Customer Ratings & Reviews

Disappointed in this device. We upgraded to this Linksys from an older competitor mesh product that had been very reliable. The Linksys has less features which I can live with because I use it in bridge mode, but what I can’t get over is the need to physically restart it multiple times a week. It is not a reliable product in my opinion.

Child nodes will not stay connected, and have went through countless hours of tech support with Linksys to no avail. Paperweights back in the box since I can’t return them since I’m pass my 30 days.

Junk. Item has very poor interface and has already quit working. Linksys is sub par equipment. Have to reboot daily and still rarely connects to phone.

Was advised to purchase by a former Geek Squad person familiar with our setup as well as recommended by a in store person. Paid for a Geek Squad installation. Geek Squad said it wasn’t worth installing. Tore the box open and left.

Don’t know if I get a lemon or what but kept dropping like half of my devices off the network and internet Fios 1G would get really slow could be a bug in the firmware but not good at all returned

LInksys is the master of Wifi and this setup proves it. The Velop Pro 7 is a Wifi powerhouse. I offers everything you could ask for in a router; The newest Wifi standard, blazing fast speeds, rock solid connectivity, and great coverage. What you get: In the box you get 3 satellites and an ethernet cable, dead simple. These nodes feel very solid and aren't too big or obtrusive. They have a very sleek profile that wouldn't stand out on a table like some of the more antenna heavy routers. The white cylinder design does well to blend into the background. Each node has a WAN port for connecting to the internet (only needed for which ever node you use as the parent) and then 4 LAN ports to connect devices directly to the nodes. I really like having LAN ports on every node. It means I can connect hardwired devices at various places in my home and don't have to have a giant cabinet full of ethernet switches and devices. Setup: Setup is relatively simple. The Linksys App walks you through naming your network and does the rest of the work for you. All you have to do is plug in the parent node, connect it to the modem via ethernet and then plug in the child nodes. Linksys will automatically detect the devices and set up your mesh network for you. There is very little if any configuring that needs to be done. In Practice: I live in a 2900 square foot home and with two nodes downstairs and one node upstairs I have had no trouble getting lightning fast speeds anywhere in my house or even in my backyard. The coverage is amazing. Overall, if you are willing to drop the cash on a high end wifi setup, this is the way to go. You'll get all the coverage and speed you need along with a future proof wifi standard.

Overall the Linksys Velop Pro 7 mesh network is an excellent way to get solid WiFi coverage. It advertises easy setup in as fast as 10 minutes. That’s true for the system itself, which is rather straightforward. However in reality, depending on your current setup, it could take much longer. In my case, my old setup used an Xfinity WiFi router with one network for 2.4 Ghz and a second one for 5 Ghz since I have devices that only run on 2.4 Ghz. So it took closer to 3 hours for me to complete the setup which required 1) putting the Xfinity router into bridge mode (and restarting it to accept bridge mode), and 2) reprogramming the devices that require 2.4 Ghz to use the mesh network (which takes care of seamlessly assigning 2.4 Ghz to such devices). So you should take the advertised easy setup with a grain of salt due to all the other non-Linksys devices. Once everything was setup, the network worked great. I live in a 3-story townhome which means there are plenty of weak spots with my old setup of using the Xfinity WiFi router at the top level. In fact, I also have a garage below, so it’s really a 4-story home. With the Velop Pro 7, I put one node on each of the non-garage floors. And, wow, what a difference. I get noticeably better speed no matter where I am. Plus, the streaming services on my TVs seem more stable. Each node is capable of covering 3,000 sq. ft., giving you a whopping 9,000 sq. ft. of coverage between the three nodes, and ensuring no dead spots. Each node is also capable of handling 200 devices, or 600 total. If you need more than 9,000 square feet of coverage or more than 600 devices, then you probably have an IT person handling it for you. There is one drawback, however, which causes me to take away a star. I use a wired ethernet connection for my desktop Mac Studio. With my old setup, I was able to plug it into the Xfinity router and get 1.4 Gbps speed. Each Linksys node comes with four 1 Gbps ports and just one 2.5 Gbps port. But the Linksys parent node requires you to use the one 2.5 Gbps port as the input from the ISP router. That means my Mac (which is attached to the parent node) now has to plug in to one of the 1 Gbps since the 2.5 Gbps port is used as input. Bottom line is for being the latest and greatest, the nodes (or at least one of them) should have more than one 2.5 Gbps port. I am guessing the rationale for only one faster port is that everything is moving to faster WiFi anyway. The system supports WiFi 7, which is 4.8x faster than WiFi 6. Of course, this is simply future proofing since even WiFi 6 devices are only hitting mainstream now. Even the latest iPhone 15 only supports WiFi 6 (Pro and Max models support WiFi 6E). But if you’re in the market to update your WiFi, you might as well be ready for the next few years. I was tempted to revert to my old setup just to get the faster speed on my Mac Studio. However, one unexpected benefit of the Velop Pro 7 is that my upload speeds have doubled from around 40 Mbps to 80+ Mbps. Since I used cloud drives for sync and storage, this will certainly speed up my uploading. One less important drawback is that the Linksys app does not accurately reflect the connection types. For example, it shows my fridge as a wired ethernet connection instead of over WiFi. Tech support (which is excellent) is aware of the issue. Fortunately, it does not affect the performance. All in all, I recommend the system.

