TP-Link AC1200 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System

The TP-Link X55 (AX3600) is a solid choice for our household. We live in a three floor townhouse with 90 degree angled staircases and is soundproofed with thicker walls. Getting a signal from one floor to the next without dead spots is tough. The X55 (3 unit) system replaced a Netgear 7000 which didn't cut it. I first purchased a TP-Link X20 mesh series, but it wasn't powerful enough to reach our home top to bottom. This one does. I highly recommend the TP-Link Deco series if you're looking for an easy, cost-effective, out of the box setup. I had it operating within 15 minutes of opening the box. It can, it seems, easily handle multiple tech items simultaneously; TV, smartphones, laser printers, tablets, whatever you care to throw at it.

A little common-sense advice for initial set-up. [[ UPDATE - installed a 4th add-on - very smooth

I just got these, and now that they are up, my internet is according to real-world tests - over 10 times faster than it was before. Great.However I spent hours more time setting these 3 nodes up than I needed to. TP-Link should give the advice I am about to give, and if YOU buy this internet mesh and follow my advice, set-up will be short, swift and happy.Set up all 3 of the stations ALL AT ONCE (i.e. install them one after another and have the network running) in the same single room before you put the stations about your house. I.e. see that all 3 stations are up and working in the same room before you start doing anything else with them.I made the mistake of setting up each station (i.e. installing it into the network) at the different places in my house where I ... MoreI just got these, and now that they are up, my internet is according to real-world tests - over 10 times faster than it was before. Great.However I spent hours more time setting these 3 nodes up than I needed to. TP-Link should give the advice I am about to give, and if YOU buy this internet mesh and follow my advice, set-up will be short, swift and happy.Set up all 3 of the stations ALL AT ONCE (i.e. install them one after another and have the network running) in the same single room before you put the stations about your house. I.e. see that all 3 stations are up and working in the same room before you start doing anything else with them.I made the mistake of setting up each station (i.e. installing it into the network) at the different places in my house where I wanted them. Then, when each station was up and running, I'd start putting things on the network on just that single station, then I'd go to the next place (in my home, on a whole different floor), and install the next station.For all 3 to work right, the system has to sync them up, which is most easily done if you do the full installation all in the same space where you can see each station turning on and syncing in succession. Then after all 3 have been turned on, are installed and synced (following the advice of the app), then you can simply unplug the two satellite stations, then go put them where you need them to go, and they hook up again after being powered back up.But I found trying to install these in the various places I needed them, they simply did not make that initial, all-important sync, and I wasted a lot of time resetting each station, just to find, over and over again, that it would not sync up.But when I decided - "OK, I'll factory re-set the whole bunch, and then set them all up together in a small room without doing anything else" - then they all installed like a charm. And then when I moved them, they re-connected with no problem at all.So the two stars are because they really should give that advice - set up your network all at once, in close proximity to each other (maybe even on the same table) - and after the network is set up and installed, then go ahead and place the satellites where you need them to go." If they had given that advice, I'd have given five stars for tech support. The mobile app, too, should give that advice. Frankly if you screw up the process up front as I did, the mobile app is very poorly set up to describe how to fix it. But if you follow the installation directions exactly, but do it all in the same area, then it will go swiftly and effectively.It's up now, and it works amazingly well - I'm experiencing internet speeds a full 10 times faster than I had been experiencing.I have the base station on the 1st floor of our house (the Roku TV, my wife's office, and the living room) the 2nd station on the upper floor in my office (where I have 5 computers and an Echo, as well as cell phones), and the 3rd in our basement, which my daughter has taken over as a study, and where the XBOX and a Fire Stick feeds a projection TV.It all worked before just with a good ASUS router, and though we had a few slow spots - until I installed this TP Link system, I didn't realize how much faster the internet could be! With my old ASUS router (which I used for about 10 years, and thought very well of), speed tests on my computers showed speeds of 8, 9 or 10 Mbps. After installing this mesh internet service, the same computers have internet speeds over 100 Mbps!

