Should you switch to a Wi-Fi 7 mesh router? My home inspection reveals what went well (and what didn’t)

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There is nothing more frustrating than sitting on your couch or at your desk and seeing a limited Wi-Fi signal. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been seen with my phone on my outstretched arm, doing what looks like a weird yoga pose, trying to get a better signal.

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After a day, the solution I will come back to would be to set up a repeater or connect another Wi-Fi router to distribute the signal. It is not a good solution because it did not allow smooth handover between different routers. I have also used Wi-Fi extenders of all kinds.

Yes, they spent a lot of money. Even the ones that worked didn’t work that well. Extenders often make a good Internet connection bad, and an average connection bad.

But there was no other way because, at that time, I didn’t have one Tenda BE5100 3-pack Mesh Wi-Fi System.

Mesh advantage

Mesh Wi-Fi brings the classic idea of ​​Wi-Fi extensions into the modern era. You have the main unit, and then there are the satellites that dot the area. They all share the same Wi-Fi name, and communication between different satellites as you move from room to room is smooth and seamless.

One problem is that most mesh systems I’ve tested are expensive. Some units were there $500 or more. Good systems for sure, very nice, but that’s a lot of money to put down.

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This cost is why I’ve been looking for quality mesh systems that don’t cost the world. And this is exactly what the BE5100 (aka ME6 Pro) offers. You get three units, each equipped with five internal antennas and five independent high-power FEMs (Front-End Modules), which offer a very fast connection capable of handling broadband speeds of up to 2,000 Mbps and Wi-Fi speeds of 688 Mbps on 2.4 GHz and 4,323 Mbps on 5 GHz

And yes, for those who like to be on the edge, this system is compatible with Wi-Fi 7, so you are future proof. For those with multiple devices at home, such as modern homes that have adopted the Internet of Things, any network you build using the BE5100 can handle more than 160 devices.

Not a numbers person? You can be sure that this capability is more than enough for dozens of devices to stream videos, make video calls, back up files to NAS boxes, and doomscroll endless cat videos.

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An average home or small office setup will be hard pressed to fill this network.

Covering with a blanket

Three units are enough to cover an area of ​​6,600 square meters, which is a very large home. I tested this setup in an old stone house with walls up to three meters thick, and three units can cover an entire two-story home with excellent Internet access, combined with a cheap router and broadband package that failed miserably.

One of the things that holds us back with most mesh systems is that they can be difficult to set up, and it’s not long before they start asking you for things like IP addresses. Although a minimal amount of setup is required with the BE5100, the Tenda app (iOS/Android) guides you through the process, making it a much faster process. And if you mess up, you can start over.

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Once you’ve set up one unit as your main unit, connecting the others is simply a matter of pressing the mesh button for a few seconds and using the app to add the satellite to the network.

NFC and diagnostics

Another cool little feature of this system is that the kit comes with a small self-adhesive NFC tag. Once you set up the network, you can use the Tenda app to write network information on the tag, making it easy for others to connect to the network. I can’t remember another router app that has this feature.

A sidenote here, though — the app doesn’t write-protect the tag (this is so you can rewrite it at a later date if the network settings change), so that someone with malicious intent can taint the tag and rewrite it. My advice would be to use an application to protect the tag in the business setting to prevent unauthorized changes.

Another system feature I really appreciate is the app’s diagnostics. In those times when something is broken, this feature always delivers. I threw simulated errors at the network, and it picked them up and fixed them.

Functionally, the unit was close to what I expected. Broadband for my office is a decent 150 Mbps fiber line, but that’s not something for a program like this. So I had to bring out the big guns — mine Starlink a container. If set up correctly, this dish can reach download speeds of 400 to 500 Mbps.

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This is only a quarter of the 2,000 Mbps the BE5100 can handle, but it’s a decent load. The system had no problems managing this bandwidth and did a good job of distributing it between network devices.

I loaded the network using 4K video streams from Netflix and YouTube. I was able to get a dozen streams running at the same time (my MacBook Pro was a master at handling eight streams before Chrome’s RAM usage went crazy), and I estimate I could have half a dozen streams.

I then decided to see how the Wi-Fi would handle heavy use, so I pushed as much data as possible across the test network I had set up, moving data back and forth from both of mine. Ugreen DH4300 4-bay NAS boxes and Ugreen DXP8800 Plus.

The DH4300 can only handle about 300 Mbps per network, which is just background noise, but the DXP8800 Plus is more capable and can handle a whopping 20,000 Mbps across its two gigabit Ethernet ports. The Wi-Fi network had no problem transferring a 30GB test file in less than 100 seconds. I was very impressed with the results.

ZDNET shopping advice

After testing the router system in my home, I’m not sure if I can go back to traditional Wi-Fi 6 routers. The speed difference is noticeable, especially on my line of work. But I would also say that most homes probably don’t need this level of hardware and bandwidth — not now, at least.

It usually costs $220, i Tenda BE5100 3-Pack Mesh Wi-Fi System competitively priced. Right now, there’s a deal on Amazon where you can pick up a three-pack plan for $190.

If you have a small space to cover with a signal, there is a 2-packs offer for $140suitable for up to 4,600 square feet. If you don’t need three units, there’s no point paying for them (but if you need to add another, that would be $100so don’t make the wrong choice).