Linksys Velop MX8400 Tri-Band Whole Home Mesh WiFi 6 System
Linksys Velop MX8400 Tri-Band Whole Home Mesh WiFi 6 System (AX4200) WiFi Router, Extender & Booster up to 6000 sq ft, 3.5x Faster Speed for 80+ Devices, MU-MIMO & Parental Controls – 2 Pack, White
| Dimensions: | 13.27 x 36.16 x 25.16 cm; 2.91 Kilograms |
| Model: | MX8400-UK |
| Manufacture: | Linksys [UK] |
| Department: | Wool |
| Dimensions: | 13.27 x 36.16 x 25.16 cm; 2.91 Kilograms |
| Origin: | Vietnam |
Easy to setup
Not sure of the other reviews but found this really easy to setup and was up and running within an hour, make sure you reboot your router once plugged in.
Works
Works well though little tricky to set up. Just don’t rush it and take your time. . I bought three to add to the pair I got from Community Fibre my ISP
Problematic with Sky. Needs to be cabled on as opposed to WiFi
Powerful Linksys router.
Prefe the Web interface for setting up but got used to the mobile app.
Had 1 or of 6 play up twice already but the others have not given me any problems 2 months down the line.
I bought this mesh router to enhance my recently installed Gigaclear fibre service. I have the 200 Mbs service and now the whole house is covered at this speed. The initial router was supplied by Gigaclear was a Linksys Velop device, packaged as a Gigaclear 5900 router.
The single router worked fine, but we have a reasonably larger house and the points furthest away didn’t get good wifi coverage. The new router integrated into the initial network without any issues, using the Linksys to add an additional node. This was placed in the kitchen on the other side of the house, and now all areas downstairs and upstairs all have excellent signal strength and run at maximum speed.
The device seems well-made, is stylish, and was amazingly easy to set up with the app.
Worked with the Fibrenest Branded node
Does exactly as should and connects with our Fibrenest branded one to extend the mesh network.
Can be a little fiddly to configure, but well worth the effo
Already had one left over from a previous home installation, so bought another to cover the new house with wi-fi. The original one is plugged into the Plusnet router downstairs and the other is upstairs, plugged in to an ethernet switch which my two desktops plug in to. Despite the modem <-> velop <-> wi-fi <-> velop <-> switch <-> desktop topology, I still max out my broadband speed of 72Mbs down and 18 up (from my desktops upstairs), and I get 100% uptime out of them too, no dropouts or loss of speed or anything.
The only downside is I had to reconfigure the old one to my new network and it seems once configured, they like to remain configured! It was quite an ordeal to reconfigure the old one, whereas the new one took about 30 seconds.
Well worth the effort… to get maximum broadband speed upstairs with no cables and total wi-fi coverage in the house is awesome!
I got this because my Virgin Media Hub 3.0 would just sometimes not work despite there being a good signal. The complaints from everyone in the house came in waves and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I personally use a hardwired PC most of the time for internet, or I use my Virgin Media mobile phone in the upstairs bedroom when the Wi-Fi became bad. The 3.0 Hub is setup on a high shelf in my living room, so most of the time, everything had a decent enough signal. I had been looking into a MESH system for quite some time and decided to try the Linksys.
The Linksys has a considerably larger footprint than the Hub, but it fit comfortably on the same shelf in the sitting room. The second one I placed in the family room (kitchen extension) behind a TV for the time being.
The Setup:
I downloaded the Linksys APP
I placed the Hub 3.0 into modem mode and turned on the Node in the sitting room as the instructions on the APP asked.
I used the old 3.0 SSID and Password so everything would reconnect without problems.
After the first Node connected, I selected the second node on the APP and followed the instructions.
Setup took a few minutes and went without issue. My Amazon items reconnected and all my other home automation worked right away.
The kit is literally only active a few minutes, so I am yet to properly test it. I did login on the browser and could see whatever was connected to the network and which Node they were connected to, including signal strength. I setup the guest account and password too, which will keep people out of the main network. I like that I can set downtime limits for any device connected, so no late night Wi-Fi for the kids if I so choose. The one negative I can say is the browser crashed out on me several times, so was a bit frustrating when I tried to change settings.
I will report back if I experience the same or new issues as I had with the Hub 3.0.
Add on to community fibre
Just signed up to community fibre and they use these exact kits. To get a multi room kit with CF it costs an extra 10 to ensure Wi-Fi in every room. I plan to stay with them for 2 years so I bought these to extend the reach all around my house. 1 unit they give covered practically all of my house but it was slower upstairs now with 3 I have good coverage even in the garden.
Set up is really easy on the app. You just choose add to current network and after 3 mins it’s connected. No technical knowledge needed.
I bought these as I wanted to pair them with the one that came with Community Fibre 500mbps contract. These are linked to the CF one (CF set as master and connected to the modem). Absolutely no problem provides additional ethernet upstairs and network speed and stability are incredible. Seamless node-to-node handover of devices and they move your devices across to the right node I.e. devices in the living room will eventually automatically move onto the living room node, ditto for study and kitchen. Very smart stuff and a very easy-to-use Lynksys app. Highly recommend such an improvement over powerline adapters and far more capable with high-speed broadband.
Great price, do job
Easy to set up (plug in and set up one at a time) and have made our wifi consistent across the house. Nothing very standout but comparatively well priced. No complaints.
Excellent WiFi
Excellent WiFi with the new Linksys Atlas Pro 6 Velop Dual Band Whole Home Mesh WiFi 6 System (AX5400) – WiFi Router.
We have had the Linksy Velop 5 unit for the last 6 years and were very happy with its use and performance but following some alterations to our house / structure / layout we decided to upgrade to the WiFi 6 System to improve reception in certain parts of the house, which the new system has done – we are very happy with it.
I was supplied with one of these by my ISP as a wi-fi router for my fibre modem. I was impressed with the performance, and very pleased to find that I could add another to my wifi network as a new node – together they form a mesh system, which means they appear to devices as a single network – no swapping networks as you go from room to room. The ISP will supply an additional node for 10 pounds a month, but it’s far cheaper to just buy one here for eighty quid.
To set up, you download a Linksys app on your phone (I needed to do that anyway to manage the node supplied by the ISP). The app has an area for adding a node to the network, so I went into that. Everything went smoothly – a lot of button pressing, light flashing, and waiting – until the app tells you ‘Now connect to your new network’ – Wait a minute, I haven’t created a new network, I’ve just extended the old one! Well that’s tough, you can’t proceed until you connect to a network that doesn’t exist! So I reset everything and went through the whole rigmarole again. No dice. Exactly the same. I was thinking of sending it back for a refund, but decided to persevere. I found the Linksys support website, and that had a little chat area. Usually, these give automatic replies which are completely useless, but here there was actually a human on the other end. He led me through a series of rituals, ending with one where you press the red reset button five times within five seconds (I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April). Eventually, all was well.
A good thing about this product is that it’s wall-mountable (although it’s difficult to get hold of the mounts) – so you can put it out of the way, rather than on the floor or taking up table space – but, the power cord is not that long, and if, say, you put it above a door frame, you’ll have a plug dangling half way up the wall.
The router has two ethernet ports – I could have done with another one, but the way everything comes out of the bottom of the router, there isn’t really room.
As a wifi router, this seems a lot better than the combined modem/router that you get from most ISPs. With an additional node, it’s much better than the BT mesh system I had before. I’d probably get another node if the set-up wasn’t so difficult.
Easy to set up and great additional signal boos
I already had one main router with Linksys but had many places in the house due to thick walls that signal wouldn’t reach. This product has allowed us to boost the wifi signal all over the house. I already had the Linksys app from the original router set up and if you follow the instructions on the app it’s very straight forward to set up.
much needed
i have had a ac1200 velop system since 2018, upgraded to 500mb full fibre this year, with this acting as the parent node my signal is so much stronger everywhere, over wireless in the same room i am getting 500mb+ DL, in the next room i am getting ave 350mb + over wifi, my sonos in the kitchen is more stable, wifi in the bedroom/office upstairs is more stable than before, would like to replace all my old ac1200 nodes with the new ax type, 1 has made a such difference
It's easy to use
This takes less than 5 mins to set up if you have the app. Easy to use and great.
Not sure what the other 1 star but jobs where talking about, must have trouble plugging it in imo.
Package sealed but dirty inside - Product works grea
I received the package 5 minutes ago and opened the seal – when I opened it, I saw a bluish stain on the front of the mesh router and a dead fly stuck onto the top of the mesh (where all the dirt in the holes are). Some dirt is stuck inside and can’t be cleaned out.
The mesh works for its intended use case very well – was just shocked at the unboxing experience.
It works!!
I have tried a few wi-fi boosting products before and often been left disappointed. However, this is the first booster I’ve used that actually works. I did a lot of research before choosing this one, and something that was compatible with VirginMedia. Coverage has improved drastically which is essential for me as I work from home my office is upstairs which had always suffered from poor wi-fi signal before.
Expensive, but worth it if you rely on strong internet connection.
Easy to set up and great signal strength with no black spots
Whilst this is an expensive mesh solution, it has worked perfectly so far and done exactly what it is intended for – creating a single network that covers our house. We have an old property with a newer extension and previous BT Home Hub had areas it would not reach, and we had to use two networks to get coverage downstairs, and upstairs was always extremely patchy.
The Linksys app worked really well and guided the set up using our Home Hub 4 as the modem. When plugging in the parent node, the app says use any port on your modem, but it actually has to be an ethernet port – the WAN port will not work. It just took a minute or two to connect, choose a new network name and it was a simple as that. The second node connected without a problem and the app helped check that the position upstairs was suitable. The third node for our extension has a wired connection, as we put in a Cat 5 cable during the extension build. Again, this was simple to set up – just switch on the node (close to the parent) and add it to the network as a wireless node. Move it to your desired location and use your Cat 5 cable to attach one of the the node’s ethernet ports to a parent node ethernet port. It’s a simple as that, as the system automatically will switch the new child node to wired set up. All 3 nodes now cover our 4 bed house and single story extension in a unified network, which is great for mobile wifi calling (very poor mobile network), shifting where you work, wireless printing etc. The speed of the wifi has noticeably improved with the tri-band too, which is a bonus, though it wasn’t that bad previously.
One final adjustment was to change the Home Hub configuration via the online Home Hub Manager to disable its wifi, just so there was no contention with two networks. It’s now just working purely as a modem and seems fine to do so.
Overall, very happy with the investment in this. It may be pricier than some, but so far no complaints at all.
Well.. first of all I need to mention my provider is Virgin Media and I’m having the 500Mbps package.
I live in a two floors standard UK house and I always struggled with the connection. My VM router is placed on the ground floor, in the first room – living room.
Before, I used one of the TP Link mesh wifi system with 3 nodes – AC1200 if I remember right. At the beginning it was alright but in time I installed multiple smart light bulbs, cameras, wi-fi connected appliances, etc. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get more than 200Mbps in other rooms with TP Link. Initially, I went for the Aeero system from Amazon with 3 nodes, wifi 6, but I couldn’t get better results – actually the connection was even worse – approximately 100Mbps speed both upstairs and downstairs.
I also forgot to mentioned.. all the nodes (apart from the main one obviously) were connected wirelessly.
After a long, looong research, I decided to spend more than I ever thought and purchase the Linksys mesh WiFi – 3 nodes – Atlas Pro 6.
As per the previous reviews, their app is not the best one out there, that’s for sure, and it was quite painful to set up the mesh, but it was really worth it in the end.
For a better understanding.. I installed the main mesh into the first room, downstairs. The second node installed it was on the upstairs room, exactly on top of the main node. The 3rd node has been installed in the kitchen, second room on the ground floor.
I’m not longer facing any connection issues.. on both floors, no matter the room, I’m getting no less than 400Mbps. Most of the times, it reaches the top speed, 550Mbps. Even in the very back room, the bathroom, I’m getting at least 350Mbps.
Also, in the garden I’m getting around 250Mbps, where I didn’t had any connection at all previously, with both TP Link and Aeero.
I know.. this is an expensive system, and as I mentioned before, I never thought I will spend that much money on a WiFi system.. do i regret it? Absolutely not.
Also, just to mention again.. the main node is connected to VM router by an Ethernet cable. The other 2 nodes are connected wirelessly.
Long story short.. if you’re looking to get the best out of your money and to have a superb internet connection, go for Linksys, you won’t regret it.
Really easy to install, works well
Arrived same day from Amazon. No unnecessary packaging. Waterproof film wrap on the box so was fine left out in the rain.
Nice unboxing experience. Directs you to download an app to your phone. The app takes you through the connection steps – very easy. I connected to a talk talk router. Turned off the Wi-Fi network on the talk talk router first by using the talk talk control panel.
