Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have been looking at WiFi solutions utilizing 6GHz for an apartment in the city. The problem: congestion and interference on the 2.4GHz band render it slow and unreliable while the 5GHz band is useable with limited bandwidth channels of 40MHz. The solution: 6GHz is wide open! I tried a number of routers and mesh sets from BestBuy as they have an easy return and exchange policy. I was replacing a very good 3 year old, 12 stream, 11000Mbps, Triband, WiFi 6 router. This would drop connection to older AC clients 50 feet away through multiple walls. 6GHz has high bandwidth with limited ability to penetrate multiple walls. Hence a mesh setup for a 1000 SqFt apartment starts to make sense. Yet it also needed to be easy to use, self healing, remotely monitored,… basically non-techie proof. (And finally, this is for my daughter who also wants something that looks nice sitting out in the open.) I’ve used all the major brands over the last 20 years. Currently ASUS and TP-Link have WiFi-7 mesh solutions that fully embrace MLO. (Netgear/Orbi is still using dedicated 5GHz wireless backhaul on its most advanced mesh sets while it is moving to MLO backhaul.) Still, the price of WiFi 7 remains unreasonably high…. Enter the TP-Link Deco WIFi 7 solutions: The BE11000 triband runs about $233/node, BE16000 triband quad-radio is $283/node, BE22000 triband $367/node, BE33000 triband quad-radio $467/node. The latter two are multi-10gig wired as well which is unnecessary for my use case. The BE11000 or 16000 both worked for our needs. I found the quad-radio setup of the BE16000 more versatile as 6GHz channels become more prevalent in the future. Meanwhile the Deco MLO firmware works right now! It’s the magic behind WiFi-7 allowing 6GHz to work seamlessly while WiFi-6E remains a bit clunky. I found the Deco setup and functionality to be simple to setup and troubleshoot. While this is only a 350Mbps cable internet connection, it passes that bandwidth throughout the whole apartment easily. Downloads for AX clients are over 300Mbps while AC clients on the non-MLO network are over 200Mbps. The AC client is a streaming device connected through a satellite node via wireless backhaul to the main node. It could not reliably connect to the old router, yet now it works better than it ever has! The only downside to the TP-Link Deco solution is their anti-virus/malware protection software requires an additional subscription of $69.99 for a full year, billed annually. (Netgear and Eero also charge subscription fees for advanced security features while ASUS includes these important items as part of their package.) I’ll give the hardware and firmware a 5-star rating, yet I would subtract a 1/2 star for the subscription fees if I could. Overall, TP-Link Deco has solid equipment with functional software and solid firmware making WiFi-7 reliable for real world use now. ASUS ZenWiFi and Netgear Orbi also have compelling mesh sets which should be widely available and have solidified firmware by 4Q 2024. If you can wait a bit longer for WiFi-7, prices and reliability will both improve significantly. TP-Link Deco WIfi-7 is ready now, easy to setup, easy to use, easy to monitor…. It just works!

I first bought an $1800 system by someone else. Ended up taking it back as it wouldn’t stay connected to my fiber. Bought the 16000 and love it! I own a house literally across the street and down the block a few houses and I have one of these satellites in there and it runs 6,5,24Ghz. Let’s me runs lights, ring, and an AppleTV for when family stays in it. THAT is how powerful they are. Easy to setup. It says it has things in the App mine doesn’t have is the only thing. No big deal. Can tell things which one I want to go to.

I'm generally an ASUS guy and have had ASUS AI Mesh running for a few years with dual band wifi 6. FIOS finally came to my neighborhood and moved from 2G down/400'ish up Comcast to gig FIOS. My house is 95 years old and has thick plaster with some metal backing in it walls and wifi speeds have always been terrible, fortunately I have a basement so I ran 3 lines of CAT 6 to 3 ASUS mesh routers that connected to my main router. All was stable. After upgrading to FIOS gigabit, my ASUS just couldn't handle the bandwidth. It was great with my main router only, but as soon as I added additional nodes, even though they were hardwired on the back end - wifi speeds were abysmal. My options were either $1200'ish for the 3 node ASUS or $799 for the TP-Link. Figured I'd try the less expensive option first. I did install some TP-Link, lower end model 2 nodes at my Mom's a couple of months ago to replace or Orbis and the TP-Link was terrible so I returned them. Long review, I know - sorry. So, installed these a couple of hours ago. They would not detect my internet plugged directly into the Verizon ONT - so I configured with the FIOS modem, connected good. Download speeds were ok, kinda. 500mpbs range on wireless Upload speeds were under 100mbps. Tried everything I could and nothing and was about to box it all back up Then I decided to go back to ONT to Router - removing the FIOS router. BOOM! FAST download, nearly a gig upload depending on the test server, etc. I still prefer the ASUS web page configuration options, the TP-Link is extremely limited for some of the things I need to be able to access outside of my network (server, NAS, cameras, etc.) so I still might bite the bullet and pay the additional 400 bucks for the ASUS - however I'll run with these for a couple of weeks and see how they go. So far, the wifi speeds are exceptional.

Going from the google mesh system to Deco, has been the best investment yet! Yes little pricy but I wish I invested in the top model with 10 gig ports for the future, but 5 gig port work fine with cable (spectrum) as my isp! With my nest cameras I use to drop them often and apple tv (5 of them) periodically loose connection! Ive had this about two weeks and all problems solved mac books, 17 pros max (6h household) running good laptops fast, no lost connections, also better range! I’m looking forward to addiNG TPLINK outdoor booster and flood cameras so far best investment! I even set up home security+ part of deco system! So far I feel robust! Optimize network feature let the system chooose a channel that less interference (microwaves dryer’s vacuum cleaners etc)! More I play with all the features more Robust it get and better I feel paying for the cost!

