Linksys Announces Velop Mesh Wi-Fi System

[thiggins]

Linksys has joined the mesh Wi-Fi battle.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

 

[Gascogne]

Looking forward for the review on Linksys Velop.

Wanting to replace my Linksys WRT1900AC, its been acting odd lately with freezing up at times.
The Linksys WRT3200ACM didn't become the replacement after I read the review on it here.

 

[pete y testing]

with the spec being that of most of the other released mesh systems already it certainly will be interesting to see what linksys do with the firmware and how that effect performance

pete

 

[thiggins]

with the spec being that of most of the other released mesh systems already

Two differences:
1) MU-MIMO - won't really be helpful. Mostly for marketing reasons
2) Dedicated 5 GHz backhaul radio - should make performance more like eero than Luma, if Linksys tunes performance properly.

 

[hmurchison]

Heard they have a Zigbee radio in there as well. Could be important given Zigbee's announcement of their DotDot universal networking.

 

[Mr.K]

After reading different reviews on the web I cannot figure out if this system uses a separate network sekment to shape its roaming like Orbi or Google, or if they can run clean AP mode like Edimax RE11??

I would like to avoid having to use double NAT from WiFi. So I see RE11 as a good solution ........ I just have no experience with the company Edimax.

 

[thiggins]

Heard they have a Zigbee radio in there as well. Could be important given Zigbee's announcement of their DotDot universal networking.

Maybe you heard that in my story...

 

[thiggins]

After reading different reviews on the web I cannot figure out if this system uses a separate network sekment to shape its roaming like Orbi or Google, or if they can run clean AP mode like Edimax RE11??

I would like to avoid having to use double NAT from WiFi. So I see RE11 as a good solution ........ I just have no experience with the company Edimax.

The Edimax is unique. All mesh systems are intended to function as routers. Functioning as an AP is secondary and not how the majority of buyers will use the system.

 

[sfx2000]

Two differences:
1) MU-MIMO - won't really be helpful. Mostly for marketing reasons
2) Dedicated 5 GHz backhaul radio - should make performance more like eero than Luma, if Linksys tunes performance properly.

Would it be fair to say that Mesh (or multi-point mesh-like) has really been the story of the year compared to MU and other Wave 2 features - at least for Wireless?

IMHO, most have seen much more benefit from Mesh like platforms than any of the other "improvements" in the past year...

 

[thiggins]

Would it be fair to say that Mesh (or multi-point mesh-like) has really been the story of the year compared to MU and other Wave 2 features - at least for Wireless?

Mesh / "distributed" WiFi systems will provide more benefit by far. MU-MIMO is the 3D TV if Wifi.

 

[sfx2000]

Mesh / "distributed" WiFi systems will provide more benefit by far. MU-MIMO is the 3D TV if Wifi.

My guess is that QC-Atheros pretty much knocked it out of the park for 2016 - Broadcom got the majority of 11ac Wave1 design wins - that being said, and they're doing ok with BHR's - but QCA has been doing a better job in areas outside of that, and as good of a job as BRCM at the Wave1 basic stuff...

(2015, and early Wave1 wasn't so great for QCA from an AP perspective, client STA chips were good however...)

On the client side - Intel and Realtek have been sorting things out there on the low end - QCA/Broadcom devices there have been mostly focused... (some high, some low), QCA will be more consistent in 2017, as Broadcom has cut loose a lot of their mobile focused chipsets over to Cypress...

Ralink/Mediatek was kind of missing in wireless for new stuff - but Mediatek's chips in the wired only low-end (e.g. ERX/hEX) came on strong in the sub-$100 range...

 

[PieceOfChum]

I can't wait for the review either. I recently purchased the NetGear Orbi system and it is excellent but very interested in this Linksys system as it seems to be similar but maybe a tad more advanced than the Orbi and it is using a Mesh setup versus a Star setup very interested if the performance is as good as the Orbi.

 

[thiggins]

I can't wait for the review either. I recently purchased the NetGear Orbi system and it is excellent but very interested in this Linksys system as it seems to be similar but maybe a tad more advanced than the Orbi and it is using a Mesh setup versus a Star setup very interested if the performance is as good as the Orbi.

Have you read the Orbi review?
Highly unlikely it can out-do Orbi. 4x4 backhaul vs. 2x2. I expect performance similar to eero.

When mesh is doing multiple hops, it eats up backhaul bandwidth and reduces throughput available to the device.

 

[PieceOfChum]

Have you read the Orbi review?
Highly unlikely it can out-do Orbi. 4x4 backhaul vs. 2x2. I expect performance similar to eero.

When mesh is doing multiple hops, it eats up backhaul bandwidth and reduces throughput available to the device.

I have read the review and am interested to see if the performance you describe will be the actual outcome with a similar set of tests. I love the Orbi so far excellent device and the only issue I had was that I had to manually reset the network password as the initial setup didn't sync the password between the router and the satellite but otherwise a great experience so far.

 

[hmurchison]

Maybe you heard that in my story...

Of course..I ignore just about everyone else wrt to networking reviews.

We'll see. Got my tracking number for my Velop 3-pack and if they turn on the Zibgee i'll give it a whirl.

 

[sm00thpapa]

$500.00 no thank you.

 

[whsbuss]

$500.00 no thank you.

Like eero, its a bit too much to pay for. If google updates their wifi to support mesh in bridge mode, I'll get that (again). I don't really need the dedicated 5G backhaul channels. Only 5 devices in the house and no real streaming.

 

[whsbuss]

Response from Linksys:

The Velop isn't designed to be used with other 3rd party routers nor does it support bridge mode.

I can take that off my list.

 

[sfx2000]

The Velop isn't designed to be used with other 3rd party routers nor does it support bridge mode.

The mesh devices are a bit complicated - it's not just WiFi, but the routing over it....

Consider the use case where the Broadband Operator is deploying Residential Gateways, and they might be not capable of being bridged in the near future...

Current MESH based Systems for the most part assume they are the primary router, and not just a group of AP's..

 

[whsbuss]

The mesh devices are a bit complicated - it's not just WiFi, but the routing over it....

Consider the use case where the Broadband Operator is deploying Residential Gateways, and they might be not capable of being bridged in the near future...

Current MESH based Systems for the most part assume they are the primary router, and not just a group of AP's..

Yes mesh is a bit different. But manufacturers need to understand ALL users needs. Bridge mode is not a new concept. Their response says (IMO) they are unwilling to provide a solution.