Set up the new network with the same name and password as the old network. This meant I didn’t need to enter details into any of my existing devices.
The tower is quite small and good looking. No problem leaving it in view. Plug itself is square, bulky but also white and labelled with Linksys so you know what it is in future. Little surprised it didn’t use a standard usb c socket but it doesn’t really matter.
After half an hour I’d connected all three nodes.
I’m in a mid terrace house and the reception in the kitchen was rubbish before – kept on dropping the network. I’d used Speedtest on my phone (in airplane mode and Wi-Fi on) before I bought the mesh network to map the speeds around the house. Router is at the front of the house where the phone cables come through the exterior walls. Had ok reception on the old network upstairs in a middle bedroom so installed a node there. Then installed the third node at the back of the kitchen which covers the room and garden.
Now have 75mbps throughout pretty much everywhere. This is better than I was getting next to the talk talk router so is an upgrade. I only pay for 65mbps av speed internet so it’s great.
You almost certainly don’t need faster Wi-Fi 6 unless you pay for a faster internet connection.
Would suggest thinking about plug sockets and locations of the nodes before you buy.
The app has basic parental Controls included so you can schedule / pause internet access for individual devices and block specific websites.
Basic but combined with ISP and family screen time controls is fine. No real need to pay for the shield subscription.
Also works with Apple HomeKit so your smart devices are less likely to get hacked. Easy to add to the home app.
Highly recommended and you can tell I love it otherwise wouldn’t have left such a long review. Only caveat is that I’ve only just installed it so no long term experience!
A few minor things but overall - GREAT!
Been rocking this system for around month so far. I got these because of moving into a new home and hopping on the “Smart Home” train! With that being the case, I figured my EE router probably wouldn’t be up to the task with all the devices I wanted to connect to it. In comes the Linksys system. Works great with Apple HomeKit (although it’ll moan about a couple of nodes as Homekit can only deal with 1 – no an issue overall as it’s had no effect on any devices connected to the network – just looks a bit weird in Homekit).
So – done a comparative test between JUST my EE router and then this system…
with this, I have ZERO dark spots in or around the house and can get wifi from close to 3 doors away. By comparison the EE router would start losing signal the moment I went downstairs.
My only issue with this is…I had to change the primary node due to upgrading my router as the upgrade meant putting it in a different room on a different floor of the house. I called up Linksys Support and there’s no way to change the primary node WITHOUT resetting the whole system. I was GUTTED on account of having already setup my Homekit accessories. (FYI – Link sys stayed on the phone with me for an hour talking me through the whole thing which was refreshing) Did it and then realised that I had to essentially reset my Apple Home and add everything again from scratch (Well, the hubs more than anything). From what I can tell, they’ve sorted everything apart from certain changes to configuration – if they had that, this would have got 5 stars but they don’t, so it didn’t.
Would I recommend – ABSOLUTELY!! It’s a great system…the speeds are reliable and consistent and I have ZERO connection issues. Even playing a 4k Movie from my NAS Drive to my phone and then through Apple TV, take a few seconds to kick in but handles it like a champ!
Easy to use, FAST, but a little pricey
I had a BT Home Hub with 3 extender discs, now I have two of these and they have better, FASTER, Wi-Fi connectivity! I’ve turned all the other Wi-Fi off and upgraded my Wi-Fi card in my PC and now my home network is blazing fast 🙂
Easy to set up and excellent signal
Bought 2 nodes for smallish flat but sound baffles in walls make wifi coverage awkward. One almost did the job but not quite fast enough at far end of flat. The two worked together seamlessly and were very easy to set up using the app. And the options for wired connections to each node helpful. Maybe could have found something a bit cheaper tnat would have done the same job, but overall very happy. A long term problem sorted.
Amazing
I have various WiFi extenders, none of which have made much difference to the signal strength in my old thick-walled home. This one not only works, but has extended my WiFi to (almost) every corner of the house. The only place it dropped out was in the shower in an en suite bathroom. The rest of the bathroom was good. I put one unit in the middle of the house on each floor, the set up was easier than I expected,. The three extender system is not cheap but I had reached the stage when I was going to change providers in the vain hope that a new installation might have worked better.
Happy overall
The only issue is that some features don’t work when using in bridge mode, namely HomeKit and Alexa integration. Wish I had know that as I would have probably bought the MX5300 instead. Not a lot of monitoring available either to check signal, which devices are connected to which device, etc… was expecting a bit more there too, not sure if this is again related to bridge mode only.
Good but could be improved
Update In my opinion, this is a good product which could still be improved. The installation was straightforward and the bandwidth across my long property is good. However, improvements could be as follows: 1. More control over which node connects to another node – at the moment the system decides only – let me experiment with main/child and child/child connections 2. More real-time information about the strength of signal being received by a node to help placement and monitoring 3. Better liaison with Apple HomeKit – specifically, my Apple TV occasionally drops from 5GHz to an overloaded 2.4Ghz band and to prevent this I have removed flexibility by having different SsID for each band, which I turn breaks the requirements for HomeKit security. 4. The Apple HomeKit link in the linksys smart software creates a secure network – however this also incorrectly disconnects the Philips Hue hub. 5. Information to show which devices are overloading each node (the available 2.4Ghz band is almost non-existent and I have no course for action).
Smart and works
As a tech YouTuber I purchased this to replace the earlier Velop and was planning to use with ax6600. Gaming router with Velop
And do a review on both, I returned the ax6600 and purchased another MX4200, my internet is fiber to the premises at 500 mbs and I’m getting 495mbs WiFi in the same room lign of sight and 480-490 mbs in another room through stud wall on my second MX4200, just to let you know my older wifi5 Velop’s also connect at the slower speed obviously so they can extend your wifi if speed isn’t needed at such a fast speed everywhere
They are easy to set up, just rescan network once set up to optimise wifi speed you need a modem or supplied hub if you have fiber to cabinet but they will connect straight to open reach access point if you have full fiber
Rich man poor tech fully recommend them
My house has internal brick walls with a lot of wires in them. No matter what ISPs (Sky, BT, Virgin) say, their routers couldn’t reach the next room. We’d experienced patchy performance from TP-Link and Devolo extenders and so, even though the use case seemed slightly wrong, we gave Linksys a go. I was nervous in the set-up process that the nodes wouldn’t connect but they did and the result is awesome. One room that was totally impenetrable before is now reached thanks to the third node on the floor above, I streamed an HD movie and live HD sport in there yesterday. I’ve used ethernet cables – the nodes have plenty of ports – to hook up the TV and Sky box in the front room. Everything is rock solid.
Great System
Bought this to replace the Orbi RBK753 that had gone faulty. In short:
Much better range than the Orbi
My devices switch seamlessly (and faster) than the Orbi did
Interface is a lot simpler that the Orbi; however, that’s not really a problem
Wish I had bought this first instead of the Orbi
Works great, very good signal, but lacks features
It’s a great looking product, solid build and provides a good signal and speed, but it lacks configurable features in the app and on the device, I did notice a difference in the number of devices connected between the Web page and the mobile app, they never match, also speed test gives me mega high results in the app versus regular Web page test and both powered by speedtest.net.
All in all it works well, just not as much as I expected, my WiFi 6 devices connect at 2gb not the promised 4.2gb but thats always the case…
Also when I ever I provide feedback or report an issue in the app, I don’t get any response, its as if they are just collecting feedback for collecting sake.
So, would I buy this if I’d known what I know now? Hard to say for definite, like I said it works, signal good and stable, speed fast enough for my needs… But there are more feature packed out there which you will pay for as well as perfectly acceptable performance for cheaper also.
Worked better than the other linksys
Got this because my virgin media router was useless. Tried a few of the linksys and in the end settled for a linksys WiFi6 router and this mesh hub. Worked much better than getting three or four of the previous generations mesh hubs. The router becomes a mesh hub as well plus it completely bypassed the virgin media hub which is next to useless. The hub signal was as good if not better than three of the previous generation linksys mesh hubs. Happily getting over 300mbs through an internal wall from it.
Finally Internet Everwhere
We had Virgin broadband with good speeds, but not in every room. The MX8400 have given us constant high internet speeds in every room of the house. Definitely worth the money, and the customer service are fantastic which we needed during setup.
incfreased the wifi signal a lot!
Partner using these at work, their wifi signal has never been good in the building they are in and this has helped them get great wifi, everyone can use it fine, no drop outs at all, at all!
It was apparently not too bad to set up, They would never be without it now.
Expensive but there are no negatives ive been told, i got a phone call of amazement. Really really chuffed with this!
Outstanding produc
Bought the product and set it up. See speed test results:
Main room – 160mbps to 630mbps
Cabin(at the and of garden 20metres from main room- 70mbps to 340mbps
I am very please with initial results. Everything in the cabin works. No buffing! Will do a follow on review to see if it sustains the standard
Thanks
Top produc
No problem with the setup straight forward. Great results – good coverage and performance. No drop outs and consistent management of traffic.
Some effort to revisit all the devices to move to new network due to old network naming, but this nothing to to with the product.
May be didn’t need the three pack.
Crazy fast WiFi, compliments my gigabit internet quite nicely.
If you want super fast WiFi with great coverage that is easy to use and setup, then this is the set for you. It comes in different pack sizes to suit the size of your house. Setup wise, I’m used to much more complicated procedures so this was super easy to set up using the app. The gigabit ethernet ports on the units themselves are a great way of adding hardwire connections to devices which you’re normally forced to connect to over WiFi.
Bare in mind that you might not need all the power this set offers. I have a gigabit internet connection and I run Plex and file servers on my network so having the fastest possible networking speed for me is really useful so have a think about what you actually need as you may find you can make do with the slightly slower models.
Our house has heavy internal brick walls. Previously, I had a complex setup of a primary router, a second wired access point, and two wifi repeaters. Performance was passable back then, but with frequent cases where a connection was dropped and then reestablished when moving from one zone to the next (resulting in dropped facetime calls, and some apps needing to be closed and reopened to “see” the new connection). Going for a mesh setup solved this, and the performance and coverage has greatly improved. I still hooked up one of the units with an ethernet backchannel to the “primary” node that’s connected to the modem, for extra reliability. Overall the coverage has been greatly improved, and signal now completely covers our house and part of the garden (where previously we barely had any wifi at all). Administration via the iOS/Android apps, and the web interface, is fairly comprehensive. Overall, this now went from a wifi setup that needed constant tweaking, monitoring, restarting access points/repeaters in the correct sequence to make sure they don’t accidentally connect to the wrong one (a repeater stubbornly kept wanting to connect to another repeater, rather than the much stronger access point) … to something that “just works”. And yes, no more complaints about “the wifi is down again”.
Great piece of ki
Quite expensive but I managed to get it on Prime day which saved a chunk. This router is a big step up from the standard delivered by my internet provider. I have an old house with thick walls and the mesh system (I have five nodes in total but not all this model) means strong WiFi throughout the house. Pretty easy to set up and easy to live with. In my view works for everyone, but you need to be technical to really get the best of it.
Great upgrade from Virgin 'super' Hub
After spending too much money on fast internet I was disappointed with speed of the internet in rooms other than the room the original Virgin router was in. The issue was never the signal itself, more the speed of the internet when browsing/streaming. After considering wifi extenders and mesh I decided to see if the router was the problem. After 5 minutes of set-up (Virgin modem needs to be put into Modem mode), internet was set-up and ready to go. The difference is like night and day. Not only is the signal strength better, the speed of the internet itself is great throughout the house. Highly recommend getting one of these if you’re having the same issues, the Virgin router clearly isn’t a good enough router unless you live on a one bed flat.
Solved a big problem
I had a network of older Velop units. Probably too many, but they had a lot of area to cover. I had 5 running in a mesh, but they were forever failing, individually or collectively.
I replaced them with 2 of these and..say it quietly.I haven’t had a single problem since. The range is great and having fewer units must help. I highly recommend these.
Good Speeds
I’ve now had the Linksys MX4200 Velop Tri-Band Whole Home Mesh WiFi 6 for awhile and since the easy setup done using my phone, the speeds have been good. The software on your phone is good and it alerts you if the device is switched off by mistake.
It looks discrete and not bulky. I have good speeds upstairs and I no longer need to use the AV plugs. So, overall a great MESH extender device.
I kept putting off buying a router for so long as decent ones can be expensive and I wasn’t sure it would fix my issues. I bit the bullet and in the end regret not buying it sooner. My PC has a WiFi-6 card and the WiFi is surprisingly faster and more reliable than using ethernet using TP-Link powerline adapters.
It took a little set up on the mobile app, switching things around etc. But for the most part was simply plug it in and it works. Since then I’ve had literally 0 drop outs with Virgin Media which their Hub 3 had issues with. Slow downs, drop outs, struggling with multiple device etc. I have roughly 20 devices on the go all the time in my household and haven’t had a single problem or needed to reset it once.