This is an utterly amazing mesh 7 Wi-Fi system. It is fast, easy to set up and very reliable. Just connecting it increased my internet speed by 100 MBS over the supplied Spectrum router I had. I could not be happier with the range and signal strength. My only complaint is the price. It is steep but I guess you get what you pay for.

This 3 piece mesh setup took the place of our Google AC1200 6piece mesh system. The coverage is excellent and the speeds are great. The software is easy to use and can be integrated into the Google Home App.

I’m upgrading from Eeeros and never going back. These Decos provide full coverage in my home and heres rhe best part Im getting 900+ mbs.

This is my second system. I had purchased another brand several years ago and was never completely happy with it. I was so happy with the Deco system that I purchased a second system for my vacation house as well. It’s easy to set up and manage. The applicaiton that manages the wireless mesh system is great. I have been sold on the Deco system. I have been running this for two months now and have had no issues.

I switch over to fiber optic and upgraded my WiFi mesh to WiFi 7, mesh. This WiFi 7 mesh system is very fasted and stable. I would recommend this product. One downfall is the price.

I own the Deco xe75 3-pack mesh system which has worked great. I purchased that system along with this system for the backhaul capabilities. The xe75 used WiFi 6E while this system uses WiFi 7. The difference hasn't been huge but I've seen improvement, specifically in latency. My main reason for purchasing both setups was for gaming. It's not feasible for me to run a line from the 2nd floor to the 1st floor so that I'm hard wired into the router (which has to remain on the 2nd floor). By utilizing the mesh system I've seen my latency improve from around 18ms to 9ms. The system also works great with previous Deco models so I'm still able to connect my other 3 XE75 units to the 3 new WiFi7 units. I have Cox 2gig and I'm able to get around 1200mbps down over 6e on my MacBook Air and when connected via Thunderbolt 2.5gb adapter to one of the 2.5gb ports on the satellite, I'm able to get 2200mbps down. Like I mentioned above, the latency improvements have been drastic. I do wish that the security plus plan was included and that I didn't need a subscription to have those features that many times are bundled into other routers that are half the cost. If you're looking for a setup that has very back wireless backhaul speeds, this is a great system and significantly cheaper than the completion.

Over all a good product. Easy to setup. Supporting 4SSID, 2 printers, 6 PCs, 12 wifi cameras and mutiple tablets and sound gear. 10 square feet amd no dead spots.

I have had this 3 pack router combo for almost a month. Tomorrow is my last day to return it, and im returning it today. Let me start with the good, the speed is pretty awesome. On my newer laptop im getting almost 600 down which is awesome. Unfortunately, that is the only good thing about this. Now the bad. The range is so awful its barely usable. I have one mesh router in my living room. Less than 15 ft away are my govee smart lights, i have 9 of them in the living room. The govee lights barely connect. They will connect for a minute or two and then disconnect. I have tried on the normal network and also on the IoT network. Both have the same issue. Ive spent over 3 hours trying to get the lights to connect, and stay connected, to wifi. They just randomly disconnect which makes them uncontrollable in the house. One bulb is literally 2 ft from the router. And it has the same issue. One of the other mesh routers i have in my dining room window and the signal doesnt even reach half way across my back yard, and i have a pretty normal sized back yard. There is almost zero signal on the other side of my pool, which is maybe 30ft away. Im including photos of the router locations so you can see how laughable it is. My eero mesh router and Google Nest 6e routers had much much much better range at a measly fraction of the price. We have tried moving the routers to get better signal, we have tried rebooting them, updating them and more. Ive been in IT for 23 years and ive never had to fight this much with a wifi system ever. For the price, its not worth it at all. I would say if this system was under 200 dollars then maybe the great speed and complete awful range would be worth it, but I dont even think its worth it at that price point. Im heading to BB in an hour to pick up the Nighthawk, which isnt mesh to see how much better it is. If youre thinking about buying this, please do your research. Look at how many people are complaining about it online, and look for better alternatives. No router that costs almost 1000 should perform worse tha ones that cost 1/4 of the price

