eero - Max 7 BE20800 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 7 System (2-pack) - White

Would be perfect if everything wasn't locked behind a subscription. Want to view any sort of network analytics? Only if you pay. Want to change any DDNS settings? You got it for $10/month or, since we are friends, $99.99/year. For $600 per node you would think these features would just be included. I can understand charging for VPN, anti virus, or ad blocker but network controls? On a mesh system that can cost thousands of dollars? Set up is pretty straight forward, just download and follow the app. Range is pretty decent, but you do quickly lose speed if you go a floor apart. I get it, a floor is pretty far but when a single node should cover 1500-2500 sq. Ft. I feel like I should get a stronger connection when one node is in an unfinished basement and the other is a floor up maybe 20 ft away... Instead I get about 1gb up and down on the hardwired node, but around 30-50 MB on the wireless node.

I have a new Surface Pro 11 with Wifi 7, and since my network at home has a 10GB switch, with a 5 GB card in my media center and a 10GB card in my Synology, I figured it was time to get the wireless going better for my file copies to and from the Surface. First I tried the Archer BE800 which was an unmitigated disaster. Three hours of factory resets and trying over and over, and it was just utter junk. This one - I disconnected everything I had existing (a mesh system of Deco units and an Asus wifi router that was the main unit here) and plugged one of these behind my T-Mobile home internet box. And within about 3 minutes, I was up and running and had a whole bunch of my smart devices (I have about 180 smart devices on my home network) already connecting. I plugged in the second one, used a wired backchannel, and that was about 3 minutes to completion. Before I could even get back to my laptop the app showed the majority of my devices already back online (since I used the same SSID and password for simplicity). I had a brief moment of worry when I couldn't see the option to change my IP for the local network to a 192.168.1.x since all my devices for my media and such are hardcoded, but a quick google search showed me to ignore what the app showed and one you get to the next page you can enter other specifics. And it worked without any isue. Still have some tweaking to do since my wireless copy speeds from my Surface Pro 10 aren't good at all, only about 50% faster than I was on the Wifi 6 Asus, despite my wireless link showing a 5764 Mbps connection speed for the Surface. I know the things I'm copying to and from are insanely faster, and the switch also verifies that everything has an actual speed for the wiring where it should be. So time will tell if I can get that working better. But I like the simplicity of this setup. Not normally a fan of app setups (I'm a CTO of an IT consulting company, been working computers for over 40 years, so I'm used to and normally prefer a good web UI with tons of options) but this app setup was painless and let me get everything changed I needed to get changed from within it. That is a first for me. More expensive, but the thought process of getting what you pay for usually plays out, and in this case it did. Unless something drastic goes wrong now out of the blue, I've got nothing here to dislike other than the short power cords.

The setup process was super easy! I love the fact that it has all the different wifi bands, and that the Eero makes one single SSID to connect, letting it pick the best band for your device. Wireless backhaul is fantastic!