eero has is, SQM which basically takes network debloating and latency and somehow it fixes it. which is very good for wireless connectivity between mesh devices as if you connected to one satellite mesh network you’ll see a upload latency increase. i think in general the best bang for your buck is tp link. and best overall is orbi. the reason i love orbi is my parents bought the rbr750 or something but it was 6 years ago and it’s still giving the speeds they paid for and still is getting firmware updates. eero is the in between because there a little less than most of the orbi systems i would suggest but have just any the same amount of features. so to sum it up eero is middle ground, orbi is the best, tp link is best bang for buck. hope this helps!

I use Deco work which is fairly lightweight traffic and eero at home with massive traffic. I haven't maxed out the eeros but haven't put the Decos to that same test. The eeros come back online and reconnect to everything much faster than the Decos. I like eero app way better.

I use TPLink Decos

TP-Link Deco. 3 units.

Mesh network with fiber internet. I like TPLink Deco and Sonic or AT&T Fiber

Deco. Asus has done me dirty too many times to EVER buy something from them again. Don't warranty me twice. Get out of my house.

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.

From a cost/quality/ease of setup TP Link Deco’s are definitely in the running. I have 3 in a 2600 sq/ft 1 floor house with no problems. Granted mine are all hardwired in AP mode but I imagine they would still work well in mesh.

If you have a house that you are struggling to cover wifi with, a mesh system is recommended as you'll be placing several "routers" around the house that work together to give you the best signal. Obviously they work best when these mesh points are connected with a cable back haul, however they work well with wifi backhaul as well. If money is no object then the Orbi mesh system is the best which provide you with the best speeds around. The TP Link Deco mesh systems also provide good speeds at a much lower cost, so that would be my go to. All of these mesh systems are managed via an app that you can download on your phone or tablet.

With what looks like a large tree in between your house & guest house, I would think hard wiring that section would be best. We got a TP Link Deco mesh system back when we got our SL (Oct 2021) and have 4 mesh nodes (the first acts as the router) around our property, covering a few acres in good wifi. Originally, we had one at our house trying to wirelessly connect to another node at our guest house about 230' away (same as your 70m) but there were trees in the way, so once we laid in ground cable between those 2 nodes, we were able to then extend beyond to our shop & our gate.

If you want better configuration dont go Deco its locked down by the software app to run some services and tweak. Get one of the Onemesh or Easy mesh routers like the AXE5400. Will also add the deco's are fantastic access points but using them as a primary gateway not the smartest for the more experienced user that likes the standard routing options available to setup etc.

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

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

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

Don’t bother with TP Link Deco either, ok router but not great Parental Controls.

Asus AiMesh - Yea TP-Link Deco - Yes TP-Link Easy Mesh - Not sure

I bought a router and 3 extra points of the 2nd generation Nest Wifi. I had wifi issues all the time. A device would be connected to a point but have no internet. You can find forum posts of people complaining about this very same issue without any resolution from Google. I switched to Deco and have had 0 issues.

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.

TP Link Deco. You won’t regret it. Of course the best case scenario is to have wired backhaul between the nodes, but real life is another thing. I’m sure you’ll be happy with the Deco solution. It’s very user friendly, easy maintenance, decent support and upgrades, and you can remotely manage them. If you decide to put some wires between them later, awesome! But you can start leveraging the benefits from day one.

Wifi extender would reduce the speed considerably. Best option : Mesh network. You'll need two minimum and add on would be 2.5K per mesh router. TP link Deco is what I am use. Second best : buy another wifi router and connect it with the original through ethernet cable. You'll have a different wifi name for the network from the second router so you'll have to switch between connections.

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

The TP link Decos are badass. I bought an asus one like this shown and it crapped out within a year.

I had a Deco and you gotta watch which model you get. I got one that it's WAN port maxes out at 100 Mbps :\\

TP-Link Deco is working well for me

TP link deco can’t fault it. Super easy, simple and user friendly app

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)

I had Deco. Spend hours trying to extend WiFi range with another node. Fail. Eero was so much easier plug and play.

I have used the DECO from tp-link. They seem good but they have to be in range of eachother. Try that first. Not the fastest but stable

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

TP Link Deco mesh system; set up a network just for guests and all our smart home stuff is on a private network.

