TP-Link Deco XE70 Pro AXE4900 Tri-Band WiFi 6E Mesh WiFi System - 2.5G WAN/LAN Ports, 4.9 Gbps Wi-Fi 5,500 Sq. Ft Coverage, Connect up to 200 Devices, 6 GHz Band, 2-Pack

The media could not be loaded. TP-Link is no stranger to creating home (and enterprise) network equipment. In the home router arena, the company has been developing the Deco line of mesh routers for some time now. In this review, I will be expressing my thoughts and impressions about the Deco BE2200 (BE85) Tri-band WiFi7 2-pack mesh router system. The product I bought is the 2-pack, but TP-Link sells this mesh system a a 3-pack as well. Of course, the 3-pack will cost you a hefty $1,500 so I think most customers will go for the 2-pack package. The latter is not too cheap either and you will have to cough up $1,000 to get it, so the expectations from this product are quite high. The BE85 brings some great technology features to the home network. First and foremost, WiFi 7. This wireless technology promises amazing network speeds to the range of over 10Gbps under ideal conditions. WiFi 7 is a very new wireless standard and there are very few client devices out there supporting it now. For this review, I did not have access to a WiFi 7 client, but I did have the next best thing in my possession: a WiFi 6E device, the latest MacBook Pro M2 Max. Later in this review I will talk about some of the tests I performed using WiFi 6E. The BE85 comes with three wireless bands: 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz. The latter is the new kid on the block. The 6Ghz band offers higher speeds and reliability compared to the other two traditional bands and Deco BE85 makes good use of it. This band can be used either for connecting 6Ghz compatible clients (such as my Macbook Pro) or to connect the two mesh routers via a backhaul channel using the 6Ghz frequency exclusively to isolate their connection from noise and interference. It’s worth mentioning that you can use 6Ghz either for client connections or as a backhaul between the routers, but not at the same time. Speaking of backhaul connection, that can of course be established using a wired connection as well. Another great feature that this router system brings along is the 10Gbps ethernet (RJ45/SFP+) ports. As a power user and having my own home lab, this is the feature I was mostly exited about. Each router offers two 10Gbps wired ports, one dedicated and one combo port. The combo port is a fantastic feature and fellow users that use fiber optics with SFP+ modules will appreciate this as much as I do. So, the combo port is actually two ports: an RJ45 and a SFP+ port sitting on top of the same bus. That means that you can use only one port at a time, but you do have the option to connect either an RJ45 cable or a fiber with an SFP+ module. I have opted for the latter since I connect the router to my optical 10Gbps switch. Very convenient. Note here that no SFP+ module is provided with the product, so you need to provide your own. Port connectivity doesn’t end with the two 10G ports. The routers have two more surprisingly fast RJ45 ports ranked at 2.5Gbps. This is great for those of you that have an internet service of over 1Gbps speed but don’t want to waste a 10Gbps router port for it. I have connected my 1Gbps internet modem to one of the 2.5Gbps router port and I still have plenty of ports for fast or faster connections. Excellent! Finally, TP-Link equipped this the routers with a USB 3.0 port for network sharing, making sure that the USB technology of these routers will be up to date for a while since it operates with the 3.0 standard. Installation and setup of the routers is quite easy via the Deco smartphone application. Being a user of a Deco mesh system before, I already had the Deco app on my phone. All I had to do is plug in the routers and add a new network in the Deco app. The two new routers showed up very quickly and without any issues or delays. The router does provide a web interface that you can load on your internet browser but it’s mostly for viewing basic configuration. It’s been a pet peeve of mine that TP-Link doesn’t provide a full web GUI and I will repeat again my request to develop one. Their Deco app is great and offers multiple options but power users that configure their routers heavily will always prefer a web GUI that can be used on their computers. My testing focused mostly on seeing how good the WiFi performance can be in daily, non optimal, conditions. Theoretical speeds are good and serve the purpose of validating that the product contains the technological standards that it claims, but I was more interested in seeing what I can expect in practical terms in a home office environment where isolation (walls), interference and wireless noise is inevitable. The Deco BE85 is connected, via the SFP+ port, to a TL-SX3008F JetStream 10Gbps fiber switch. My network storage server is also connected to this switch via a Mellanox CX-3 network card over 10Gbps fiber to ensure 10G network traffic speeds. To avoid disk read/write bottlenecks, I have two storage configurations on the storage server: small superfast storage using M2 SSD disks and a fast storage config using 4 SATA3 disks in a Raid0 configuration that provides maximum performance. My 10G client is my Mac Studio M1 Max, whilst my WiFi 6E client is my Macbook Pro M2 Ultra. To calibrate the testing environment and make sure that there are no bottlenecks, I tested a file transfer over the Cat8 wired