latest WiFi7 mesh network router set & included features and flaws
★★★★★
Leland C.· Opinión proporcionada por
tp-link.com ·
24 de marzo de 2024I've finally made the plunge to a TP-Link Deco BE10000/BE63 WiFi7 Mesh Network. The primary reason is TP-Link finally added a 4th ethernet port to meet my LAN hard wiring needs. For too long TP-Link Deco routers only has 3 ethernet ports, while my previous router has 4 ports.
I really like the round Deco device design as it's a small cylinder that blends in with my desk decor. But this router is full featured with the latest tri-band WiFi7 operability for 2.4, 5, and 6GHz frequencies for backwards compatibility with older devices and ready the latest hardware. The Deco app makes setup very easy to configure both the primary/main router device and the 2nd satelite device. The app has step by step diagrams to connect the modem and router to get the main router setup. There's clear indication of what LED light colors and statuses to expect. Aside from the default network SSID, I can immediately setup my own network SSID to match my existing network name. I can keep my network SSID private by not broadcasting it. My previous router removed the ability to hide my SSID and always broadcasts it. There is no downtime for all our household devices as eerything connects to the same network id without any re-setup effort.
I am able to setup a guest network. The network automatically shuts down if there are no guests connected. These are features not available on my previous router. I can generate a QR code and share that with guests who wants to connect to my network when they visit.
Other key benefits include network security, IOT device management, parental controls, network optimization, auto firmware updates, auto reboot schedule, network notifications, IoT device isolation, monthly usage reporting, speed testing/history, separate IoT network, QoS, additional network managers, fingerprint authentication, 2 year warranty, etc. All of these are out of the box features without subscription costs which I expect and appreciate. There are a few other advanced/upgraded services with optional subscription fees.
A key feature that I'm taking advantage of is the included full feature parental features that can control my families devices for scheduled bedtime downtime in addition to online time management and site access controls. Parental controls is an additional subscription costs as my previous router. The parental control also reports site history to determine any concerns from my kids. This will let me sleep soundly and should get my kids to bed when their internet access stops weeknights for school or weekends separately.
A few small negatives. The AC adaptor is extremely large and the connection wire is flimpsy thin. I ended up using my previous router power cord. There is a bit of identity crisis as the BE10000 is not found in the Deco app as the router is renamed to BE63 after checking on the TP-Link site. A big problem I see is how MAC addresses are managed. I cannot setup a 'white list' of finite list of known actual device MAC addresses. The router only allows 'blacklisting', to block specific static MAC addresses. Therefore it allows any devices with randomized MAC addresses to join the network This is a major security concern that also impacts parental control too where I have assigned specific devices defined by MAC address. As a result I have to drop to a 4 star rating.
For reference, I migrated from a Netgear Orbi 750 WiFi6 router.
REVIEW FOR THE BE10000, WiFi 7
★★★★★
Default C.· Opinión proporcionada por
tp-link.com ·
23 de diciembre de 2023REVIEW FOR THE BE10000, WiFi 7
This is first generation WiFi 7 hardware on the market at time when the official WiFi 7 standard hasn't been finalized/approved. So appreciate what that means.
Your endpoint device will need hardware that supports WiFi 7 and on PC there are some software support considerations as well. Problem is at time of this review you're not going to have good options for the device side of WiFi 7. There are a number of early market WiFi 7 adapters if you're into tinkering and troubleshooting. Phone/tablet wise there's like a couple out there that have WiFi 7 chips. Expect the top makers to wait until the standard is finalized and maybe then only include it in their premium lines at first; such as how Apple only gave WiFi 6E to the 15 Pro this series. So notably there is a cost to value consideration because if you're not able to make use of WiFi 7 then you could probably look at one of TP-Link's WiFi 6E mesh router kits and get almost everything this does but at considerably lesser cost.
I have one endpoint on my network that can actually establish the WiFi 7 connection. I'm using the Intel BE200 adapter on a Win11 machine. Win10 is not supported with this radio's drivers, this is the software consideration I mentioned earlier. Allegedly there is a workaround but I'm not interested in tinkering with that. Now am I doing anything with all this vast bandwidth? No. I'm not in a position to build a full multi-gig WiFi network right now. But if I were this router would be a good first step particularly because TP-Link gave these 4x2.5 Gbps ports. That is a big win over some of some of their current competitors who are building either mostly or exclusively 1 Gbps and thus limiting backhaul and multi-gig potential.
Setup occurs in an app, the app requires you make a TP-Link account. I took a star off for this and I think I'm being generous for not taking more. I find this ask to be equal parts annoying and disappointing. Firstly because requiring a connection to the vendor detracts from the ownership of this expensive appliance. And secondly because this router now has an expanded attack surface for no good reason.
Very good alternative to the more expensive Orbi setup.