I've been using an eero 6 Pro mesh system for the past few years and have been extremely impressed by its performance, features, and reliability. However, as my internet speeds have gotten faster, the older wireless technology in the eeros has struggled to keep up with the full speed of my internet plan. Enter this new Wi-Fi 7 TP-Link Deco system. I've never owned any TP-Link apps, so I was skeptical when I ordered this system. But after nearly 2 weeks of use, I'm happy to report that it's rock-solid, blazing fast, and offers some excellent options for advanced users. My main gripe is that the Deco app could use some more polish and is missing some basic features that are found in other mesh systems. === SETUP === - This set is surprisingly heavy, weighing nearly 20 pounds. Luckily, it's very easy to unbox. Inside, you get the three Deco towers, three power adapters, and one ethernet cable. - The Deco towers are very big compared to my previous eeros, measuring more than 9 inches tall. The design is elegant overall, with a mesh-pattern "7" swooping across the front of the towers. But compared to the relatively flat eeros, these towers are hard to ignore. You'll have to give some thought to where to place these if you don't want them to stand out too much. - Setup is very simple and is done through the Deco app. You'll need to create a TP-Link account, but after that, all you have to do is scan a code on the bottom of one of the towers, and then start plugging them in around your house. Any of the Decos can be used as the main "gateway" (the one that connects to your modem) -- they are all identical and interchangeable, so don't worry about the order in which you take them out of the box. - After all of the Decos are plugged in and ready to go, the main screen of the app will show you the backhaul signal strength between Decos and will tell you how many devices have connected to your network. Other than the backhaul signal strength indication, the app did not provide any other guidance or suggestions on where to place the Decos, which would have been a nice touch. === PERFORMANCE === - TP-Link has a dizzying lineup of Deco systems, most with confusing model numbers or speed ratings such as "BE16000." I struggled to tell differences between this BE16000 model and the higher-priced BE85 model. This cheaper model appears to be a quad-band system (two 6 GHz, one 5 GHz, and one 2.4 GHz) while the more expensive BE85 is only tri-band (one 6 GHz, one 5 GHz, and one 2.4 GHz). However, the bands on the BE85 appear be a bit faster/more powerful. It's not entirely clear which would be better for the average consumer -- my hunch is that the extra 6 GHz band in this BE16000 model would offer a more stable backhaul between Decos. - I placed the Decos exactly where I had the eeros: The gateway node connected to the modem in the office towards the back of the house; the second one in the dining room towards the front of the house; and the last one in the laundry room in a far corner of the house (nearest the back yard) to reach some smart plugs I have outside I kept my network name and password identical and all of my devices connected almost immediately after I powered up the Decos. - We recently upgraded our Xfinity plan to 1000 Mbps download / 100 mbps upload (although speeds usually top out a bit higher at around 1200 down / 120 up). With the eero Pro system, I don't think I ever saw a full 1000 Mbps download speed from any of my wireless devices. The fastest was around 500 or 600 Mbps when standing in front of the main office eero, and speeds were maybe half of that (about 300 Mbps) when closer to one of the satellite eeros. This is mainly because the wireless backhaul of the eeros is limited by older, slower wireless technology. The Decos have solved this problem -- the inclusion of two 6 GHz bands provides a huge amount of backhaul bandwidth, allowing me to max out my download speed almost anywhere in the house. My iPhone 15 Pro supports Wi-Fi 6E and connects to one of the 6 GHz bands of the Decos. I've run countless speed tests using my iPhone all over the house. In the office, I get full speeds of over 1000 Mbps download. In the back yard just outside the laundry room, I get over 800 Mbps download. With the eeros, I was lucky to get over 200 Mbps standing in this same spot in the back yard. Needless to say, it's a huge upgrade and will likely get even better once more devices support Wi-Fi 7. - The Deco system has been very reliable, with one notable exception. About two days after I installed the system, I noticed that most of my smart home devices such as Wemo plugs had dropped their connection from the network. These devices only support the 2.4 GHz band, so I figured there must have been some sort of wireless interference causing an issue. After digging through the Deco app, I found a feature called "Network Optimization" which scans for interference and adjusts the channels used by each band, if necessary. After doing this scan, the app switched the 2.4 GHz band over to a new channel, and everything has been fine since. - Each Deco tower has four 2.5 Gbps ethernet ports, which is a necessity for those with gigabit or higher internet tiers. If you have an even faster connection, you'll need to step up to a model with 10 Gbps ports. === FEATURES AND MANAGEMENT === - I've been spoiled for the past few years using eero's excellent app, which is brilliantly organized and very intuitive. The Deco app is just... okay. It gets the job done, but it is not very well organized and it is hard to find certain settings. For instance, in the eero app, all of your connected devices are nicely organized by device type such as "Computers," "Entertainment," and "Home." There is a huge list of device types and icons you can choose from to help you quickly identify devices. The Deco app has almost none of this -- it basically shows all of your devices in one long, alphabetical list and only has a handful of device icons to choose from, such as "PC," "Phone," and "Printer." - There are a couple of major features missing from the Deco app. Notably, you can't see data usage, either by device or for the entire network. You can't assign devices to user profiles without turning on parental controls. For offline devices, you can't see what time or day they were last connected to your network. The data usage feature is probably the biggest omission here, but it seems like every day I think of something from the eero app that I wish were included with the Deco app. - Sometimes, devices will randomly fall off the "online clients" list even though I know for a fact that they are connected and working. They'll reappear after a minute or two, but it's an annoying bug. - There are some nice parts of the app. You can quickly see how many devices are connected to each Deco and how much bandwidth is currently being used. You can run a speed test to see how fast your internet connection is. Parental controls are built in and not locked behind a paywall, but I haven't tested them out. - The availability of advanced settings is really where Deco shines. Unlike many other mesh systems, you can set a "connection preference" for each of your devices to get it to connect to a certain Deco tower. For instance, I can set my office printer to only connect to my office Deco to ensure the strongest possible signal. Other advanced features that were not available on eero include: a dedicated "IoT" network for smart home devices, a built-in VPN server with OpenVPN support, a USB port that supports external drives, MAC cloning, IPTV/VLAN support, 802.11r "fast roaming," and much more. - TP-Link offers a paid service called Security+ with additional protections such as malicious website blocking, intrusion prevention, and more. I haven't tried out the service, but it doesn't seem as comprehensive as the eero Plus service. === OVERALL === If you can get past a few glaring feature omissions in the Deco app, you will be amazed by the performance and reliability of this BE16000 Deco system. Unless you have a multi-gigabit internet connection, I wouldn't pay too much attention to the numbers or speed ratings on the various Deco models. This quad-band set is excellent and provides ample speed and backhaul for internet connections between 1 and 2 Gbps. Best of all, thanks to the Wi-Fi 7 and quad-band technology, you'll be able to nearly max out your internet speeds throughout your home. I just wish the Deco app wasn't so clunky and included feature like data usage. Hopefully this can be ironed out in future software updates. Otherwise, this is an easy recommendation.