Among the Easiest to Set Up, and Works Beautifully

I've lost count of how many TP-Link mesh wi-fi kits I've set up! They're easy to install right out of the box, and while they won't beat the fastest mesh wi-fi kits out there, once up, they tend to stay up very reliably as long as the electrical power stays on. (After a power failure, they recover autonomously.)I have set up many mesh wi-fi systems for my residential consulting clients, and a few a few very small business ones. Most of those installations don't go smoothly. Netgear Orbi, which the industry pundits keep raving about for its raw speed, has consistently been the most difficult to set up, with very long boot times and many false starts per node. Linksys Velop is better, but it still typically takes 2-3 attempts for each node before it connects. Eero is ... MoreI've lost count of how many TP-Link mesh wi-fi kits I've set up! They're easy to install right out of the box, and while they won't beat the fastest mesh wi-fi kits out there, once up, they tend to stay up very reliably as long as the electrical power stays on. (After a power failure, they recover autonomously.)I have set up many mesh wi-fi systems for my residential consulting clients, and a few a few very small business ones. Most of those installations don't go smoothly. Netgear Orbi, which the industry pundits keep raving about for its raw speed, has consistently been the most difficult to set up, with very long boot times and many false starts per node. Linksys Velop is better, but it still typically takes 2-3 attempts for each node before it connects. Eero is quicker, but I nearly always end up doing it the hard way, by entering the nodes' serial numbers into the app to it locate them. (Linksys and Netgear, you might want to add that option to your apps...) But every TP-Link Deco system I've ever set up, which includes this one, the M5 and the M9 Plus, has gone like clockwork. The nodes boot up much more quickly than their competitors, and usually connect right up on the first try.TP-Link wins again on overall reliability. My experience with Netgear Orbi is that the nodes have trouble staying connected to the system. It doesn't seem to matter how far a satellite node is from the base unit; all seem equally prone to dropping their connections. And when they drop, it can be a serious pain in the neck to get them reconnected. I've had to reboot them multiple times, and even reset them to out-of-box condition. Linksys Velop isn't much better in this regard. In one extreme case, a client's Velop system dropped one node, reassigned that node's identity to a different one, and I had to reset the entire set to out-of-box condition in order to recover. Eero doesn't seem to mess up that badly, but I have found that clients with Eero systems occasionally need to unplug all their Eero access points and then plug them back in. TP-Link Deco systems, on the other hand, seem like the Energizer Bunny: they just keep going and going and going. I don't remember ever being called back to a client's home or office to fix one.So, why would you want to purchase any of those other systems? In a word, performance. TP-Link Deco systems, including the S4 that I'm rating here, go up easily and are rock-solid reliable, but they don't win races. The fastest TP-Link Deco system, according to independent testers who have published their results, is the Deco M9 Plus, which reportedly outperforms even their new Wireless AX systems, and even that won't outperform the latest Orbi and Velop systems. The TP-Link Deco S4 is decidedly middle-of-the pack. The Deco S4 kit that I just purchased and installed delivered 215Mb/sec on the 5GHz channel when I tested it. That's far better than the system it was replacing, so I don't expect the client to complain about it, but that's nowhere near the 1Gb/sec cable Internet connection to which the first unit was connected, the signal only had to travel about 30 feet and through two drywall walls, and I was less than 20 feet from a node when I ran my test. Performance on the 2.4GHz channel was rather disappointing to me - only about 45Mb/sec - but again, that's a lot better than the client was getting from their old system. Note that the performance I was measuring was more than enough for what most people do with wi-fi, including web browsing, e-mail, A/V streaming and even sharing large files, but Orbi, Velop and Eero all typically deliver better throughput with their Wireless AC and AX systems.So, the bottom line is that if you just need steady, rock-solid wi-fi that goes up easily and stays up reliably, The TP-Link Deco S4 and its cousins are all great choices. If you need blistering performance no matter how hard it is to get and no matter what you have to put up with to keep it going, then look elsewhere. Personally, I'm sticking with TP-Link.