I’ve since moved to BT and it required a little more set up sug as setting router to PPPoE and logging in using BT credentials you can find publicly online but once I did that it’s been flawless.
It’d be nice to apply some settings to individual devices in the app and create a priority order rather than simply 3 devices at a time. But I’ve never actually needed to priorise anything anyway as it does the job.
Great in the house, not so good for an outbuilding
I bought a two pack of Velop AX4200s to replace two aging Apple Airport Extremes – one serving my 3,000 ft house and the other an outbuilding linked using Powerlines. I choose Velops because I needed extra ports for a hard drive, powerline connection and internet phone – most Mesh systems only provide one port, whereas the Velops provide three ethernet ports and one USB port.
Two AX4200s were enough to solve slow speed at one difficult end of the house (a conservatory) but couldn’t tackle the other end of the house – so I needed to buy a third node to do that. With three nodes, speed is good throughout and reliable.
I had originally planned to have one AX4200 in the outhouse connected by a Powerline, but when I did this backhaul on the AX4200 reduced the internet speed from the Powerline by two thirds – so I’ve kept the old powerline to Airport Extreme connection for the outhouse.
So overall, great for the house but not a solution for the outhouse, where, I think a regular router with better range than my old Airport Extreme will be a better option.
Super fast internet everywhere
Beautifully boxed and securely shipped. These come right out of the box and have a very easy set up booklet to help you with everything. The cords are all wrapped nicely in their own little mini boxes. The instructions tell you to download the app. Once you do this the set up instructions are on the app and take you step by step. This is the easiest electronic that I have ever set up, the app does most of the work.
We put one in the living room and one in our bedroom. I have excellent service in our bedroom, finally. Really, Roku says excellent service. My laptop has not dropped internet even once in our bedroom. I love these little nodes. I also love how smooth they look.
I bought several different devices trying to boost our wifi throughout our home and nothing worked until we found these. Love it.
Solves the problem of the shocking Virgin hub 3 route
Solved all my wi fi problems from the Virgin hub 3, which is unfit for domestic wi fi purposes. Easy to set up for a technophobe, as long as you carefully follow the process of switching the Virgin router into modem mode. The whole linksys product including the App is very impressive.
A must for for fibre broadband & Wi-fi 6 Mesh networking
This is an excellent and easy to set-up mesh Wi-Fi system. I bought the AX4200 and x 3 system to work with my fibre broadband and it easily manages the 650 MB connection for compatible devices. It allows the flexibility to upgrade to gigabit broadband in the future .
It has out of the box Wi-Fi 6 standard capability and will hopefully last 7 years, before the next Wi-Fi standard.
Yes its expensive and requires setting up a Linksys account. However well worth it so far.
Future proof and easy to set up.
Amazing is the word. If you have virgin media like me then you know it comes with the virgin media hub which isn’t great. I don’t even get the full speed I pay for unless I connect it directly with a network cable. Now let’s talk about this. Wow. The mesh system. I’m not technical at all but it was so simple to install. You download the app it tells you to do then the app finds them via Bluetooth and does all the installation for you. If you are an expert user then you can play with the settings like forward ports, prioritise traffic , disable Mac addresses. You get 3 in the pack. I’ve put them around the house and it has eliminated dead spots. In fact I can walk down the street and still get a signal.
All the mesh stations talk to one another. They are quite large which is a shame as you can see from the photos but they are not ugly and you could hide them away. Only the main one needs to have a connection to the modem. I had to put my wifi router into modem mode which wasn’t too tricky.
Boot time is fast. When I reset the wifi mesh system it loaded up quicker than my modem itself. Now speed wise I don’t have any ip6 rated devices yet but I do pay for 500mb broadband and I was getting the same speeds on wifi as I did on the wire. If I eventually pay for a more faster broadband then this is future proof and will work with all the new and legacy standards.
This is by far the best mesh system out there. My brother had the Google one which was okay but their app is flaky and you have to use Google home which isn’t a dedicated app just for the mesh system. If you have a fast connection and need coverage around the whole house , even large houses and you want it to be future proofed then this is the mesh system for you.
The Wifi system for anyone (sort of)
I’ve been using the Velop system for about 3 and a half weeks now, and I’m very happy with how it performs. What Linksys has made here is something with a lot of performance, reliability, and at the same time they’ve kept the set up extremely minimal and simple.
My system before was a Google Nest Wifi mesh, and I was extremely happy with that. Considering the price of a Velop kit, it had a lot to live up to. The first main different I noticed when unboxing the Velop kit was the size. It’s appearance is very similar to a certain games console, but smaller. I’ve attached a picture showing the difference between the Google Nest Wifi kit, and the Velop kit.
The setup is super easy, once you’ve got the app installed, you can turn on your router, open the app and follow the simple steps. It takes about 3 or 4 minutes to set up, but most of this is just the automated stuff since the app and router take care of most of it them selves. During the process, you’ll register the app, and set up Wifi and a password for it. The routers and nodes you set up will automatically be linked to the info you register at the beginning.
There’s not a huge amount of customisation available in the settings, which is actually something I’ve noticed on quite a few of the expensive routers around these days. You can change the usual stuff such as the Wifi name and password, security mode, port forwarding etc. But I was slightly disappointed that there was no configuration options for choosing which frequencies and channels you’d prefer to use and no option to configure a wired backhaul, which is surprising given that the router and all of the notes all have multiple ethernet ports. That’s not to say the router and nodes don’t support wired backhaul, it might be built in and auto detected, who knows, but I have no idea if it actually works. These aren’t necessarily bad things, like the Google Nest Wifi I had set up before, the focus here is clearly supposed to be simplicity. It’s clear that Linksys put a lot of attention into making sure that regardless of who is setting it up, they are going to be able to do it quickly and easily. For users that really like to tinker, you might feel a bit restricted.
Once I was all set up, I used the channel scanning feature in the app to let the routers choose the best Wifi channel. I then tested the performance by connecting as many devices as I have, and streaming music and video through as many devices as I could at the same time. Between TV’s, chomecasts, laptops, tablets, smart speakers, smart displays, phones, and smart plugs/lights, I had over 50 devices connected. What I ended up with was 4 4K streams, 4 1080p streams, 3 security cameras streaming to online service, a laptop and 2 tablets on youtube at what I’ll assume was ether 1080p or 720p, and 7 smart home speakers playing music. The streams were a mixture of netflix, disney+, youtube and amazon video. All of this worked perfectly, and was left running like this for around 30 minutes with absolutely no problem.
Since the initial testing was to gauge whether or not this Wifi would be able to handle what I think would be an absolute worst case scenario in my home, and it passed with flying colours, I decided that the rest of my time spent with the Velop Wifi before my review would be spent using it as normal. Normal day to day stuff in my home would consist of 1 or 2 screens on in the house, and sometimes multiple music streams throughout the house, gaming on a PlayStation and a PC, and working from home using live streamed services. The Wifi has remained on the entire time and hasn’t had a reboot since turning them on (exluding a software update that was done shortly after set them up). I haven’t noticed any issues with performance or the reliability at all. These have been completely perfect.
One of the things I really like is the ethernet ports on each node. There’s no difference in the 3 units you get here, they are all routers effectively. Whichever one is on your internet is the “parent” and the others that connect to it become “child” nodes. But each one has ether net ports anyway, so you can link up anything to them by ethernet and it will be connected to the parent node just as if you wired up to that directly. There’s also a USB port on each one, offering up network storage for those that want to take advantage of that. The app controls this feature and even gives instructions on accessing the storage as well, which is nice.
I think this Velop kit would offer perfect performing Wifi to even the largest homes. I think if you lived in a home that was large enough to cause issues for this system, you should probably calling your home a mansion. Even then, if you can afford a mansion, you can afford to pick up an extra velop node and spend 3 minutes adding it onto your existing velop nodes, making the coverage as large and as flexible as you need it to be. If you’re existing Wifi is fine, it’s unlikely you need something like this. But if you’re struggling with connection problems frequently, you’ve tried extenders, power line adaptors, and whatever other ISP solutions they offer these days, and you still haven’t found a solution that just lets you get on with your day without having to think about Wifi? – You need to stop wasting your time, pick up one of these Velop units (and some extras if you have a big home), and solve your wifi problems once and for all!
Oh, you might have noticed, I didn’t really bring up the subject of a speed test before, but for those of you wondering about it – I don’t use speed tests on my wireless networks as a measure of performance for reviews because it’s completely user specific, and me telling you that you’ll get 2gbps all the time would be absolutely inaccurate. I’ll simply say here that it doesn’t matter if you’re on 50mbps or 1gbps, this system won’t hold you back.
Very happy with the produc
Excellent – looks, wifi signal, ease of set up, range.
Haven’t found any negatives.
I have connected it using ethernet connection to my virgin media modem. I am getting speeds close to 1 gigabyte as per my virgin media speeds.
Very pleased with this
This Linksys mesh WiFi 6 system was very easy to install. You simply download the mobile app (which has a really nice interface) and tap ‘set up a new WiFi network’. I’ve had this running for a week now and so far I am impressed with the WiFi signal I am getting. It provided strong signals throughout most of the house, but some area’s in my home definitely has a slightly weaker signal. I should probably get an additional node as my home is larger than the 3 bedrooms recommended size it’s meant to cover. I also like how it supports both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz network as I have a doorbell and some smart sockets that need to run on 2.4Ghz to work. In terms of connection speed, so far it seems great. Not all of my devices support WiFi 6 but the ones that do, I have definitely seen a speed improvement compared to my previous setup.
Perfect performance!
I have been using the Linksys MX4200 about 2 weeks now. During this time it checked all major characteristics a WiFi system should have including, easy setup, powerful and stable connection throughout the house, and covering wifi blind spots.
My previous WiFi mesh system which was in a similar price tag was ok but occasionally would lose connectivity or the WiFi strength would decline for no reason until I restart everything. With the Linksys MX4200 I have not had such problems. WiFi strength has been excellent, constant and stable. I’m very happy with its performance in the past 2 weeks.
The app is simple and easy to navigate. The setup process as I mentioned was also straightforward.
I have not really encountered any problems so far. The only (maybe) shortcoming is that the app is very simple. It does not provide much information about your network for example usage by each connexted device etc. Such info I think is not necessary for the majority of users especially for home usage!
In conclusion, the Linksys MX4200 has performed flawlessly so far. I happily recommend it.
Ah, where to begin.
Maybe at the end. The four-node Velop system is running like a dream. Five stars’ worth.
Support (by chat) has been very, very helpful indeed. Also five stars, all of them well earned.
Reviews I have read, and many online threads, mention that Velop systems have major issues recovering from power outage, with manual intervention needed every single time. I tested that out well and proper, because I can’t have that, and I’m happy to report that whatever devious ways of cutting power to some or all nodes I came up with, not once did it fail to recover (it could take a few minutes, but it always got there). Those reports were probably true at the time, but with the current firmware (as of 26/3/2021) there is no need to worry.
So why only four stars? The problem was that I needed support in the first place; most reviews (and certainly the advertising blurbs) wax lyrical about the ease of setting it all up. Well, maybe. But not for me. Getting there was a two day slog with the whole world seemingly conspiring against it ever working.
Features I love:
– Guest network. Two separate wireless networks can be chosen to work at the same time on the same devices. The normal one, with access to things like home automation (if you’re so inclined), network storage, network printers – and a totally separate guest network with internet access and no more. For the technically minded: separate SSID and password.
– Device prioritisation. Up to three devices can be assigned priority, meaning that they will always get bandwidth even if other devices are trying to consume everything (gamers, streamers). In fact, those three will always get what they want, the others getting the leftover scraps. (caveat: if you have very fast internet (gigabit) then there are quite a few reports online that this feature actually harms your setup – I can’t tell with my rural speeds).
– The whole ‘mesh’ idea. Multiple velop devices around the house, servicing the same network name (SSID). Or names (SSIDs), with a guest network set up. Not the pain of repeaters/extenders with their OWN network name, meaning you need to switch from one SSID to another when moving from the range of one to the next (always causing interruptions). Perfect.
– Never thought I’d say this, but control via the phone app works marvellously well. With all my interactions with the support team, I’ve seen that the more traditional wired connection to the router with a browser interface is (of course) also there for those who prefer it.
Features I don’t love so much:
– The status of every single velop device can be found in the app, which is great once that works. Until it does, the only thing you have to see what’s going on is one muticoloured LED. Four colours, meaning all different things, either solid on or blinking, again meaning different things. OK for some, Im sure. But, as so often, the colourblind (of which I’m an unproud member) are pretty much ignored. I cannot tell my purple from my blue, and I cannot tell amber or yellow from red. That can make for “interesting times”.
