The Best Mesh Wi-Fi Systems and Routers of 2024

Wi-Fi has become an integral part of our daily lives. Whether you’re on a video call at home, collaborating with friends on a gaming console, or checking out your property while out and about, a stable connection is crucial. If your home network has dead zones, this can cause a lot of trouble. Fortunately, there are solutions to your Wi-Fi problems.

You can buy a new Wi-Fi router to provide extra range and stability, or if you really want to create a network that can cover your entire home, you can invest in a mesh Wi-Fi system. These systems effectively expand and strengthen your local Wi-Fi network, extending it to every corner of your house, apartment or apartment and eliminating weak links. Best of all, you don’t need to be an IT expert to install it. Most mesh Wi-Fi systems can be set up in minutes by simply plugging them in and downloading the companion app to your phone.

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the best options and created a list for you to choose from when considering going the mesh Wi-Fi route. We put these models to the test, taking into account range, speed, ease of use, and cost to make sure they deserve a spot on our list.

Best Mesh Wi-Fi Systems: Our Top Picks

Serious about speed? The ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) mesh system deserves to be at the top of the list. Even though the system supports up to two routers, it will cover every corner of your home with powerful connections. Even gamers will do well with this mesh network.

To give a quick overview of what you’re getting, the Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8) is a tri-band Wi-Fi 6 system with one 2.4 GHz band and two 5 GHz bands. Each router has three Gigabit Ethernet ports as well as a 2.5 Gigabit WAN and a USB 3.1, so there are plenty of ports at your disposal. Setup takes just a few minutes using the smartphone app.

Another positive is Asus’ AiProtection Pro software, which includes comprehensive parental controls and anti-malware protection, both of which mean you can keep every member of your family safe online. The best part? You don’t need to pay a monthly subscription fee to use it.

It took Google several iterations to perfect its mesh networking products, but the company’s Nest Wi-Fi is special. The system is very simple to set up. With just a few taps on your phone, you can have an enhanced network, with the option to extend it with devices that also include smart speaker capabilities and Google Assistant.

The system’s design is clean and minimalist. These devices blend into the background around your home and provide silent benefits. Plus, helpful parental controls make it perfect for anyone with kids.

The Nest Wi-Fi system isn’t the cheapest on the market by any means, but it’s still reasonably priced. And because it’s Google, you can rely on reliable software support for years to come. Sometimes the best-known companies know what they’re doing, and Google hit a home run here.

The new version of the Eero system is an affordable option from the Amazon-owned brand that’s easy to install. It only takes a few minutes to get up and running, in part because the app is clearly laid out and easy to navigate.

While the Eero Pro 6E’s 6,000-square-foot range isn’t the best in the industry, it’s still pretty good. You can connect more than 100 devices simultaneously. In our experience, Eero is one of the most reliable mesh networks out there. In my testing, the connection rarely dropped, and it greatly improved speeds in every corner of the house.

There are plenty of other features worth mentioning, such as these devices can double as Zigbee hubs to control all your smart home tech, and if you have separate Echo devices, you can control them using Alexa. For a monthly fee, Eero Secure prevents damage from malicious websites and helps protect all your devices.

Those who don’t mind spending a lot of money for a network that guarantees good results should consider the Netgear Orbi 6E (RBKE963). Its price tag may bring tears to your eyes, but it’ll also give you one of the most extensive systems on the market.

It’s ideal for large homes, with coverage up to 9,000 square feet, support for over 200 connected devices simultaneously, and speeds up to 10.8Gbps. There are multi-gigabit WAN and LAN ports on these devices, but you won’t find any USB connections.

Once you have this system set up, basic parental controls are available. You also have the option of paying for a Netgear Smart Parental Controls subscription to add more controls, such as age-based web filters, browser history reporting, and online time rewards.

For those who need a relatively affordable solution for larger homes, TP-Link’s Deco S4 is worth considering. We found the coverage to be adequate throughout our home without suffering severe signal drops as we strayed away from the access point. While there aren’t as many quality-of-life and parental settings as more expensive options, we think there’s still enough to satisfy most basic users who want tweaks to help maximize speed and performance.

However, if you’re willing, be sure to look into some of the more technical details of grid setup security. While we mostly liked the streamlined nature of the setup, there are some security features (such as the ability to allow MAC addresses and hide network names) that seemed to be overlooked.

Bottom line: What is the best mesh Wi-Fi system?

According to our research and testing, the best mesh Wi-Fi system out there is the ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8), thanks to its powerful system and user-friendly setup. If ease of use is your top priority, both the Nest Wi-Fi and Eero Pro 6E kits are easy to install in your home and, more importantly, troubleshoot when you end up running into connectivity issues. For a more affordable option, consider TP-Link’s Deco S4 Mesh Wi-Fi. It doesn’t offer the most comprehensive setup, but for a system that sells for about $150 before discounts, it’s a great value.

How to Choose a Mesh Wi-Fi System

There are many reasons why you might want to add a mesh system to your home network, but, whatever they are, there are some key areas you need to consider before making your choice, even if it’s one of the ones we’ve reviewed.

Find out about the following qualities of your home furnishings:

• Where do you find dead spots in your home?
• How many square feet do you need to cover?
• Do you need to control which devices connect to Wi-Fi?
• Know your router’s base connection speed.

Why should you use a grid system?

The biggest reason you might need a mesh system is signal loss. If you have an area of ​​your home where the router signal either doesn’t reach at all, or the signal is spotty, causing you to get subpar speeds, you’ll need to use a mesh system. In many cases, mesh systems can also control which devices can connect to your Wi-Fi, so they can also be a great parenting tool.

How important is speed when choosing a mesh Wi-Fi system?

A big question when judging different mesh systems is speed – how fast is your base connection, and how much do you need to transmit to the farthest reaches of your home? This limits your options if you’re on gigabit internet, but if you’re willing to settle for something like 500MB/s (which we think is pretty good), you’ll have more options.

What range do you need for your mesh Wi-Fi system?

Another big question we consider is how far you want to extend your network. This can change your choice in two ways – first, by affecting the model you choose based on the distance each satellite can cover, and by how many satellites you choose in the first place. The best options cater to large coverage areas without having to load different satellite points.

Does your mesh Wi-Fi system need an Ethernet port?

Finally, the second question you want to ask is about the form of old-school cable internet. If you want to be able to connect a device like a console or gaming PC to an Ethernet network from a satellite point, you’d better double-check that this is possible, as some options don’t have this capability.