Samsung - Connect Home AC1300 Mesh Wi-Fi System (3-pack) - White

I was looking forward to setting up this Samsung Connect Home, Smart Mesh Wi-Fi System to replace my older dual band, Gateway router. It could only handle a limited number of devices, SU-MIMO (Single User, Multiple Input Multiple Output), and not allow me the square foot coverage I needed. I had several dead spots and the 5 GHz frequency was limited in signal strength. The further the distance I went away from this Gateway router it would drop from 5 GHz down to 2.4 GHz automatically. I really wanted to experience what the improvements would be with the Samsung Mesh Wi-Fi System. When I first received the Connect Home package I was actually surprised by the compact size of the units. Each mesh router is approximately 4 3/4” x 4 3/4”, about the size of a sandwich, with rounded edges and 1 1/16” thick in an off-white color and ultra light, at approximately 7 ½ ounces in weight. They blend in well where I placed them around my home and are hardly noticeable. Included in the package is a 120V power adapter and 4.9 ' of Ethernet cable for each router. On the back of each router there is a DC power port, two RJ-45 ports, one each for Input-Output, and a Reset port. There is an Indicator light on the front of each unit. Steady green for 'ON', and, blinking red when not connected to the Internet. Home Connect routers use WPA2 Encryption for security. There are no unsightly external antennas. However, each unit has seven internal antennas: Two for 2.4 GHz, two for 5 GHz, and one each for Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth 4.1. Connect Home has Zigbee and Z-Wave, which are popular wireless standards for home automation. These standards make Connect Home compatible with hundreds of 'third party' smart home devices Each router can provide up to 1,500 square feet in coverage. So, the 3-Pack was just what I needed for my 4,000 square feet. A 'Quick Start Guide' is also included in the Connect Home package along with a card illustrating the Wi-Fi connections, Smart Things Hub Setup, and Samsung Connect App, which is FREE for downloading at either Google Play or the Apple Store. There is a lot of technology packed into this Samsung Connect Home Wi-Fi mesh router system. Each individual mesh router unit is 2 x 2 MU-MIMO (Multiple User, Multiple Input Multiple Output), 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wave 2, which in realty 'future-proofs' this system. I won't need to replace this router system for a long time. All newer Smart Phones, Laptops, and other electronic devices are/will be equipped with MU-MIMO, 802.11 a/c with two or more antennas to take advantage of faster processing speeds and connecting more devices through this technology. I started setting up my Connect Home Wi-Fi system by going into the settings of my Gateway router and shutting 'OFF” its Wi-Fi, which turned into a modem, only. I then followed the outline of instructions illustrated on the Wi-Fi Hub card. Downloaded the Samsung Connect App on my Android Smart Phone and followed the step by step instructions on my phone screen. It found the first router, which was powered up and connected to the Internet. It then registered the router automatically for me. It then guided me through placement of my other two routers, as I powered-up each one, for best functioning and automatically connected them. How cool is that? *TIP* – Place your other two routers as high as possible for maximum performance and coverage and keep them some distance (4' to 6') away from other electronic apparatus, like desktop computer, Wi-Fi printer, game consoles, audio amplifiers, etc. I couldn't wait to go through all the rooms of my house with my, Wi-Fi only, Tablet to see if I was connected to the Internet. Absolutely no dead spots. Wow! I even went outside using my Smart Phone on the patio, in my garden, and backyard approximately several hundred feet away from my house (have 6 acres of land in a rural area) and still was on my Wi-Fi system, before it finally switched over to cellular. WooHoo! My Smart Phone and Tablet are the only devices I have that are Mu-MIMO. Impressive! Although the reception was outstanding compared to my old dual band Gateway, I did not notice speeds that were appreciably increased on my Legacy devices, 2.4 GHz. However this 3-Pack system does communicate with all my devices simultaneously, no slowdown. I have a total of 17 electronic Wi-Fi devices, with 8 of them on pretty much all the time. I was super-happy that the buffering circles disappeared from my two Smart TVs while they were streaming Internet TV. YooHoo! After setting-up the Samsung Connect Home 3-Pack and exploring its capabilities I believe the door to home automation just opened up for me. This Wi-Fi mesh router system also serves as a Samsung Smart Things Hub, which automates various devices, like my, national brand name, front door lock and robot vacuum cleaner. My front door lock is