Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
The Linksys Velop is one of the best rightful interlocking - web routers we ’ve tested , but many Wi - Fi enthusiasts will still choose a more conventional example .
Best Prices Today: Linksys Velop Whole Home Wi-Fi (three pack)
Linksys wish its time before bound into the consumer mesh Wi - Fi router market place , catch Eero , Luma , Netgear , and Google wade in with new products in 2016 . Now Linksys is making a plash at CES , where it debuted its Velop Whole Home Wi - Fi system . We ’ve benchmarked the heck out of a three - lymph node system and found it to be one of the best yet . It ’s also one of the most expensive , with a individual router priced at $ 200 , a two - pack at $ 350 , and a three - inner circle going for $ 400 ( a substantial discount rate over buying three singles ) .
You ’ll find benchmarks conducted with a MacBook Pro further down , but I execute the same trial run with an HP Envy x360 . ( chatter hereif you ’d prefer to take that rendering . )
The Velop ’s slimly rounded columnar form divisor hews near toNetgear ’s Orbi(next on my review to - do list ) than the Robin Goodfellow - form devices fromEero(benchmarked , but not formally reviewed yet ) andGoogle(Google Wi - Fi has been amply review ) . And like the Orbi , the Velop is a tri - band router with three 2×2 radios ( two uplink and two downlink ) operating three independent web on the 2.4- and 5GHz frequence band . One of the 5GHz internet utilizes the depressed channels on that isthmus ( 36 and up ) while the other uses the upper channels ( 149 and up ) . The router automatically steers clients to the most appropriate web , and each node automatically chooses a different line for its backhaul duties ( i.e. , data point travel from guest devices back to the router ) . you may also put up one guest mesh .
The Velop ’s off - white-hot erect enclosing is perforated with ventilation system mess on the left-hand side , the back , and the top . With its six antennas conceal in the top of its enclosure , and its cables emerging from a cutout in one corner , the Velop looks more like a room air freshener than a router . But that ’s distinctive of interlock router — maker are doing their best to contrive internet gadget that consumer wo n’t object to point out in the out-of-doors . Be that as it may , everyone who buys an understated mesh router will still need to plug it into their ugly honest-to-goodness broadband gateway . I mistrust a caboodle of these routers will still stop up in water closet , but the memory access points might see the light of day .
The Linksys Velo offer generous ventilation for its quad - core ARM CPU , 512 M of DDR3 memory , and 4 GB of flash entrepot . Cables emerge from the notch in the box .
A undivided multi - color LED on top news report the Velop ’s condition , and there ’s a flatware Linksys logotype printed on its solid face . Two ethernet port and a world power connexion are located inside a two - column inch - deep well inside the bottom of the social unit . There ’s an on / off substitution and a reset push here as well ( you wo n’t require to bend a paperclip to reach the latter ) .
The ethernet joining automatically configure themselves for WAN or LAN duties , and each orbiter Velop can also run as a wireless access point or a wireless bridge for guest that would otherwise need to be hardwired to your electronic web . You ’ll ask a smartphone or tablet to determine up and configure a Velop router , as there is no web client . The app ( there are Android and iOS versions ) pairs with the router ’s Bluetooth 4.0 radio and then guides you through the remainder of the process , which include pose a Wi - Fi password for the router .
As you summate each node , the app mechanically evaluates the strength of its connection to the next close node and will suggest moving it closer if the connection is weak . Bluetooth uncovering process took longer than I ’ve experience with other mesh router , and Linksys order me there ’s a hemipterous insect that causes the app to clip out if you leave behind it to do something else . The wait is annoying when you ’re set up a three - node system as I did , but you only need to do this once .
Two ethernet ports ( the router car - configures these as WAN or LAN ports ) are recessed inside the cornerstone of the router along with the power connector to cut back cable television service clutter .
Linksys says the Velop will work with Amazon ’s Alexa digital assistant , but that feature was n’t quick in sentence for us to reexamine . Once Amazon endorse the Velop skill , you ’ll be able to use voice commands to turn its client internet on and off and request login credentials for its main and guest networks . I ’d also wish to see bread and butter for prioritizing client machine with representative commands ( you may select up to three devices for bandwidth precedence if your internet connecter is constrain . As it remain firm , you ’ll need the app to do these tasks yourself . ) The Velop app also has basic maternal controls .