– Dimensions. Getting these things out of view is not as straightforward as with tiny, simple extenders. There’s quite a bit of volume to them. The footprint, being a square and not a rectangle, doesn’t help.
– Getting at the support. I’m slowly, in general, getting more used to support via chat. Twitter and facebook? No thanks. Phone? Then I have no record – too volatile. So I chose chat. A word of warning. There are two different paths to chat support – and I don’t remember them. But one works, and the other one doesn’t. If you are going this way, and you find yourself with a pop-up that automatically refreshes and shows you your number in the queue, then you’re fine. Stick with it. You’ll get help. If, however, you find yourself on a page that isn’t a popup, is mostly empty except for the reassuring remark that “we are connecting you to a support agent”, three circles pretending to show progress, and a cancel button – then forget it. Nothing ever happens after that.
– Not so much a feature, but a source of confusion. It took me long while to try to figure out the product identifiers, and I failed. AX, AC, MC, MX, WHW, VLP, magic numbers aplenty… a bit weird. They cover a combination of wifi standards, number of devices in the pack, and device speed/capability. The important things are the wireless standards. So ax/mx (aka WIFI 6) is more capable then ac/mc (WIFI 5) which in turn beats n (wifi 4) if you look up the standards. Want to know more? I don’t, but be my guest: https://www.networkworld.com/article/3238664/80211x-wi-fi-standards-and-speeds-explained.html . The magic numbers for multipacks don’t seem so magical at first glance. If you have an AC2200, the double pack is AC4400 and the triple pack AC6600. But just when you think something at least is logical, the AX4200 multipack is MX8400. Argh. This is where I went mad, then gave up.
Our existing wifi more or less worked, but was messy for us and (worse) for our guests – it’s a five guestroom B&B with our own living area below it, making a total of 8 bedrooms, a hallway, an office, two lounges and a kitchen to cover – over three floors. It’s an old house with plaster walls internally, thick stone outside and some of those inside as well. Not ideal for supplying with wifi. What we had was a (Billion) modem/router, and four wifi extenders strategically placed. That more or less covered the areas that needed coverage, but it could be flakey and the different SSIDs where a pain, while many admittedly less important areas got no coverage at all.
As we wanted to improve this significantly, we decided on a wifi 6 mesh system. The guest network feature gave us the final push towards the Velop. We thought that, if we were lucky, we might get away with just four devices, and if we were unlucky then more could be added easily. The least expensive way of getting four, at the time of buying, was not a three-pack and a single, but two two-packs.
In pleased anticipation, setup was begun. Phone (Android 9) at the ready for the app, first node (to be configured as the one wired to the modem) connected and powered on – the rest was supposed to take minutes. Hah. The phone app would not recognise the node, and as only the phone app was presented as a way to configuration, the only thing for it was to call for help – a support chat session. This was not a fast experience (an hour to get through the queue, and about two hours with the agent to get the node configured) but it was a good one. Very helpful and knowledgeable person on the other side. Many things happened (I lost track – but I have the transcript should I ever need it), but in the end, the phone could connect to the new internet SSID and read my internet mail, as could the laptop. All good. Thanked support, rang off, started the phone app for node configuration – and had a fit. It would not start. Gave up for the day, came back the next for a new support session. Hardly any time in the queue this time, and again a very good experience with a second agent. Phone app made to work, one secondary node added just to be on the safe side (this involved hitting the reset button on the mother node five times within five seconds – a little thing I hadn’t read anywhere, so maybe it helps somebody). It was another hour and a half on the chat page, but after that everything finally did work as advertised. I added the two remaining nodes in minutes. Unplugged them, then distributed them around the house. Started the app to monitor the network and saw TWO devices, not four! Don’t panic as I did. Those devices weren’t the nodes. They were the devices actually connected to the wifi: the laptop and phone… To look that the network components of the mesh system itself, you need to go to the menu, and find “Network Administration” pretty far down. That shows each of the four nodes. Unplug one, and it’ll nag (good). It also nags on detecting movement (not in the room, but of the device itself). However, it did that with no reason, so I shut those notifications off pretty quickly.
That’s about it. Happy with the result. Very unhappy with setup. Happy with support.
Great system to improve home interne
Not being much of a tech head I was a little nervous about setting this up, but actually I found it very straight forward and easy to do.
Inside the box you find 2 nodes, which simply have power cables and an internet cable Following the installation instructions was easy even for me, the leaflet inside the box prompted me to download the app to my phone, setup an account and follow the step by step guide. It’s very clearly laid out and the nodes have a light that changes colour to indicate what’s happening, if there are any issues the app adapts and guides you through it all.
Once I had the first node up and running we decided to change our router to modem only mode… This was actually the most difficult part of the process but once that was sorted I then setup the second node in my office which is the other side of the house. I had previously installed a cable, so I’m able to hardwire the second node to the first. The setup of the second node was so easy as it just linked to the info of the first one via the app.
On that note the app is very well laid out and easy to use. You’re able to monitor which devices are connected and it was great that I was able to set up a second network for when I have work clients visit my home office. I can now have a more professional sounding login for them which is handy!
We can now walk between either side of the house using the two nodes and our devices automatically jump between them for the best connection, so we never really notice any transition or that they’re there, they just work which is great!
Results wise we’re extremely happy, the nodes are hidden away in places you can’t really notice them, but when you do pick them out they are slick and modern looking. We now have great internet access across the whole house and office. We’ve not had any issues with it and have noticed better download speeds than our original router.
Overall this is a great purchase, especially if your working from home, have an outbuilding or have patchy wifi in certain areas. We highly recommend 5/5
Easy to setup, reliable, super fast Wi-Fi speed and an excellent supporting app!
The MX4200 arrived safely, and it come well packaged inside a well-illustrated and premium looking retail box.
Installation was as simple as could be really, you just download the Linksys app and follow the on-screen instruction guide which is nicely laid out. I just had to set my Hub 4 into modem only mode and the MX4200 was up and running in minutes and I was connected to the internet both wired and wirelessly.
Having just upgraded to Virgins 1Gbps service I was eager to compare this Mesh router to the Hub 4 and I’m pleased to say with regards to wireless speed its super-fast! The MX4200 shows up as “very fast” on my Galaxy S20+ and displays the number 6 above the Wi-Fi signal, I haven’t had the pleasure of using such fast Wi-Fi before. The build-in speed test in the Linksys app shows my download speed as 888 Mbps download when I’m about 5 metres away from the router, really impressed!
The wireless signal strength seems to be a little bit weaker than my Hub 4 as my doorbell is no longer in range even though I placed the MX4200 in the exact same spot, not a big deal for me as the doorbell was on the outer limits of my old network anyway so I just installed an access point until I purchase another Node to add to my new Mesh network.
Been using the MX4200 for several weeks now and it has not skipped a beat. I currently have 14 wireless devices and 3 wired computers connected to it and I’ve not had one single issue with any device so far! Very happy with the stability and reliability of this router, another impressive area!
I’m usually not in favour of phone apps to manage network devices but I really like the Linksys app, its clean, easy to use, gives you full control of your Mesh network or router and it hasn’t caused me any frustration at any point so that can only be a good thing! You can of course still access the router from your PC’s web browser if you wish.
Overall, I’ve always been a big fan of Linksys products and this new Mesh system works brilliantly and seems ultra-reliable so far. Its quite a bit of money to pay but you’re getting an excellent package with a decent supporting app and a super high speed wireless network which can be easily expanded, something I’m definitely going to do in the near future. A truly brilliant piece of kit and one that I highly recommend, easily worth the full stars, buy with confidence!
Gives on one hand, takes with the other.
First off, I’ll start by saying I have been through my fair share of mesh Wi-Fi solutions. Over the years I’ve tried BT’s Whole Home, Asus’ mesh, Nest Wi-FI and now I’m onto this, the latest offering from Linksys.
With a house of around 5000sq ft including out houses I’ve always struggled to get Wi-Fi to cover every area. I’ve now cabled the far reaches of my house so my mesh Wi-Fi units can connect to each other by cable, rather than Wi-Fi. The latter option has been poor on every system I’ve used so far. For this review though, I’m reporting on my experiences based on a total of 3 nodes all connected via ethernet cable.
First impressions when the box arrive is the sheer size. These are big units. The photo on this review shows it next to a Nest Wi-Fi router and Nest Hub Mini. It’s a big device.
Setup was pretty easy thanks to the Android app from Linksys. Worth noting, this is the only way to set this up and the only way to add further nodes to your system. You can’t do this via a computer or browser. This was easy though. First one setup then added all the rest in order. Firmware updates for each. Again, another point worth noting, the additional nodes have to be added by Wi-Fi to get setup and can then be cabled for the backhaul connection. On the child nodes, you need to use the WAN port for the backhaul connection, not one of the ethernet ports. Good as it doesn’t take up another port.
Next up is performance. These units are by far and away faster than any of the other devices I’ve tried previously. This is hardly unexpected given these are WIFI6 units (X) rather than WIFI5 (AC) like all the other devices. I suspect the gargantuan size also contributes to it’s nuclear-like ability to throw Wi-Fi everywhere. For context, 3 of these units provide coverage that equals 6 BT Whole Home and 6 Nest Wi-Fi routers. If you have a big house or lots of outhouses, it may be better value to go down this route.
Reliability of connection is also strong. With two of us now working from home full time and at one point two kids doing either school work at home or watching rubbish on Netflix and Disney plus, these have provided a noticeable improvement in reliability over previous solutions. I’ve not had any drops or contention issues. I’ve also seen an increase in FTTC connection speed from 41mbps with my previous solutions up to 45mbps with these. All have been paired to a Draytek Vigor 130 modem which hasn’t changed.
All good so far. So why the loss of a star? Well, as an IT person and self confessed geek, the app and browser based interface (you can use a browser once setup) is frankly poor, particularly at this price. There are virtually no bells or whistles included no matter how far you dig. Google’s Nest Wi-Fi is always reviewed as being simple and basic, this is even more so. There are parental controls but they are so limited they are basically useless. The Linksys Shield and Linksys Aware subscription services to add further features are not (yet) available on the AX4200. Contact with Linksys support suggests these are coming “in the future”.
There’s also no way to see bandwidth or consumption data of a device or what is happening on your network at any one time. yes, Speedtest.net is built into the GUI which is great, but that’s really all their is to let you know how things are performing. There is a device prioritisation feature which allows you to add 3 devices but I’ve found this causes a massive detriment to other devices on the network. Ironically, one of the features it does include it doesn’t really need!
It may sound like I’m giving this a hard time but when you compare with rivals of similar or even much lower cost, I would expect at least some “bells and whistles” to be included here. While performance and coverage is excellent, and I really cannot fault these areas at all, for me it isn’t enough at this end of the market. To give you an idea, this is Linksys’ brand new AX Velop units. As of 17th March 2021, the latest firmware is from December 2020. My Android app fixed some bugs in Jan but nothing since then. I feel additional features could come more quickly through more frequent updates and, at the very least, match the old Velop units in the range with services such as Linksys Shield and Linksys Aware.
If you aren’t interested in anything funky and just want speed, coverage and reliability, you will definitely get that here. For anyone else who wants more customisation and additional features, definitely look elsewhere.
Would I go back to any of my mesh products? No. Will I stick it out with these unit?, Yes. Will I hope Linksys are more forthcoming with features drops? Definitely. Would I recommend these to anyone else? Yes, just be aware of some of the shortfalls, if you are bothered by such things.
The speed and stapility is incredible.
My previous modem was ASUS RT-AC3200 was very good 2 years ago but LINKSYS AX4200 absolutely amazing product. I have 3 Linksys nodes all 3 connected with Ethernet cat8. That speed and stapility is incredible. I have more than 50 wifi devices and finally, devices like the Ring Pro started working. Absolutely recommended this mesh system.
Exelle
For some reason we suffer problems with being able to get WIFI in all corners of our house, this got even worse with our children being home and learning via online meaning our internet suffered more.
However this has really helped and improved the area our WIFI now covers and have had no problems since with being able to use the WIFI in every part of our home.
It is very simple to set up and I did this by following the onscreen instructions once I had download the app on my iPhone. You are required to create an account to be able to do this.
This can be used as the main router or an extension to your current one which we are currently using this for.
Overall I am very happy with this and up to now have not experienced any drop outs or speed problems.
Works on BT, Fast Wi-fi with a great range!
I have a keen interest in networking and have built up a fairly robust wired network at my house using business class Unifi equipment to ensure a stable solution for working from home. What it is lacking is great Wi-fi. My House is a fairly small bungalow however it’s 160 years old with solid brick walls which dont pass Wi-fi signals very well. This Linksys ticked all the boxes for me to future proof my Wi-fi with Wifi6 (the latest generation) and the ability to add more Velop nodes in the future if i need better coverage.