Z-Wave compatible, so now through the SmartThings Hub I can program the lock to be opened for a specified time period to let my neighbor in to check on my place while I'm gone for several days, then lock it back up. Neato! Also, I have a robot vacuum cleaner. I originally set the vacuum up using the Samsung Smart Home App. But, now I can use the SmartThings Hub because it allows me to control my door lock and other compatible items too, and, devices as I add them. My home security system was damaged by lightning and I will have to replace it soon. However, my new home security system will be compatible with Connect Home for sure. I am really getting into my home automation one device at a time. Thermostat control is next on my 'Wish List' to automate with Home Connect. There are many devices to choose from based on your individual needs and whether you find it worth automating your home\. I found these to be the main advantages of my Samsung Connect Home Smart Wi-Fi System: My data transfer on 2 x 2 MU-MIMO is approximately twice as fast as SU-MIMO (my old router). My newer devices that are MU-MIMO greatly benefit from increased download speeds of my wireless connection. Wi-Fi for up to 4,500 square feet and as many as 5 units for 7,500 square feet.can be installed. More devices can be connected to my Home Connect Mesh Router System simultaneously. SmartThings Hub has on-screen guides for all my compatible devices and future devices for home automation. Allows me to manage all my connected devices and share that control with guest access if I choose. Okay, now the problems I have encountered. I have some Bluetooth issues concerning my phone pairings to my car, head phones, and portable speaker. My phone is forced to complete the initial set-up over each time I am in my car. Having trouble staying connected to my ear phones, they cut out constantly and my portable speaker works intermittently until I repeat the Bluetooth set-up over again. Hopefully Samsung will work out these bugs and issues with Bluetooth. I realize the Connect Home App is a work in progress, and has some 'bugs' that will be worked out eventually. Additionally, I wish they included a USB port on each unit. It would have made it much more functional with auxiliary devices like shared printers, etc. So, I can only give it four stars instead of five at this time. I love this new Connect Home 3-Pack System of mesh routers for its terrific coverage, and unique home automation capabilities. It is a vast improvement over my old Gateway router with much faster downloads at 5GHz and fantastic overall coverage for both radio frequencies. If you want to upgrade and, or, replace your old router, and consider home automation too, I highly recommend the Samsung Connect Home Smart Wi-Fi System. Did I mention that his system can utilize voice control commands through Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant for home automation? The 21st Century is here folks. Connect Home has introduced me to home automation. What about you?

The Samsung Connect is the best hub because you can connect many devices, giving you control and automation of your home via Samsung’s Connect App. I tried another hub in the past of other brands, but none had the technology of connecting your gadgets. This is great because it is like getting two in one, extending wife throughout your home with fast speed and simple device connection. Design: It is great that these devices are small compact size that can be placed in view or out of view in any room. The plug is a good size and not bulky like other devices/ hubs. I had another device which the plug was very big (2.75 in x 2.75 in), that it prevented me from plugging other devices to adjacent outlets. Normally, the size of a plug is not usually considered in the purchase decision process. Connected devices: After signing in into your Samsung account, I added another device, my Samsung POWERbot. Once it is connected, it is easy to control your robot. My wife loves her POWERbot and now with this smart hub, she now has more control, even when away from home. Happy wife, happy life! I am in the plan of getting more devices which can connect to the hub. For example, I travel a lot and when I leave home I adjust the thermostat manually to save on my electric bill and now it is easier to install a smart thermostat. Connection Speed: I live in a two-floor house with 4 rooms, one entertainment room and large living room (2500 SQ feet). All my kids study online, and having a good connection in their room is a must have in my house. The speed and range of this three hub are great. I get a full bar on over 90 of my house. They do a great job. Setup is very easy, instructions come in a 14 in a square card. 1) Download Samsung Connect app, 2/3) Connect Ethernet and plug, 4) Open the app, 5) then follow the instruction on the app. This Samsung Connect Home 3-Pack is in the direction of making any home a smart home. Love it. Love Samsung.