I prefer my router to do one thing more than anything else, and that is to just work without requiring constant attention from me. Second, I need it to be able to provide enough bandwidth and speed for my somewhat significant number of devices. I’m not the type of person who wants to spend tons of time deep in network settings and assigning preferences, I just need it to do the job without intervention. I have had a TP-Link Deco Wi-Fi 6 mesh system for a couple of years now and it has generally been reliable and easy to use but seemed to have gotten a bit overwhelmed by my level of network traffic, so I was starting to consider an upgrade when this one came out. Wi-Fi 7 is a major upgrade, so much so that not only do I not have anything else that can run it yet there are very few devices out there now that natively support it yet to begin with. Even the newest Surface Laptop studio 2 that I have which was released around the same time as Wi-Fi 7 does not have it. However, it is backwards compatible with all older Wi-Fi protocols and opens up substantial bandwidth for a huge number of connected devices. Compared with my old router, the Deco BE16000 set is very large and heavy, but does have twice the number of ethernet ports, one of which is 2.5 gigabit capable on each unit. Backhaul between units can be wired or wireless, or a mix of the two. Setup is easy and frustration free and as is standard these days requires the use of the Deco app to get things up and running. Since I was already using a Deco system, it made things even easier allowing me to connect the new one directly to the old primary unit and transfer all network settings and primary functions to it. I then added the other two via the app and unplugged the old ones although I could have kept them online and had a mix of the two at the same time if I had chosen to. As a result, everything in my home was immediately connected to the new system without any headache whatsoever. I ran speed tests and checked connectivity on several devices including my iPhone 14 pro max and noted massive improvements to range, speed, and latency across the board. As the week since setup has passed, the misbehavior from many of my smart home devices with connectivity issues and lag has all been corrected and everything I was having trouble with is now working flawlessly. I struggled for years to find a Wi-Fi system that could handle all my devices and give me the speed and reliability I desired. Finally, the time has come and this TP-Link Deco BE16000 router does all that for me and more. If I wanted, I could spend a lot of time customizing and prioritizing devices, setting parental controls, adding guest network, and more as all are supported features but thankfully, I don’t have to I can just let it do the hard work for me. All my old smart home issues are resolved, and I can rely on my new router to keep things working as they should be and that is a big deal for me. I am futureproofed for additional tech in the years to come, and I highly recommend this router if you like me just want it to work with no fuss.

This is the third TP-Link setup that I’ve had over the last several years. The first was the M4, followed by the AX4300 and now this one. This setup by far has the best potential of the three, but initiallly it hasn’t been that reliable for me. I truly have a love/hate relationship with this system. I love it when it’s working consistently, and I hate that it doesn’t work consistently. I’ve had this for a few weeks now and really took my time evaluating its performance before writing this review. When I ordered it, I couldn’t wait to get it for two primary reasons. The first being the speed/future proof of this setup. The second is that it is backwards compatible with my existing M4 setup. This meant that I didn’t have to install a whole new network and then go about the tedious process of adding all of my nearly 100 devices to it. In order to save myself that agony, I added the BE16000 to my existing network. The directions to do so were very simple and easy to follow using the app. Once you identify your new and existing systems, it tells you which device should be the main one. The app said to use the new BE16000 as the main. After doing that, the network map was updated in the app and I can see how many devices are connected to each satellite. Since I set this up, the speeds have increased dramatically over the M4’s speeds, but the continuity wasn’t there. I got a lot of lagging and devices dropping connections. To tell you that I have been more than frustrated with this thing is an understatement. Right before I sat down to finish writing my review, I decided I should reach out to their online support and much to my surprise, my issues seem to be resolved. The agent instructed me to disable beamforming and fast roaming and to change the primary and secondary DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 respectively. I’ve been monitoring my network activity for about an hour up to this point, all things seem to work as expected. I was initially going to give this three stars because of all of the problems that I had getting things up and running. However, after using the online support and getting my connection issues resolved, I feel more comfortable giving 4 stars right now. I am optimistic that my issues are resolved and that I will get faster speeds overall and eventually remove the M4 units and just use the BE16000’s as they provide coverage for up to 9,500 square feet. Some key points: App: Intuitive and very user friendly way to manage your network. I get alerts to tell me when a new device is added and that allows me to name that device so that I can identify it later, change the settings or delete it altogether. There is a built-in speed test that allows you to check your network speeds and auto updates. Advanced Parental Controls are now an upgraded feature. They were free using my M4 system, but now has an annual cost of $18. With the upgraded controls you can create user profiles and place devices within that profile (up to 32 devices per profile) and within that you can control usage time, restrict websites, and even block certain video types on YouTube. All great features. Realistically, the cost is minimal overall, but I was disappointed that they now require a monthly or annual subscription. Support: I went through the app troubleshooting and tried the different options to resolve my issue before finally contacting support on the TP-Link website. I was able to get my issue resolved within about a half hour of troubleshooting tips with the online agent. I normally don’t like to use chats to resolve my issues because of the delayed response times, but I was able to get things corrected pretty quickly and so far, pretty happy with the results. Mesh units: I really like that all of the nodes have 4 ethernet inputs on them. This allows me to plug in some devices directly as opposed to having everything on the actual WiFi network. Device overall: Wifi 7 capable, you can create multiple networks for guests, IOT, 6ghz and an MLO which connects 2.4, 5 and 6ghz networks. Easy device management.