The system acts as a complete router system or as a Wi-fi access point to keep an existing router. This means it can either be in charge of handing out IP addresses to all of the devices connecting to it, or as an extension from the existing router. I have tested it on BT in both router and access point modes and am very impressed how easy it makes everything, plus its all handled from the Linksys App. If using it on BT to replace the router then a white Openreach modem is required (I included a picture), otherwise I would recommend using this as an access point only, so the BT hub is still required and the Velop system connects to the BT box in Bridge mode.
Setup is very easy! I just downloaded the Linksys App and created an account, then plugged one device into the modem and followed the instructions on the app. It only took a few minutes and I had internet and Wi-fi sorted, I then plugged in the second device and added that after. Both devices connect wirelessly to each other without a cable connecting them, however I can also connect them directly with an Ethernet cable to improve performance later if I wanted. On BT I had to set the connection type to PPPoE with the login [email protected] and password BT. The advantages of using this as a router rather than just an access point is the parental controls feature which shows every device connected and lets me control what websites it can access and the times its allowed internet access. Great option for families that’s easy to control and monitor. I will mention that anyone streaming BT TV will need to keep their SmartHub and set this to Bridge mode or it wont work!
The range on these is exceptional! With 2 nodes I can cover my entire house with fast Wi-fi and no drop outs. The 2 pack claims up to 6 bedrooms which may be possible with thin timber walls and perfect placement, however in my case it covers 3 bedrooms comfortably. The advantage of this kit is I connected one to an extension lead and moved it around to make sure the speed covered each room.
The 4.2Gbs is marketing mumbo jumbo and not the actual through speed, however I found I could easily get my full internet speed around the house and stream Netflix to TVs and laptops without issues. One of the great features with this is device prioritisation. I have added my 3 most important devices, like my work computer and it will always ensure that is uninterrupted from others just streaming films.
Another feature is the USB ports on each device. I plugged a hard drive full of music and films into it and could then access it from every computer on the network. It acts a NAS (Network Attached Storage) allowing me access to the music from iPads and laptops without moving a hard drive around.
Overall this device is exceptional at delivering fast Wi-fi with a very easy setup process. The units are quite big but they do have 9 antennas which points in every direction. It is missing some business class features such as multiple SSID’s or VLAN support which companies like Unifi support at a similar price point, however, the Wi-fi is rock solid from my testing and is much easier to setup.
Pros:
– Really fast Wi-fi to lots of devices with a great Wi-fi signal
– Easy Setup and can work as a Router or Access Point
– Can work as a mesh network completely wireless or, plug them all together for a wider coverage area
– Parental and Priority control works extremely well (Only on router mode)
– Wifi 6 is very fast when lots of devices are connected and should be future proof for many years
– The built in USB is fast for sharing films around the network
– Reliable
– I got between a 2-5ms ping to my router which is great for gaming or low latency work.
– Both nodes are the same so in theory I could set them up in 2 different homes or combine lots together later.
– Can use WPA 3 encryption which is very secure, not all access points can do this.
Limitations:
– For the price there are more advanced systems although the setup will be more complex
– When using it in bridge mode the advanced features like priority and parental control stop working
– Very expensive
– Possibly overkill on a standard BT line, better on fibre.
Overall I have been very impressed by the performance and ease of use. The speed and reliability make it good value for money when working from home but not for general browsing or when running more cables would be cheaper. I think this is perfectly suited to anyone who wants fast Wi-fi in a large home and wants to just plug it in and it work with simple controls for families. The cost can be justified for the simplicity and reliability of this device, although I wont be replacing my Unifi equipment as the router and will use this in bridge mode for awesome Wi-fi!
Hopefully my review has been helpful.
Blown away, and so is my Internet.
Never been so exited for router extenders in my life untill these!
I have Vodafone broadband, I use Vodafone because you get a no hassle router without a TV subscription, virgen & sky always try to sell you a package, in the modern world I just don’t watch live TV anymore.
Vodafone broadband isn’t the best in the world but its stable, when I plug in my ethernet cable I get a stable 60mg broadband, WiFi on the other hand is a nightmare, sometimes 2mg some times 30mb but never 60! This is frustrating, even with changing settings or channels I always get the same issues.
Now these mx8400 are set up, I’m getting stable 60mb broadband over WiFi, my speeds have drastically changed, no longer dose youtube & netflix pick the lowest video quality, I can watch 4k tv & films in my bedroom without the dreaded bufferng, so happy!
The signal around my home is also drastically improved, I have one extender in my livingroom & one in my bedroom, this is more than adequate to give my full home WiFi range with no dead spots, because my bedroom is next too my garden, the added bonus is now my garden has better WiFi access, before it was very limited. So I’m exstreamly happy with the outcome.
There is issues, mostly with setting up the devices, but the problem is more with the app than the technology, I found the setup to be confusing at times, and not very informative!
Took me the best part of 40mins to set both extenders up, and that’s from the router connected too the extender via ethernet cable, I couldn’t connect via WiFi found it impossible as the wps wouldn’t work or pair. I’m sure I will find away around this but for the time being the setup is fine.
I’m convinced, that I can have both exstnders connected via wifi rather than one via ethernet cable, and one WiFi, its a domino affect, if one has Internet the other will have Internet, if one don’t the other won’t. Wish the setup progress would be more simpler, as in the past I have used much cheaper devices from cheap brands, that had a better setup method.
Once the app is set up, the dashboard is actually quite nice, had options too change the exstnders names what room it belongs too, change channels or security, it’s basic but has all the things you will need to change the settings and tweek accordingly.
The elephant in the room is obviously the price! Isit worth it? Well I would say yes especially if you live in a decnet sized house, if you take you’ur Internet seriously this is definitely a purchase you won’t regret, if you want to game without lag or watch 4k videos without buffering, this is definitely a must!
I’m impressed, and actually love the design of the devices look modern and sleek.
Would recommend its a one time payment, once set up you will not regret it!
Installed today, and I will update the review after longer term experience. I have switched my Vigin Hub 3 to Modem only mode. First Node (the master, plugged into the Virgin Hub) was an absolute doddle. Second node kept on telling me that it could not see any other node and to move closer. When I tried it literally next to the main node I new something was not right! Anyway, I quit the set up and used the Linksys app to update firmware on the main node. It did so. Took the other node upstairs and tried set up again and this time it linked and is working fine. The second node then auto updated its firmware and the wi-fi auto restarted. Now have fast and consistent Wi-fi, getting 546 MBps on the router node and via a wi-fi linked speed test on my phone. Video call in progress in the dining room and the main hub is in the study on the other side of the house. Early days, but now its installed the initial impression is good. The app is well designed.
My first WiFi6 router however I do have one Wifi 6 device which is my phone and am on 220mbps Virgin Internet.
Setup was a breeze – plug in via Ethernet to virgin super hub with included power adapter. Download app and then setup it is that simple. I turned the virgin router to modem mode and away we go. Full speed near the router – happy days.
Initial impressions are excellent, the device get the full signal or a higher signal than the virgin superhub – even on the opposite corner of the property and was still getting 130mbps speeds. It is a very simple set and forget setup and for that reason I do recommend it.
I have however found for myself a power user it lacks a few things I use regularly – the first is to make the network hidden, I live surrounded by other properties and I have the network hidden to just stop people accidentally connecting by mistake which cannot be done on this setup. You can also offer 3 device prioritisation devices however I found this a double edge sword, I set my phone, Xbox and Amazon cube to the list however this seems to be overkill for these devices and then anything else connecting suffers a major drop off. My phone on priority would get 150+ anywhere in the property but if I connect another device which isn’t a priority it never gets over 80/100 it is almost too powerful. Port forwarding works well though and worked as expected.
For the price I would say if you want a set and forget router it will do the job however for the price I think you should only consider this if you are desperate to jump in on Wi-Fi 6, I think at this point in time a mesh system will be fast better and crucially cheaper. So far I would hold fire on purchasing unless you are desperate however the system does work well.
AX 4200 Twin Pack Review
My AX 4200 twin pack replaced a 5 disc dual band BT Whole Home setup. I have 40 plus devices connected at any one time and the BT setup was struggling with some of those connections. Both Linksys nodes are located downstairs with the second node connected via ethernet creating a backhaul. This frees up all 3 wireless channels for clients, one of the reasons I decided on Linksys and why I chose the AX 4200 instead of the AX5300. I have Sky broadband and am running the Linksys in bridge mode with the Sky WiFi disabled. There is a good review of the AX 4200 on the Dongknows Tech website. In summary
Easy setup
Strong signal throughout the house and in the garden, including summerhouse
My connection issues have been resolved, all devices are now working well
System is stable, no downtime
When running in bridge mode some features in the app are disabled. The main issue for me is that you cannot see what devices are connected to each node. This feature was available in the BT app which I believe also runs in bridge mode by default. I hope Linksys sort this in a future upgrade
Overall I am very happy with the Linksys
Decided to go the extra bit as we need a stable WiFi signal to run our Ezviz security cameras (3). Of course plus all the other things that use the signal like PC’s, phones, smart home stuff and visitors. I was shocked to find out that we have over 20 such items. But no worries, this sorts it all out. We can connect up to 80 devices and there is no penalty to pay. We live in a semidetached house and I get a stronger signal next door that he does from his own WiFi!
Very easy to set up and it even covers my garage for my Google device for my music. No lag moving from one area to another, no buffering on streaming in the far corners of the house. We have a 120 mtr back garden and I get signal nearly at the top! Well worth buying, latest tech and is great!
Took a while to set up
Firstly, I am an IT engineer, I build on prem networks, configure firewall and also build cloud networks in Azure, so had it all worked out how I was going to set this up………… Jesus it took all my IT skills to master this little baby. Once working it is excellent, 5 bars everywhere.
I have a Virgin router and a network with LAN ports in each room, but wi-fi is crap, kids always complaining how the wireless sucks and i’m an IT expert (their words, not mine, but I am good). When I tell them the way wi-fi works they kind of zone out and look like I have asked them to take out the bins.
Best set up procedure, Connect one node to modem (do not connect to LAN as well, if you have one), follow the instructions on app, this takes a little while, once connected configure wireless SSID and passkey. Done, that’s the easy bit. Next step is connecting the other nodes, one at a time. Stay in the same room and keep your phone near, again follow instructions on app, it says this will take 6 minutes (harumh). After 15 mins it should connect (mine didn’t, so connect again). Once done do the same with the remaining node. That’s it (2 hours later), now unplug the two nodes and set them up where you want them, they take a few minutes to connect (at least 5 mins) and away you go. You now have a beautiful bouncing baby wi-fi network that will be the envy of your friends. It is a good idea to set up the guest wireless, just the flick of a slider bar and input the SSID and passkey, it keeps them off your network and has a shorter DHCP lease time
Intro – Setting up this device was a very straight forward. Turn it on, download an app, follow the guide and you’re online. Obviously being a WiFi 6 (AX) device there is plenty to talk about when it comes to it’s coverage and speed. To give a quick caveat, I’m sure this device could achieve much faster speeds with purely WiFi 6 clients. There are not many available so these tests were performed in a mixed environment. From a Apple Watch Series 3 (2.4Ghz WiFi 4 N standard) to an iPhone 11 (5Ghz WiFi 6 AX standard) and a couple of AC WiFi 5 standard laptops.
Testing – when my iPhone 11 is in the same room as the Velop router it gets 705Mbps, a Lenovo laptop with an AC wifi adapter I get 866Mbps. Further away on the ground floor my iPhone gets 300-400Mbps on average, the laptop gets 400-700Mbps. The WiFi signal barely manages to go beyond our outer house walls. I am certain this is because our house is made of traditional stone on the outside and pretty solid masonry on the ground floor between rooms. Explains the above speed drop off for the iPhone. So I’ll likely need a second device in/or near our conservatory to get garden WiFi. As a baseline reference; with an older Asus RT68U AC router this is significantly better coverage for a single router. Overall I am very impressed.
Device Management – is a different kettle of fish. You can use a web browser and login to it. However, it’s very keen you use the Linksys App instead. The app does it’s job well. It’s geared towards novice users who just want to set it up. Speaking of which the app device setup flow was a piece of cake. Very simple UI with minor user input, it’s impressive how things have changed.
The apps main purpose seems to be more about current status and info, than making any significant change to its operation. It does lack information on device connectivity speed (I had to use a separate app for testing mobile to router connection speeds). It is also missing control which of the tri-bands have specific WiFi traffic on. For instance I’d like my iPhone on one 5Ghz band at WiFi 6 speeds, the other 5Ghz band in mixed mode for WiFi 4 + 5 speeds. 2.4Ghz for any device that needs to defer to it for better range. This is technically managed by the routers own algorithms as is the channel selection for each to be broadcast. I appreciate that is a selling point of this device – self management be it a mesh setup or a single node. I just like to make my own technical decisions. Ultimately for the price of the device it does give you a very technically sophisticated device that operates very effectively. For said price, I’d have expected an expert mode, allowing me to change what I want though.
