When we reviewed the Linksys Velop mesh system last year, its throughput performance, ease of use, and pleasing aesthetics earned it our Editors' Choice for home Wi-Fi systems. The latest Linksys mesh offering, the Velop Dual-Band Whole Home WiFi Mesh System ($299.99 for the three-pack we tested), is a somewhat scaled-down version of the original. It's a three-piece dual-band system (as opposed to tri-band), and its components are smaller than the original. This system is easy to install and manage using the well-designed mobile app, but it can't match the throughput performance and feature set of similarly priced Wi-Fi systems.
A Stylish Mesh System
You can order the Velop Dual-Band Whole Home WiFi Mesh System ($89.99 at Amazon) as a three-node system (that's what's reviewed here), a two-node system for $199.99, or as a single-node router for $129.99. Each node is an AC1300 dual-band router that uses three internal antennas to provide up to 1,500 square feet of coverage, and each is capable of speeds of up to 400Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 867Mbps on the 5GHz band. (The three-pack system reviewed here covers a total of 4,500 square feet.) They are powered by a 716MHz quad-core CPU, 256MB of flash memory, and 256MB of DRAM, and support the latest 802.11ac technologies, including MU-MIMO data streaming, beamforming, and automatic band steering.
As with other home Wi-Fi systems, the nodes communicate with each other using mesh technology to provide whole-house coverage and offer seamless roaming using a single network SSID and password. Each node has a Bluetooth radio used to communicate with your smartphone for system setup.
At 5.5 by 3.1 by 3.1 inches, the nodes are about 2 inches shorter than the original Velop nodes, but they retain the same stylish aesthetic. They have two gigabit LAN ports and a power jack around back, and a reset button and power button on the underside of the base. The LAN ports can provide wired connectivity to devices such as HDTVs and gaming consoles; the ports can also be used to provide wired connectivity between each node.
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A status LED at the top of the enclosure is solid blue when connected to the internet, solid red when the connection is lost, blinking red when the node is out of range of another node, and solid yellow when the connection is weak. It turns solid purple when ready for setup and blinks purple when setup is in progress.
Setting Up the System
You install and manage the Velop system using the Linksys Mobile app for iOS and Android. You can also access settings using the Smart Wi-Fi web console.
The app opens to a Dashboard screen that shows your internet status (online, offline) and how many devices are connected to the system...
Tapping the devices opens a screen with the list of connected devices and which node they are connected to...
You can tap on an individual device to enable/disable Device Prioritization and Parental Controls.
You can select up to three devices to give them bandwidth priority over other devices, but there are no bandwidth-limit or application-specific settings. Parental controls are also limited: You can pause internet access and create access schedules for each device and block specific websites, but you don't get the age-specific filters that you get with the TP-Link Deco M5 ($150.00 at Walmart) and Asus Lyra systems. Also missing is the built-in malware protection that comes with these competitors.
In addition to Parental Controls and Device Prioritization, the Dashboard has a button for enabling/disabling Guest Access and for tweaking Wi-Fi settings such as security type and Wi-Fi mode. There's also a Channel Finder setting that lets you scan for the Wi-Fi channels that will offer the best performance. You can access all of the above-mentioned settings by tapping the three-bar icon in the upper left corner of the Dashboard. This opens a menu on the left with tabs for Devices, Wi-Fi Settings, Guest Access, Parental Controls, and Device Prioritization.
Other menu choices include Speed Check (which measures internet upload and download speeds), Notifications (when enabled, it will alert you when a node goes offline), Velop Administration (time settings, firmware upgrades, and individual node statistics), and My Account (account email and password information).
The Velop also offers limited support for Amazon Alexa voice commands. You can enable/disable guest networking and ask Alexa for the credentials of the main and guest networks.
Installing the Velop system is easy. I downloaded the app and logged in to my account. (If you don't have an account, you'll have to create one.) I plugged in the first (main) node, connected it to my modem using the included cable, and tapped Setup New Device in the app. The node was recognized immediately and needed about 30 seconds to connect to the internet. I was prompted to give the network a name and password, and then to give the node a name from a list, which included typical locations such as Office, Living Room, Family Room, Kitchen, and others. (You can also create your own name.)
