Linksys - Velop Ac2200 Tri-band Mesh Wi-fi 5 System Review
Our Verdict
The Linksys Velop is pretty powerful, but it'due south also pricey and delivered inconsistent test results.
For
- Defended connexion betwixt devices
- Strong throughput at medium range
- Uses latest Wi-Fi technologies
Against
- Inconsistent results during lab tests
- Expensive
- Lacks USB port
Tom'south Guide Verdict
The Linksys Velop is pretty powerful, only it's also pricey and delivered inconsistent test results.
Pros
- +
Defended connection betwixt devices
- +
Strong throughput at medium range
- +
Uses latest Wi-Fi technologies
Cons
- -
Inconsistent results during lab tests
- -
Expensive
- -
Lacks USB port
The Linksys Velop mesh-router organization can turn a large dwelling into a Wi-Fi playground, with a far-reaching network that delivers high-speed data to every corner. At medium range, it had the most powerful throughput of any mesh-router arrangement we've tested, making information technology a favorite on our list of the best mesh Wi-Fi systems.
But the Velop system is more expensive than many of its peers, and the performance of its mesh network was less than dependable in our lab tests. At the Velop'southward price range, nosotros prefer the like, but more consistent Netgear Orbi.
Editor's Note: Nosotros periodically update our reviews to make certain that pricing and information is up to appointment. The rating and recommendations in our Linksys Velop review is unchanged from when it originally published in June of 2017.
Linksys Velop review: Pricing
The whole-home kit I evaluated independent three Velop units ($379), each of which could human activity as either the host router or a satellite node; Linksys rates each node to cover 2,000 square feet by itself. There is besides a $274 Velop two pack and a $199 single Velop unit. (In our tests, the router by itself had a long range.)
Linksys Velop review: Design
The Velop'due south squarish, white belfry units are vii.v inches tall and iii inches wide and deep, smaller than the Netgear Orbi units just much larger than the Luma or Google Wifi hockey pucks. The Velop towers can be hidden adequately easily, yet they're kind of interesting-looking and could be left out as conversation starters.
Each Velop belfry has a single LED on top that unobtrusively glows blue when everything is working properly. The LED turns yellow when the unit has lost contact and ruby when in that location's no net connection.
Like the Orbi system, which information technology resembles in many ways, the Velop arrangement has a tri-band blueprint, creating a single two.4-GHz network and a pair of 5-GHz networks on dissimilar sections of the bandwidth range.
Whereas the Orbi's backhaul (communication betwixt router nodes) is fixed to 1 of the 5-GHz bands, the Velop dynamically switches the backhaul between the ii 5-GHz bands to optimize connexion speeds. (You can apply Ethernet for the Velop backhaul instead, freeing up even more than wireless bandwidth, if you have enough cablevision.)
On the bottom of each Velop unit, you lot'll find a power connection, an on-off switch, a reset push and a pair of gigabit Ethernet ports. On the unit acting as the router, one of the Ethernet ports connects with the broadband modem. All the other Ethernet ports on the devices can connect to a networked apparatus (such every bit a storage drive) or to other Velop devices. Still, at that place are no USB ports, so connecting a local printer is out.
There's also an oddity hiding inside the Velop devices: Each has a ZigBee radio for decision-making home-automation devices, only it'due south inactive for at present. A Linksys representative told us that the company is working on enabling the radio.
Linksys Velop review: Features
The Linksys Velop kit creates a 2 10 2 802.11ac limited mesh network, theoretically capable of two.2-Gbps performance. Unlike the Netgear Orbi, the Velop units create a true mesh organization amidst themselves. This means the nodes can exist "daisy-chained" to laissez passer data from one to the next without having to go back through the primal router.
Each Velop arrangement is based on the Qualcomm IPQ4019 Wi-Fi control fleck and radio and has a 710-MHz quad-core ARM-based processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of solid-state storage space. They are fed with data from the host router via a Qualcomm QCA 9886 chip.
Within, each Velop unit has vi antennas, ii for each network, as well every bit a Bluetooth radio used for configuring the system. (The iii Wi-Fi networks all accept the same SSID and volition exist viewed as a unmarried network by client devices.) Y'all tin can link upward to 10 Velop devices to cover an enormous home.