connection to my Mac Studio. As you can see in the attached image, I comfortably reached 10Gbps. Now it was time to test the wireless connection with my Macbook Pro. There are two kinds of tests I performed to test the wireless connection: 1) sitting next to the router for maximum proximity, and 2) sitting in my home office, having walls, interference and noise that you would normally expect in the average office or home environment. You can see the results of my tests in the attached pictures with annotations on the pictures. Here are some of my takeaways:1) Next to the router, using WiFi 6E (6 Gghz) I can see the highest speeds: 1.25Gbps. There is still potential noise since the router is still in the house, but the very close proximity of my Macbook Pro to the router is the best case scenario in testing this in a home environment. To put things in perspective, this is faster than your average Gigabit ethernet wired connection.2) Sitting right next to the router, I also tried the 5Ghz band. The measured speed wasn’t bad but definitely lower than the 6Ghz band. It averaged around 1Gbps which is still great. This showcases that the Deco BE85 is a great router even for client devices that don’t use the latest WiFi standards.3) On the other corner of the router room (it’s a big room with furniture and electronics) I maintained a 1Gbps throughput over 6Ghz WiFi.4) On the first floor of the house (both Deco routers located on the second floor) the speed didn’t seem to be affected much. I still measured a healthy 1Gbps of throughput which is much more than what’s needed for typical living room/bedroom applications (movie streaming in 4K, YouTube, gaming or productivity).5) Last but not least, my most common use case: sitting in my office where I work on a daily basis, with many active terminal sessions and file transfers. In between the test computer (MacBook Pro M2) and the router, there are walls, furniture and plenty of noise and interference from electronics, power wires inside the walls, mobile devices etc. I was expecting the speed to drop and that’s what happened, but it didn’t drop as much as I thought it would. I still got a good 400Mbps-700Mbps with most of it trending upwards to the 700Mbps level. That exceeded my expectations compared to my previous Deco setup.Overall I think the BE85 WiFi performed great in my realistic, daily use cases. Sure, it didn’t reach the many Gigabits that the WiFi standard promises but one thing to keep in mind is that those measurements are theoretical maximums that can be achieved only in strictly controlled, completely noise-free and interference-free environments, with high quality fine tuned hardware and software. The every day user should not expect to see such speeds very often.A couple of things regarding the other aspects of the BE85 before I conclude my review. 2.4G and 5G networks are grouped together, while the 6G network is separate. You can disable only the 6G network but not the 2.4G/5G group. You can create an IoT (Internet of Things) network dedicated to your smart home devices (smart switches, lights etc.), which is neat for network separation. One big thing is the Operation Mode: you can choose between Router or Access Point. The latter will turn the BE85 on WiFi access points only, if you’re using your own router. In my case, I’m using a router based on OpenWRT so I turned my BE85 into access points and it works great. As mentioned above, you can use the 6Ghz wireless channel as a backbone between the two routers. This will solidify the reliability and speed between the two routers but you will loose the ability to connect your 6Ghz compatible clients. The only way to have 6Ghz for clients, while having super fast backbone connection between the two routers, is to use a wired backbone (preferably 10Gbps). Guest network is now a given and it can be enabled/managed very easily via the Deco app. The BE85 can support over 100 clients, something that very few users will ever need. I can confirm that it works well with the 55-60 clients that I currently have at home.Since no product is perfect, including this great mesh router system, there are a couple of quirks that I need to mention. The first one that bothers me with all TP-Link Deco routers is the fact that the web interface is very basic with not many configurable options. The only way to configure the routers is via the smartphone Deco app, which is great but not suitable for power users (imagine doing large scale access control with client MAC devices via the smartphone app/screen). I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: TP-Link needs to cater to power users, especially for a $1,000 product.The second quirk I’ll talk about is client WiFi compatibility: for some reason the hub of my home security system doesn’t like the BE85 and most of the times can’t connect to the WiFi. I am not sure why but I suspect it’s hardware related since the same hub was connecting fine with my previous Deco system. Other than that, I have no real complaints about the BE85.Overall the Deco BE85 this is a great mesh router system that will satisfy most, if not all, needs of the home user. It offers plenty of technology, performance and features. It is not a cheap router system but it does track well with the pricing of competing WiFi7 routers out there (Netgear Orbi, Linksys Velop). If you are in the market for a solid, WiFi7 and 10Gbps capable router system, you should definitely consider the Deco BE85.