Finally WiFi that doesn't feel compromised

I have Verizon FIOS bundled service, so I have my TV, phone and internet all-in-one. While I do love FIOS, one of the negatives is that I had to use their bundled Gateway modem/router because of my TV and phone services. My house does have a wired ethernet network running thru it, which is great for all my desktop PC's and Home Theater setup, but the FIOS Gateway router's WiFi performance didn't adequately cover my three floor house (the FIOS modem is in my garage, next to my home wired-network box). To help solve this issue, I tried using the very well reviewed Netgear EX6200 range extender, but I could never get reliable performance out of it...random drops, slow speeds...it just didn't seem to like working with my FIOS router.In looking for a better solution, my ... MoreI have Verizon FIOS bundled service, so I have my TV, phone and internet all-in-one. While I do love FIOS, one of the negatives is that I had to use their bundled Gateway modem/router because of my TV and phone services. My house does have a wired ethernet network running thru it, which is great for all my desktop PC's and Home Theater setup, but the FIOS Gateway router's WiFi performance didn't adequately cover my three floor house (the FIOS modem is in my garage, next to my home wired-network box). To help solve this issue, I tried using the very well reviewed Netgear EX6200 range extender, but I could never get reliable performance out of it...random drops, slow speeds...it just didn't seem to like working with my FIOS router.In looking for a better solution, my research led me to looking into Mesh networking, especially as these systems (supposedly) would not need to bypass my FIOS modem...it would work with it, just taking over the WiFi functions. I was apprehensive, so I wanted a cost effective product. Tp-Link's Deco series have gotten rave reviews and their latest S4-series was actually cheaper than the previous M4-series, so I took the plunge.Getting the Deco S4 up and running is so much simpler than traditional WiFi extenders and boosters...download the TP-Link mobile app, launch it, pick your TP-Link product and it guides you through the whole process. There were some hiccups during installation, mainly where the app failed in finding the S4 devices on the first pass, but hitting the Try Again button solved the issue. The S4 router unit (all three are identical) simply plugs into any open port on the back of the FIOS modem. Once the Mesh network is setup on this S4 router, you can now easily add the other units throughout your home using the app. The app has a lot of functionality...you can set-up usage profiles, "Blacklist" devices from using your network, monitor network health and utilization, etc. Two other benefits with the S4 Deco units are that each includes two auto-sensing Gigabit ethernet ports (useful for network switches/hubs or plugging in non-WiFi devices, etc.) and that they are compatible with all TP-Link WiFi devices, so expansion and upgrades are easy.Coverage is excellent. The big benefit to a Mesh network is that all the S4 units are essentially operating as one...so, as you move throughout your house (or even outside!), your devices simply pick-up the strongest signal from the best available S4 router. You don't need to manually switch from network to network like you would with a traditional WiFi extender. Speeds are surprisingly fast. I only have FIOS 100/100 service, but I am getting WiFi speeds of 100+ Mbps on my ground and third floors (both S4 units are wired) and almost a full 80 Mbps on my second floor with a non-wired S4 unit. Outside on my back deck, speed drops to "only" 60 Mbps...incredible! I spent about 4 hours stress testing the network and found it to be rock solid...very consistent and dependable WiFi performance.If there were two things I'd list as negatives, they would be the lack of a web-based network tool/programmer (everything has to be done on the mobile app) and that there was a way to identify/isolate usage between the 2.4 and 5.0 bands.This is a long review, but to sum it up, the Deco S4 is a great product. It's simple to set-up, works with your existing modem (a HUGE plus for Verizon FIOS users), doesn't act like a bottleneck and offers a huge area of coverage. And there's the very nice price. I finally feel like I'm getting all the WiFi I'm supposed to be getting!

Fixed my problem. So happy now!

I bought a new LG Gram laptop for my den, however, my wife took over that room and watches stuff like the Maury Show all day long ("Broderick, you ARE the father!"). I had to move my old 2014 Dell Inspiron i3847 to my dining room table, 50 feet away. I was using a 2016 LINKSYS EA8500 router to provide WIFI for my two ROKU movie streamer boxes. My old computer worked great for Facebook, reading emails, and online news. But I was unable to watch videos on my favorite channel, YouTube. Every few seconds the video would stop and present a circle going round and round to buffer. Heretofore, I had been using an ethernet cable, which worked fine, so the problem had to be a weak router. I was intimidated by these new WiFi 6 Mesh routers, but I decided to go for it. Consumer ... MoreI bought a new LG Gram laptop for my den, however, my wife took over that room and watches stuff like the Maury Show all day long ("Broderick, you ARE the father!"). I had to move my old 2014 Dell Inspiron i3847 to my dining room table, 50 feet away. I was using a 2016 LINKSYS EA8500 router to provide WIFI for my two ROKU movie streamer boxes. My old computer worked great for Facebook, reading emails, and online news. But I was unable to watch videos on my favorite channel, YouTube. Every few seconds the video would stop and present a circle going round and round to buffer. Heretofore, I had been using an ethernet cable, which worked fine, so the problem had to be a weak router. I was intimidated by these new WiFi 6 Mesh routers, but I decided to go for it. Consumer Report gave the Deco M9 high marks at a reasonable price, but when I clicked on it in Amazon, I saw "A newer model is available!". which led to an even better design for $50 bucks more - the P 9. So whats $50 bucks more at today's prices? I had a **** of a time setting it up. There is a point where you verify the router LED is flashing blue and then you connect your phone. I could kick myself! I didn't read the instructions! I am used to Bluetooth devices where you get the flashing blue and connect your two devices together. I couldn't connect my phone to Bluetooth! Then I saw the instructions wanted me to connect my phone to a WIFI site, not Bluetooth! The bottom line - setup is easy as pie. However, there is a point where you are asked to select which internet protocol your provider uses. A list is presented and I had no idea which one to choose. So I tried the first one on the list and it worked. I assume it was at the top because it is the most common. If you don't know, just call your provider and ask them. As for YouTube, it is now chock full of ads designed to drive you CRAZY. I had to go to YouTube premium which eliminated the ads, gives you a music app with millions of songs and free audiobooks. But everything works great now!