*** Summary *** The Deco BE16000 is my first time trying a router from TP-Link, and I’m having a fantastic experience with the product. Every installation and usage step have been smooth and easy to follow through despite having multiple security camera and Internet of Things (IOT) hubs with over 30 connected devices. The mobile phone app is intuitively set up, easy to navigate, and snappy, and it offers enough advanced settings for my needs, such as setting Quality of Service (QoS), stating routing, VPN Server and Client, NAT forwarding, and parental controls. It’s an expensive but worthwhile product that has been somewhat tarnished by the nickel-and-diming scheme for monthly or yearly subscriptions. Because of that, I only recommend the BE16000 to people who just must have the latest and great Wi-Fi technology. For everyone else, I recommend something with a better overall value. _____ *Pros: -Super simple and easy to set up the main router plus the range-extending mesh nodes. -Every Wi-Fi band is fast and stable (Wi-Fi 4, 5, 6, 6E, 7). -The AI Mesh system is intelligent, and it can handle numerous devices at the same time as you move from room to room. -Each node provides four WAN/LAN ports + a USB-A port. -Simple and elegant-looking design that easily blends with furniture. -Low latency, good for multiple security camera streams, on-demand videos, and online gaming. -Wi-Fi 7 is more future-proof. _____ *Neutral: -On my uninterruptible power supply (UPS), the power plug blocks three other outlet spaces. _____ *Cons: -The web browser configurator for the Wi-Fi system is very bare-bones and the options are very, very limited. You’re pretty much forced to use the mobile app. -Many useful features of Parental Controls is locked behind a paywall. Most other companies don’t do this. === Design and Build Quality === When I unboxed the Deco BE16000 system from its huge box, I was awestruck by the heft and size of the mesh nodes. Compared to my older Wi-Fi 5 mesh system from the manufacturer of the Android OS, each BE16000 node is about three times the size height-wise and about five times heavier. Each node feels dense, and the in-hand handling feels like quality with good build materials and excellent fit and finish. I’m perfectly okay and happy with the tallness of the nodes since TP-Link made good usage of the space and included four WAN/LAN ports and one USB-A port on the backside of each unit. That means I can plug in all my home security camera and IoT hubs and still have space left over. A hard drive can be plugged into the USB-A port for file sharing, and that’s always a nice option to have. For a mesh system that costs this much coin, the products do look and feel nice, and they easily blend in with our mostly-white furniture and home interior. What I didn’t like about the Deco BE16000 is that some software features such as Web Protection, Intrusion Prevention, IoT Protection, and more advanced Parental Controls are behind a subscription paywall. The Security+ subscription costs $35.99/year or $4.99/month. The Total Security Package, which adds antivirus protection to Security+, costs $69.99/year or $5.99/month. With how expensive this Wi-Fi 7 system is, I expected such features to be included at no charge. It’s unfortunate that so many router manufacturers have embraced the subscription model, and I’m not liking it. TP-Link should have, at the least, included advanced Parental Controls as an integrated, no-cost feature since protecting our children from harmful content is so vital and important. As it is, without paying $17.99/year or $1.49/month, one is unable to set daily online time limits on our children’s devices, keep track of their online activities, and enable YouTube Restricted Mode or SafeSearch. I also had an issue with the power plug. The way the charger is oriented, it plugs into my UPS and obscures three other outlets and renders them useless. To get a better idea of what I’m referring to, please see my pictures. === Setup Experience === Setting up the Deco BE16000 could not have been any easier. I downloaded the TP-Link Deco app from the Google Play Store and followed the onscreen prompts to add the main node plus the extras. Each step was hiccup- and frustration-free. The process was speedy and not overly time-consuming either. There was a firmware update waiting for me, and it too, proceeded smoothly. The Deco app is cleanly and intuitively organized, and I was able to find the settings I wanted quickly and easily. The options that I used the most was “IoT Network” (manage smart lights, hubs, cameras, etc), “Quality of Service (QoS)” to prioritize certain devices for low-latency and faster speed for online gaming, “Address Reservation” to assign specific IP addresses to certain devices, “NAT Forwarding” and “VPN Server” for certain security cameras, and “Parental Controls” to limit my daughter’s Internet time. As mentioned in the previous section of my review, some features are locked behind a subscription and that’s a real shame. With that said, I’m appreciative of the easy setup process and the well-designed Deco app. I like opening the app to keep track of my Wi-Fi network health, manage and change device names, and set up special rules for certain devices. === Network Performance === As expected from the latest and greatest Wi-Fi 7 standard with advanced features like 320MHz wide channels, improved Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) for higher peak performance, Multi-Link Operation (MLO), and AI-driven mesh algorithm for smooth device handover when moving from room to room, the Deco BE16000 has been delivering fantastic speed and stability to all of our devices which number close to 30. Everyone in my household of four is happy and content. After switching over from my previous Wi-Fi 5 mesh system to the Wi-Fi 7 BE16000, I observed a rather noticeable improvement to latency and quality when viewing multiple security camera streams at the same time. Whether I was accessing the streams from home or far away, the feeds started showing up on my phone more quicky and with higher pixel density. Ditto for when accessing a shared network drive. For gaming, I didn’t notice any difference but that’s probably because I don’t play latency-sensitive competitive online shooters like I used to. As for coverage, the BE16000 is definitely more expansive and stable. With my previous Wi-Fi 5 system, my phone would often lose connection to the home network and switch over to 5G when I’m in my backyard near the shed. Not so with the BE16000 – the Wi-Fi symbol sheds a couple of indicator bars but my phone remains attached to the home network at fast and usable speeds. Color me impressed. Speed is good, of course, but I value stability more, and the BE16000 totally delivers on that category. As I move from room to room, my phone, tablet, or laptop consistently retains strong connectivity and there is an invisible but totally seamless and smooth handover between the nodes. Some mesh systems suck at this, and I’m glad the BE16000 excels. I’m so happy with the Wi-Fi performance of the Deco BE16000, I would totally consider products from TP-Link again when it’s time for the next upgrade cycle in a few years. === Is it worth the coin? === Kind of yes, kind of no. I say yes because the Deco BE16000 is so fast, so stable, and so easy to manage and use via the excellently designed Deco mobile app. If you’re upgrading from an older Wi-Fi 4, 5, or 6 system, you’ll most likely feel and notice a significant improvement from the performance of your devices like I did. I say no because TP-Link nickel-and-dimes you for many network features that really should’ve been free and included with the high cost of the system, such as what they label as “advanced parental controls.” I also say no because if you already have a Wi-Fi 6E system, then you probably won’t notice that much of a gain by upgrading to Wi-Fi 7 right now. With that said, TP-Link did create a wonderful and performant mesh networking Wi-Fi system, and I wouldn’t try to convince my friends and family to not buy the Deco BE16000. It’s just that there are better value products out there. Overall, I give the BE16000 4.5 Stars.

