TP-Link Deco XE70 Pro AXE4900 Tri-Band WiFi 6E Mesh WiFi Router - 1 x 2.5bps WAN/LAN Port, 2 x 1 Gbps LAN Ports, 4.9 Gbps Wi-Fi 2,900 Sq. Ft Coverage, Connect up to 200 Devices, 1-Pack

7/21/2025 initial thoughts.I bought the 3-pack but added one more unit for inside -- I'm sure 3 is plenty in most 2600 sf homes. But ours has a lot of angles & when the signal passes through too many walls, it degrades fast. I also bought another outdoor water-resistant unit for outside, so the signal to cameras is strong; we can also use Wi-Fi anywhere further away from the house. Even with all that, the Deco system is still less than cheapest Orbi system. Yes, it will cost you some money -- you can add more nodes later if you find really bad dead spots.The Deco units (Deco is TP-Link's brand name for this system) are easy to install too. I used Microsoft Co-Pilot to help me make decisions on where to install and the settings. Very helpful. The Deco phone app is best for setting up the nodes -- you can carry your phone with you while you do it. Make sure your phone is connected to the Wi-Fi. It is very straight forward and does most of the work. If will ask you to set up an online Deco account so that will carry all of your settings.First get one unit up and running so it will become your base. All the units are the same, so the phone app will guide you to set up the base. You are going to use this first Deco unit as the router home base. Then connect this base unit to the output port on your existing modem. Some modems have 2G ports -- use that one if not already taken, to connect the Deco to your modem. Gives you the fastest transfer rate between modem and router.FYI, an Xfinity acts both as modem and router. If you have any service (AT&T, Charter, etc) providing one device that does both modem and router duties, you'll need to do the following for a simple setup. You'll set this combo unit to "BRIDGE MODE". It will turn off Wi-Fi in the combo unit and reduces conflicts between devices. In my case, I use Xfinity. I think you can make this change through the Xfinity phone app. If not and you have some basic skills, login into the router interface directly (default IP is 10.0.0.1) and select BRIDGE mode. Now your gateway is only a modem, not a router. At this point, ANYTHING YOU PLUG IN will plug into the Deco router (unless you are a techie running more than one router).Now install and use the SpeedTest app on your phone to check for HIGHEST signal strength in the rest of your house. That's where you want to place other units, so they can talk to each other. A few feet in any direction can also make a big difference. I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH TO USE SpeedTest (or other similar app) to find THE FASTEST other points in your house. Mapping this first saves a lot of headaches. TEST & TEST & TEST again. Test high points in the room (even near the ceiling) and test low! It's not even the same speed in the same space when you check high vs low. I think they recommend high spots BUT I did find a couple of chest level locations. The Deco app may have an automated speed testing feature for this, but I opted to use something I already knew. Also, make sure you have a power outlet near these placement points. I am really particular and like the cords hidden. Sometimes it's hard to get both a great signal and hiding the power plug.After placing the units and getting them online, I turned on "6G BACKHAUL" in the Deco units (that may not be the exact name) if it's not already turned on. The 6G frequency will be used almost exclusively for the Deco units to talk to each other -- leads to no interference from other devices. Most people do not have 6G or 7G devices yet. So you can TURN OFF the Wi-Fi SSID broadcast for 6G. Again, use ChatGPT, Copilot or whatever AI to help you find stuff in the Deco router. These changes are easily made in the Deco app once you find the right page. The app is better than the webpage, in my opinion. You can carry your phone around the house.Finally, do yourself a favor if you want ethernet (hard wired) connections at any of the nodes and have more than 2 wired devices to plug in at any node. Buy UNMANAGED network switches to plug into the ethernet ports on any of the Deco units -- all of the Deco units are the same. I have a switch in my office for the computer, printers, a few other devices that I wanted wired. Wired offers THE FASTEST speeds but really isn't necessary (I have 1200Mbps down / 40Mbps up -- YES, the up speed is low but that's all Xfinity home users get right now). Three ethernet ports on a Deco unit is not enough in some cases. Right now, I don't use the ethernet ports on any of the Deco satellites.Hope this helps. This Deco router is FAR SUPERIOR to the decade-old router it replaced. It costs a lot more than basic routers but was still cheaper than Orbi and is giving me full use of the speeds for which I'm paying. Good luck.