Yeah, so... without going the "masquerade" route with a WAS-110, etc.. You'll have to put their ONT into pass through mode (the minute you do, they lose "visibility"), and I'd recommend tp-link, either Deco route, or if you want more control, Omada managed switch with AP's. I did this with a ER707 managed switch, but if you want single-system simplicity, Deco is hard to beat

I recommend TP link Deco, there is s nice user friendly app and it’s an easy setup. However as someone else wrote, mesh can be difficult on different floors without some cabeling in between floors. I have set it up at one location with an outdoor deco x50 as the main point and then 8 indoor units to cover 8 apartments in two floors and that works good, so that’s an alternative solution for you to consider.

Deco is good. It has prioritization of certain clients traffic.

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.

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

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.

After 6 years with Google Nest Wifi, I just switched to TP Link Deco. It’s been flawless and just posted about how to reuse old points as speakers only. They are not top 5 on any list, maybe even top 10.

After 6 years with Google Nest Wifi, I just switched to TP Link Deco. It’s been flawless and just posted about how to reuse old points as speakers only. They are not top 5 on any list, maybe even top 10.

Yes I do - I have a very overkill setup at home which I won’t go into details haha. But generally, I think a TP Link Deco or similar mesh system would be fine - the important thing is to cable the mesh devices instead of using wireless mesh for max stability and speed. Well worth the hundred dollars or so paying a contractor to do the network cabling (and trunking) in your flat if you don’t already have the cables pre-laid.

Nonesense. My simple TP-Link Deco setup works flawlessly with 4K 60hz streaming at 100mbps. Host is wired and client is wired or wireless depending on whether I use the TV. I can go fully wireless, but then I need to reduce the bitrate to sin 50 mpbs.

You probably have a device that doesn’t support the wireless speeds. You haven’t provided any details about which device you’re using. But here are some basics: At least 80% of devices (I’m not talking about the router) still only support AC wireless which still is going to get you maybe 500ish at best. If your device supports WiFi 6, it can support better. But likely not that much better. For example, my iPhone 13 Pro Max will be able to do 700-800 best case. Newer phones may be able to push a little bit better still. You don’t need control over the WiFi channels. Leave it on automatic and all you’ll ever have to do is reboot a router. Setting it to manual control will UN-optimise your connections. You’re not smarter than something that will keep checking and changing as needed. Except for band-steering. Band steering is a work in progress as it needs more devices that better support it. Simultaneously, a lot of issues with band steering is due to a poor connection anyway, or your device has a wireless card that sucks or is having an issue. (I have a TP link router, and I had to move my Xbox a bit and completely power cycle it because the Xbox WiFi card wasn’t wanting to be steered properly. I was able to verify on the Tether app that it worked back on 5GHz band, because the router saw it and steered it to 5GHz.) As for connection issues, you’re probably either need a mesh access point/ or a Spectrum WiFi pod if you use theirs. Idk how smart or dumb you are but I’ll keep it simple and say if you want decent ones go with TP Link Deco, and look for the latest generation that support WiFi 7. Or at least WiFi 6. Optimising WiFi is more work than Ethernet. Ethernet, you just make sure you have good compatible wires and good adapters and you’re done. Wireless, you can do a lot to not do it right. Your router could be in a dumb spot. Your mesh points could be in dumb spots. Your wireless background is saturated. You have a lot of noise. You have a lot of devices which don’t support the speeds. You have a lot of devices that don’t support the latest WiFi standards. At least everything comes with 5GHz now. But WiFi 6 allowed for channels to be split in different ways and communications were so much better. WiFi 6E brought along colouring which is like adding another plane or dimension so that there’s now even more ways to reduce overlap and allow communication to happen. With WiFi 5 every single device kept checking if the air was free on that Channel and would have to wait their turn to communicate. Not even the same network. Everything on the same channel. And even more fun is that there’s less channels than you think because there’s cross talk over channels close to each other. And WiFi 7 has continued that evolution and I think it supports even higher speeds still. That said, upgrading your router will not upgrade your device. It will make your router work better and faster and more intelligently. But that’s like putting Max Verstappen in a Prius and thinking he’s going to out pace Jeremy Clarkson in a Ford GT. You know what really really works? Verstappen, and a Ford GT. An updated router. And updated devices. Devices with older / incompatible / just slower wifi adapters would be like that Prius.