Great bang for the buck!

I've been using this set-up for a couple weeks now with no issues. We have a decent sized 2 story house that was build back in the 40's or early 50's and it's been remodeled a few times, so WiFi has always been a big issue. Some of the walls are very thick, and being in SoCal, we also have fire walls AND earthquake walls. So, natureally, wifi doesn't quite flow, and we don't have the whole house wired for internet, which is a bummer. This is why I went with the combo Mesh/Powerline kit. I knew I wanted to try a Mesh system, but with the walls and the size of the house, I figured powerline would be a good back-up.I wasn't wrong! From my bedroom to the living room where the main modem/router is hooked up, i'm at the complete opposite end of the house. Before I was ... MoreI've been using this set-up for a couple weeks now with no issues. We have a decent sized 2 story house that was build back in the 40's or early 50's and it's been remodeled a few times, so WiFi has always been a big issue. Some of the walls are very thick, and being in SoCal, we also have fire walls AND earthquake walls. So, natureally, wifi doesn't quite flow, and we don't have the whole house wired for internet, which is a bummer. This is why I went with the combo Mesh/Powerline kit. I knew I wanted to try a Mesh system, but with the walls and the size of the house, I figured powerline would be a good back-up.I wasn't wrong! From my bedroom to the living room where the main modem/router is hooked up, i'm at the complete opposite end of the house. Before I was lucky if I averaged 30-40 MBS download and about 8-15 upload. Now, I consistently pull down about 100 down and 20 up. In the living room as well as the dining room which is close to the living room, I'm getting 150-300 consistently. Upstairs, where we literally had next to NO connection what so ever, it's now averaging 70-100 consistently. Funny enough, even when I would go out and get in my truck in the driveway which is literally only ONE wall away from the modem/router in the living room (this is legitimately about 15 feet of distance) I never had signal before, it always dropped. Now, I can pull 120-150. I found this quite humorous and oddly satisfying.For reference of placement, I have 2 point's downstairs at opposite ends of the house (living room with the main modem and then 1 point in my room) then in the center of the house but upstairs, I put the other point. This gives me full house coverage with no problem.I definitely recommend this set-up if you've had Wifi coverage issues in your house, I'm pretty confident that like me, it'll solve your problems as well!

Great system, my review has actual numbers in it.

Have a ranch house with a full finished basement, 2700 sq feet. Suddenlink router is in the northwest corner of main floor, home theater and laptop are in southeast corner of basement. Wifi was very bad down there using the wifi signal put out by the router, so I put in a powerline system a couple of years ago, but it recently shot craps.I had never used a mesh system before, decided to try this one, bought and Installed it a month and a half ago. Easy to get running and it performs flawlessly. I plugged in one of the three units in the outlet next to the router, put a second unit on the same floor in the living room, and the 3rd unit is plugged into the outlet in the southeast corner of the basement.Most reviews don't seem to give stats, but I think they are ... MoreHave a ranch house with a full finished basement, 2700 sq feet. Suddenlink router is in the northwest corner of main floor, home theater and laptop are in southeast corner of basement. Wifi was very bad down there using the wifi signal put out by the router, so I put in a powerline system a couple of years ago, but it recently shot craps.I had never used a mesh system before, decided to try this one, bought and Installed it a month and a half ago. Easy to get running and it performs flawlessly. I plugged in one of the three units in the outlet next to the router, put a second unit on the same floor in the living room, and the 3rd unit is plugged into the outlet in the southeast corner of the basement.Most reviews don't seem to give stats, but I think they are valuable. Doing an internet speed test on my desktop that is directly connected to the router via ethernet, I am getting around 100 mbps. Doing a speed test on my laptop in the basement by connecting to the network via wifi, I am now getting about 50 mbps. And if I connect my laptop via ethernet to the mesh unit that is plugged into the outlet in the basement, I am getting 90 mbps....only 10 less than a direct connection to the router.Clearly my experience with this system has been outstanding.

