Why South African ISPs should sell TP-Link Mesh to their customers

For Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that are constantly on the lookout for superior Wi-Fi hardware, TP-Link offers excellent solutions that provide home users with a seamless connectivity through their homes, while offer you, the service provider, the ability to remotely manage these devices.

With the TR-069 feature being extended to their Mesh units, you can offer your customers a whole-home mesh Wi-Fi network where one unit can be setup either with an existing router or as the main router and the satellite or node router placed in the home to extend Wi-Fi coverage.

TP-Link Aginet sent us its AC1200 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System – comprising two HC220-G5 units – to review, and it provided fast and stable Wi-Fi across a single unified network during our testing.

We detail our experience with the mesh system, below.

• Learn more about the TP-Link AC1200 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System.

Setting up the network

The set-up process was as follows:

I positioned one unit next to my existing router and found a spot halfway across my 110-square-metre home for the second unit.

Next, I downloaded the TP-Link Aginet app from the Google Play Store – also accessible by scanning a QR code on the system’s packaging – and logged into my TP-Link account.

Tapping on “Create a Network” then guided me through a few easy steps before I powered up the first unit and linked it to my existing router via ethernet.

Moments later, the unit started broadcasting its own signal and I connected my smartphone to its network.

The Aginet app then let me configure the new network from my smartphone. Once it was fully set up, I only needed to tap “Add Agent” on the app to integrate the second HC220-G5 router into the network.

Network management

Once my network was set up, the Aginet app provided me with extensive management capabilities.

It gave me a full overview of my network and detailed each router and device that was connected.

It showed me how many devices (nodes) were connected to my network and which router they were connected to.

I was then able to monitor the download and upload speeds of each device and more through the TP-Link Aginet smartphone app.

All of this is extremely easy for your customers to do – reducing the number of customer service queries your team receives.

For your more advanced customers, there are plenty of advanced features, too.

For example, I could set Quality of Service priorities for devices to ensure they had the best connection in a variety of scenarios.

For example, if I had guests over and the network was crowded, I could give my personal devices network priority.

Thanks to its Guest Network feature, I could also create a separate network for these guests that gave them internet access without me having to dish out my secure Wi-Fi password.

Other valuable features included a built-in speed test feature and robust parental controls that let you set time limits and filter content to protect your kids when they’re online.

This included the ability to restrict certain devices’ access to the network to specific time schedules. For example, cutting off internet access after bedtime.

It also let me restrict access to certain types of content or specific websites – i.e. online gaming or social media – and view which websites were most commonly accessed by individual devices.

All of these appealing features make the TP-Link Aginet AC1200 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System easy for ISPs to recommend to their customers.

Putting it to the test

I also put my network to the test by wandering around my home with my smartphone and laptop to see what the Wi-Fi connectivity was like in previous dead spots.

The improvement was immediately noticeable, and I seamlessly stayed connected to the network no matter where I went – a stable and strong signal reaching every corner of the house.

As I moved around, my smartphone seamlessly switched between the routers based on which one was the closest – while always staying on the single unified mesh network SSID thanks to EasyMesh technology.

I also tested the mesh network’s ability to handle multiple devices by connecting several smart devices, laptops, and additional smartphones at once.

Its MU-MIMO (Multiple User Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology not only ensured each device had a seamless and stable connection to the mesh network, the speeds were not compromised in the process.

Transfer speeds remained fast thanks to the HC220-G5’s 1.2Gbps wireless capabilities, comprising 867Mbps on 5GHz and 300Mbps on 2.4GHz. This meant the limiting factor was not the network but my 100Mbps fibre line at home.

As a service provider, the benefits of these units for home connections are obvious.

Installation teams will spend less time on-site, and your support team can fault find and resolve issues remotely through the Aginet Server with minimal input required from the customer, or having to send a technician out to site.

Verdict

From the extensive management features provided by the app, to the easy setup, seamless connectivity, and broad-reaching signal, I enjoyed every aspect of the TP-Link Aginet AC1200 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System – and would definitely recommend it to any ISP for its customers.

Learn more about the TP-Link AC1200 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System.

Click here to get it from MiRO.