The app needed about a minute to add the node to my network and prompted me to either add another node or finish the installation. I tapped Add a Node and plugged the second node into an outlet in my living room, about 30 feet from the first node. I followed the same routine as above, then added the final node (which I placed in my basement), and the installation was complete. After each node was added, the app informed me that the placement was good, and all three nodes showed solid blue LEDs, indicating a good connection.
Mixed Performance
Setup was easy, but the system turned in mixed results in our throughput tests.
Using automatic band-steering, the main router scored an impressive 517Mbps on our SU-MIMO (Single User Multiple Input Multiple Output) close-proximity (same-room) test...
That's faster than the Asus Lyra (338Mbps) and the TP-Link Deco M5 (444Mbps), but not the Tri-Band Velop ($169.99 at Amazon) (556Mbps). However, its score of 102Mbps on the 30-foot SU-MIMO test, while certainly decent, came in behind the Lyra (153Mbps), the Deco M5 (249Mbps), and the Tri-Band Velop (236Mbps).
The Velop nodes also turned in mixed results...
Node 1 (in my living room) scored 102Mbps on the SU-MIMO close-proximity test, while node 2 (in my basement) scored 79Mbps. Both scores are significantly lower than what we saw with the Asus Lyra ($0.00 at Amazon) (256Mbps and 220Mbps), the TP-Link Deco M5 (234Mbps and 211Mbps), and the Tri-Band Velop (257Mbps and 328Mbps) nodes. On the 30-foot test, the Velop node 1 scored 97Mbps, beating the TP-Link Deco M5 (48.3Mbps), but not the Asus Lyra (122Mbps). The Tri-Band Velop led with a score of 238Mbps. The Dual-Band Velop node 2 scored 57Mbps, making it the slowest of the bunch at that location.
To test MU-MIMO performance, we use three identical Acer Aspire E15 laptops equipped with Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 wireless 802.11ac network adapters as clients. On the close-proximity test, the Dual-Band Velop router's score of 138Mbps was faster than the TP-Link Deco M5 (108Mbps), but not the Asus Lyra (268Mbps) or the Linksys Tri-Band Velop (264Mbps)...
On the 30-foot MU-MIMO test, the Velop router's score of 55Mbps was about 30Mbps slower than the Asus Lyra and the TP-Link routers, and 61Mbps slower than the Tri-Band Velop router.
Node performance was similar...
The Dual-Band Velop node 1 scored 88Mbps on the close-proximity test, beating the TP-Link Deco M5 (81Mbps) and the Tri-Band Velop (60Mbps), but not the Asus Lyra. The Velop's node 2 led the pack with a score of 75Mbps. Testing at a distance of 30 feet, though, both of the Velop nodes were at the bottom of the pack.
Spiffy-Looking, But Not Tops for the Field
The Linksys Velop Dual-Band Whole Home WiFi Mesh System makes it easy to blanket your home with Wi-Fi coverage and manage your network. It uses sleek-looking components that you can place out in the open. It also has a thoughtfully designed mobile app that lets you quickly and easily assign network priority for up to three clients and pause access to the internet with one click.
Performance testing, though, does not distinguish this mesh system. The Velop delivered solid throughput on some of our tests, but it did not fare so well on our 30-foot range tests. If your budget allows, the original Tri-Band Velop system offers the best overall performance we've seen from a mesh system and remains our Editors' Choice, but it's about $200 more than the Dual-Band Velop system. If you need to stay in the $300 price range, the TP-Link Deco M5 or Asus Lyra Wi-Fi systems both offer better performance than the Velop Dual-Band system, and they come with built-in anti-malware tools and robust parental controls.
The Linksys Velop Dual-Band Whole Home WiFi Mesh System is nicely designed and offers modern features, but it can't keep up with the performance of its competitors.
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