Each Velop unit uses MU-MIMO (multiuser, multiple input, multiple output) engineering science to deliver concurrent streams of information to several clients at in one case. Not all mesh-router systems back up MU-MIMO, which tin can make a noticeable deviation with new laptops and smartphones.
And thanks to new Linksys routers offering mesh compatibility, you lot can expand the mesh coverage by adding a standalone router similar the Linksys Max-Stream MR8300 instead of a Velop satellite unit.
MORE: Best Wi-Fi Routers
Linksys Velop review: Functioning
In Purch Labs' real-earth testing with IxChariot software, a single Velop unit, acting as a router, pushed an boilerplate throughput of 527.1 Mbps at 15 anxiety from our laptop. That'south slightly off the Orbi's top boilerplate speed, which was 552.1 Mbps at 5 anxiety.
| AmpliFi Hard disk drive | Eero | Google Wifi | Linksys Velop | Netgear Orbi RBK50 | Netgear Orbi RBK40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 anxiety | 368.17 | 573.65 | 464.36 | 412.34 | 552.11 | 549.93 |
| 15 feet | 377.73 +two.6% | 450.96 -21% | 440.ninety -v.1% | 527.10 +30% | 510.90 -7.5% | 543.50 -1.2% |
| fifty feet | 350.83 -4.7% | 449.87 -22% | 389.74 -16% | 459.35 +eleven% | 447.xiii -19% | 478.29 -13% |
| 100 anxiety | 293.82 -20% | 250.27 -56% | 227.22 -51% | 330.06 -twenty% | 371.42 -33% | 315.45 -43% |
| 150 feet | 230.86 -37% | 229.85 -60% | 33.79 -93% | 288.42 -30% | 229.07 -58% | 187.54 -66% |
* Line-of-sight testing with a unmarried router point. Percentages indicate change from 5-foot measurement on same device.
Unfortunately, as our test laptop moved closer to the Velop, functioning dropped off sharply to 412.3 Mbps at 5 feet, one of the biggest proximity driblet-offs we've seen. At that distance, yous might want to plug into the free Ethernet port instead.
At greater line-of-sight distances, the Velop did meliorate. It pushed 459.4 Mbps at fifty feet, 330.one Mbps at 100 feet and 288.4 Mbps at 150 anxiety. The latter score compares favorably to the Orbi's 229.one Mbps and Google WiFi'southward 33.8 Mbps at the aforementioned distance.
Still, be warned that Velop was one of the most inconsistent router kits we've reviewed. It was unreliable in certain complicated configurations, such as if the signal traveled through or around several obstacles. Readings taken in the same configurations on different days varied widely. Nosotros did not see like problems with the Google Wifi or Netgear Orbi.
In fifteen-foot material-penetration tests, the Velop's powerful Wi-Fi transmitter was able to punch through a wall lined with metallic shelves, showing 560.0 Mbps of throughput emerging on the other side, versus Orbi's 455.7 Mbps on the same examination. (The metallic-shelved wall fifty-fifty improved on the Velop'southward fifteen-foot line-of-sight throughput.)
| AmpliFi HD | Eero | Google Wifi | Linksys Velop | Netgear Orbi RBK50 | Netgear Orbi RBK40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metallic | 343.45 -9.1% | 448.58 -0.v% | 396.39 -10% | 559.95 +half dozen.2% | 455.70 -11% | 536.72 -ane.two% |
| Soundboard | 369.51 -2.2% | 457.17 +i.4% | 402.55 -8.7% | 381.66 -28% | 549.99 +7.seven% | 540.96 -0.5% |
| Ceiling | 390.21 +3.3% | 471.79 +4.6% | 425.ii -3.6% | 67.eighty -87% | 424.12 -17% | 384.83 -29% |
*Throughput from a single router bespeak passing through ceiling and walls of unlike compositions. Percentages indicate change from 15-foot line-of-sight measurement.
However, a wood-beamed ceiling cut the Velop'southward throughput by a whopping 87 pct, to a measly 67.8 Mbps. We saw nothing like that from the AmpliFi HD, Google Wifi or Orbi.