I think the new WiFi mesh (or "whole-home" WiFi) systems are the best way to go now days. You can stretch coverage to corners of your house that just isn't possible with a single WiFi-enabled router. If you've been looking at upgrading to one of these systems and are also interested in getting a "smart home" hub to start controlling light bulbs, switches, etc. then this might be a good option. If you already have a smart hub/controller and are just looking for a mesh WiFi system, there are probably better options available. The Connect Home was fairly easy to set up out of the box. Using a phone app is apparently the only method available for setup (no web interface), but it worked well enough. Adding the additional Connect devices to the mesh was a bit of a guessing game as they were either in range and connected, or they didn't. I wasn't able to find an indication of the signal strength after they connected to know if it was solid or not. You can easily add guest WiFi access, but beyond that the settings in the app are very sparse. If you don't want or need to bother with a lot of network settings, then you might like the simplicity of this setup. If you're a power user that likes to adjust a lot of settings then you won't be impressed. I did like the screen that displays a real-time graph of the traffic going through the Connect (picture attached). There doesn't seem to be any history or collection of total bytes transferred, but you can see if something is currently filling up your Internet connection or not. You can also see how many devices are connected via wireless and then tap on that to get a list of each device. (Picture attached) Also at this screen you can add a port forwarding configuration if you need it, give the device high bandwidth priority, or restrict times that it can access the network. I did not see a way to configure a static IP or MAC-assigned DHCP address, which could be a problem if you have a NAS or some streaming server like I do that needs to keep an assigned IP address. I was happy to see it had two network modes: Standalone or Bridge. Putting it in bridge mode just to use as a mesh WiFi system and smart hub controller might be the best option for power users. In this mode, you can keep your existing router with all the port forwards, etc. but take advantage of the greater wireless coverage and smart hub. The Connect Home is definitely worth a look if you're in the market for a new WiFi system. You'll just want to compare features and see if this does everything that you need.

Samsung connect home is an ideal product which combines the basic requirement of wifi in a home with the option of a smart hub to control and automate devices. The package itself is very simple which includes 3 smart hubs with power adapters and clearly marked to indicate which unit is what. The setup is very easy using the app and it works instantly. It took me about 5 minutes to set it up and get it running. The hub works flawlessly with the samsung power devices we have. The 3 units provide ample coverage for a large house and can be placed in various locations easily to add coverage. This is an excellent product if you want to minimize the devices in your home and have wireless router and smarthome hub in the same unit and the product works like a charm.

