Linksys Mesh WiFi 6 Velop T

These day when you buy a router, it needs to get automatic security updates to be reasonably safe from hackers. My previous router a m5 from tp-link was reaching its end of life for these updates, so it was time for a new one. Unfortunately most router manufacturers don’t make it easy to determine the end of security updates date for their routers, so I did sone research and found this Linksys router three pack at a decent price. This router will receive updates until, I believe sometime in 2028.This is quite a tall router, at about 10 inches, which they say will help give it more range. I used three routers to provide Wi-Fi mesh coverage for my 1/2 acre property containing a house, shed and barn. Coverage seems to be good, certainly as good as my previous m5. Performance is good as well, claiming to be a WiFi 6 router. Connection reliability seems to be good as well. I have many devices connected, from light controllers, sprinkler controllers, a sprinkler Wi-Fi translator, and various android, Apple IOS, Google, Windows devices and Amazon FireTVs, and smart televisions. All devices connected with out issue, except one older Visio tv that may just be too old to connect. I solved that problem by switching it to a hard-wired Ethernet connection to the nearest router.Setup was easy with clear instructions, using the free configuration app downloaded from the web. Configurability is ok, perhaps not as detailed as my tp-link app, but still good enough for my needs. Be sure to enable automatic updates for the best security.Overall this seems to be a decent router that is priced well, and should give me great service for several years to come. Recommended!

We had 3 nodes in the house, the original Velop system that worked overall fairly well with (about 70 devices) but speeds were less then desirable. Nothing bad or anything but with the increase in streaming devices and wanting to upgrade looked around a bit at the various options. Having been using Linksys products for many many many years, looked at the newest MX series and based on reviews, had too many concerns about compatibility with some of the older devices, (mixed mode may not work), etc....So looked at these and they are much better priced and could get 2 - 3 packs (total of 6) and truly blanket the house. With the 3 nodes we had it was barely reaching the back and front of the house and nodes had to be in one or two particular spots, otherwise they wouldn't connect. Considered adding nodes, but since ours were first gen and given the cost, this package seemed to be the best option for the money.Since it was almost an identical swap, screen grabbed all the settings from the original velop, manual dns servers, dyndns, port forwarding, all the individual wifi rules, all those little things that you might forget about....and proceeded to switch everything over using the same network name (hoping that everything would just work). Started up and configured the main node (it is acting as the router) and the internet was only down for only about 10 minutes while everything was setup to provide the basic wifi. Worked like a charm. That single node seemed to blanket the house really well, even the furthest bedroom that was always problematic could get a signal.Wondering if I might have regretted buying 6 of them.....speed testing the wifi proved that this wasn't a mistake.Proceeded to setup 2 nodes downstairs and then 2 more nodes upstairs. Turns out this was a good thing. Testing the wifi upstairs with only router, there was definitely a speed impact. Also found that the wifi adapter on the computer in that room was a bit older so just used the wired connection to the node and worked great, no more having to worry about where the node is in the room either.Thought I was done and then found out that a laptop downstairs couldn't see the new network....was going what the heck??!?!?!?! So grabbed a usb wifi adapter and after a little research, some chipsets did not play well with the newer wifi6 stuff....downloaded the new driver from intel (released oct 2020 -to fix this problem).....super! Can see the network and get the same high speed connection there as well.Spent another 25-35 min putting in the settings from the old system so that all the 'stuff' we have still works, all total (w/o the laptop wifi issue) less than 2hours to setup 5 nodes. Yup only 5...still have the 6th, but haven't figured out where to even put it...the signals are so strong everywhere now, even the garage, that don't see a need. That said, paying for 6 and only using 5...still less expensive than buying the newer mx stuff.If you don't need bleeding edge tech, but want something that's new enough and just works, these are really great and honestly easier to setup than the original Velop, as those were first gen tech. They have only been running for less than 24 hours but hopefully they will provide many years of service, as the original Velop has done.

All of the below still applies but I have given up on Linksys. This system will work fine for about a month at a time and then simply stop, to get it working again it takes multiple hours online wiht Linksys support and inevitably they make me set back to factory defaults or move around the nodes. I'm done, I just ordered a Netgear. Good luck to anyone that decides to buy these, they are really not good hardware. I suspect much of the problem is with the router function itself, seems most of my issues revolve around DHCP timeouts and DNS issues.I thought Mesh was the way of the future and I had always been happy with Linksys in the past but this is not your dads WRT, these things don't appear to even be made by Linksys, according to the MAC addresses they are made by Belkin.Install is really pushed to be by mobile phone which is just dumb in my opinion, a simple web browser interface is best for router setup but fine, the app seemed to work to get the initial node and accessory nodes setup so I'll let them have a pass.Now fast forward 8 months, at first just a few clients in the house seemed to be having speed issues, then on the same day, many no longer could get IP addresses from the parents DHCP server. Contacted online tech support and they ran me through some troubleshooting to no avail , the final idea was to reset the router and swap it with one of the nodes, We work from home so doing that in the middle of the day was not possible so I let them go. Upon end of day I did their suggestion and it did seem to fix the connectivity issues but with one huge repercussion, I could no longer install the 2 separate nodes, worked with the tech support people for almost 2.5 hours this time and the suggestion now was to switch the parent node once more to the 3rd remaining node that had not yet been a parent. This did seem to work once again and this time they have me install the nodes using an undocumented method (press reset button rapidy 5 times on parent node and hope for best). This did work and so far my network seems to be back to running but I can't say I would recommend these items. As it stands now, if what they said is correct, 2 out of the 3 of my nodes cannot be a parent mode which in my mind is broken, if I have something wrong on this third node, I will be having to look for a new unit and what I believe they are hoping for is another 4 months will have past and their warranty will be expired