Overpriced and DOES NOT WORK. Bought this as an "upgrade" to my prior LinkSys system (it was a forced upgrade when I wanted to add a node - LinkSys stopped offering my older model system). I was happy to upgrade to System 7 given their prior service/solution track record....but made a GIGANTIC mistake in doing this and going with Ststem 7. They are NOT ready for providing this nee technology

The Linksys Velop Pro 7! TLDR - blazing fast Wi-Fi, but will you notice it? Out of the box, it comes with 3 Velop Pro 7 MBE7000 nodes, 3 charging bricks, and 1 ethernet cable. Pros: > Setup is a breeze and shaved off a couple of minutes from previous Velop systems i’ve had. My Wi-Fi 6 Velops typically took me around 4-5 mins to setup via the app whereas the Velop Pro 7 took 2-3 minutes per node :) > Wi-Fi speeds are almost blazingly fast and just shy of my wired connection speeds. I have a 1gig Fios connection, and am pulling 800+ down & 600+ up when on my S23 Ultra. For comparison, my wired connection gets me 900+ down & 900+ up! These speeds are consistent for each of my nodes as my two satellite nodes are connected to the main node via a wired backhaul (as opposed to a wireless backhaul). Please note, your mileage may vary depending on the number of devices connected to your network - this will mean you’ll see higher or lower speeds! For reference, I have around 45 smart devices connected to my network at any given time which includes: TVs, smart phones, smart devices, tablets, and home security devices. Also, streaming 4K content on 6+ devices (e.g, Computers/TVs) seems snappier than my previous Wi-Fi 6 Velop network :P The throughput of the Velop Pro 7 is quite amazing! > Wi-Fi coverage is pretty good. I live in a 3 story home and am able to easily get a strong Wi-Fi signal within every room of my house. Additionally, when outside I get pretty decent coverage as well being about 40ft+ away from the nearest node…can't ask for more :) > Each MBE7000 node comes with 5 ethernet ports (1 of which can be used to connect to your main source of internet OR to the main node). This is quite nice as you can hook up multiple devices to the node, or even connect a switch to connect multiple devices via a wired connection. All of my nodes are connected to a 16 port switch (so I can wire in as many devices as I can to free up the airwaves for my wireless devices). > Router features - i’ve been in the Velop ecosystem for quite a while now at around 4 years and use most of them (e.g., Guest Network, Parental Controls, Priority) and it’s good to see there are some beta features in development (e.g., Multi-Link Operation & Safe Browsing). I’d probably say the Parental Controls is the feature i use most right now as i have 4 kids and it helps me to limit their iPad & computer times! Cons: > I’ve noticed that with my older Wi-Fi 6 Velop systems, they would lose internet at least once every 2 weeks or even sometimes weekly. The nodes themselves are on, however the light indicates there’s no internet. To fix, i would have to unplug the main node and plug it back in and it works again within a minute (otherwise if i do nothing, it’ll come back up within the hour). Was hoping this would not be an issue with the new Velop Pro 7, but it seems to be unfortunately. Can’t help but think it’s the Velop system because if it were my ISP, i shouldn’t be connected back online so quickly. I set my neighbor up with a Wi-Fi 6 Orbi mesh system about 2 years ago and he’s also got a Fios 1gig plan but he never seems to have downtime/interruptions like i experience on my Velop systems :( Though it happens infrequently, it is kind of annoying & worth mentioning since i’ve observed this on 3 different Velop mesh systems now. Overall, I would highly recommend the Velop Pro 7 mesh system. If you have tons of devices and stream a lot of content, this mesh system will definitely keep up with all of your devices Wi-Fi needs! Considering the price point of Wi-Fi 7 mesh systems right now also, this one is priced much lower while providing great features!