The quick rundown is: The house is an approximately 3,500 SF single-level home with many brick-solid doors and twists and turns. The modem is in the center of the house in my office. Wi-Fi without a mesh system would drop off in the back rooms to a crawl.I previously had an ORBI RBS850 for my Cox 1GIG Down / 35 Up plan (they just changed to 100 up before I switched). The ORBI did fine for the last three years I had it. However, even though I would move the satellites around, I would still get reduced speeds in the furthest rooms. Based on ORBI, the RBS850 with two satellites should have been overkill, but it wasn’t.I recently received FIBER and opted for the 1Gig Up/Down. Since the speed is overprovisioned, I’m able to get 1,300 Up/Down. My ORBI was limited to 1 GIG port, so I was limited to around 945 with overhead down and the full upload speeds. Since I do a lot of CAD and video work, I am also considering moving to the 2 or 5-GIG plan in the future.I researched many of the new Wi-Fi 7 mesh systems. Note that I currently do not have any Wi-Fi 7 devices, but I might in the future.I narrowed it down to the new ORBI 970, the Deco BE 95, the Deco BE85, and the Eero Max 7. I chose the Deco BE85 due to its two 10 Gig ports and two 2.5 Gib ports and the price factor.The ORBI was way overpriced, and the BE95 offered me nothing extra. Though the Max 7 was tempting, I ultimately went with the BE85 since I would have wired backhaul on both satellites.My out-of-the-box experience:1. The Deco comes packaged in a very nice, easy-to-open container.2. You are presented with three identical Deco units, three power adapters, and a cord for each that can be removed, making it easier to fish power cords for the Deco.3. I appreciate that the plug-in on the Deco is a normal size and isn’t one of those that take up three or four plug-ins due to its shape/design.4. I already had my BGW320-500 modem set to bridge mode and the ORBI as the router.5. I downloaded the TP-Link APP and started to install the Deco BE85 Mesh system.6. The app asked me to scan the bottom of one of the Decos (it didn’t matter which, as it would become the main).7. The app did not list a BE85. Maybe it is listed as a BE2200? Nope.8. I then continue to install but choose Install MANUALLY.9. I turn off my printers (you will really want to do that)10. Unplug my BGW320-500 Fiber Modem.11. I disconnected from all of the ORBIs.12. I take a photo of the bottom of the Deco I choose to be the Main so I can add the MAC Address13. I then connect to Deco’s Wi-Fi through my phone.14. It then tells me that the Deco I chose doesn’t match the one I’m installing. ( I KNOW THAT.)15. It asks me if I want to change it to the BE85. Of course I do. I say yes and click Next.16. It tells me to connect the Fiber Ethernet to my Deco and then to my Switch.17. I connect to the top 10G port on the Deco and then to the switch on the bottom 10G port of the Deco.18. Since I have a switch with two 10G ports and 6 2.5 G Ports, I connect all the drops to my other rooms to my switch.19. Deco warns me that only one 10G port can be used and that the bottom is a combo port. For a second, I thought, why give me two ports if I can only use one? Then, it dawned on me that the warning was poorly written. What they mean is you can use the bottom port as a 10G ethernet port by taking out the plug and using the bottom SFP+ port (if needed), but you can’t use both at the same time.20. I then placed my first Deco satellite Unit in Room 1, connected the wired ethernet drop to the top 10Gport, and connected the lower 10G port to my Switch in Room 2.21. I then plug in the first Deco Satellite, and it connects almost immediately.22. I do the same thing for Room 2, connecting it the same way as Room 1.23. I then change the SSID to match my old SSID and password Exactly.24. Make note that both are case-sensitive.25. It takes it, and Now I don’t have to change all my Wi-Fi log-ins on 50+ devices.26. Before I started, I had an Excel spreadsheet with all my devices' MAC addresses. You should do the same if you can.27. I looked at the Deco app on my iPhone and noticed that most of the devices did not have very good descriptions. I simply went into the app, looked at the connected MAC address, referenced it with my spreadsheet, and copied the name from my spreadsheet into the Deco app. (Note that I had the spreadsheet on Dropbox, so I was able to copy from my iPhone to the Deco app without typing them all out.28. In about 10 minutes, I had all my devices with good descriptions.29. I then noticed that there was a section for devices that were not currently online, like TVs, PS5s, etc. I changed the names of these devices, too.30. I checked everything out and noticed the 6Gz channel had my SSID followed by _6Ghz, I do have some phones that are 6Ghz so I went in and changed the SSID to match my other SSID by removing the _6Ghz at the end of the name.31. My phones were not connecting to