WHW0302 Velop Tri-Band Whole Home Mesh WiFi System (AC2200 WiFi Router/WiFi Extender for Seamless Coverage of up to 4,000 sq ft, Parental Controls, 2-Pack, White)

Buon prodotto preso in sostituzione del pessimo Wi-Fi della Vodafone station Installate il primo nodo collegandolo alla Lan e il secondo solo al Wi-Fi Terminata la configurazione potete collegare il secondo nodo alla Lan Se volete usare solo le funzionalità Wi-Fi impostare in bridge mode terminata la configurazione se no vi arriva un dico che va in conflitto con quello del vostro router 4 stelle perché arriva con prese UK ☹

My Netgear R9000 finally gave up the ghost and going back to Virgin's Superhub 3 was not an option due to the extreme limited functionality of that router. I'd been quite excited about the idea of mesh WiFi coverage for some time and had read plenty of reviews of folks using different products. The Velop system came up as a deal with Amazon at the right time, so I decided to give it a try. Set up is a breeze, just download the app and follow the instructions therein. It's pretty foolproof and we were up and running and online in a matter of minutes. I would imagine that most folks would be very happy to use the app to control their network but further functionality can be had from accessing the router via WebUI. As consumer units go, the web interface is user friendly and easy to navigate although some glaring omissions seem to have been made by the vendor, namely the inability to backup configuration settings (this was available on earlier versions of the software, but was pulled on a recent update). This may be a deal breaker for folks with complex config requirements though! So far, so good. Then the problems began; WiFi started to drop for no reason, and this became more frequent as time went on. Then we had issues where the 3 of us couldn't be streaming videos at the same time (on paper, this should not have been a problem at all) and then we started having WAN connectivity issues, and we would go offline briefly with our ISP. All the above problems were fixed with reboots, but this needed to be done too frequently and our autistic son found the constant lack of connectivity very stressful. Amazon were very good and arranged a replacement unit after about 6 months of these problems (in this time, I had also had several conversations with Linksys tech support about my issues, but most of them weren't very helpful nor knowledgeable). The new unit brought more of the same and if anything, had worse performance than the first; during the heatwave in June ‘18 it would just stop working for tens of minutes at a time, this despite the temperature being nowhere near the 40° ceiling the manufacturers claimed. The second unit has now gone back to Amazon and I've been running a single Unifi access point with a PFSense router since. Unifi’s stated WiFi speeds are somewhat slower than both Linksys and Netgear manufactures claims, but in reality is much faster and has a much greater range. The best part is that in the 3 weeks since installing this system, it hasn't gone down once and I've not had to endure a screaming, angry child because he can't watch his latest YouTube video 5-10 times a day! Happy days :-)