I got the Linksys Velop Pro 7 to extend my current mesh network. I was disappointed to find out that when I went to hook the nodes up they were not compatible with my Linksys mesh router that I had just gotten last year. Even though it says right on the box that these are backwards compatible. This wasn't the biggest issue because each node has 3000 sqft range but definitely wasn't what I expected. I have 1 node per floor and the signal strength is about the same. One problem I'm working on solving is that I had a network drive plugged into the router and these nodes don't have a USB to support that. Something I was also surprised by was the size of the nodes. They were quite a bit bigger than my older nodes. I felt like over the years the technology would of shrank. The performance was a noticeable improvement. WiFi speeds were increased everywhere in the house ranging from 12 to 184 Mbps delta. Upload speeds barely increased. The setup was pretty simple driven by the Linksys app but it did take awhile per node for everything to finish. I didn't have any issues with interruptions or lagging before and still don't have issues with these. I would recommend this system even with the disappointments I ran across. I have loved my old node setup and this was a worth while upgrade. I'm hoping that maybe a firmware update will open up some compatibility so I can get just a little bit more range and be able to use my old router.

The Linksys - Velop Pro 7 BE11000 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 7 System is a 3-Pack Wi-Fi system that is also labeled as the “MBE7003” system, and it is another great addition to the long line of high-quality networking products from Linksys. Wi-Fi technology seems to be advancing exponentially quicker as evidenced by the arrival of Wi-Fi 7 systems like this one from Linksys. Since it is still very new technology, there is a limited number of devices that actually have Wi-Fi 7 compatibility but given the backwards compatibility of these mesh systems and how quickly device manufacturers are to start integrating newer technologies like this into their products, it isn’t a bad idea to upgrade your Wi-Fi system to this new Linksys – Velop Pro 7 system, especially if you are still using an older non-mesh system or even an older mesh system. Switching from a non-mesh system to a mesh system is one of those things where you will wish you had made the change sooner after finally making the switch to a mesh system, especially if you have a spread-out home like I do and you struggle to obtain a consistently strong Wi-Fi connection everywhere not only in your home, but outside in your surrounding yard as well. Having the ability to add as many nodes as is necessary to ensure full coverage throughout your home is a game changer, but what makes this truly amazing is the fact that all of the nodes are providing the same network, and if you have wired ethernet connections in your home, you can use a wired backhaul to connect all of your nodes back to the main node that is connected to your modem and receive full Wi-Fi speeds from every node regardless of how far away it is from the main node. Long gone are the days of having to switch between different Wi-Fi networks because the old extenders we used to use each had their own SSID. Now, with mesh Wi-Fi, your device will automatically connect to the node with a stronger signal when moving around your home. The 3 nodes that come with this BE11000 system should provide more than enough coverage for most households, but again, if you have a really spacious house that isn’t fully covered by the 3 included nodes, you can always purchase additional nodes and easily add them to your existing system. Setting up the initial system as well as adding nodes is very easy to do since it is all done through the Linksys app which guides you step by step through the entire process. The easy setup coupled with the reliability of the Linksys brand and how this system should be more than fast enough for a long time into the future, you cannot go wrong by upgrading your home network to this Linksys - Velop Pro 7 BE11000 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 7 System and I highly recommend it!