Pros Mesh Wi-Fi gets signal everywhere Compact size with clean look Bridge ethernet port Integrated SmartThings Hub Can operate as only a mesh Wi-Fi using bridge mode Built in thermal shutdown protection Network traffic graph shows real time internet usage Allows UPnP which some game consoles require Cons Slow! Max speed tops out at under 150Mpbs at ANY node No mention of dedicated wireless backhaul. Tested speed is too slow to verify No mention of ethernet backhaul capabilities No migration utility for SmartThings so everything must be rebuilt No way to manage on a computer Smartphone administration app sometimes fails to connect Extremely basic QoS, high priority or regular for devices Devices with static IP set on device cannot be managed at all Port forward is impossible if IP is statically assigned at device LAN network is fixed at 192.168.1.x leading to possible conflicts Some devices never show up in the device list Most devices show up at MAC address instead of device name No wall or ceiling mount option Units get hot No content filtering options Nonexistent instructions Node connection strength tester does nothing more than show if nodes connect Changing DNS causes management to break until power cycling units MTU not configurable even though some ISPs require SmartThings setup fails if you already have an old SmartThings app installed Enabled SmartThings corrupts your original SmartThings hub if you had one Instructions for Z-Wave Exclusion or repairing are non-existent if your old hub is corrupted SmartThings is not fully integrated. Advanced features require a separate app Editing SmartThings in the Connect app deletes SmartApps in the SmartThings App. No WPS, which is the only way some Blueray players connect The Samsung Connect Home is a new mesh WiFi offering from a growing number of contenders but with one unique feature. A SmartThings hub is integrated in. The intention is to simplify your smart home setup, improve coverage, and take a lot of the complexity out of the process. For someone new to mesh WiFi or SmartThings this goal is largely achieved. You just plug in the main unit, open the app and pair, and almost all configuration is already done. Turning on SmartThings is as easy as choosing yes and pairing items. This all sounds great but it comes with a problem. People who know what SmartThings does or what the benefit of a mesh WiFi is want more. They appreciate simplicity but want at least some control and this becomes a challenge. To start, the units are subtle enough in design that leaving one out the open is unlikely to garner any unwanted attention. This is good because a good mesh WiFi is about proper placement, which can mean placing a unit in plain sight. The downside is the units are neither wall or ceiling mountable making options limited. One feature some mesh systems have that is missing from Connect Home is a signal meter either in the app or on the unit. There is a portion during setup where it can check signal strength but it doesn’t provide any useful information to say that the unit should be placed closer for better speed. This leaves you to guess if you have a good spot. If you have an internet speed of less than 130Mbps this system should serve you just fine. The problem is that it is rated at 866Mbps. Even testing with multiple devices straight from the WiFi on the unit serving as the router within two feet of the unit the speed was the same. Better units have a dedicated channel between them called backhaul so that they can communicate without losing speed each time your signal jumps from one to the next. Unfortunately, neither documentation nor testing could determine if these units processed such a feature as the speed never reacesh its full potential regardless of location. Although it cannot be confirmed, this speed issue seems as though it is a software issue as the hardware specs show it should do much better. Software is where these units really feel as though there is a need for growth. If you want to change QoS rules on a device, it must be connected via WiFi. Hardwired devices do not show up in the interface to set QoS. If you want to add a port forward, again the device must be connected via WiFi as hardwired devices do not show up to set any port forwards. Want to set a device, such a printer, with a static IP? You can’t set it beforehand. The device must show up in the interface first, which means WiFi only, and then you can change its address. Manually set it up in the printer and it might work but the system won’t show it at all. Do you have a NAS that you host all your music or videos on for access away from home? This currently cannot do this as pretty much any NAS will complain if you don’t manually set it static and of course, unless you it has integrated WiFi, you can’t create a port forward to it. Some ISPs have their modem set up with a fixed 192.168.1.x network and a select few refused to change those settings. Plugging in this system will cause your entire internet to stop working because the internal network is fixed at 192.168.1.x and cannot be changed. This seems to go against the attempt at simplicity. If the attempt was simplicity, it could detect your ISPs settings and verify there isn’t a conflict. Even better is if there was a step that recommended the settings to prevent a conflict but also allow you to adjust them if the need arose. If you have worked with some of the more unique mesh offerings you will know they come with robust family controls, filtering, and reporting. These units currently offer nothing more than a schedule to turn off devices that show up in the internet. Family controls are not a strong point. The intriguing part of this package is having SmartThings built right in. No need to have a separate box, separate configuration, or even separate purchase. This is a great concept. For those who want to have the most basic smart home you can just pair devices and