Get a WiFi 6E router. I'm sure a 1gb connection is more than enough, but if there's not much difference in price with a 2.5gb connection, then you might as well. Probably a 2 mesh setup is enough to cover the condo. I'd look for something with free basic parental controls, as that will come in handy in the future. Having said that, I've had a decent experience with the tp-link deco line, though I'm eyeing the GL.iNet ones (mostly because they've supported their routers over the years, and run on openwrt), though the parental controls on Deco are much easier to use. Deco recently added support for a third network, so you can keep your main, guest, and iot networks separately. It's a nice set it and mostly forget it setup.

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

Deco's are great and have everything you need. Make a separate guest network so they can't hamper things and a regular one for the IoT you have.

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

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.

Deco are cheap but they moved a lot of stuff behind a paywall on the newer models. I just sent mine back and swapped it for an ASUS RT-AX58U V2 and been much happier with it. This router seems to cover the same as three mesh units did. Has a lot of features too. One I really like is IFTTT integration, so I can put the kids on a guest network and setup scheduling to turn off at bedtime. Something the decos could never do properly

I'm in the middle of upgrading my APs from 802.11ac to 802.11ax. It's a bit of a waste since ac speeds were fine. I have been experimenting with PCVR streaming lately though, and I also recently got upgraded to symmetric gigabit internet. I've purchased 3 TP-Link Deco units on eBay so far and they're boring in a good way.

Try TPlink deco routers they work tremendously

I use deco setup just like Liam mentioned here, I bring the Ethernet cable from modem to the first deco node and then another Ethernet cable from first node in office goes to a switch in the second floor through in wall lan outlet and all the other rooms Ethernet cables come to the panel box in second room which are plugged into the above mentioned switch. Doing so all my three nodes are on wired backhaul. Never had latency issues.

It is a useful distinction, though, because consumer 'mesh' systems differ from conventional APs in two ways: 1. Mesh systems are intended to be a wireless only solution first where the end user won't typically have the infrastructure to hardwire them. It's great that a wired backhaul option is included, of course, but this isn't who they built the system for. 2. Their method of management and featureset are aimed at consumers rather than prosumers and SMB. Take two solutions from the same company: TP-Link Deco and TP-Link Omada. Deco is intended to be comprehensive and turnkey - you only need this one product and you're done. It has all of the features that consumers are likely to use, but it's also missing features that the most basic of access points should include, primarily multiple SSID and VLAN (802.1Q) support. For prosumers, this is immediately a disqualification, but most consumers don't have a clue what a VLAN is. I still recommend the Deco system depending on who the end user is. Compare this to Omada which is clearly a prosumer and SMB solution. It has all of the features one would expect, 802.1X, VLANs, multiple SSIDs, etc. It's also done from a single pane of glass, but via the Omada controller rather than directly. It's also usually more expensive. A feature often included in these higher end systems is a wireless backhaul which can be helpful in situations where getting infra in is challenging, but this is the opposite of the mesh in that wired infra is the default and to be expected. I don't like the marketing term mesh because it doesn't really reflect the value add of the solution. What's really common is someone will buy this for their tiny house thinking 3 radios will help their WiFi issues, when actually it's just made it so much worse, all without pushing that wired IS the best option rather than relying on wireless. What's great about these solutions is the robust wireless backhaul (not going to deny this) to use in situations where wired infra isn't present, a common reality in housing, and the user-friendly setup and administration of the solution.

Any router will work. That's one aspect of Specturm's setup that I really like. Depending on your space, you can either get a single router or a mesh system. I have two houses, have Orbi at one and Tp-link at the other. I had Asus for a while. I personally found the TP Link DECO setup easiest and the performance has been fantastic. Can get it cheap at Costco too.

Any router will work. That's one aspect of Specturm's setup that I really like. Depending on your space, you can either get a single router or a mesh system. I have two houses, have Orbi at one and Tp-link at the other. I had Asus for a while. I personally found the TP Link DECO setup easiest and the performance has been fantastic. Can get it cheap at Costco too.

Same! Got a TP Link Deco at Costco!

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.

I just for the TP link deco and highly recommend