Asus Lyra Trio
Three is the magic number for mesh
$299 (3-pack) From Asus, asus.com Features AC1750 (1300Mbps 5GHz, 450Mbps 2.4GHz), 3x dual band antennas, Bluetooth
Asus’ newly-revised mesh networking system gets its name not from the package of three individual units (it’s also available in single and double packs) but from its dual-band 3x3 radio setup, which is technically (as long as you’re not looking at those often-misleading AC ratings) a step up from the tri-band 2x2 radios used in the previous edition.
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. It also means that 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. Outwardly, the dumpy discs of the original have been replaced by a thematically accurate curvy pyramid, both giving it a unique antenna configuration and ensuring that nobody accidentally sets a drink on top of one of the nodes. It’s a whole lot more compact than the likes of the Linksys Velop, and it’s wall mountable, and cheaper too.
We’d have appreciated more wired options — each node has two Gigabit ports, which can be used for backhaul — and, really, Asus’ mobile 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 easilyactivated parental controls, are a nice touch.
the bottom line. Easy to set up, fast, well designed and competitively priced, the Lyra Trio is a real competitor. Alex Cox