Question Good Mesh Wifi 6 vs Meh 6E?

[JohnnyVLee]

Odd comparison, I know. I have a Netgear Orbi Wifi 6 system that has been great. Installed fiber internet svc and they "gave" me an Eero Pro 6E system. It's impossible to find reviews comparing these 2 systems since they are different Wifi generations, so to speak.

Yes I realize 6E > 6 generally speaking. But the Eero Pro 6E does not receive great performance reviews, especially as distance from the device increases.

Ultimately my best option is to buy the Orbi 6E system but with a 2-unit running $1100, it's clearly worth waiting a little bit for price to come down.

So if you were me, which Wifi system would you use?

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Be happy you have a fine working Wi-Fi 6. Just wait for Wi-Fi 7.

 

[bill001g]

I would not use any mesh system if you have other options. Mesh is mostly trendy marketing speak.

Reviews both professional and idiot home users are worthless. How your house is built and how many neighbors using wifi near you will not be anywhere near the same as someone else. They also do not the same end devices you do which is 1/2 the connection. There is no way to predict how well any system will work.

Almost every wifi router in existence transmits at the legal maximum. This means the distance the signal goes is more or less the same for all units. Now tiny differences in something like the antenna spacing might make a difference in some house and not others. Again a impossible thing to know without testing every brand in your house.

So first you want every possible device that can run ethernet running ethernet. This should hopefully leave only devices that do not actually need high bandwidth. Its not like you are downloading a 20gbyte game to your phone. Only downloads really gain from large bandwidth. For say watching netflix as long as you have the amount it needs having extra will make no difference in the performance.

The best wifi system is to have as few wifi radios as you can get but still have good coverage. For areas that you do not get good coverage the best option is to use a ethernet cable with a AP in the remote room. If you do not have ethernet you consider MoCA if you coax cable in both rooms or even powerline networks before you consider using mesh systems. You use mesh/repeater systems when you have absolutely no other option.

If you have end devices that can support wifi6e it should in many cases work better. Mostly this is because there is a lot more bandwidth and there is less interference. This is partially because most people do not have wifi6e devices and are still running on the 5g band. There also is around 5 times the bandwidth on the 6g radio compared to the 5g so it is easier to choose channels that do not overlap your neighbors.