Pro: -Wide coverage -Strong connection -Each node has 4 wired connections Con: -Parental control doesn’t fully work without advance settings -Buggy My experience with this router has been mixed. Initially things seemed to have gone well with an easy set up experience and strong and stable wifi signal. However, after a bit of use, things started to fall apart. For starters, parental control wouldn’t completely work out of the box and required me to edit the IPv6 settings in order to block all websites or internet access. This was confirmed to be an issue by Linksys tech and engineers. Then the app started having UI issues and connection issues with duplicate devices. After much back and forth with their team, the problem still persisted. While the devices connected to the network still worked, I don’t have the confidence to switch over to this system. Setup Setting up the mesh system was easy to do with the Linksys app. Once you register a Linksys account and plug everything in, the app will guide you step by step to set up the main router and the nodes. It did take a few tries to get it to connect, but after a modem reboot, it completed the process. You can manage your network settings in the app. Be aware that if the nodes are too close to each other, connection can actually get worse. It’s recommended that each node be at least 30 ft from each other. Usage When it worked, it seemed to work great. Transfer speeds were what you would expect. I had no real way to test Wifi 7 since all my devices are still Wifi 6, and no streaming service would need that much speed. I thought I would try some real case usage that had given me problems in the past, which would be remote play. Steam remote play worked well at max settings. During my test, I didn’t have any signal digression and it didn’t feel like I was playing remotely. I was able to transfer and update games between computers in a few minutes. PS5 remote play, with a direct connection, plays smoother and more stable than before at 1080p. PS5 remote play is known to be unstable so it still wasn’t perfect. Parental Control and Other Issues With parental control, you can either limit connection completely (of scheduled access times) or block specific sites per device. However, this didn’t work properly and wouldn’t block access to many sites such as YouTube, Google, Facebook, Twitter, or Amazon. Blocking the internet connection completely also didn’t work. After testing it with tech support, I was told that by default, it doesn’t block sites that use IPv6, and that it would only work once you disable the automatic IPv6 settings, which is something most users wouldn’t know about. This is a huge oversight since almost all major sites and ISP uses IPv6. Another issue is that when you change any setting for parental control for one device, other devices are affected for a brief moment. For example, I turned off access for my main pc but my other pc, streaming Twitch, would have its access interrupted and needed to be refreshed. It got worse. After rebooting the router, Device Settings was all messed up. It showed that some devices are now wired, offline, or that signal was very weak. It seems all the devices are connected and working properly, but the information the router is showing is incorrect. A full factory reset didn’t fully resolve the problems either. Then I started having connection issues with devices showing up as duplicates and wouldn’t connect. I eventually went back to my old router and everything has worked since. Pausing devices worked on all sites without having to change any settings. Summary It may only be just me, but my experience wasn’t great with this mesh system. Initially, it seemed to work really well. It was fast and had strong connections. However, with the issues of parental control not working out of the box, connection problems, and bugs with the app, it seemed too unreliable to fully switch over. Even after about 6 hours total with tech support, not all the problems could be fixed and I eventually went back to my old router.

Linksys - Velop Pro 7 BE11000 Tri-Band Mesh system is a great WiFi system for getting the best available speed for your home network. It’s the only WiFi mesh network that I’ve owned that has up to 4 ethernet ports on not only the hub that’s connected to your main router, but the nodes as well. The three pack system comes with 3 nodes and they all look exactly the same. Having 4 ethernet ports on each node allows you to have a direct connection for devices that are connected to each node. The system is great for devices that are WiFi 7 compatible. Many of the devices I own do not have WiFi 7 antennas built in, but the system is backwards compatible. I noticed speeds on my non WiFi 7 devices were able to get much faster speeds when connect to the Linksys Velop Pro 7, in comparison to when they were connected to my previous mesh network system. Setting up the Velop Pro 7 system was fairly straightforward. I did come into one issue when setting up the 3rd node. It would connect and kept failing. I noticed it may have been too far from the node that’s connected to my WiFi modem. The instructions state that the nodes have to be close to the node that’s connected to your modem. After setup, you can move them further apart. I was able to finally get the last node to finish setup after moving it in closer, then moving it to a further room in my home after setup. Once it was all setup, I have been pleased with its overall performance.