only use the Samsung Connect app. You can get the ability to turn things on and off and even set up some rules. The problem, at least at the time of this review, is the Connect app severely limits the number of compatible devices. Only a handful of SmartThings compatible devices work within the Connect app. This is where the separate SmartThings app comes to the rescue. If you haven’t used SmartThings before, it will require you to use or create a Samsung account. Beyond that, it becomes a fully functional SmartThings hub. The problem comes up if you already had a hub. To start, there is no migration or backup tool. You must pair and rebuild everything from scratch. Before turning on the hub functionality, be sure to unpair your devices from your old hub as the moment you turn on the new one it gets confused if you used the same email address an unlinks your old hub. This will lead you to research how to use Z-Wave Exclusion mode and how to unpair devices and documentation is sketchy and circular in nature. Have a wall switch stuck paired to your old hub? There is a strong chance the switch instructions will instruct you to check your hub for help on resetting and the hub will suggest you check the switch instructions. These poor instructions are from very large name brands as well, not just some small outfit venturing into smart devices. If you also have a legacy SmartThings account, be sure to choose create new account. If your Samsung account is already on your phone it will automatically recognize it and allow you to select it. This is a known glitch in the setup. If you want to use Smartapps in the SmartThings app, be sure to steer clear of trying rules in the Samsung Connect as the Connect app will delete any Smartapps you install. It’s best to choose to administer with only one or other. The SmartThings app by far will be the most full featured option offering more functionality and device compatibility. So, one could ask the question what is good about this product? Except for the units being a little warmer than normal, the hardware is solid. Reaching out to Samsung support, which is listed on their website, were some excellent and quickly available support staff on the SmartThings team. Horrible phone menus aside, wait time was short and the staff were very knowledgeable. They also confirmed, with limited detail, that the software on the devices is mainly launch software and plans are to further expand and improve functionality. With the software improvements and the speed issue solved this could be a very competitive offering. Based the current software/firmware, it is rated at 2.5 stars. If the software is upgraded as indicated, the rating could easily change to a 4 to 4.5. Samsung has been known to do this in the past and every critique of the devices was software related, again assuming the speed issue is a software issue. If you consider a SmartThings Hub, at the time of writing, goes for $99 this could be a great deal. For anyone with internet above 120Mpbs or those wanting advanced networking features patience is the best option. Give Samsung time to add the additional features and see if they fix the speed issue before you make your final decision. If you have internet speeds below 120Mbps, would love to have WiFi everywhere in your house, as well as have SmartThings without the extra cost of a hub this could be a great buy even now.

I think the new WiFi mesh (or "whole-home" WiFi) systems are the best way to go now days. You can stretch coverage to corners of your house that just isn't possible with a single WiFi-enabled router. If you've been looking at upgrading to one of these systems and are also interested in getting a "smart home" hub to start controlling light bulbs, switches, etc. then this might be a good option. If you already have a smart hub/controller and are just looking for a mesh WiFi system, there are probably better options available. The Connect Home was fairly easy to set up out of the box. Using a phone app is apparently the only method available for setup (no web interface), but it worked well enough. Adding the additional Connect devices to the mesh was a bit of a guessing game as they were either in range and connected, or they didn't. I wasn't able to find an indication of the signal strength after they connected to know if it was solid or not. You can easily add guest WiFi access, but beyond that the settings in the app are very sparse. If you don't want or need to bother with a lot of network settings, then you might like the simplicity of this setup. If you're a power user that likes to adjust a lot of settings then you won't be impressed. I did like the screen that displays a real-time graph of the traffic going through the Connect (picture attached). There doesn't seem to be any history or collection of total bytes transferred, but you can see if something is currently filling up your Internet connection or not. You can also see how many devices are connected via wireless and then tap on that to get a list of each device. (Picture attached) Also at this screen you can add a port forwarding configuration if you need it, give the device high bandwidth priority, or restrict times that it can access the network. I did not see a way to configure a static IP or MAC-assigned DHCP address, which could be a problem if you have a NAS or some streaming server like I do that needs to keep an assigned IP address. I was happy to see it had two network modes: Standalone or Bridge. Putting it in bridge mode just to use as a mesh WiFi system and smart hub controller might be the best option for power users. In this mode, you can keep your existing router with all the port forwards, etc. but take advantage of the greater wireless coverage and smart hub. The Connect Home is definitely worth a look if you're in the market for a new WiFi system. You'll just want to compare features and see if this does everything that you need.