Summary – I think the product itself is excellent and does exactly what I needed it to do; make sure all our devices get WiFi and the router has plenty of resources in reserve to manage all the traffic we throw at it. I did originally have the Velop WHW0303 3 pack (WiFi 5 AC Tri-band version) but wanted more wired ports for our Hive, office desktop computer etc. WiFi 6 also future proofed us and because it’s physically bigger allows for more antennas for each one of the three WiFi bands. I’d like to see Apple Homekit support as the cheaper WHW0303 has it advertised as ‘Coming Soon’. So I’d hope that extends to their top product too. Also expose more control in the app for the routers features.
Setup was fiddly, but now that it is working it is great!
I should start by explaining our situation. We live in a 3 bed room house that is quite large for the number of bedrooms. Additionally, we have recently built a free standing studio in our garden for my wife to condut her business from. Because of this, a single Wi-Fi has never been an option for us. Until now we operated with three access points: two covering the house and one the studio. Each had its own SSID after a previous attempt to set them to the same SSID caused lots of issues. All access points were linked to the central router via CAT5E cabling that I installed a few years ago. As I moved from my study to our kitchen to the garden studio, I would need to connect manually to the three different access points.
The LinkSys WHW0104 Velop handles this much better. I am able to wander around our property and devices switch seamlessly. I also find the LinkSys app to manage the network very useful.
Setup was a bit fiddly. The system has a master node, and a number of slave modes. Although the documentation says you can use Ethernet to link slaves to the master, it does not say explicitly that the slaves have to be connected to the master and not route via the cable modem. Instead, they need to be wired directly. In our case routing also involves a switch as the masternode has two ports, once of which is taken with the connection to the cable modem. Not the fault of the WHW0103, but I failed to get the system working with the cable modem being configured in cable modem only mode.
I started configuring the network, discovered a number of issues and wanted to start again. This turned out to be harder than I thought with a number of false starts. As a result I wanted to reset everything back to its initial state. This turned to be more fiddly than I expected. This is partly due to the app remembering previous access points. Getting the app to forget the already badly configured network, or getting individual nodes to forget their configuration. Much use of the LinkSyst forums was madel.
Installed this today. So far so good. So this review is only preliminary . I am no techie person and what I say now may be incorrect but this is what I think I have discovered. First, as regards this and similar types of mesh systems it seems to me that there are two ways that you can use them. First, is the default mode. This establishes a brand new wi-fi network in your home. It is different from any network that you may already have even if it runs from the same router or hub. The upside of that is that you have a new more powerful and extensive Wi-Fi system in your house, as advertised (if installation goes well). And you will have the extras which some mesh systems have such as the ability to add a guest network, disable certain devices at certain times etc etc. If you are starting from scratch in a new house and with nothing else installed and no existing wifi, there is only this upside.
BUT, the two major downsides, if you already have a wi-fi network in your home, are (a) that you will probably have to turn off your existing network or else there will probably be some interference between the two affecting speeds and functionality (you turn off the wi-fi through the router app on your PC or device) (b) whether you do or do not turn off your existing wi-fi, nothing connected to your existing wi-fi will communicate with your new mesh Wi-Fi or anything connected to your new mesh wi-fi. So, you have two choices if you want to enable everything to work as one. First, disconnected every device from your old wi-fi and reconnect to the new mesh wifi one by one manually. That may be rather tedious and time-consuming depending on how many devices you need to reconnect. The second option is what I did. And what I am sure lots of other purchasers of this mesh system must do. After installing the system as per the excellent Linksys app, you connect a device (e.g phone or laptop) to the new network you have created, then go into settings> advanced settings and then change the connection mode from DCHP to bridge mode (I think this is called AP mode in other systems). Once this is done (it takes a while to reconfigure) what you then have created is one network with two names: the old name and the new one you have created. That means all your devices and connected things will continue to speak to each other as they did before but with the additional advantages of coverage that a mesh system gives. So the upside of bridge mode is that you do not need to reconnect all devices to the new network to ensure they with speak to each other. You can use which ever named network through the home you wish. BUT you lose all the extra functionality that the manufacturers advertise which I mention above. In effect therefore, it seems to me, not being in any way technically qualified, if you install this system (which looks pretty good) in bridge mode, in effect you are simply extending and deepening your existing network. It is in effect a large and expensive wi-fi extender which works in a much larger space than a conventional plug in wif-fi extender. To discover this I had to do a lot of Googling and puzzling. It is not explained very clearly in the documentation at all. Strange, since I expect that many of the customers will want to do just that. There is a good guide, by Linksys, for how to do this available by Googling: how do I put Velop into bridge mode? That is not mentioned in the documentation accompanying the kit.
All that said, I really liked the app and the installation though slow was largely trouble free. I used the hepline to ask some questions about the system and that was fairly good. UK users can ring 02 030 274 625 (not a number which was easily found).
One other important tip. Install all the nodes at the same time. Do not install one later. That is so the firmware is all updated at the same time.
These devices "do what it says on the tin" and work without any hassle - mostly!
Our house is an L-shaped bungalow, and for various reasons the router needs to be near one end of the L, not in the middle. I tried Powerline (Ethernet over mains) to feed a wifi repeater, but was let down by mains wiring that sometimes caused problems.
So I bit the bullet and went for Velop. We needed quite a lot of devices (6) to allow the signal to hop from one node to the next. Our layout is such that each node can only see the ones either side of it, so it’s not a true mesh where each node has more than one route back to the parent device. The range of each node, for getting the node-to-node backhaul signal from the router, is fairly limited because it only uses 5 GHz rather than 2.4 GHz, even though it can use both 2.4 and 5 for devices to connect to a node. With fairly thick brick internal walls (1850s house!) we need one node every two rooms to cover the whole chain from the end of one branch of the L to the end of the other.
But it works – brilliantly! The instructions are a bit vague in places – for example they don’t say that it’s probably a good idea to turn off the wifi on the router so it doesn’t conflict with the wifi from the “parent” node that’s connected by Ethernet to the router. And setting up port-forwarding (so we can access our security cameras when we’re away from home) is interesting: if you need to do it, you need to have port-forwarding on the existing router and then the same forwarding on the Velop network: the instructions don’t mention that and imply that you only need to configre it for the Velop.
One little caveat – the reason why I’ve only given it 3 stars for stability. Having had the Velop network working perfectly for about 2 months, some nodes have recently started losing contact with the parent node (displaying the dreaded flashing orange “no signal” light); they sort themselves out again without needing manual intervention after a few minutes, as normal service propagates gradually from one node to the next one downstream (ie further from the router). But it’s odd that it’s just started when nothing has changed that I am aware of. There needs to be a means of each node displaying second by second the strength of the signal that it’s getting from its upsteam node, to see if the signal is a bit borderline at times. I may need to rejig the network and insert another node between two existing ones.
I wanted to use the velop in bridge mode to give wifi access via an established ethernet network. Each node is connected to ethernet. Setup was OK but it seemed the “default” way the nodes connect is by wifi so the fact they were on ethernet didn’t seem to register and “poor location” messages were constant. However restarting the whole network after installation if three nodes did the trick and ended the “amber light” poor connection and associated notifications. For the first few days a node would go offline and need a reboot. However this seems to have settled and not had this for a week now (at time of review). I was replacing my Apple Airport Extreme kit also used in bridge mode. Velop is working, wifi signal is good, device connectivity is good. I miss the ability to view connected devices in bridge mode (this is of course all doable outside bridge mode on velop alongside a host of things if you use the velop system as your router)
The app works OK but is clearly aimed at things outside bridge mode.
Conclusion: Velop in bridge mode has settled down after setup after restarting the network. Online help for bridge mode not very useful. I could not find things about ethernet connectivity for bridge mode. Some blog info on the community linksys site is helpful. Mailing support to find out about amber lights in ethernet bridge mode: still waiting for response.
UPDATE June 2020: excellent wifi coverage and has been very stable and reliable (bridge mode) I had a spare Linksys dual band node and it fitted in perfectly to my triband setup giving me four nodes. The App has had an update and is easy to use. Rarely, a node goes “red” for half an hour or so: but I now leave it and it hooks back in on its own (I used to di restarts and stuff – probably was overkill)
UPDATE: Nov 2022. The App from Linksys now has much better support for bridge mode as well ss when a node is connected by ethernet to the parent. Reliability and stability have been very good. Very, very rarely a child node ‘goes red’ and offline. Cured by a power off/on cycle.
So, very happy with it (bridge mode) after further extended use…
I thoroughly researched the market before buying this product, looking at improving WiFi coverage around the house and finally decided to order the set of three units (AC6600).
This system is a bit unusual and as a result some people, even those with network configuration experience, may find themselves confused when they set it up. I read several reviews complaining about what you cannot do with this system, however I found that it works very well for my needs and in my opinion it can satisfy the needs of most average users.
So here is how it works:
First of all, this system is not a modem and has to be connected to a device that can function as a modem, connect to the internet, acquire a public (WAN) IP address and then allocate a local (LAN) IP address to the mesh network. Most, if not all, the modems/routers supplied by the usual internet providers can do this.
If you are looking at buying this product, you most likely already have a modem and WiFi router at home. To connect the Velop, just follow the incredibly basic and simple instructions. Essentially the process consists of creating an account with the manufacturer, download an app to your mobile phone or tablet (I use both the Android and Apple versions and they both work seamlessly), connect one of the three bases to the modem/router with the provided network cable and follow the process as instructed. One key element is to be patient and once the first base is configured, adding the other bases to create the mesh network is straight forward.
Note that the Velop will create its own WiFi network, separate to the WiFi network provided by the existing modem/router. Most likely the modem/router will create the usual LAN with a 192.168.x.x IP range, whereas the Velop will create its own LAN with a 10.120.x.x IP range. Anyone with even just a basic networking experience knows that the two networks WILL NOT communicate with each other so there is no point in keeping, for example, a printer linked to the modem/router and a computer linked to the Velop network as you won’t be able to print. For either network to work as intended all devices have to be connected to the same network. The best thing to do once everything is configured, is to switch the old modem/router’s WiFi network off and just use the Velop network — you will never look back!
It goes without saying that if the Velop has to work completely wirelessly, the bases MUST be able to communicate with one another and therefore be within their WiFi range. They do not necessarily have to communicate with the unit directly plugged into the modem/router, so long as there is a path to it, such as: base 1 connected to the modem/router, base 2 connected to base 1, base 3 connected to base 2. In this case base 2 will bridge the connection between bases 3 and 1; meanwhile all three bases will provide WiFi connection locally to them and roaming from one base to the others will be seamless. The system can work even if the bases are not in each other’s wireless range so long as you can connect them via a cable or via power line adapters.
Once you have configured everything, you will have a great network able to provide high speed connection (subject to your internet provider’s maximum bandwidth). This system allows a lot of settings such as various WiFi configurations and options, parental control, device bandwidth prioritisation, remote monitoring of the home network via the app and online account, DHCP or manual settings, port forwarding (single and range), uPnP, MAC filters, separate WiFi guest network, etc..
I know there are people who are not happy about creating an account or having to use an app (though in fact you can also use a browser on any computer), however all taken into account this is by far the best network I have ever had at home and I had no problems to configure it to meet my needs. So much so that I bought another two units. I am now running a mesh network with 5 units in total, which covers the whole house with no gaps, plus a sizeable area around it. A real five-star network that you’ll be happy with.
Perfect for home network and now have full speed in my loft (Virgin Media)
The items were initially really hard to install and this was more down to the current set up i had for my home network. I was originally using a Virgin Hub 3.0 in ‘Modem Mode’ and a ASUS router to push the WI-FI around the house. I was having trouble getting coverage in the loft and brought this 3-pack to see if i can solve the problem. I eventually got this working by following the instructions on the Linksys app which i downloaded on my phone to get the first node installed. Key here in my case was to turn off the modem mode and return the Virgin Media Hub 3.0 back to normal and disconnect my router (ASUS) and power this off. You will not need the router (in my case the ASUS router) as the Linksys product will be the new WI-FI system for the house.
I connected my my Linksys node to the Virgin Media Hub 3.0 and this eventually connected and was set up. The speed on the node which is located in the living room is really good and i was getting near enough the 100mb i am subscribing for. The second node was plugged in the middle floor and this successfully set up on the Linksys app by connecting to the node in the living room. Again the speed was very good and was getting between 65-80mb in the middle floor with some drop out in the box room but this has been the case all the time but still better than my old set up. Now the third node become troublesome to connect as it was a little far away and i was told i would need to move it closer to get a stronger signal. I moved this to various locations in the loft room and with no luck in terms of full connectivity. This was really disappointing for me as i needed her more than ever as i have constant drop out and terrible speeds in the loft if any on most days. The node would only get 8-11mb of speed in the loft which was better than before but no where near my 100mb i am paying for and would struggle with streaming etc.
