Top positive review
24 people found this helpful
Whole-home mesh WiFi for Under $100? Absolutely.
By Peter Fraedrich on Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2019
I was skeptical of these when I bought them; all the reviews I read said to go with either Google WiFI or Eero, but I really didn't want to spend $200+ on a mesh setup, especially without knowing how coverage would be in our new house.My personal set up is running in "APmode" with a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter (which I also HIGHLY recommend) acting as router, DHCP, and secondary DNS for my network, with a Synology NAS running primary DNS.-- SETUP --Setup was very very easy. Its pretty much plug in, turn on, and pair with the Tenda app.-- INTERFACE --I took 1 star off for the UI because there's no web UI as of this review. Tenda is supposed to be rolling a web management UI out as a firmware update sometime soon-ish, but its not out yet. As of this review, all management is done via the Tenda smartphone app. It works well, but isn't as full-featured as I would like, but I'm a developer by day and my depth of interest in customization or metrics is probably way deeper than most. In the app you can see your online nodes, what devices are connected, and all the usual info -- perfectly usable.-- ISSUES --The only issue that I had was related to DHCP leases for the nodes. When running in AP mode, the nodes aren't responsible for their own DHCP leases which has the potential to cause problems should leases expire and different IP's get assigned. This causes the nodes to not be able to communicate with each other, breaking the mesh. This can be worked around by one of two ways: 1) dont use AP mode, or 2) assign static DHCP reservations to the nodes on first boot BEFORE pairing. I didn't do this and had to re-create my mesh after a power outage, but have since assigned static DHCP leases and have had no issues since. Unless you're running a slightly more complicated setup as I am this should never be an issue, though.-- FEATURES --The addition of an Ethernet port on the nodes is brilliant. I have one node stationed behind my smart TV with the TV tethered via CAT6e to the node. This eliminates a wireless hop that would otherwise have to exist if I weren't able to hard-wire my TV into the network.-- BANDWIDTH --The stated bandwidth for the mesh is 1200 Mbps, however real-world bandwidth is closer to 90Mpbs with multiple devices and streaming IoT on the network (I have a few WiFI CCTV cameras, smart tvs, and other bandwidth-heavy things). I have yet to hit bottlenecks in bandwidth even when streaming 4K video over the mesh along with all the other crap on my network.-- CONCLUSION --If you want a hyper-feature-rich experience and Gigabit WiFi speeds, go look at Google WiFi or Eero, but if you want dead-simple, bulletproof, no-frills, no-BS mesh WiFi, this is the setup for you.5/5 would buy again
Top critical review
7 people found this helpful
Easy to set up, fast speeds with PCs and phones, does not work with Rokus or Echos
By Brad Winston on Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2018
First of all, I really wanted to love this system. From a design perspective the units are sleek and look great around the house. Installation was super easy and I have used both Lumas and Orbis. From a speed perspective, the performance was outstanding and I could easily get 80Mbps anywhere in the 3600 sq ft house off a 100Mbps connection with a phone or laptop. However the main reason I purchased this was to support the growing number of streaming and home automation devices throughout the house. All of my Amazon Echos would connect to the Wifi but music streaming would be so slow it would stop intermittently every 30 seconds or would just stop and say it cant play the music. My Roku TVs and latest generation Rokus would not connect to the Wifi at all even though any other device sitting right next to it would connect and get the 80Mbps. I worked with the Tenda support department multiple times and was told they were aware of the issue but did not know if or when it would be fixed as they felt it was a chipset problem with the Rokus and Echos. While there may actually be a chipset problem with those devices, it does not explain why other other mesh systems I have tried as well as my AT&T router connect to them flawlessly. I was also a little disappointed with the router control interface which is through their app only. It does not allow for control of advanced features and parental control is limited compared to the likes of Luma or Google Wifi. So in a nutshell, this is a great buy if you want simple installation and basic control with only PCs and phones connected. However if you are using Rokus or Echos, DO NOT PURCHASE!
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