With the B-52s song in my head I recently installed the Linksys Velop Mesh network at my house up on Prickly Mountain. I already had the Eero mesh network installed so I had some familiarity with this modern networking configuration. The Eero was working well but since we were considering offering the Velop at our stores too, I figured I had better get some experience.
Mesh networking is your “whole house” solution. A single access point will broadcast a Wi-Fi signal for about 100-150 feet depending upon walls and obstacles. The one your internet provider is leasing you probably is not even that good. With the proliferation of smart devices in just about every room of your house, having a strong network has become essential.
My house is very multi-leveled and with a single Apple AirPort Extreme I had poor signal way up in the bedroom or way down in my shop. We also have poor cell service so keeping in touch means we use Wi-Fi calling. Adding some AirPort Express extenders helped but I still kept losing signal on my Sonos and Apple TV in my bedroom. With this unusually hot weather, Grace and I have also taken advantage of our trailer to cool off with its AC, and I would like to have connectivity there, too.
The folks at Linksys sent me a three node tri-band system to try out. Velop comes in either dual-band or tri-band configurations. The difference is that the tri-band has a 2.4GHz band and two 5GHz bands while the dual-band only has one 2.4GHZ and one 5Ghz band. With two radio freeways for your 5 GHz data to travel on, tri-band routers reduce signal interference even more than dual-band devices. Using automated features like Linksys Smart Connect, tri-band routers “steer” devices to the optimal 5 GHz band (or the applicable 2.4 GHz band, for older devices).
It’s kind of like adding an extra lane to the interstate, or a bike lane to downtown roads—this makes tri-brand routers a handy tool for environments with a lot of continuously connected 5 GHz devices, and a worthy investment if you’re currently on the market for a new router and want to future-proof your Wi-Fi for at least a few years.
Tri-Band Pros
*More connected devices are less likely to negatively affect Wi-Fi speeds (I just looked at my Linksys Dashboard and I have 23 devices connected and I am not even at home!)
*Three separate Wi-Fi bands means three times the bandwidth
*You can dedicate each band to devices in the home or office
*More bands equals less interference
*High CPU speeds make faster file transfers and smoother handling of multiple Wi-Fi-connected devices
Tri-Band Cons
*Significantly higher cost than dual-band models
*If you don’t have a lot of 5 GHz-compatible Wi-Fi devices, the upgrade might not be too noticeable
Take note of that last bit—if you’re in a studio apartment an iPad, an iPhone, and a gaming console, sticking with the dual-band router is probably a safe bet. But if you plan on streaming 4K movies downstairs while your partner streams recipe videos from an iPad in the kitchen, your kid’s Pandora station never stops, and your guest has a World of Warcraft addiction, it might just be time to add that third traffic lane to your home’s Wi-Fi freeway.
I am glad I opted for the tri-band set-up with all my home automation gear, Apple TVs, Arlo cameras in addition to a bunch of Apple gear.
Setting up Velop
The Velop set-up is very easy. You basically take one of the nodes (it does not matter which one) and plug the ethernet cable from your modem into it, plug it into power and let the Linksys app take over and direct you from there. That is where I ran into a little problem which was my fault. Since I am running Apple’s beta of iOS 12 there were some compatibility issues with the app. The good news is that it revealed something remarkable about Linksys tech support and it was a simple fix.
When the app walks you through the set-up it senses when a task is complete. With iOS 12 the app would not see the completion and would time out. After trying it a few times I called Linksys tech support and got a very friendly and knowledgeable woman on the line. I have done a lot of tech support in my days and I completely understand why you start with the basics – i.e. is your iMac plugged in? The Linksys lady, however, somehow sensed that I knew what I was doing and our conversation was immediately on a higher level, and I didn’t have to go through the basic steps.
Each node is set up one at a time, starting with the primary node plugged into the modem. During setup, the Velop app walks you through the process, first asking if a modem and router or a single modem/router combo is being used. It will then ask you to plug each node in, it will check its location, run an update process, and move on.
As we we trying this and that, I had to restart the node and oops — I lost Wi-Fi calling -doh! So, rather than call in again, I completed the restart and noticed that even though the app was timing out, the setup process was continuing and if I ignored the app prompts everything just worked. So, I set up the node at the modem and confirmed everything was working and went on to set up the other two nodes with no problem.
Once I had Wi-Fi back, I did see that I had a voicemail from the same woman at Linksys to check in on me. I did not call back because everything was working and figured that was it. Well, there I was watching Queen of the South at about 10pm and who calls me but that same woman from Linksys just to make sure that I had gotten everything working. We had a nice conversation and I am totally sold on Linksys tech support. They truly exceeded my expectations!
Velop, Ethernet & Time Machine
The Velop is available in white or black but I like the white. It looks like a mini-AirPort Extreme but a little smaller at about 6-inches tall. It has a couple of ethernet ports and a power port. It also has a nice LED light on top that gives you a Wi-Fi status at a glance – After setup, a blue light signals it is connected to the internet, red means no internet access, blinking red means out of range, and yellow designates weak connection. During set-up the flashing purple light is important.
The power switch and a reset button are located on the bottom, but you won’t need these often. Having only one extra ethernet port is limiting, you will need a standalone ethernet switch for connecting other devices. I complicated my system a bit by leaving my AirPort Extreme in the system so that I could continue to access my attached Time Machine back-up drive and for the AirPort Extreme to act as a gigabit ethernet switch. You can do this by turning off wireless and putting your AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule into Bridge mode. I’ll do an article on this sometime. This was important because I have a few home automation hubs that need a wired connection, i.e. Philips Hue & Arlo.
In the box, Linksys includes a single Ethernet cable, necessary for connecting the first node to the modem. All of the remaining nodes can also be hardwired, though you will have to provide your own cables if you opt to go that route. In most setups, users will opt to keep the other nodes wireless.
The Linksys App
The Linksys app provides some added features that are not available for free with other mesh network systems. One of those is Parental Controls. Using the app you can create an internet schedule for each device and block specific sites. Another handy feature is the ability to prioritize up to three devices for your bandwidth. Since Grace and I use Wi-Fi calling our iPhones get priority.
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I placed my nodes in the same locations as the Eero system that I was replacing. While I love the Eero system, I have to say that the Linksys Tri-Band has out performed Eero in terms of speed and coverage. I have good signal way down in my shop with its concrete walls and way down at the bottom of my driveway in the trailer. I was having some annoying drops of Wi-Fi with Eero that I was unable to diagnose but they have disappeared with the Linksys Velop system in place.
Most of you will find that the less expensive dual-band Velop system will serve your needs just fine. If you are a heavy user like me you may find that the extra expense of the tri-band Velop system will be a good long-term solution. In either case, the combination of the Velop nodes, the powerful Linksys app and extraordinary Linksys tech support makes the Linksys Velop a great choice for mesh networking.