Having struggled with patchy Wi-Fi despite different solutions such a power-line extenders and adding multiple separate access points I finally bit the bullet and bought into the Velop system with a pair of nodes. I was attracted to Velop as opposed to some of the competing products as it operates as a true mesh (rather than master / slave) which can automatically find the most efficient path back through the network. Whilst this doesn't matter in my 2 node configuration, I may add further nodes depending on works going on in the house and for the garden office. It also uses a separate backhaul wifi network, rather than stealing bandwidth off the main interfaces, so in theory there shouldn't be any significant slowdown on nodes on the periphery of the network. Finally, it can use the inbuilt Ethernet ports for backhaul rather than WiFi, allowing individual nodes to be located further away from one another where structured cabling is present. In terms of aesthetics, it is a matte white tall rectangular(ish) box. It does play with the shape somewhat, transitioning from a perfect square at the top to having bulged sides at the bottom. The rear sides and top have a uniform dot pattern which acts as the ventilation although not all the holes go right the way through the housing. A single multi-colour LED at the top indicate the status, which is normally illuminated blue if all is well. At the bottom is a cutout at the back allowing for the ethernet cable(s) and power to route neatly out the rear. There is enough of a recess under the nodes to accommodate ethernet cables with sleeves, and this is also where the reset and power switches reside. When compared with other white anonymous pieces of technology which sit on view, it is about 5cm shorter that an Amazon Echo and slightly taller and wider than a Netatmo indoor module. At the base of the nodes, offset on one side is the 'LINKSYS' logo which upsets my sense of symmetry and a little part of me wishes it wasn't there. The power supply is a wall-wart style which annoyingly is larger than average and doesn't fit next to other plugs on a regular power strip, it's also a bizarre oversight to see the branding on the plug be upside down when inserted into a regular wall socket. Configuration is initiated by using the LINKSYS app on a smartphone which I believe initially communicates via bluetooth whilst setting up the WiFi network. It is annoying to find that these nodes must be configured using the LINKSYS cloud service and you have to create an account - I would have preferred an option to configure it locally. Once it is configured, there is a web interface which can be navigated to via the IP address of the primary node using the LINKSYS cloud account or the 5 digit code on the bottom of the node to authenticate. During initial configuration, it does ask whether you have an integrated modem/router or separate devices but irrespective of this runs it in router mode. The routing functions are fairly basic, not including services such as a built in VPN server and so I have elected to run this in bridge mode (so only offering WiFi and relying on my existing router for DHCP, routing and other functions). In this mode, the nodes simply act as the WiFi interface for the network and I have disabled the WiFi on my router. From a coverage perspective, this has transformed the WiFi in my house, for reference I live in a 5 bedroom 1920's detached house with approx 2500 ft over 2 floors. With the nodes in the middle of the house on both floors I get excellent coverage, even in the extremities, with rates near the nodes at the advertised broadband rates, and those near the edges still in excess of 10Mb.

Once set-up these work well but......the set-up is more complicated than the LinkSys app would have you believe and the instructions are immature and incomplete. It took me three failed attempts and then and my very IT-savvy son another couple of hours before success was achieved. The two 'child nodes' had to have several resets before the main node and app would recognise them; in the initial set up when the app tells you to keep the extra nodes close to the router (because it uses bluetooth) seemed to work but several times I was just left with blinking blue-lights which persisted for more than an hour before, we attempted another set-up, necessitating further 'resets' go the extra nodes. Eventually we found success by using an ethernet cable from the master LinkSys node to each 'child node' and doing each of the child nodes separately. It was also necessary to restart my network a few times and to allow one of the child nodes to download and update, followed by another restart, before the child nodes settled down and their light turned to solid blue. Only then could they be moved to other positions in the house. That said, they clearly work and I've noticed a significant improvement in webpage loading when using devices where the child nodes are. So, I can recommend the product but would urge other buyers to show perseverance in the initial set up. You will get there eventually.

Starting with my conclusion, I'm quite happy with these, at time of writing these are £350 for 2 nodes, which is a little much, but I grabbed them on Prime Day for £200 and at that price point they are a good buy. They look nice in my family home (compared to others), they are powerful and cover the house, simple to use for guests, and simple to manage. There are a few niggles below, but nothing deal breaking. I bought these to provide strong signal throughout the house and they don't disappoint, the setup is a bit slow and a little hit and miss but you only do it one time after which it is running. I like the fact they've opened up the WebUI, adds some advanced config (though most is available through App). I also like the app, as it provides quick access to basic stuff. The unit looks nice and is compact, lots make comments about only 2 ethernet ports, but ultimately if you want more buy a switch and plug it in, it would have ruined the aesthetics to add more ports and they've obviously done this so it can be put out in the open and not look like a typical router (though it looks a little like an air freshener... and I wish they let you turn off the LED light which is a bit bright). From a signal perspective it covers the house easily, and combines the 5GHz and 2.4GHz channels into one discoverable name, which is nice as this just confused other members of my family. It is a little dodgy detecting the best frequency to use, looks like newer devices handle it better, older ones tend to end up on 2.4GHz. But hasn't caused me any issues, and they seem to be responding to user feedback and doing updates which is always a good sign, adding features such as the WebUI and bridged mode, DHCP reservation etc, so I'm looking forward to future updates adding more.