Linksys Velop

Mesh router covers all bases

Every tech manufacturer and his dog is now quite determined that every household needs a mesh network: a set of two, three or four routers that work together to distribute Wi-fi evenly around your home. What they’ve found harder to agree on is how much we’ll be willing to pay for it. BT launched its Whole Home Wi-fi (see our review, Issue 496) at £300 for three dishes, then quickly discounted it to less than £200. Netgear still thinks its Orbi (see Issue 498) is worth the best part of 400 quid for just two boxes, which is beginning to look optimistic.

Linksys wanted £350 for itss two-pack Velop system, but retailers have decided £249 is more reasonable. If you do need a third unit to reach a distant corner of your house, it’ll cost you an extra £100. You can also buy just one box, but this seems like missing the point of a mesh network and, at £200, it’s more expensive than conventional wireless extenders, which work just as well.

If you have an existing router that you’re happy with, you can add your Velop units to this, but unlike BT Whole Home Wi-fi, which keeps your network details and lets your main router carry on allocating IP addresses to your devices, Velop insists on creating its own separate network, which can make life tricky. In other respects, though, the absence of advanced configuration options is quite refreshing. It’s a doddle to set up, and adds a guest network for not-quite-trusted visitors. Like Google Wifi (see Issue 502), Velop must be set up from its IOIOS or Android app, rather than a web browser. The Velop boxes look a little dull compared with rivals, but they are neat, with all the ports and the input from the external mains power adapter under the base (see image above left). There are two Gigabit Ethernet ports on each box for wired devices. While Google Wifi only uses one 2.4GHZ and one 5GHZ network, Velop, like BT’S system, creates two 5GHZ networks to maximise bandwidth. With three boxes, our tests showed great coverage throughout a large two-storey house, but speeds weren’t as high as BT’S Whole Home Wi-fi, although the difference was smaller at longer range.

VERDICT: At the reduced price, Velop is worth considering and simple to set up, but BT Whole Home Wi-fi remains our favourite mesh router so far

ALTERNATIVE:

BT Whole Home Wi-fi £195 With three units as standard and great performance, BT’S dishes look hard to beat at the moment

It’s neat, easy to set up and provides great coverage