My parents have a large home and I decided to test this mesh system at their house. To start, I used an Android device with the Linksys app to set these devices up. I also tested a myriad of devices on this mesh network. Unfortunately, I don’t have any Wi-Fi 7 devices as of September of 2023. With a quick Google search, I found that Intel is still developing the Wi-Fi 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7 standard) chip and is expecting the chip to be in PC products by 2024, which is quickly approaching! This mesh system will certainly be more useful as these products roll out in the future. Anyway, here is my initial review of the Linksys – Velop Pro 7 Tri-Ban Mesh Wi-Fi 7 System. In the box, you get three nodes, power bricks, a ~4ft ethernet cable, and an insert with a QR code that leads to the Linksys app. Linksys recommends downloading the Linksys app to set up these devices. I proceeded to do that and while it was downloading set up my nodes in one area for initial setup. I can’t speak much about IOS devices but on my Galaxy S21 Ultra, the app was extremely buggy. I understand this device is new and the app that integrates with this device is still tweaking a couple of things, but the setup was a bit frustrating due to how buggy it was. I eventually was able to get my mesh system set up, but it would’ve been shorter if it weren’t for the app. Hopefully, Linksys addresses issues with the app before more people start to buy this mesh system. There are 5 available ports on each node. One 2.5 Gigabit and the rest 1 Gig ports. This port setup is all the same across each node. The bottom contains a reset button and an on/off switch. The top contains an indicator light letting you know the status of the network. They also aren’t too large so they will be able to fit in most areas. The app provides plenty of configurable settings but, if possible, I do recommend accessing the settings through the web UI as it's easier to navigate. There aren’t a lot of configurable settings compared to some old routers I have used but there are enough to get the job done. Some of these settings are manually setting the MTU, adding static DNSs, MAC address cloning, configuring each of the 3 bands separately (2.4, 5, 6GHz), MAC filtering, and parental controls. In terms of speed, the mesh system provides the top speeds you pay for. The previous router and modem in the home weren’t too old so there wasn’t much of a difference in download and upload speed. But the upload speed was a bit better on this mesh system compared to the older setup. I’m sure if I had more time to play around with this mesh system’s settings, I could increase performance slightly. Regardless, of whether I was hard-wired or on Wi-Fi, I got blazing-fast speeds. If you are looking for coverage, this mesh system will cover every inch of your home. Some semi-dead zones at my parent’s home were in a bathroom and inside a shed in the backyard. This mesh system covered these areas, something the old setup couldn’t do efficiently. Overall, this is a solid mesh system Linksys came up with. The marketing is built around Wi-Fi 7 which is quite not here yet as of September 2023, but this is a future-proof system that will greatly improve your home network speeds as well as coverage down the road when you start upgrading your devices. The latest security standard (WPA3) is a plus too! If Linksys can fix the buggy app, I will gladly use it. But for now, I will stick to web UI. If you are looking to upgrade some home networking equipment, I suggest you give this system a shot!

Setup was very easy, this is not my first Linksys mesh system. Setup is always a breeze with Linksys. After setting everything up noticed how much faster all of my devices on my network responded so much more faster, it was amazing. For me my issue was with coverage, not speed. But, WOW. The first node was connected to my cable modem in the basement of my house, the second was upstairs in my dining room. I also plugged my 2K camera system NVR to the ethernet port. This eliminated the video lag that I was experiencing previously. The third node was placed in a bedroom in the far corner of my house. Usually I would have to put the second node in my kitchen for the third node to work, but with this model the third node worked with the second node being in the dining room. The only con I had was with the app, the usability could have been much better. You can create a section for advanced users in the app if need be. Overall, I like this Wi-Fi 7 Tri Band Mesh System a lot and I hope I do not have to upgrade anytime soon.

I’ve used Linksys products for 20 years and I’ve always been a fan. As wireless technology advanced I was quick to try the Linksys Velop mesh network solutions which have effectively eliminated dead zones and sluggish wifi spots throughout my home. The latest generation of this product is the tri-band Linksys Velop Pro 7 which supports the latest, greatest, and fastest wifi 7 standard. Wifi 7 is thirteen times faster than wifi 5 and nearly five times faster than wifi 6 with wifi speeds up to 46 GBit/s and an ultra-wide bandwidth of 320 MHz. These are very impressive specifications but I’m only aware of a few devices that support wifi 7. So this is at the moment mainly for future proofing and patient early adopters. In the box you get 3 nodes, 3 power adapters, an ethernet cable, and some paperwork. You are offered a QR code that directs you to the Linksys app for setup. I already had the app so I proceeded to add a new device. You just connect the first node to your modem via ethernet and plug the 2 additional nodes nearby. Give Velop the same SSID as your current wifi network so you can avoid the hassle of changing passwords on all your devices. Following the setup steps is a breeze. Linksys boasts easy setup for this device in their advertising but I wouldn’t say it was that quick. Overall setup took me about 20 minutes. Once complete you can move the child nodes and place them throughout your home to extend your network and coverage. The Pro 7 nodes will provide wifi coverage up to an expansive 9,000 square feet. Each node has 1 2.5 gigabit ethernet port and 4 1 gigabit ports. I have no wifi 7 devices and probably neither do you so wifi 7 performance is untestable at the moment. I do have a wifi 6e iPad and I was at first disappointed with speeds. After a few reboots of my modem and Velop and then running the channel optimization within the app I did reach speeds of 1.4 Gbps. Quite impressive but these speeds are somewhat expectedly the same speeds as my previous wifi 6e router. Coverage was also as expected with excellent speeds throughout my home. Ultimately if you’re in the market for a new router, you might as well future proof yourself while you’re at it and make the jump to wifi 7.