the 6Ghz.32. I then found a place under Advanced called Fast Roaming. It was off by default. I turned it on, and my phone connected to the 6Ghz channel. NOTE: If you have some older 2.4Ghz devices, this could cause them not to connect, and you will have to turn them off or get updated devices.33. I then noticed the Deco App had a DARK mode. I changed it, and my eyes thanked me.34. I noticed in the app that there is a delay, so give it a moment.35. I downloaded the App on both my personal and work phone, and they synced perfectly, but there was also a delay there.36. I noticed you can access your network even when your phone is not connected to the network. This can come in handy.37. I then noticed four devices I had never seen before. After much investigation, I noticed it was showing me the switches connected to it. It was strange because they were TP-Link switches but were showing as Android 1-2,3,4. I corrected those names as well.38. I then ran the network optimization tool, which lets you know if there is interference with the main unit or a satellite. Moving them slightly or moving something away from them can help. This was actually a handy feature.39. I tested my speeds, and the connected PCs (all but one connected by ethernet) are 1250-1300 Up/Down.40. iPhone 15 Max is quite fast in every room. I get speeds of at least 750 Up/Down depending on the room I’m in, and if I’m close to the Main or a satellite, it is even faster.41. The Web interface for the Deco is…Just use the phone App.42. The Decos are warmer than my ORBIs, so keep them in a ventilated area.43. I wish they would come in different colors.44. If you can, WIRED BACKHAUL is the way to go.45. My TVs are all Sony Bravias. I got a USB to RJ45 adapter and plugged it into the USB3 port on the TV, then connected that into either the Deco or the switch (same speed on both). As you can see in the photo, 950+ speeds up/down. (I don't know if it will work on other model TV's)46. If your TV supports it, this is the way to go. It is faster than the 100MB limited switch on the TV and faster than Wi-Fi, even with the satellite sitting right next to the TV.47. I don’t know how this will work yet, but I set the Deco to check for updates nightly. Hopefully, this will prevent a problem with a rogue firmware update.48. Set notifications when new devices join the network.49. I didn’t opt in for their Parent Control. My kids are 34-28 and alone, so there is no need.50. I didn’t get their protection as I have my own, and they should have included it for free.51. Crazy thing happened. On an ATT modem set to passthrough, you need to enter the router's Mac address (I had the ORBI entered first, then changed to the Deco when I replaced it). You go to your AT&T status page on the web 192.168.1.254, enter your credentials, and go to Firewall > IP Passthrough. Change Allocation Mode to Passthrough, Passthrough Fixed MAC address you can select from list or enter the entry Manual. The manual is fine. Now, here is the crazy part. I still had my disconnected ORBI as the manual entry, and everything worked fine. I couldn’t see any issues. I changed it to match my Main Deco unit, and all is still fine. I really don’t know how it worked before.52. Take a photo of the main unit to have it when you change the MAC address.53. One last thing: when I had my ORBI as the router, all my IP addresses were 172. xxx, and with the Deco as the Router, all my IP addresses changed to 192. xxx. I don’t know why, but everything is working.54. NOW, back to the printers. If they are off when you get everything connected and then turn them on, they will connect easily. However, depending on the printer model, they may get lost, and everything will be connected except your printers. So, to be on the safe side, turn them off, and once everything is connected, turn them on.55. Well, I hope this helps someone with their Deco.

First off, I am an IT pro.Purchased a three pack to replace my old network. Came right up and all three integrated easily. Very smooth install. Been 2 weeks now with no problems. I added three additional units and they all integrated and load balanced automatically.The app is very good and shows how the network has mapped itself. It adjusts to itself seamlessly apparently to load balanced. The app is very good.I used the same SSID/PW as my old network so as not to have to reprogram IoT devices and everything worked great. However I had one system with a permanent IP address and it did not come up. In troubleshooting, I discovered that the Deco network defaults to a 192.168.68.XXX schema to avoid conflict. This makes sense but did not work for me because of the one system. I went in the app and changed the LAN config and DHCP to 192.168.0.XXX and it restarted and the other system worked fine. All IoT devices renewed on the new schema and I am happy. Just telling this to demonstrate that the app is useful for slightly more than basic installations.