So Far So Great

I purchased this system this week because the router that I had was around 8 years old and I figured it was time for a change. In addition there were a few annoying dead spots around our house that I wanted to get rid of.I focused my search on the new 'mesh' systems since they are reported to minimize those dead spots. I did some research using a few different sources online and found that T-Link was one of the best reviewed systems and found that the Deco 9 specifically was indicated for 'thick walls'. We live in a fairly new 4000sqft house with steel beams and multiple levels which seemed to have limited our old router. Given that this system is indicated for houses up to 6000sqft houses I thought that it might be overkill, but thought better to buy too much than ... MoreI purchased this system this week because the router that I had was around 8 years old and I figured it was time for a change. In addition there were a few annoying dead spots around our house that I wanted to get rid of.I focused my search on the new 'mesh' systems since they are reported to minimize those dead spots. I did some research using a few different sources online and found that T-Link was one of the best reviewed systems and found that the Deco 9 specifically was indicated for 'thick walls'. We live in a fairly new 4000sqft house with steel beams and multiple levels which seemed to have limited our old router. Given that this system is indicated for houses up to 6000sqft houses I thought that it might be overkill, but thought better to buy too much than run into the same issue that I was having. In addition this system is reported to use the houses existing wiring as a "belt and suspenders" form of communication between the base units secondary to wireless signals.Upon receiving and unboxing the system, the set up was a breeze with the app that I downloaded on my phone. The primary unit is in my basement which is where the internet and modem is located. The other two units are on the main living level and were set up very quickly with no issues.We have been living with the system for 4 or 5 days now and all of the dead spots from the previous router are gone. The signal in general is much stronger throughout the house and everything is running noticeably faster.I would expect our experience to remain very positive and we are very pleased with our choice. Would highly recommend.

Very fast, great coverage and works seamlessly

I had an Amazon eero three point mesh router that constantly gave me "connected, no internet" problems--because I believe the router often would not assign an IP address to a connected device. Happened with IoS, Mac OS and windows. It also would not connect certain Internet-of-things devices like my Ring doorbell or a webcam--perhaps because these devices were 2.4 ghz only--but the eero does have both a 5 ghz and 2.4 ghz network, so not sure what the problem was (form internet searches, I know I was not the only one having problems connecting the ring to the eero).Did some further research, bought this tp-link product, and both problems I had with the eero went away. Coverage and speed are fantastic. Setup very similar to the eero. eero's form factor and app may be ... MoreI had an Amazon eero three point mesh router that constantly gave me "connected, no internet" problems--because I believe the router often would not assign an IP address to a connected device. Happened with IoS, Mac OS and windows. It also would not connect certain Internet-of-things devices like my Ring doorbell or a webcam--perhaps because these devices were 2.4 ghz only--but the eero does have both a 5 ghz and 2.4 ghz network, so not sure what the problem was (form internet searches, I know I was not the only one having problems connecting the ring to the eero).Did some further research, bought this tp-link product, and both problems I had with the eero went away. Coverage and speed are fantastic. Setup very similar to the eero. eero's form factor and app may be slightly more polished, but that is not a substitute for the fantastic functionality and instant connectivity of this tp-link router.When you are looking at mesh routers, you might want to give extra point to the ones made by long-time networking companies, like netgear (orbi) and tp-link, as opposed to the ones from amazon (eero) and google (nest). Apple got out networking two years ago.One small point--when power cycling the router and modem (hey, sometimes you have to do it), you have to disconnect the ethernet between the modem and the router as well, not just the power.

Works to make a mesh network

Although this tp-link duo does what it's designed to do, there isn't much that's configurable. 2.4GHz & 5GHz bands are tied to the same SSID. This is the same for the guest network (which there is only one). If I could have afforded the extra cost, I would have purchased two of the TP-Link Omada EAP225 and a OC200 controller. This would have served my needs much better. I suppose though, for the money, it does what it's supposed to do. For the average user this mesh system would be great. Would I recommend it? Yes and no. Yes, if you just need a simple mesh system. No if you require something more than the ordinary for your home.