TpLink Deco Mesh - any good?

mrb13676

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I see the TPLInk deco S7 are on sale at Takealot...

If one was wanting a Mesh network on a reasonable budget are these any good? The one I'm looking at has 3 units but it seems that it's easy to buy more units as needed.

Any thoughts on them?
 
I have the TP- Link Deco S4 WIFI Mesh System that I got from Incredible connection of all places last year I think during Black Friday.

I'm not a networking expert so from a regular consumer point of view the system works. A hell of a lot better that my previous system of a router + 2 non matching access points.

The mesh switchover is seamless and the coverage is great.

A year ago I paid R1999, but I think the S7 has more bandwidth etc. Guess it depends what you use your network for. I don't do 4K so the S4 system is fine for me
 
I see the TPLInk deco S7 are on sale at Takealot...

If one was wanting a Mesh network on a reasonable budget are these any good? The one I'm looking at has 3 units but it seems that it's easy to buy more units as needed.

Any thoughts on them?
It still depends on your house layout. If you have a double story, the Deco Mesh will still struggle with connecting wirelessly to form the Mesh (unless you put about double the amount of recommended units in). I have 3 Deco's, covering 374m2 double story, BUT I am using Ethernet backhaul between the units. Without that, the concrete screws with the signal (like with any other Wifi signals), dropping the speeds to unusable
 
I've got a few locations with ethernet backhaul (where the current regular wifi routers are) - I'm hoping that the mesh will give better connection outside and possibly out to the front gate for smart switching things....
 
You can't go wrong with the Decos IMO.

Worth noting is that they are rather limited in their management, in that you can configure them within the confines of the TP-Link app.
I needed to change the default MTU for my fibre ISP, which the Deco-platform doesn't allow for, when I had a set.
 
I've got a few locations with ethernet backhaul (where the current regular wifi routers are) - I'm hoping that the mesh will give better connection outside and possibly out to the front gate for smart switching things....
I have a unit in the kitchen and I get signal (albeit one bar) to the front gate about 50m away...
 
My mom has a set of Decos, the biggest issue I have with them is that they do not allow for advanced network configuration. E.g. you cannot setup VLANs, or advanced firewall configs.
 
It still depends on your house layout. If you have a double story, the Deco Mesh will still struggle with connecting wirelessly to form the Mesh (unless you put about double the amount of recommended units in). I have 3 Deco's, covering 374m2 double story, BUT I am using Ethernet backhaul between the units. Without that, the concrete screws with the signal (like with any other Wifi signals), dropping the speeds to unusable
I forgot to mention this, mine are connected via ethernet as well
 
I have the Deco M9+ mesh system with 5 nodes and I love it. Ridiculous seamless coverage with excellent speeds.
 
I meshed my house with the Decos also from Incredible Connections special, works beautifully for all devices and smart house and solar goodies.
 
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