I've been using a Deco Mesh system for quite awhile, having received an AX 4300 Pro set for review a little over a year ago. I loved that set, although I used it in AP mode so I could retain some parental control features that came with my AT&T fiber gateway. When given a chance to review the new BE16000 set, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and switch to using full router mode and explore some of the extra features that TP Link builds into the HomeShield program. First up I wanted to review the hardware and speeds. From a design perspective, I really like the cylindrical design of the Deco APs and that has continued over from the older set I've been using. The Wifi 7 units are... huge... though. Around twice the size of my older Wifi 6 APs. For the most part this doesn't matter (and I expect it increases the range as it allows for larger antennas) but one unit in my house was on a high shelf that didn't fit the new 7 device, so I had to rethink things. The BE16000 units fix one of the biggest issues I had with my older set, and that's the inclusion of 4 2.5GbE ports which allowed me to get rid of the 2.5GbE switch I was using as a backbone for my setup. Now I can wire the units to the main router directly and that should improve the speed and reliability of my network. Wifi speeds on 6ghz seem to be roughly the same as 5ghz when using Wifi 6 clients - I'm easily exceeding 1gbit on a single client in both upload and download speeds. I'll attach some screenshots to this review where I simultaneously launched speed tests on my phone and laptop, and speeds were well over 1gbit (and actually upload approached 2gbit/s combined!). Range has also slightly improved as now my wifi connected christmas lights in the front yard are more reliable, so that's a plus too. On the software side, I am really, really impressed with what TP Link has done here. I'm a bit of an IT nerd and until I switched to multi gig fiber I was using a home built pfSense router, so I have been reticent to try "consumer grade" gear that would require bypassing my carrier provided equipment. TP Link's Deco app is fantastic, though. By far the least annoying home grade software controls for any IT equipment I've used. I want to call attention to some of the highlights in list form: 1) Sometime this year they added the "IoT" network capability and it is AWESOME. With this I was able to specify an SSID which uses only WPA2 and 2.4ghz to handle all those devices that are hard to set up on a 5ghz mesh system. This was an incredibly smart idea from TP Link. It's not a VLAN, so it doesn't improve security for your network, but it does make it easier to set up your smart home stuff. 2) On your both your main SSID and IoT networks, it's easy to configure clients to prefer an AP, band, or to disable mesh connections. That's awesome. I have a few devices that are "right on the line" between two APs and this makes it super easy to force them to stay connected to a single node. 3) While I haven't tried the advanced security features, the parental controls are AWESOME! Seriously, my carrier tries to charge $7/month for parental controls that TP Link includes for free in the Deco app, and TP Link's _inexpensive_ paid subscription for advanced controls includes forced SafeSearch and Youtube Restricted mode along with a few other features. I love it! I was able to configure several URLs to be blocked on my network which allowed me to block Minecraft public servers while still allowing my kids to play multiplayer in our realm or on friends' private servers. Just an awesome feature and I'm happily a paid subscriber now. In terms of cost savings, I had previously tried services like Circle that charged a hundred bucks per year to give me features that Deco does for less than a third of that price. 4) The capability to configure both VPN client and server at the router level is awesome. While I haven't tried it yet, it seems possible to configure an OpenVPN server on your network and then have a family member connect their Decos to your network with the VPN client settings available in the Deco app. That would give you the ability to share a media server across networks. Likewise, I love having a VPN server built into the router as it allows me to know I'm browsing safely when I'm away from home. Great features. The only nitpick that I really have for the Deco setup is the subnetting for the Guest network. I wish you could configure more settings here. I have a single device on my network (a washing machine) with a known firmware issue that requires it to be set up with a static IP on the 192.168.1.0/24 subnet with client isolation turned on. I had previously used my carrier gateway to sort of hack this capability into my network, and I've come up with an alternative for now since the Deco router guest network doesn't let me tweak this. Kind of a limited use case so I doubt TP Link will devote any resources to this in the future. But one can dream. Over the last year plus I've happily recommended Deco to anyone who's asked about mesh wifi, and the BE16000 just improves on an existing great product with the new Wifi 7 features. Can't wait to get some Wifi 7 clients to really make use of the speed available. Kudos to TP Link for a class leading product.

WIFI has been around for a long, long time. The wireless protocol has evolved and the latest WIFI 6E has been one of the most successful to date, as it allows some of the fastest transfer speeds. But even with modifications to the protocol, it has remained rather challenging sometimes to have coverage all over your home. In the past few years, many concepts and ideas went into the creation of ways to obtain consistent speeds and latency. With the new WIFI 7 coming next year, TP-Link decided to release a new WIFI 7 ready "mesh" system dubbed BE16000, which promises to offer high speeds, low latency and a different approach on how the signal is spread throughout your home. I'd like to mention that TP-Link has been a solid manufacturer of connective hardware. Be it modems, routers or any other type of products that allows remote connection, this company has had its fingers in it. The Deco series I got came in a 3 pack and was way bigger than I had anticipated. The reason for the size is that each unit is identical. They all sport 4 ethernet/LAN connections, a USB connector and a power supply. It really doesn't matter which one you choose to connect to your modem (or modem/router combo aka "gateway"), the first one will be providing the others with the necessary connectivity. Now, this is where it gets interesting. Once you've set the system up by spreading the remaining two devices around your home, you will now have a consistent coverage, thanks to the WIFI 7 protocol which allows you to walk around your house without ever noticing a lag or drop in speeds. You don't need to mess with odd settings or anything, once up and running, the BE16000 dishes out top speeds automatically. Note that you will need a smartphone or tablet in order to set the system up. The app is a delight to use and keeps you updated on what is going on in terms of connections, devices, speeds, latency and much more. I really loved how easy the whole process works and how fast it was up and running. Now, of course, no product is without a fault. The biggest issue - which will disappear or at least be mitigated by the release of WIFI 7 compatible devices - is that as of now, you can only harness the benefits of WIFI 6. It's not a big damper and as I mentioned, once more devices take advantage of the new protocol, speeds will go up. Another odd behavior of the system is that it seems to dislike some modems or internet access gateways. It performs worse on a 5G Home Internet device than with a cable modem with near identical speed outputs, at the same time of the day. I believe that it might still need firmware updates to address these specific issues. Coverage on the other hand which is this systems' main selling point is excellent. It doesn't matter where you are in your home, you will have about the same speeds. And for the price, even if at first it seems rather expensive, you might want to give it a go as there aren't many devices which are as easy to install and set up as this bundle. I really love what TP-Link has cooked up and I hope to be able to take advantage of WIFI 7 soon. I highly recommend the BE16000.

