TP-Link Deco M5 Whole Home Wi-Fi

GREAT VALUE WITH CONTENT FILTERING AND ANTI-MALWARE.

THE LATEST PLAYER in the mesh networking business, TP-Link, has joined the fray with a very nicely rounded solution. It’s similar in many ways to the Google Wi-Fi, but with a few added extras that will likely appeal to families with kids.

What sets the Deco apart most of all is its parental controls and antivirus. Every Deco comes with a three-year subscription to Trend Micro’s antivirus and parental controls. Viruses and malicious websites are filtered before they even get to the user, while there are actual content-based parental controls built into the Deco, as opposed to just the time controls built into most competing solutions.

The antivirus and content- and time-based parental controls are baked into the mobile app. TP-Link’s mobile app is very well made, comparable in quality to any of the competition. Bluetooth-based setup and monitoring is easy, and TP-Link has done an admirable job of making the app both accessible and deep.

In terms of hardware, it’s very much on par with the Google Wi-Fi, right down to the hockey-puck industrial design. Like the Google and Linksys solution, it’s symmetrical, so you just add as many Deco M5’s as you need to cover your house. There are two Ethernet ports in the side; one of these will be assigned as the WAN port on the first Deco you set up. It has the same network speed as the Google Wi-Fi as well; 866Mbps with in-band backhaul.

It’s not likely to be fastest mesh network you can get (Netgear’s Orbi wins that battle), but the great app design and support for content filtering and anti-malware is a huge bonus for the TP-Link. It’s a great pick for sure, and excellent value when purchased packs as well.