I purchased this system because the BGW320-500 modem/router that AT&T provides with their fiber internet didn't provide good enough Wi-Fi coverage, among other issues. I put the main unit near the AT&T router and spread the other two satellite units in the living room and the master bedroom. This meant the three TP-Link units were well distributed throughout my home. Immediately we went from spotty Wi-Fi performance to excellent coverage and speeds everywhere in my house, even the back bedrooms which before had hardly worked at all.The setup is very easy, with great instructions that guide you through the process. The speeds of downloading and uploading doubled right after installation. What is really great is the interface to the units which is easy to use, and was working fine right out of the box, but it provides access to many features that can be tweaked as you wish. The satellite mesh units can be connected via Wi-Fi or ethernet for better speeds. I have them connected via Wi-Fi and it works well. The streaming units (Roku and Apple TV) connected easily and we get great streaming performance to our 4k TVs. All the IoT devices (refrigerator, coffee maker, dishwasher, Apple Pod, Atmos speakers, etc) connect fine and operate flawlessly.It required some work to get the AT&T BGW320-500 into "passthrough mode", as AT&T does not provide the ability to have the unit operate in "bridge mode" which allows all Wi-Fi and other functions to be handled by a better unit like this TP-Link product. I had to do quite a bit of Googling and reading guides and forums where other users had worked out all the settings that need to be adjusted on the AT&T BGW320-500 to get it to work well with this unit (or any unit, for that matter). Luckily there is a robust user's forum on the TP-Link website where a collection of gearheads documented the procedure to get things working well. Once I got that all worked out, I got the full 1 gigabit speed I'm paying for and it operates flawlessly (even after a power outage, it all came back up working fine).My family (and others that have stayed with us over the holiday) have really enjoyed the much better Wi-Fi coverage and speeds this unit has afforded. I have my Synology NAS (running my Plex server) connected via ethernet to this unit, as is my MacBook Pro, because I get better speeds that way (as my 2018 MacBook Pro does not have Wi-Fi 6e capabilities). However, the Wi-Fi speeds to my newer PC laptop (and my wife's newer MacBook Pro) which does have Wi-Fi 6 matches the upload and download speeds of my hardwired ethernet connection to my MacBook Pro. So, if you're looking for better coverage or speeds, I can recommend this product wholeheartedly. It's definitely one of the best mesh router products out there, easy to set up and easy to use.

I’m really impressed with the TP-Link Deco mesh WiFi system. It finally solved my biggest issue—getting strong WiFi in the farthest corner of my house, where my office is located. With the Deco, I’m now getting 225 Mbps download speeds out of the 500 Mbps plan I pay for, which is more than enough for my work and streaming needs.Before switching, I had the NETGEAR Nighthawk Dual-Band WiFi 7, but it couldn’t reach that far corner at all. The Deco’s coverage and stability have made a huge difference. Easy to set up, reliable connection, and great performance—I highly recommend it!

Great product for price!Pros: simple set up, very strong router, app very customizable - setting specific devices to certain WiFi bands, giving permanent priority to devices, etc. Worked great for my WFH situation.Cons: the annoying status light - horrible color choices (green=operational / red=problem) - brightness cannot be adjusted - can be shut off completely via app or set to a schedule only), also- this model doesn’t have an in app Speed Test! What a poor choice from Tp-link. I hate this as I use the app to manage a family member’s network, who lives a state away. I’ll be returning it for this reason alone, unfortunately. Nonetheless, a great product worth consideration for others. The 6Ghz band really helps with wireless backhaul.