Linksys Velop Pro 7 mesh system is a welcome addition to any home network. But it comes with a few hits as well as misses. I got this for my two-story home with a basement, which I have also incorporated as a home theater and game room. The Velop Pro 7 out of the box looks very solid. I set up through the Linksys app very quickly. I was able to name and set up my network without any issues. I could stream movies in the basement theater immediately with no buffer. I did a speed test on every floor with 100 to 250 Mbps results most of the time. But I would notice random stutters with my connections. The app itself is very limited to me. The app had better functionality than my previous Linksys router, but it does the job when it works properly. The app constantly wanted me to set up the system as it was new. For some reason, I have to back out of the app to get to the main screen where you see all connected devices and handle Wi-Fi setup and things of that nature. I also have had an issue with nodes losing connection, and I've had to reset the system about four times. But I've had impressive speeds with one or two nodes working simultaneously. That is a headache because most of my items are smart devices, and I have to reassign them with a Wi-Fi password or set them up through another app. It gives you impressive speeds, but it might still need more work. Linksys delivers but with annoying hiccups.

I have owned a Linksys Velop Mesh Network since the first version came out in 2017 and they have continued to get better with each iteration. In 2021 I upgraded to the Velop Atlas Pro WiFi 6, which improved on the original but did so just before WiFi 6e was released. Unfortunately I was lucky enough manage to fry 2 of my nodes (they don't want to power on any more -separate incidents) and was running on 1 node along with my FIOS WiFi 6e router. Which gave me a reason to upgrade to the WiFi 7 spec. With each version, the routers have been getting larger but they manage to look fine out in the open or near the TV consoles and don't look like a dead robot spider (as my wife called my old Asus Gaming Router). The inclusion of a 4 port switch in on the nodes is appreciated especially near my TV consoles and home office. While I have noticed that the Linksys app hasn't changed much over the years, it is dead simple to set up and it was MUCH faster setting up the Pro 7 over the previous years. Setup was always fairly straight forward with ALL Velop systems however, there have been times where I needed to run the setup multiple times and seemed to take longer for the blinky light on the top of the tower to turn blue. The Pro 7 stays white when it is connected and happy. Both previous systems did not want to connect in my below ground basement. I had signal reach down there but it was weakish. The Pro 7 connected right up. The Linksys app could use a refresh as its rather basic and somewhat annoying to navigate, but I have seen some beta options in various menus so I'm hoping for some quality of life improvements to come. Coverage seems much improved over the Atlas 6 as I have full WiFi signal at every corner and floor of my home. My primary node is connected to my FIOS Router on the other side of the house via ethernet. The 2nd node is also connected to the primary via ethernet in the back room of the house then the 3rd node is connected wirelessly in the basement resulting in STRONG WiFi coverage from my front yard to my back yard and EVERYWHERE else in between. I was able to setup my projector for a backyard movie night and video/sound didn't so much as hiccup even 30ft away from the nearest node inside the house. My kid can play on her tablet in the yard without internet cutting out if she gets too far from the house. Inside the house, connection speeds over the wired Nodes have my speeds almost double from the WiFi coverage from the FIOS router in the living room on the other end of my house. After migrating most my devices over to the Pro 7 Mesh Network from my FIOS WiFi, Running 2 TV streaming 4k content, PC gaming and Console game all at the same time with all the smart home device traffic and it seems like this mesh setup doesn't even break a sweat. So all in all I would say I am very impressed with the new Velop Pro 7. If my previous system did not give up the ghost, I probably wouldn't have been on the look out for a WiFi 7 device as I have VERY few WiFi 6e toys. I'm glad I did because the signal strength on this setup is a beast and I've never had such strong coverage blanket my house. I will now need to use a 129-character WiFi password to keep wifi bandits away.