I switched from my current mesh wireless system to the new samsung connect home (SCH) wireless system. My old system was great and worked flawlessly in my 3000 sf. house, so I was hoping to see some advancements in the SCH system since it also has the samsung smart hub integrated into the routers. I started by unplugging my old system and downloading the samsung connect app. I plugged in the SCH system and immediately noticed that there was one improvement. The Power plug only took up one slot on my power strip, the old one took up 3 slots. Next, I used the app to configure the SCH system, initially it wouldn't connect no matter how many times I tried. However, After some basic troubleshooting I was able to figure out that I needed to turn off the WIFI on my phone for it to work. so if you are unable to connect, save yourself some time and turn off your phones WIFI. Next, I gave it the same network name and password as my old system so I wouldn't have to change the network on all my devices. Everything connected without any problems. Then I tested each devices WIFI connection and again no problems. I also checked the signal strength around my house and it was either good or excellent. Finally, I started using the smart things app to connect all my smart devices to the smart things hub. This is where I ran into problems. The smart things hub doesn't work with all my devices. My Hue lights and Bose speakers were supported, but, my Nest thermostat, Nest cams, 2017 samsung smart tv and samsung robot vacuum were not supported. With all that being said, so far it has been working great as a mesh wireless system but as a whole home hub it falls short.

These routers are really small compared to other routers in the same price range. The routers are the shape of a hamburger patty for size comparisons. I already have a Samsung Galaxy S7, so i already had the Samsung Connect App installed. if you don't have a samsung phone (iphone) you'll have to download it from the app store. I hooked up the modem cable and adaptor. The app automatically detected the router, but later i had problems connecting to it or "registrating" it. I made the mistake of turning on all the routers at the same time. I had one in the garage, one in the living room of the house, and the last one in the master bedroom. After several attempts i decided to turn off all of the routers except one. The instruction manual doesn't really help either. It's very small pamphlet and one cardboard cut out with instruction to start and sign in gadgets to smarthub. After doing the installation process for each one, It finally worked! I later turn on the next router, and followed the instruction provided in the app. Then i finally did the same for the final router. Once i completed the installation process for all 3 routes, it prompted me to update the routers. It didn't give me a time or percentage of update. After it was completed, my brother had trouble logging from his sony smart tv. It had 3 routers on its network list. I later logged into the app and notice from the menu bar under network settings that it had an option for "stand alone" or "Bridge" i later picked bridge and the app said "switching networks" and it stayed like that for 10 mins. I exited went back and neither Bridge or stand alone was selected. I later tried to go back to stand alone and the same thing happened. See pic on file. Now the internet wifi doesn't work, but the ethernet works on my imac (i have it directly connected to the router). I later reset the routers by pressing and holding the reset button for 10 seconds. I turn off the routers again and one by one i did the installation/registration process again. It took a long time to figure it out. i was going to call samsung hotline but it was the 4th of july (i know who installs routers on 4th of july anyway?) The smarhub has a lot of appliances, tv's, and other samsung products to sync up too. i have a samsung vacuum myself when i have tried to sync it up the model of the vacuum wasn't even on file and i have the latest wifi power robot vacuum too! I guess the smarthub would be a good app to use with the router if you actually own a lot of samsung products. I have a couple but not enough to take advantage of the full potential of the smarthub. Because of what i mention above, i will give it 3 stars. There are a lot of other routers out there with recognizable names and for the price i would consider those options instead. May be if smarthub would add more appliance models and add a web base installation process instead of app base it would run more smoother? I mean it takes a long time to just check signal strength, and thats an option within the samsung connect app! Not impressed with the app so far. I kind of miss my old router mesh network system.