We have a pretty large 2-story house with a basement & a 1GB dedicated fiber connection to our ISP. We have about 65 smart appliances, switches, lights, plugs, & other devices in the house along with several dozen laptops, desktop computers, phones, gaming systems, & tablets for each member of the household. I have a mesh network based around a massive gaming-oriented quad-band AXE16000 main router with OCD-level settings & customization & two AX11000 tri-band router nodes. The two AX11000 routers don’t support 6Ghz so I only have a single router in the house offering a 6Ghz signal while the 5Ghz & 2.4Ghz network signals are extended to the other nodes by a dedicated 5Ghz 80Mhz-wide wireless backhaul channel. I had been reasonably happy streaming along for the past year or so with only a few minor issues for 2.4Ghz smart-connected devices at the very edges of our home, like a garage door keypad or wireless doorbell cam with often questionable connections, & of course my want for better 6Ghz coverage for more speed in more places around the house as I rarely attained more than 50% of my theoretical network speeds at any one location. In walks the TP-Link BE16000 which is not only ready for WiFi 7, but offers even wider 320MHz 6G & 240Mhz 5G channels with super-fast 6Ghz wireless backhaul between every node (sadly, our home isn’t wired to take advantage of Ethernet backhaul—yet!). Of course, there aren’t any widely available WiFi 7 devices on the market yet so I can’t attest to what kind of performance gains using that protocol will provide, but it’s nice to have the capability on tap for future-proofing our home. In the meantime, how does the BE16000 perform its 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, & 6Ghz duties? Honestly, it was a little bit of mixed bag, though mostly leaning toward the positive side of things. The Deco kit comes in a surprisingly large box as the router nodes turn out to be much bigger than you might expect based on the marketing pictures. However, they are pretty stylish & streamlined so they take up far less shelf real estate than a typical router with large spindly antennae pointing out in all directions. Pack-ins are sparse with just the routers, power supplies, & short Ethernet cable included. The “setup guide” is laughably short with just a single page that basically says, “download the app” & “here’s what the LED colors mean.” Okay, no problem, I downloaded the Deco app to my iPhone & started the setup. Yes, you do have to create a TP-Link account if you don’t already have one, but I would call the setup process from there stupid-easy. The app walks you step-by-step initialization & installation with big, easy to understand graphics & a simple procedure that requires you to scan the QR code on the bottom of the first router to get things going. From there, you just plug in the additional routers where you need them & you’re up & running. The Deco app is incredibly user friendly & mostly intuitive when it comes to managing your devices, but those of you who are used to complex & detailed device management via web interface may be frustrated by the more “novice-oriented” level of detail & fidelity available, as well as the somewhat limited network management features out of the box. Other reviewers have lamented the inclusion of paywall security features; & I’ll admit that the lack of such features baked-in kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth given the sticker price for this kit. But frankly, I never used many of the advanced parental controls (flexible bedtimes, SafeSearch, YouTube restricted, time rewards, etc.) or security apps (IoT protection, web protection/filtering, etc.) on my previous setup, either. If you are just looking for a plug-and-play networking experience that offers you cutting-edge WiFi 7 connectivity & blazing-fast speeds, but don’t have the time or interest in tweaking every setting & option imaginable, the BE16000 may be just your thing. Speaking of speed, I took a number of bandwidth performance measurements at various locations throughout our house. I was really hoping that having a 6Ghz mesh signal throughout the house with a dedicated 6Ghz backhaul for the other network bands would allow me to enjoy nearly full 1Gbps performance, & while there were some distinct performance improvements in many locations, by & large, my results indicated that performance on some bands is probably sacrificed for the sake of packing all that capability into a slimmer router with an internal antenna design. Download & upload estimates were recorded using the SpeedTest app on my ASUS ROG Ally as it is the only 6Ghz client I currently have that is easily transportable around the house. I tested network speeds in each location 3 times on each network band & averaged the results, then immediately swapped out my existing routers for the BE16000 units in the same locations: two on the main floor, & one in the basement. Before (AXE16000) & after (BE16000) readings in Mbps download/Mbps upload appear below: Master bedroom (around a corner from mesh node) AXE16000 6Ghz: 247/116 BE16000 6Ghz: 244/214 AXE16000 5Ghz: 156/75 BE16000 5Ghz: 278/152 AXE16000 2.4Ghz: 46/53 BE16000 5Ghz: 47/23 Office (down short hallway near main router) AXE16000 6Ghz: 542/354 BE16000 6Ghz: 442/374 AXE16000 5Ghz: 393/204 BE16000 5Ghz: 234/95 AXE16000 2.4Ghz: 124/106 BE16000 5Ghz: 38/38 Living room (3 feet from main router) AXE16000 6Ghz: 436/105 BE16000 6Ghz: 921/462 AXE16000 5Ghz: 473/138 BE16000 5Ghz: 538/456 AXE16000 2.4Ghz: 139/138 BE16000 5Ghz: 68/60 2nd Floor bedroom (up stairwell above mesh node) AXE16000 6Ghz: 392/153 BE16000 6Ghz: 409/258 AXE16000 5Ghz: 218/125 BE16000 5Ghz: 340/151 AXE16000 2.4Ghz: 78/57 BE16000 5Ghz: 90/55 Basement (20 feet across from mesh node) AXE16000 6Ghz: 355/182 BE16000 6Ghz: 571/145 AXE16000 5Ghz: 472/236 BE16000 5Ghz: 670/326 AXE16000 2.4Ghz: 124/139 BE16000 5Ghz: 114/103 Garage (down 2 long hallways away from mesh node) AXE16000 6Ghz: 385/183 BE16000 6Ghz: 284/218 AXE16000 5Ghz: 249/215 BE16000 5Ghz: 296/139 AXE16000 2.4Ghz: 63/60 BE16000 2.4Ghz: 49/23 In general, my observations suggest that so long as you are within line of sight of a BE16000 network node (or just on the other side of the wall through an open doorway), 5 & 6Ghz performance will probably be remarkable as I noted speeds at the main router (the one tied into the modem) reaching near theoretical limits of the network speed I’m paying for. However, high-speed channel performance dropped the further away & more complicated the architecture became between my client & the mesh nodes, especially 6Ghz performance (which is understandable given that it has the shortest wavelength of the three & therefore bandwidth that will drop off at shorter distances). However, 2.4Ghz performance fared a bit worse than in my previous setup almost universally across the board, perhaps because the tiny internal omni-directional antennae in the BE16000 are no match for the beefy directional antennae my previous hardware sported. Granted, most traffic on the 2.4Ghz channel in my home are IoT devices, but the performance drop-off was unexpected nonetheless given that 2.4Ghz signals are supposed to carry the farthest of the three bands. There were a few other usability issues that may rub some people the wrong way depending on your networking needs. First, the Deco system automatically defaults to using the same SSID for 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz network channels. This may prove troublesome for some with many 5Ghz clients as I noticed they tended to connect by default to the much slower 2.4Ghz network. In most routers I've used over the years, there is a way to specify separate SSIDs for the two networks, especially if you don’t want the router to choose network bands for the client when both are available, but the Deco app/system doesn’t offer that feature. Instead, what you must do is create a separate IoT network in the app & then turn off the 5Ghz option for that network; then access your main network settings & turn off the 2.4Ghz option for that SSID. The app features some automatic channel optimization & QoS routines, however, QoS is only available in terms of setting priority per device without regard for protocol. For example, if you have a streaming-heaving household, you cannot prioritize streaming media traffic over other network activity such as file-share, HTTP, or gaming traffic. The Deco app also seems to be the only way to access basic or advanced admin settings & features for the routers. I tried all variations of "tplinkwifi.net" as well as various permutations of 192.168.x.x IP addresses, but I never managed to get an admin web interface page pulled up in my browser. It’s possible there is a setting somewhere in the app that activates this function, but if it’s in there, I certainly couldn’t find it. Finally, those of you with aspirations of running ultra high-speed multi-gigabit home networks should note that the WAN/LAN ports on the BE16000 units max out at 2.5Gbps. For most people, that’s probably going to be more than enough; but cutting-edge WiFi-7 will not do you much good for blistering wireless speeds down the road if you can’t pump any more future-leaning high-speed bandwidth through the hardware itself. In the end, I’ll probably keep the Deco BE16000 kit. The routers/nodes aren’t as flashy as my once-cutting-edge gaming routers, but I appreciate being able to reclaim some shelf space & the (mostly) improved network speeds, especially on 5Ghz & 6Ghz channels. It would be nice if some of the more granular control & security-minded features weren’t locked behind a paywall, but aside from that, I’m pretty happy with what this system offers, and frankly I’m delighted it takes a bit less mental overhead to mange & maintain my home network now. Definitely recommended, especially for ease-of-use/installation & line-of-sight 5/6Ghz speeds.

