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United States of America, Hartford
1 Level
709 Review
61 Karma

Review on 🏠 TP-Link Smart Hub and Complete Home WiFi Mesh System by Dennis Brinson

Revainrating 1 out of 5

Mesh WiFi performance 5 stars. but application. not many

I've had this in our house for over a month now. One block is on the first floor and the other is on the second floor. I have almost 100% Wi-Fi signal in my basement and I can walk into the middle of our 1 acre backyard and still have enough signal to download/stream content. (I'll probably add another decorative element to the patio to extend coverage to the entire area.) A few points about my setup: Cable modem (100Mbps by Spectrum) - Meraki/FW router - Deco M9. While I could easily use the M9 in just standard AP mode, I prefer Router mode, which offers an extra layer of endpoint security. In terms of performance, I couldn't be happier. Number of devices online = 23 (ipad, Fire TV, Fire HD Tablet, Echo, Echo Dots, Macbook, Surface Pro and more) Features/functions: app/setup/configuration. Let's start here. Installation and basic configuration - 10/10. However, little can be adjusted. Most of you are used to being able to set your own IP address ranges, . Well it's not here. Also, there doesn't seem to be a web interface for the main unit/device, as is usually the case when setting up a router/access point. Also, you're stuck with a "static" "dynamic" DHCP IP address range. The product allows you to allocate/reserve IP range for your devices. I appreciate the ease of setup, but TP-Link missed an opportunity here, at least without adding a few extra options. Smart Hub - This device CAN act as a Smart Hub. I've set up a few lightbulbs and wifi outlets that seem to be working fine. A nice feature, but certainly not a reason to buy a product since most people who have smart home devices already own a smart hub of some sort or another. QOS - Quality of Service configuration options are available through the mobile app. I didn't have to fiddle with it as bandwidth wasn't an issue. Blacklisting is a typical client/device blocking option. Works as expected. The child lock seems to work. I have set several profiles for children's devices. Trend Micro AV - I've seen several reviews complaining about this. I'm not sure why. I'd like to know when an SSL exploit is being attempted on a client device and see that this Wi-Fi solution is actively blocking it. Works as expected. I don't have Google Wi-Fi or Orbi or any other mesh solution installed, but at this point I see absolutely no reason to try. TP-Link has a solid Wi-Fi solution that just works. The app and other features require some work, but I don't think you can go wrong.

Pros
  • wide range
Cons
  • some errors