I haven't set up all three of the units yet, but wanted to get the review written. This system is great for expanding a network throughout your house. Not only does it provide multiple wireless access points you can place in optimal locations, but each device has additional Ethernet ports and acts as a network switch to allow additional wired connections. Since I already have a good router controlling my Internet access, I chose to set these all up as access points. I placed one in the garage, next to my router and directly below the bedroom I use as a home office. The other one I placed in the office above the garage, as I sometimes have issues with the connection in that room. I had issues getting the first unit configured, as I would get through all the steps and then the app returned me to the initial setup screen again. After several attempts, the settings finally saved and the devices became active. I tested the connection speed using several different devices. One was a Roku that only supports 2.4 GHz, and I also used an iPad and iPhone with the Speedtest app on both. On the Roku, I saw no real speed change from the previous WiFi connection I used. But with both the iOS devices (which I could use on 5 GHz) I saw more than triple the speed I was getting from the router in the garage directly below the room I was in. The problem with a mesh network like this is that one has no way of knowing if you're connecting to the 2.4 or 5 GHz radio from the device. Sometimes the device will decide to connect to the slower radio, simply because the signal is stronger. But you really need to connect to the 5 GHz radio for the highest speed. That's why I prefer to use different SSIDs on each radio. The app is a mixed bag. Once I got the system up, the app no longer appears to connect to these devices, and is only showing my primary Linksys router. I added the app to a different phone and now I seem to be able to see both devices. But it's not an easy app to navigate.

For me, there are two lenses to look at when looking at this particular mesh setup - the Linksys Velop Pro 7. We'll take each in turn.. First is the lens that it seems this set is meant for, which appears to be the tech savvy consumer that wants fast wifi but doesn't want to mess with it too much. From THAT point of view, this is a fine setup. You take it out of the box - you get three of the nodes which are all identical, so you can pick any of them to be the primary "node" or router - download the Linksys app and walk through the setup near your modem and power. The setup process is pretty easy if you're looking for the most common setup - i.e., this is your only router and you want things like DHCP setup. It also defaults your WiFi SSIDs and Passwords to the same across all 3 bands which is correct in this use case. It connects the nodes quickly and you're ready to go position everything around your house as needed. There's some pretty powerful hardware here including a 2.5gbe WAN port for those with multi-gig internet and the "primary" router has 4 gigabit ports - each remote node as 5 wired ports that you can use as a wired bridge (creating wired ethernet from it's wifi connection) as you can use the 2.5gbe port on the nodes as a LAN port (and it is 2.5gbe in this usage). Connections are solid and stable and fast - I have multi-gig fiber internet and am seeing speeds comparable to or exceeding other high end routers. The devices also auto-update to keep them secure and stable. All that said, there's another lens here. This product carries the name "Pro" and comes from a brand (Linksys) that has produced iconic hardware for pro-sumers and pro users alike (though that was a few years ago now). It's also priced as a premium item. But when I look at this through the eyes of a "pro" (I've been in IT over 20 years), it's lacking some key features I'd like to see. First, while the 2.5gbe WAN port is nice (and the ability to use it as a LAN port on the nodes is HUGE), other pro-sumer level hardware are starting to add multiple 2.5/5 or even 10 gig ports so having only a single 2.5 gig port here is a bit disappointing. Those who like to tinker with (or need to change) advanced settings will also find themselves disappointed as the app has limited settings - and you HAVE to use the app for initial setup as the web interface isn't accessible until after setup is complete. The web interface provides a few more options but some of them don't work as you'd expect and there's no manual included in the box nor are the explanations in the app clear. For example, I want to use this to create a WiFi network but another router as the DHCP / IP address provider. For MOST devices, you do this by turning off DHCP on the "access point" side and perhaps hard coding an IP address for it. So I go into the app and there's no way to turn off DHCP... I then turn to the web interface and you can turn off DHCP...but after that, the Velop doesn't work at all...you can connect to it but you get no connectivity and you can't even get to the web interface to change it back. So why do they let you turn it off?? After multiple resets, I stumbled across a setting in the app under Advanced Settings, Internet Settings, Connectivity type for "Bridge Mode" - I tried that and magically everything I wanted works just the way it should (and it's amazing). DHCP was turned off and it accepted an IP from my other router. Though still not without some quirks - in Bridge mode you can't change the host name... Hopefully Linksys can fix some of these things with software updates in the future to open up more options and provide clearer and better paths to do things folks might want to do more easily than the trial and error that it took me. So from a high-end consumer point of view, this is a 5 star product. From a "pro"-sumer point of view, I'd venture more likely 3 stars or perhaps 4. So overall, I'm rating this a 4 star - but it really depends on which lens you're looking for.