Adding a Velop relay unit betwixt the router unit and our test laptop, our single-hop test, didn't improve throughput noticeably, whereas the Orbi's was boosted in this configuration. Adding two Velop relays, the double-hop test, actually decreased throughput.
| AmpliFi Hard disk drive | Eero | Google Wifi | Linksys Velop | Netgear Orbi RBK50 | Netgear Orbi RBK40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Hop (100 anxiety) | 219.93 -25% | 128.99 -48% | 175.57 -23% | 331.62 +0.5% | 475.87 +28% | 394.49 +25% |
| Double Hop (150 feet) | n/a | 103.52 -55% | 128.90 +282% | 223.22 -23% | northward/a | n/a |
*Extensions placed every 50 anxiety between router and endpoint. Percentages point change from line-of-sight tests at same distances without extensions.
By dissimilarity, a single relay decreased the Google Wifi's throughput, simply ii relays nearly tripled it. Different the Velop or the Orbi, the Google Wifi has to divide its bandwidth between backhaul communications and communications to customer devices. Simply as a weaker device overall, the Google Wifi benefits from having more than relays at medium distances, while the stronger Velop units may be interfering with each other.
In the most complicated Purch Lab tests, a ii-unit Velop organization grabbed a signal sent thirty feet through two walls, then bounced it 15 anxiety up to the floor above, showing a throughput of 427.0 Mbps. That's a boost of 250 pct over the single-unit Velop score with the endpoints in the aforementioned locations, and roughly on a par with Orbi's 429.1Mbps, but much better than Google Wifi'due south 189.9Mbps.
| AmpliFi HD | Eero | Google Wifi | Linksys Velop | Netgear Orbi RBK50 | Netgear Orbi RBK40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thirty ft thru 2 walls (A to B) | 393.32 | 445.33 | 251.09 | 371.03 | 333.64 | 392.13 |
| 33 ft thru wall, ceiling (A to C) | 192.47 | 136.46 | 36.75 | 121.81 | 119.99 | 95.92 |
| 48 ft thru ii walls, ceiling (A to D) | 99.72 | 10.62 | 4.42 | 40.29 | 47.35 | xix.63 |
| One hop, 45 ft thru ceiling, 2 walls (A to B to C) | 202.08 +5.0% | 117.63 -13.eight% | 189.92 +417% | 427.00 +250 | 429.13 +258% | 413.30 +331% |
| One hop, 68 ft thru ceiling, 4 walls (A to B to D) | 158.01 +58% | 99.81 +839.8% | 73.23 +1,557% | 332.79 +726% | 245.66 +419% | 230.53 +1074.four% |
| Two hops, 80 ft thru ceiling, 4 walls (A to B to C to D) | n/a | 30.71 +189.2% | 56.63 +1,181% | 145.41 +261% | due north/a | n/a |
*First 3 tests involve direct router-to-client communication, with client laptop moving to new rooms and floors. 2d three tests add extensions to aforementioned configurations. Percentages indicate change in data throughput between two sets.
When the client laptop was moved even farther away, the Velop stayed strong, beating out the Orbi easily, merely adding a 2d Velop satellite node cut the throughput in one-half.
In an old, iii-story, suburban house, a unmarried Velop node stayed connected to an endpoint device for 90 feet. This makes it ameliorate for a big home than the Luma, with its 65-foot range, simply worse than the Netgear Orbi router and its 125-foot range.
An Orbi two-unit of measurement organization would likely roughly equal out with the Velop's daisy-chaining iii-pack. Using three nodes, the Velop system conquered the 3,500-square-foot home and doled out betwixt 47 Mbps and 114 Mbps of a broadband connection rated at 100 Mbps.
The Velop organization passed our breezy saturation test, which simultaneously involves Apple iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro three tablets playing videos, a Samsung Tab Pro South playing an net radio station, and a MacBook Air moving data onto and off of a network-attached storage arrangement. All the audio and video came through without any glitches.
Linksys Velop review: Setup, warranty and support
While information technology doesn't presume that you know anything about networking or Wi-Fi, the Velop setup procedure is deadening. The devices are not pre-paired with each other, and you lot demand to install the iOS or Android Linksys app, which until recently was called the Smart Wi-Fi app. (Don't use the Linksys Connect app, which is for "dumber" Linksys routers.)