Benchmark results
If you populate in a belittled home or an apartment , you might be capable to get aside with a individual Velop . When MacBook Pro client was in the same room as the router , nine feet away and without any wall between the two , the Velop delivered TCP throughput of 475.3 Mbit per second . That ’s 41- and 43 - percentage slower respectively than the non - mesh router I compare it to : a Linksys EA9500 and an Apple AirPort Time Capsule . The Velop was three percent slower than Google ’s Wifi interlock router , but it was 42 - percent faster than Eero ’s mesh router at this location .
This floorplan shows where the router , mesh nodes , and clients were localise for benchmarking .
The Linksys EA9500 delivered the best carrying out of all the router when the client was further away , in my great elbow room , with the AirPort Time Capsule get along in 2nd . At that location , the client is 33 foot from the router , with a wall , plywood cabinets , and several kitchen appliance in the signal path ( a icebox , double bulwark oven , island - countertop reach , and a ceiling - hung ventilation hood ) . The Velop also got beat by the Eero and the Securifi Almond 3 at this location .
One Velop node would n’t be sufficient for my 2800 - square - foot , undivided - degree home ; then again , none of the single Wi - Fi router I ’ve tested can sufficiently get across my well - insulated home theatre of operations — at least not wirelessly .
Adding a second Velop thickening was enough to blanket my intact home with Wi - Fi coverage , including the home theater . The Velop save impressive throughput of 173.2Mbps there and 174.2Mbps in the sunshine way , which is 65 feet from the router with three insulate internal bulwark and two fireplaces in the signal path . The Linksys EA9500 manage a paltry 19.1Mbps in the home theatre , and the AirPort Time Capsule could n’t pass on the client at all .
Adding a third node was overkill for my space . Throughput at unaired range and in the sun way increased marginally , but it dropped a bit in the slap-up room and the home base theater , presumptively because the third lymph node increase the hop the data point packets had to make . I would n’t recoil for that third node unless I be in a expectant or multi - story home . corrupt a two - pack and tote up the third node later would be $ 50 more than buying a three - pack to begin with .
When I test the Velop with a Windows PC client , the router ’s closelipped - compass performance dropped as I added node . As you may see from the chart below , I did n’t see that with the Mac . Throughput jump considerably when I append the 2nd node and drop back only a bit when I tote up the third ( this bechance even more with the Google Wifi ) . In my home at least , two interlocking nodes is the sweet spot .
The chart above compares the baseline Linksys EA9500 and Apple AirPort Time Capsule to the Linksys Velop and Google Wifi with one , two , and then three node deploy . None of the mesh routers deliver howling range on their own , but adding nodes to the Velop and Google Wi - Fi networks increased throughput at range . deploy a range extender with the EA9500 ( or an extra basis station for the AirPort Time Capsule ) might aid improve the reach of those router , but that scheme can importantly cut down the router ’s overall bandwidth due to overhead . That does n’t happen with mesh networks , and adding Velop nodessignificantlyincreased throughput compared to Google ’s intersection , as you may see in the chart above .
My terminal operation chart shows how the Linksys Velop performs under pressing . For this test , I run away wireless TCP - throughput benchmarks on three twain of computing equipment ( four Windows machines and two MacOS computers ) placed 33 foot from the router while at the same time streaming 4 K video from a Roku Ultra streaming box that ’s wirelessly connected to the electronic web ( with three active node ) .
The Velop crushed the competition on this one , including its cousin , the Linksys EA9500 . It was more than twice as dissipated than some of the other router .
acknowledge how much higher the MacBook Pro ’s routine are compared to the Windows motorcar ? That ’s attributable to Apple ’s pick of a 3×3 Broadcom Wi - Fi arranger . The vast majority of Windows laptop computer , admit the HP Envy x360 I used , have 2×2 Wi - Fi adapters . I plug a Linksys WUSB6100 M USB Wi - Fi adapter into the second Windows laptop , which is an onetime machine with an 802.11n adapter onboard . While the WUSB6100 M is only a 1×1 part , it offers native backing for MU - MIMO .
Is the Linksys Velop right for you?
The Linksys Velop is one of the best interlocking networks we ’ve tested so far . It offers a potent collection of characteristic , very good performance , and comes with a three - year warranty with 24/7 tech support . The less - expensive Google Wifi was slenderly faster at close image while operating solo , and it was considerably quicker at that length in a two - client constellation . But the Linksys router trounced it and the rest of the field at range of mountains when running two or three node . The Velop is also the only one of the few routers to support MU - MIMO right hand out of the box seat . While there are n’t a pot of MU - MIMO client gadget on the market place right now , you wo n’t have to wait for a firmware update if you own one .
Linksys is taking pre - orders now and carry to send the new router on January 15 .
