Linksys Announces Velop Mesh Wi-Fi System

[Pericynthion]

The Ethernet backhaul seems to be working ok in my setup - but I'm more impressed the the wireless one. I expected all kinds of hiccups but it's been rock solid.

I was even on a FaceTime call earlier as I roamed from 2.4ghz on the main node to 5Ghz on the wireless node and although there was some noticeable buffering - it didn't kill the connection which has been my experience when roaming between typical APs


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[njweb]

Dong from Cnet has an opinion on the velop

https://www.cnet.com/videos/the-linksys-velop-is-not-as-fast-as-it-is-expensive/

again all comes down to the $$$

Thanks a lot for the link
Dong says the 2 unit Orbi performed better than the 3 unit Velop...

 

[thiggins]

Test results are in the Charts. Velop didn't do very well in the mesh tests, which are not posted yet.

I also confirmed that the second 5 GHz radio is not dedicated to backhaul. Clients can connect to any radio.

 

[whsbuss]

Test results are in the Charts. Velop didn't do very well in the mesh tests, which are not posted yet.

I also confirmed that the second 5 GHz radio is not dedicated to backhaul. Clients can connect to any radio.

Thanks for pointing that out. Wow, link sys better get on board.

 

[Pericynthion]

Thanks for pointing that out. Wow, link sys better get on board.

The software seems to be a mess at the moment. Half of the features shown in the admin guides or in the online KB articles don't even exist. I've got some funky stuff going on with particular clients (Nest Cam) but linksys support are being pretty responsive about working through it.

Right now I think they are dropping firmware releases out every couple of weeks - so I'm waiting for the dust to settle before I make any final judgement.


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[pete y testing]

I've got some funky stuff going on with particular clients (Nest Cam)

seems to be happening with a lot of these systems , suggests its a nest cam issue more than the systems issue

 

[y2jdmbfan]

Ethernet backhaul is not broken, it's just currently not part of the app setup wizard.

Just set up Velop using wireless backaul. Then connect Velops via Ethernet.

Linksys says Velop currently does not band steer outside of providing 802.11k neighbor reports to the clients for them to make a more informed choice as to which AP they should connect to.

Is this more than Google Wifi / OnHub or Eero as far as roaming assist between points on the mesh?

 

[thiggins]

Is this more than Google Wifi / OnHub or Eero as far as roaming assist between points on the mesh?

It is not roaming assist. It is pre-association AP steering. Velop supports only 11k and v for roaming assist, which helps only with devices that also support those standards.

 

[thiggins]

Review posted.

 

[y2jdmbfan]

It is not roaming assist. It is pre-association AP steering. Velop supports only 11k and v for roaming assist, which helps only with devices that also support those standards.

Tim, thanks for the reply. What would be a step up system that has roaming assist built in where the wireless system moves clients around automatically based on signal strength? Does such an animal exist?

 

[thiggins]

Tim, thanks for the reply. What would be a step up system that has roaming assist built in where the wireless system moves clients around automatically based on signal strength? Does such an animal exist?

Any roaming assistance can do only so much. The client device is always in control. So no method is foolproof.

Google WiFi uses RSSI-based roaming assistance, last I checked.

 

[sfx2000]

Good review - noticed that IPv6 support was struck thru - does this just mean there's no toggle to enable/disable, or that IPv6 is flat out not supported?

 

[pete y testing]

Review posted.

thanks for the review

just a question about the wifi , is there no ability to set the channels on the velop and can you set different ssid names or can it only be one ssid

also in the inssider graph , it appears that the velop is using 2.4 gig as its backhaul by those hidden ssid 2.4 gig channels , would this be why the backhaul is so bad

also i assume you had 3 units running but the graph is only showing 2 sets of 5 gig showing with the middle set of 5 gig results missing

also cnet review suggests the backhaul is one of those dedicated 5 gig transmissions

pete

 

[Pericynthion]

thanks for the review

just a question about the wifi , is there no ability to set the channels on the velop and can you set different ssid names or can it only be one ssid

also in the inssider graph , it appears that the velop is using 2.4 gig as its backhaul by those hidden ssid 2.4 gig channels , would this be why the backhaul is so bad

also i assume you had 3 units running but the graph is only showing 2 sets of 5 gig showing with the middle set of 5 gig results missing

pete

I can confirm there is no way to either manually set the channels or have separate SSIDs. There are threads on the linksys forum about how you can access an engineering interface with a browser to do some thing but they are no exposed in the admin app.


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[Pericynthion]

Good review - noticed that IPv6 support was struck thru - does this just mean there's no toggle to enable/disable, or that IPv6 is flat out not supported?

IPv6 is on by default (and from what I can tell no way to disable it).


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[pete y testing]

I can confirm there is no way to either manually set the channels of have separate SSIDs.

one ssid makes having the two 5 gig transmission a bit less useful as you have no ability to manually connect or balance clients , no ability to set ch numbers is also quite limiting

 

[thiggins]

Good review - noticed that IPv6 support was struck thru - does this just mean there's no toggle to enable/disable, or that IPv6 is flat out not supported?

Native IPv6 with DHCP connection only is supported. Review updated.

 

[thiggins]

one ssid makes having the two 5 gig transmission a bit less useful as you have no ability to manually connect or balance clients , no ability to set ch numbers is also quite limiting

That is not the point of distributed Wi-Fi systems (DWS). They are designed to let them do the Wi-Fi driving.

 

[thiggins]

also in the inssider graph , it appears that the velop is using 2.4 gig as its backhaul by those hidden ssid 2.4 gig channels , would this be why the backhaul is so bad

Could be.

also i assume you had 3 units running but the graph is only showing 2 sets of 5 gig showing with the middle set of 5 gig results missing

There are three nodes, :43:XX, :4A:XX and :76:XX. Don't know why there are no hidden SSIDs shown for 5 GHz. 2.4 and 5 GHz BSSIDs are shown for each node.

also cnet review suggests the backhaul is one of those dedicated 5 gig transmissions

Dong is incorrect. My test STA associated to both low and high bands during testing. There is no dedicated 5 GHz backhaul.

 

[whsbuss]

In almost every test I see, Orbi outperforms the competition.