In June 2017, Linksys added a browser-based assistants interface, joining the Netgear Orbi family as 1 of the few mesh-router systems to offer this. The desktop-browser interface ways y'all'll be able to access your Velop organization's settings even if your internet connectedness goes downward; only connect a laptop to a Velop unit with an Ethernet cablevision. (You'll nevertheless demand to use the Velop mobile app for setup, all the same.)
The Velop startup sequence is peppered with illustrations that testify what needs to be plugged into what, which color the device'southward LED should exist and how to change your mobile device'due south Wi-Fi connection, which is something you'll need to do twice. At the end of the process, yous can change your network'due south proper noun and countersign.
Once the router is running, you can click to add together a node, which starts the software'due south search for the extension. If yous're lucky, information technology'll find the node. If the node is as well far abroad, the app will tell you to movement the node closer to the router.
In one case the connection is made, the router sends its configuration data to the node and the node restarts. Setting up three devices took twenty minutes.
In May 2017, Linksys pushed out a firmware update that let the Velop operate in span mode. Dissimilar well-nigh mesh-router system, the Velop can at present piece of work with ISP-issued gateway devices, which combine a modem and a router, without having to disable the gateway'southward router functions.
Velop devices each come with a three-year warranty, which leaves the Google Wifi's, Ubiquiti Amplifi Hard disk'due south and Luma's single years of coverage in the dust. Linksys offers 24/seven admission to back up technicians via email or phone. There'south likewise an first-class manual in the box that explains how Velop devices connect and how to brand the about of them.
More than: What Is a Mesh Router, and Practice You lot Need Ane?
Linksys Velop review: Customization
Regardless of whether you utilise the Android or the iOS app, the software runs in portrait fashion, as do the apps for the Netgear Orbi, Luma, Ubiquiti AmpliFi Hard disk and Google Wifi.
The Dashboard shows a skilful overview of the network, displaying internet status, the number of devices connected, and whether parental controls are on or off. The Administration page shows the firmware version and a way to automatically update it. The firmware updates are encrypted during delivery, but the firmware doesn't self-authenticate during startup.
You lot can select up to 3 client devices on your network that will get top data priority. If you think your network connection is flagging, the app'due south Speed Test page measures its latency, upload speed and download speed. The software also lets y'all ready up port forwarding, IPv6 addressing and a invitee network, and you can have the organisation email y'all when a node disconnects.
On the downside, you lot can't adapt the manual level or the channel width. The Velop doesn't support static IP addressing, but you can use the system's DHCP reservations to achieve the aforementioned effect.
Linksys Velop review: Smart dwelling house integration
Like many of its mesh-system rivals, the Linksys Velop works with Amazon'southward Alexa vocalisation assistant, although for the moment it can only turn a invitee network on or off and reveal the access passwords for the main and invitee networks.
Every bit we noted earlier, each Velop has a built-in merely currently dormant ZigBee radio, which promises much wider integration with smart-home devices in the future.
More than: Smart Habitation: A Guide to Products, Services and Security
Linksys Velop review: Security and parental controls
Each Velop device comes with a preprinted label underneath with its semi-random network name, password and recovery code. Each of these should be safety to use while setting up the system, simply should exist inverse at the outset opportunity.
The Velop uses WPA or WPA2 encryption for connecting with client devices. The older WEP encryption standard is not supported, and you may have to employ Ethernet to connect some pre-2003 devices. The Velop does support Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), which creates a limited security hazard but as well makes it much easier for less-tech-savvy people to use the system.
The Linksys app'due south parental controls are a step up from Google Wifi's. Yous can "intermission" the net feed so the family tin concentrate on, well, the family unit. With a firmware update issued in early May 2017, you can schedule a child'due south internet usage hour by 60 minutes or according to the day of the week. The app can block websites based on categories or individual sites, merely it lacks the Luma app's easy-to-understand G, PG, PG-13 and R ratings.
Linksys Velop review: Verdict
The Linksys Velop tin can easily fill up a large home with Wi-Fi signals, but it isn't the cheapest, the fastest or the nigh consistent router system. At $500 for three units, it's among the near expensive mesh kits available. Overall, we prefer the like, and equally expensive, Netgear Orbi system, which was more consistent and easier to prepare.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/linksys-velop,review-4290.html
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