TP-Link is the first consumer networking brand to release a Wi-Fi 7 router and mesh system. With so many smart home devices connecting to your home network, it is crucial to have fast internet and a mesh system that can provide coverage throughout your home. TP-Link system is ready for Wi-Fi 7 devices. This system has three separate mesh points, a power supply cord, and an Ethernet cable with a quick installation guide. Each mesh is a tall cylindrical shape with a # 7 design with the Deco branding logo, WPS, 4x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, and 1x USB port. To set it up is straightforward; download the TP-Link Deco app and follow the instructions. Log into the TP-Link app, create a network (+), select the device/router, unplug the modem, remove any previous router, and plug in the new device/router. Then, power up the modem and the router. Once the device is connected, identify the location of the device (e.g., office/ bedroom/ etc..). Last, plug in the other Deco units and follow similar instructions without plugging them into the modem. This mesh system uses multi-link operation, allowing multiple devices to simultaneously send and receive data across different band frequencies and channels. This results in more devices reaching maximum speeds all at once. There are no issues with streaming for lag-free 8K content and virtual reality gaming. I get zero dead zones in my house (the area is about 3000 square feet). The Wi-Fi is excellent; I even get full speed in my front and backyard. With this device, you can upgrade to HomeShield Pro, TP-Link’s subscription service, to protect your family's parental controls, block access to malicious websites, identify potential threats, and keep your home network safe from attacks. I did tests using different devices and locations, producing fantastic speed. This network system is the best Wi-Fi solution I have ever tried.