The one thing i did which changed the whole scene was to connect this node next to my socket which had a hard wired ethernet port next to it (i.e. one Cat 6 cable into the node and the other going into my wall socket for the ethernet port). Once connected i had speeds going near 90-105mb which was incredible! I am so glad that i now have WI-FI in the loft running at top speed and allow us to use our wireless devices to the maximum speed possible.
I appreciate not everyone will have hard wired ethernet ports in their homes but if you do, please remember to do this as the system hits top speeds and allows you to benefit from having really strong WI-FI in the house.
The Linksys app is really good too in terms of setting up and also the website allows you to personalise in terms of changing your SSID and passwords along with setting up guest access etc.
All in all i am really happy with my purchase and glad i am now getting better speeds all around the house at a reasonable cost.
First the product, works great – gives me a solid full strength 5g (and 2.4g) connection through my whole house.
Now the setup – pay attention to save yourself hours of frustration:
1. Set up the first node exactly as instructed – it’s simple and easy to follow.
2. At the end of this process it asks if you want to set up your second node now or later – whatever you do do NOT select to do it later. If you do it will then download and install an update on the node you just installed. This update means it can no longer talk to the two you haven’t installed yet, and you will not be able to install them without a lot of messing around.
So what if you did click to do it later and you can’t install the other two? Well, this worked for me (after 5 hours of retesting and retrying)
1. unplug the first node you installed from the router and turn it off.
2. pick up your second node and reset it (hold red button) . Plug it into your modem.
3. Uninstall the app from your phone (important)
4. reinstall the app
5. open it and choose to install new device. Set this node up exactly as you did the first one. You can use all the same settings
6. once done. Choose not to install another node, the app will then update the firmware on the node.
7. once all complete, reset the node with the red button (the firmware stays installed)
8. Now repeat with node 3 (including app uninstall and reset)
9. The app will now show you as having multiple routers (it thinks all 3 are the first node), delete the two which are showing as “disconnected”
10. Reconnect the first node you set up to the router, in the app go through the process of adding new nodes. Now that they have the same firmware, they’ll all install easily.
All good things come to those that.... persevere!
All good things come to those that…. persevere!
It’s all working now, but it wasn’t smooth and here’s how I did it, with some background first.
I’m lucky enough to have ethernet running throughout my Edwardian 3 storey house and have tried to get wifi throughout using access points. With the same SSID used on router and access points, I found myself on the top floor connecting to an access point on the ground floor and unable to switch (as they are all have the same SSID). With a setup where each access point has different SSIDs, I find myself having to switch my wifi as I move throughout the house. Neither ideal. MESH is meant to be the holy grail.
Went for the dual band as tri was unnecessary as I’m able to take advantage of the ethernet backhaul.
1st and 2nd nodes setup easily, but the 3rd tested my patience and endurance. No matter what I did, I could not get beyond the blinking red light of death. Reset the whole system multiple times. Tried the offending node as the master and it worked fine so not a hardware problem. After reading around, I saw a mention of firmware versions/updates. In the end I got my system to work by:
1. Resetting all nodes by holding down reset button for several seconds, letting them boot to purple and then turning off. You wouldn’t have to do this if you were setting up for the first time.
2. Turned on 1st node and setup as per instructions
3. Rather than add more nodes I exited/completed the setup process with just 1 node
4. Within app disabled auto-firmware updates
5. Booted 2nd node and connected to first with ethernet — actually via a switch but I doubt this is relevant
6. Followed ‘add node’ setup instructions in app — which is accessible from the very bottom of the menu > set up a new product
7. First time round the 2nd node failed, but after rebooting it completed setup process
8. Again, exited/compete installation
9. Turned 2nd node off
10. Now for the problem 3rd node I noticed that the app had re-enabled firmware auto-update so disabled that again
11. Booted 3rd node and again connected ethernet
12. Followed ‘add node’ setup instructions from app and it worked!
13. Turned 2nd node back on
14. Disconnected ethernet cables from 2nd and 3rd nodes and they stayed blue and connected.
SUCCESS!! Now, I may not have the exact steps here and I’m tempted to reset and repeat the process, so I can make a note as I go along, but to be honest after perhaps 4 hours of messing about, I’m quite happy to leave well alone. Given I was trying multiple things at once, it’s hard to say if I solved the problem by messing with firmware auto-update settings or by plugging in ethernet during setup or a combination of the both.
Now it’s all working and I’ve very pleased with the results. I want to do more testing throughout the house, I’ve actually got 2 connected via ethernet — incidentally there are 3 x switches between these 2 nodes — and the 3rd is wireless but with ethernet connected to iMac. I’m on Virgin’s top home fibre optic service, getting 350Mb (which I actually do get when wired into the router). Over wifi, I’m getting speeds of between 100Mb and 200Mb throughout my house. I will do some more speed testing and plan to have the 3rd node wired in as long as I can get my iMac — which isn’t connected to my home network — up to the 150Mb speed that it’s getting from wireless 3rd node.
In summary, I’m very happy with my wifi throughout the house and so far all is working really well and super-fast. Setup on the other hand. Ouch, ouch and ouch some more.
Lastly price seems to have jumped up quite a lot since I purchased just a few days ago. Bit odd.
First, you’ll need to download the app to your phone to set up the system. Although it’s intended for each of the short, white, tower ‘nodes’ to fill a separate room with wi-fi, during the SETUP they’ll need to be about one or two feet from each other ..otherwise they don’t ‘latch-on’ to the previous ‘node’. I had to keep re-trying, moving them closer and closer, till at less than a metre from each other they finally connected! ..After that, then can then be unplugged, moved apart to different rooms, plugged-in again, and they’ll keep ‘in step’ with each other and fill the house with wi-fi. That took me about two hours to do! ..Again, and again, and again!
NOTE: that the setup LEDs on each tower apparently switch between – it says in the setup app – blue and purple. But if you’re red/green colourblind, then it’s impossible to distinguish between blue and purple! ..Just a small annoyance ..but still, a really stupid choice by Linksys.
After setting up, they – the whole ‘mesh’ network – really will deliver fast wi-fi everywhere. But setting up a wi-fi PRINTER to use across this new ‘mesh’ network may take another hour or two, I found. You may need to re-install printer drivers, etc, if your printer has already been connected to a different network. Using the online Linksys installation web-page (..although it suggests using the app instead, but the web page works great..) you can force the new Linksys ‘mesh’ to broadcast its own ID (..its ‘SSID’..) by clicking on the relevant onscreen button, as the units – unlike many other routers – have no ‘force-send-SSID’ button of their own. It may be a job to get a printer – e.g; our Epson L355 – to accept this new SSID as the network to connect to ..and so complete re-installation of the printer may be necessary – it was for us.
The usefulness of this long-winded procedure is, though, that we can now print from any room in the house – via the Linksys wi-fi ‘mesh’ – instead of having to go to the separate room where the wi-fi printer sits! ..Great!
Pleasing on the eye. Pain to setup.
What an absolute faff to set up using the Android app. Bought the 3 pack and the first node just would not set up properly. After getting extremely frustrated I put that node to one side and tried another. That worked!
Once I had one node set up the app was simple to use. I managed to get it mimicking everything that my previous router was doing in minutes (port forwarding, address reservations etc).
Then I decided to add a node to test the mesh capability out. Cue the frustration again. Neither of the two other nodes would add. Both would flash red implying that they couldn’t connect over Wi-Fi. Not to be put off, I plugged one into the network using a cable, reset it, logged into the web interface and it worked first time. Disconnected from the cable and Wi-Fi was stable. I can only put this down to a buggy setup process in the app.
Two days later and I could no longer log into the web interface, and the app would not detect any Linksys devices on the network – the Internet connection was fine though. I restarted the parent node and all has been fine since. I’ll keep an eye on this.
Re: speed, signal strength and Wi-Fi stability; everything seems fine and on a par with my previous router, but in a much more compact and pleasing on the eye package. I’ve been able to stream multiple movies in the house and speed tests show that I’m getting full download and upload from my ISP (350Mbps down and 20Mbps up) – don’t rely on the test available in the Linksys app or admin page as the download speed seems to be well out.
My devices that roam around the house seem to move between nodes without issue. Those that are static seem to stay on the nearest node, so all seems well.
Aside from the setup grumbles and the hiccup a couple of days later all is well and I’m currently happy with the performance.
— Update July 2020 —
So have now downgraded the review to 4 stars, not because the devices (I have 4) have become unstable or because the system is working less efficiently.
It is because I have had a niggling issue that I finally got around to calling support about, namely that when the internet service dies, the wifi dies. I mistakenly though this was a setting that I could fix with the right help, but no, it is designed in.
Linksys have decided for you that when the internet is down, you don’t need your home network, so you don’t need access to your home media server, your heating control system, your multi-room sound system, your security system, which is obviously 100% wrong.
This is an old problem that some router’s used to have that they wrapped themselves tightly around the upstream circuit, it wasn’t right 20 years ago, it isn’t right now and Linksys need to resolve it. Unfortunately, not much help for me, as I am too committed to the product, but if you are reading this, think about what you use the network for and if you don’t have nor plan to have anything that you will need without the internet, then buy the product it is great, however, if you do, then perhaps consider an alternative.
— Update January 2020 —
The deployment is now 18 months old.
All the Velops are stable and we have had no problems at all with the system, other than occasional calls to re-boot the Velops, often after the Virgin router has had an issue or the Virgin delivery has fallen over.
Virgin has recently upgraded the service to our area and while the throughput was impressive before, even over wifi from any of the Velops we are no getting consistently nearly 100mb throughput, with no noticeable deterioration no matter how many other people are connected and have even simulated multiple simultaneous large chunky downloads happening, so the ability for both Virgin and the Velops to deliver consistent performance is impressive!!
—
I have a complex setup at home, with large wired and wireless network:
– Virgin Media SuperHub 3 (latest version – replaced by Virgin Media 2 weeks before the original purchase, not this 4th device purchase) in modem mode, still providing DHCP services
– 200mb download, 10mb upload from Virgin
– 4 Velops (3 in the main house, 1 serving the office at the end of the garden – the 4th device purchased after I had proven the system worked)
– Linksys 16 port unmanaged hub connected directly to the parent Velop (the latter has the sole connection to the Virgin router)
– Linksys 8 port unmanaged hard wired to the above 16 port hub
The fact that the unmanaged hubs are Linksys is irrelevant and any unmanaged hubs would have worked.
Our house is Edwardian (1900-1910) so traditional UK build, 4 bedroom – very long rather than square This is actually important, as the Velop system is designed to have each device daisy chain to the next, but in our house the devices all connect to the parent node when using wifi (the parent node is the one connected to your ISP router) in the main house.
Setup was easy, but we had some issues, due to the size and complexity of the physical world, which I couldn’t wholly remove without the addition of the 16 port hub. Linksys support were brilliant in every respect and while the setup is very easy, some “funnies” do occur and we had to do it twice.
In wireless mode each Velop consistently provide 75-80mb download speeds.
These devices are now wired directly to the parent node (2 physically connected with RJ45 cables and 1 by a powerline adapter) and are now providing consistently 155-165mb download speeds, which is at the top end of the scale and the same as you will get from a device wireless connected to the parent node or your original ISP router (when it had wifi enabled if you are getting a service similar to the Virgin service we have). Note that these figures are not based on what the Linksys app, which measures from the parent node and not the node you are connected to. They are independently done using the same app on my phone and laptop that I have been using for years, so I am pretty sure of the performance.
Stability has increased drastically for wireless connected devices right around the house. This is especially noticeable with the Sonos devices. Prior to this deployment we regularly had to stop and start wifi on our phones to reliably connect to certain Sonos devices (the ones lying between the various extenders we had were especially prone and if you moved from one room to another). Now this is a rarely happens. Note that this will also have been helped by the fact that the Sonos Connect that we have has been hard wired into the network. This will not only have helped this device (which was always a bit suspect), but this will be helping the Sonos proprietary wireless network that Sonos creates in your home. We also have a Honeywell heating zoning system and this was unhappy with the traditional 2.4ghz services from the extenders and regularly dropped out. This has no only happened once since deployment
So, personally, I think they are worth it and with 3 kids with countless devices and a love for streaming we are seeing nothing but stability. They have now been deployed for several weeks and since I completed the stabilization work on the physical network, we have only had 1 Velop fall over and quick reboot of that device solved its issue.