★★★★★
William· Opinión proporcionada por
tp-link.com ·
15 de abril de 2024So I've been playing with these new WiFi 7 routers, and not even really for WiFi 7, as there are so few devices out there that even support this new standard. WiFi 6E, though? That's where we're looking for as increasing numbers of devices support this. The latest iPhones, iPads, Meta Quest 3, ROG Ally etc, and many laptops. Signal strength in 6E, though, is increased with these larger devices over the older WiFi 6E-specific routers - as they are bigger physical units, with larger antennae, unlike the smaller TP-Link 6E Deco AXE5400 set I had used for a while before switching to the Netgear Orbi 963.
Setting up the BE10000 is as simple as it was with the Deco AXE5400. It takes a little bit of time to remove or add a satellite if you need to later, but nothing unusual, and once you're up and running it's plain sailing. I like the TP-Link configuration more than the Netgear because you can set which band to connect to on a device-by-device basis. Not sure why Netgear haven't added this option, but here we are...
Speeds and range over WiFi 6E have been very good, but not quite as good as the Orbi 960-series. Range with different brands can always have a little YMMV to them, as what works well in my house may not work as well in other locations. Stability has been good for the last two weeks, better than it was with the AXE5400 Deco setup I used to run, which for me had issues with Nest devices in particular for reasons unknown.
Overall, this is a solid setup, and unless you have a particularly large house, the two-pack should be more than enough.
4 out of 5. Very good.
Wow! WiFi 7/6E range, speed, performance in a can! Strips VLAN tags
★★★★★
Nathan K.· Opinión proporcionada por
tp-link.com ·
17 de julio de 2024Update 17-July-2024: Knocking off a star because, well, read below.
TL;DR-the Deco units strip VLAN tags on wireless packets and even wired packets traveling through even one Deco unit's 2.5G switch. If the ethernet packets are transferred by the Decos, VLAN tags are stripped.
I brought up my very basic home lab dev network for a new Openwrt router firmware build and but had a lot of connectivity issues, no, slow, and sporadic connectivity for the homelab VLANs while the main network and guest VLAN (which does not run through the Decos) had no issues. I have everything connected the way TP-Link suggests (mesh in AP mode).
I had 2.5G wired backhaul (from the upstairs Deco to the downstairs Deco). The units also maintain wireless backhaul. In this config, I had no VLAN connectivity to the router downstairs. I reconfigured to run from the upstairs Deco to a 2.5G TP-Link switch to the downstairs Deco. VLAN tags still got stripped. I connected my homelab/office directly to the downstairs managed switch, with the Decos hanging off each switch upstairs and down. Now there was marginal, slow VLAN connectivity with heavy packet loss.
Root cause: the Deco units strip VLAN tags on both wired and wireless packets traveling through even one Deco unit's 2.5G switch. Even when there is a direct wire from homelab to router, some packets still moved across the always-on wireless backhaul the Deco units have with each other. I was forced to disconnect the upstairs unit from the wired network to ensure all wired traffic from upstairs travels only down the CAT6 cable to downstairs. Bummer, since my old plaster house is not wireless backahaul mesh-friendly. So I either run a 2nd CAT6 for dedicated wired backhaul, live with poor wireless performance upstairs, decide I don't need a homelab, or ditch the Deco system and go back to the EAP660HDs I was using before (no 6GHz, 80MHz max channel width, no DFS bands, not as great for gaming).
---Original Review---
Ok. Wow. Up until now I've been running TP-Link Enterprise Access Points (EAPs) with a controller and wired-only router. But my kids were complaining how the WiFi bogged down when two or more were gaming. I can kinda solve that by locking one PC per access point (but I only have two APs). And my son's iPhone SE kept getting dropped every several minutes.
So I thought "I'll try these". And wow! Super easy to set up; user-friendly app; good range; fast. Did I mention fast? We have a couple laptops and a phone that will utilize the 6GHz band. I have "only" gigabit ethernet. Copying a file via 6GHz allows me to saturate my gigabit link to my storage server.
And this is the budget WiFi 7 tier from TP-Link. I'd **LOVE** to try the more premium BE85 package with 4x4 MIMO/antenna design, which allows for higher client density and much better beamforming. Yet this BE63 2x2 design clearly is up to the task.
The IoT SSID can be trimmed down to only 2.4GHz, which is excellent, since a lot of IoT devices often refuse to connect to a 2.4GHz/5GHz combo. The guest network is also handy, as I can push guests onto that and keep them out of my home network.
I confess that I miss the ability to set up a VLAN per SSID; to have multiple SSIDs; to have very precise control of what band is assigned to what SSID. But I don't miss *at all* the drop-outs on my two year old APs that don't have 6GHz.
I also am a bit irritated that, for the price, I only get a trial of Homeshield Premium. Money is tight--I need to be careful where my subscription fees are going because they add up too quickly.
The 6GHz range is good, but not great. It makes it easily enough to the next room (through my old, thick plaster walls), but beyond one room over it is too weak and my phone or laptop drops back to 5GHz--which is still ridiculously fast.
The one thing I'd really like to see added to the app is the ability to manually force a particular channel, especially for 2.4GHz.
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