Asus Lyra Trio
Three is the magic number for mesh
£395.49 (3-pack) FROM Asus, asus.com/uk features AC1750 (1,300Mbps 5GHz, 450Mbps 2.4GHz), 3x dual band antennas, Bluetooth
This mesh networking system gets its name from its dual-band 3x3 radio setup; a step up from its previous tri-band 2x2 radios.
Each band gets three transmit and three receive channels. If you’re using a modern Mac, this matches the wireless radio that’s inside your hardware, and throughput is typically very speedy. Intercommunication between the units is fast; we barely noticed any degradation in wireless speed when using nodes distant from the one hooked up to our router.
The Trio isn’t just an upgrade internally. The dumpy discs of the original Lyra have transformed into curvy pyramids, providing a unique antenna setup. Each node is more compact than the likes of the Linksys Velop, and is wall mountable. The price tag is cheaper, too.
That said, we would have appreciated more wired options – each node has two Gigabit ports, which can be used for backhaul – and, really, the Asus iOS app isn’t the slickest we’ve used in this field. It does, however, work: connecting is quick and easy thanks to the additional Bluetooth radio integrated into each node, and the little extras, like network-level protection from Trend Micro and easily activated parental controls, are a nice touch.