So can only recommend the device
*Have updated again at the bottom*
*Have now returned it, updated with reasons why below*
Let me preface this by saying that I know my way around technology, I know my spanning tree from from my VLAN’s, my preferred way to configure a router is via a command line, I’ve built Linux servers from source code (Linux From Scratch) and have been an IT specialist for over 20 years, in other words I generally know what I’m doing and am not usually beaten by technology.
These devices made me want to throw them at the wall and then put the remains back into the box and ship them back to Amazon.
The first node configured without a hitch, the app saw it, I configured it, the firmware updated, everything was good in the world.
The second node kept getting as far as having joined the network, then the app would say it was testing to see if the location was optimal, then the whole thing would finally fail and ask me to restart the process.
I tried again about 4 times, then I factory reset the second node and tried again, then I moved the node so that it was only about a foot away from the first node and tried again, every time I had the same issue.
Then I thought that maybe the second node was faulty and tried to configure the third node.
The third node did exactly the same and would fail when it was detecting if the location was optimal.
I then factory reset the third node and reconfigured it as if it was a brand new setup, this worked fine and allowed me to update the firmware.
I then factory reset it (thinking that now it had the latest firmware maybe that would fix the problems), this time it failed at roughly the same point but with a different message and the light on top was red.
I tried to add it again and then had the same issue.
I then tried turning off every node and restarting just the master node again.
This rebooted fine just as expected.
I then tried powering on the third node and adding it again, it worked!
I then moved the third node to it’s proper location and it still seemed to work.
I then tried to add the second node again and it again failed where it did the other times, however I did note the light on top was solid blue which the things I could find online said meant it was working fine.
At this time I was tired and frustrated and decided I would pick it up again in the morning.
Two hours later just before I was about to go to bed, on a whim I decided to check the Linksys app, and was surprised to see all the nodes were listed, all were shown as being updated to the latest firmware and all said they were working fine.
I’ve now done some tests and can say that the speed and coverage is awesome.
4K direct rip content streams perfectly from my plex server, I’m getting at least 200mbits from every device when testing my internet connection, local network transfers are blindingly fast, I’m getting no drop outs anywhere.
Basically, setting these devices up is one of the most frustrating technology experiences I’ve ever had, but once you actually get them working they are truly superb.
*Update 19/12/17*
Other than providing whole house WiFi, one of my other requirements was to be able to wire in certain devices such as my NAS for home media serving.
I kept noticing that may connections to my media server would keep disconnecting with no seeming reason, so on the assumption that maybe the node serving the top of the house was maybe having signal issues, I then purchased an additional two node Velop system so that I could place one node in the center of the house and use the other node at a future point. Unfortunately this didn’t make any difference, and infact, although initially the two furthest nodes would show as connected to the new mid point node, after a few hours they would go back to being connected to the master node.
After some more investigation, I kept noticing that the network connection on my media server would every now and then (a few times an hour) show “Link Disconnected” and then a minute or so later “Link Connected” on the Ethernet connection.
Thinking that maybe it was the ethernet cable, I switched it out for a brand new one with no difference. I then tried it connected to a gigabit managed switch, with no difference, I then swapped the satellite node with another one to see if maybe it was the node that was faulty, no difference.
I also noticed that once I disconnected the Ethernet connection from the Xbox in the living room from the node in there and configured it to just use the WiFi, suddenly the intermittent lags and drop outs in online games disappeared.
I spent about 5 hours on the phone with Linksys technical support and they could barely actually understand what the problem I was trying to convey was, let alone fix it.
In the end I was forced to return this product and have now installed a 3 node Netgear Orbi RK50. The Orbi isn’t as fast on the WiFi, but it was literally up and running in under 30 minutes and everything just works.
*Update 23/03/19*
After a friend of mine deploying a three node Velop system and swearing by it with the more recent firmware updates, when I moved recently I decide to give it another try.
It now is superb. I’ve deployed a four node mesh in my new home and it’s been working awesomely. Deployment was an ease, adding a repeater node out of range of the primary node worked without a hitch and the whole system flies.
Having struggled with patchy Wi-Fi despite different solutions such a power-line extenders and adding multiple separate access points I finally bit the bullet and bought into the Velop system with a pair of nodes.
I was attracted to Velop as opposed to some of the competing products as it operates as a true mesh (rather than master / slave) which can automatically find the most efficient path back through the network. Whilst this doesn’t matter in my 2 node configuration, I may add further nodes depending on works going on in the house and for the garden office. It also uses a separate backhaul wifi network, rather than stealing bandwidth off the main interfaces, so in theory there shouldn’t be any significant slowdown on nodes on the periphery of the network. Finally, it can use the inbuilt Ethernet ports for backhaul rather than WiFi, allowing individual nodes to be located further away from one another where structured cabling is present.
In terms of aesthetics, it is a matte white tall rectangular(ish) box. It does play with the shape somewhat, transitioning from a perfect square at the top to having bulged sides at the bottom. The rear sides and top have a uniform dot pattern which acts as the ventilation although not all the holes go right the way through the housing. A single multi-colour LED at the top indicate the status, which is normally illuminated blue if all is well. At the bottom is a cutout at the back allowing for the ethernet cable(s) and power to route neatly out the rear. There is enough of a recess under the nodes to accommodate ethernet cables with sleeves, and this is also where the reset and power switches reside. When compared with other white anonymous pieces of technology which sit on view, it is about 5cm shorter that an Amazon Echo and slightly taller and wider than a Netatmo indoor module. At the base of the nodes, offset on one side is the ‘LINKSYS’ logo which upsets my sense of symmetry and a little part of me wishes it wasn’t there.
The power supply is a wall-wart style which annoyingly is larger than average and doesn’t fit next to other plugs on a regular power strip, it’s also a bizarre oversight to see the branding on the plug be upside down when inserted into a regular wall socket.
Configuration is initiated by using the LINKSYS app on a smartphone which I believe initially communicates via bluetooth whilst setting up the WiFi network. It is annoying to find that these nodes must be configured using the LINKSYS cloud service and you have to create an account – I would have preferred an option to configure it locally. Once it is configured, there is a web interface which can be navigated to via the IP address of the primary node using the LINKSYS cloud account or the 5 digit code on the bottom of the node to authenticate.
During initial configuration, it does ask whether you have an integrated modem/router or separate devices but irrespective of this runs it in router mode. The routing functions are fairly basic, not including services such as a built in VPN server and so I have elected to run this in bridge mode (so only offering WiFi and relying on my existing router for DHCP, routing and other functions). In this mode, the nodes simply act as the WiFi interface for the network and I have disabled the WiFi on my router.
From a coverage perspective, this has transformed the WiFi in my house, for reference I live in a 5 bedroom 1920’s detached house with approx 2500 ft over 2 floors. With the nodes in the middle of the house on both floors I get excellent coverage, even in the extremities, with rates near the nodes at the advertised broadband rates, and those near the edges still in excess of 10Mb.
Works but complex to set up for any non-vanilla applicatio
Installed with a moderate amount of effort across our home and large garden with outbuildings. We have five nodes, and we’re usually getting great wifi coverage. However, nodes do randomly decide they have had enough and drop offline and need intervention. It’s much better than the previous situation using a Virgin Media hub and then wired wifi devices in dead spots.
If you have an existing house-wide network with IoT devices like we did, be aware this product is not well designed for anything other than non-specialists wanting only wifi. Some things I have found out during one of my hours-long support calls:
* It is possible to attach a switch to the second ethernet port of each node, allowing wired network connection, but that fact is missing in everything I have looked at. I have our printers, Philips Hue Bridge and many other devices linked that way.
* It is not possible to change the DHCP to allocate addresses other than 192.168.*.* so if you want to use a 10.*.*.* network you are out of luck. I’ve had to change all the static addresses for printers etc.
* Some of the units Amazon sell (notably the two-pack I got to extend the network) have down-level firmware that results in inexplicable, annoying failure towards the end of the installation process if you use the phone app. It turns out there is actually a manual interface at 192.168.1.1:52000/fwupdate.html that will let you install the up-to-date firmware.
* There is then an interface for manually adding new nodes that just refuse to register. Attach the new node via an ethernet cable to the second port of the main node, then visit the web interface at 192.168.1.1 in a browser. Log in and look in the bottom right corner of the page. There is a tiny link that says “CA”. Click it and you now have an enhanced page. Notably, on the “Connectivity” page there’s now an option for “Velop Setup” that you can use to manually register the reluctant node.
* The web interface and the phone app each have capabilities the other does not, so check both if you can’t find an option you think ought to exist.
* However, their design point is to hide all complexity as they are selling to non-specialists. That means there are quite a few options that seem to simply not exist.
The telephone response staff are all patient saints (based in the Phillipines) who will help you for ever 24/7 – they even call back if you ask. Overall it was an expensive purchase but seems to do the job so far. If your needs are simpler than ours, you’ll probably find it’s great.
Firstly, this is not intuitive to set up. It is imperative that you start with a full charge on your phone as the process of frequent checking and needing the screen on requires a lot of juice. The instructions provide loads of tips but nothing answers basic beginners’ questions, online, in the system manual or anywhere else. If you want to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about you may find you may have to wait some hours for a call back. Sadly, I didn’t call them until I’d spent a day re-configuring everything because it didn’t seem to work. I called them the following day, was told to wait 4 hours for a call back, at which time I gave it one last try, and hallelujah, it worked.
The whole procedure is slow and tedious. It doesn’t seem to matter if your phone goes into standby or not during the procedure, you just cannot see what is happening. You could stop your phone going into standby at all, but this will use even move battery power and anyway, the process will work or it won’t work. It seems to be a lot about luck. I also found that the app touch sensitivity can be flaky (I don’t have this problem with any other apps on my phone). Sometimes it just responds to touch very slowly, but when you give up waiting and touch twice, it moves on 2 steps (the missed one may be crucial).
It takes ages to locate a node from the app (which node, who knows, but presumably the new node you are adding). This is even when the phone is directly beside the new node. To see what is happening, you must check frequently, bringing your phone back out of standby each time.
I have a four-bedroom house and am glad I purchased the three-node pack, reduced in the Prime sale on 11 June. Previously, over the last 7 years I have used Wi-Fi booster plug ins from TP Link and later from BT and Netgear when the TP Link ones proved to have a short life. I still use the wired versions for two TVs and my husband’s PC for a fast and reliable connection, rather than using the Wi-Fi unnecessarily. I would still recommend the latter for devices that are permanent fixtures.
You do need the app to set up the system and add nodes, but you can also log in with the same username and password to the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi where there is much more information and, from a desktop PC, the system is much easier to administer. I have shown a couple of illustrations for this. Click any of the icons on the left to open the corresponding popup window, one of which is shown. Click the big left pointing chevron > to close the popup.
In conclusion, this is expensive and, contrary to the blurb, is certainly not easy to set up. It takes patience and concentration, which gets tricky when you get bored stiff. Better documentation would be helpful. As a software technical author, I know I would do it differently. However, I can now walk around my house and watching the Wi-Fi indicator on my phone I can see it changing from node to node whichever provides the strongest signal unlike the Wi-Fi boosters I have used before that you need to select in relevant locations. I am glad I bought this system and if it lives a good long time, I will feel that I’ve had my money’s worth. I also don’t have my husband moaning at me about having to select a different network when he’s upstairs or in the den.
I have an old bungalow with a large foot print. Using Virgin super hub but could not get the range. Reverted to hardware and Ethernet switches for HD TVs, PC etc but wifi always a challenge. After purchasing a tri band router from Linksys, that never worked properly( think faulty router) I reverted to Velops.
I initially purchased two but for a 4 bed place a 3 node more suitable.
Pros
Setup is very easy. No messing round with modem mode on Virgin hub etc. You do need Linksys app on your smart phone, but very easy to set up. It took me about 1 hour to set up all three.
You can prioritise devices to ensure key devices get the best bandwidth if there is contention
Guest network is easy to setup and use, easy to change. I change my network to the name of the guest to make them feel at home
Wifi signal is much stronger in the original dead spots, but you do need to spend a little time positioning the nodes for best coverage
The Phone app is pretty handy to check speeds and availability of nodes and if node installed out of signal you are made aware and asked to install closer.
Units have Ethernet connection so you can plug your device into it, if wifi not an option- although I have not tested this feature
Cons
Coverage – Due to my specific setup (Distance) between each node If a node in the chain drops then the one connecting to it loses service. I would need probably two more nodes to be more resilient . This would be costly to add two more nodes. As such all nodes have been good so this is a potential rather than actual issue.
Found on some older iPads when they unlocked after being dormant wifi had disconnected. This may be to avoid too many connections , will have to check it out.
Potential for improvements
Software still at version 1.x so hoping Linksys will continue to develop and improve
Speed test shows great results but provides different output to popular broadband testers such as Ookla speed test ( Linksys app reports better download) so curious about comparison .
Price . Concept good as you can keep adding nodes but will be better one price per unit reduces.