Wi-Fi System Roundup 2022: Wi-Fi 6 Update

With every new Wi-Fi generation come new devices that take advantage of all the new standard capabilities. In that location are tons of new wireless routers on the marketplace, then today nosotros'll take a look at some of the major players. An all-encompassing list of every Wi-Fi 6 router is nearly incommunicable to compile, only this ownership guide surely will give a good thought of how these systems perform.

In a contempo piece we recently covered the technical differences betwixt Wi-Fi five (802.11ac) and Wi-Fi half-dozen (802.11ax), so brand certain you lot give that a read if you want to acquire more most what's in the upgrade. TL;DR: Wi-Fi 6 allows more bits to exist sent with each manual for improved speed. Information technology also makes better utilise of the wireless spectrum to better multi-device operation in crowded environments. In less dumbo environments, Wi-Fi 6 allows for more simultaneous connections from each device to increase throughput.

As for tangible operation differences, we also take a piece on that, see: Wi-Fi six vs. Wi-Fi 5 Benchmarked. TL;DR Wi-Fi 6 is noticeably faster in raw file transfers, but not by leaps and bounds. Unless you accept a super-fast cyberspace connection that saturates your current Wi-Fi 5 system, you won't really see much of a boost. The real improvements volition come downward the road when almost of our devices are Wi-Fi 6-capable and are all obeying the new bandwidth sharing rules.

Let's start with a quick overview of the devices in this roundup.

Well-nigh of the devices are mesh systems since they take become increasingly popular. The models we accept are the Asus ZenWiFi AX XT8 , the Linksys MX10 Velop, the Arris SURFboard mAX Pro, and the TP-Link Deco X20. For standalone routers, we have the Asus RT-AX3000 and the Netgear Nighthawk AX4.

This is past no ways a complete roundup, just it represents Wi-Fi 6 offerings from some of the virtually popular product lines. Other Wi-Fi half-dozen mesh systems that nosotros weren't able to secure for review include the Netgear Orbi and the Ubiquiti AmpliFi Alien. When nosotros were completing this testing, Amazon just released their Wi-Fi 6 capable Eero, and so that didn't make it on fourth dimension. Google'south latest mesh system remains Wi-Fi 5 only, as well.

Before looking at performance results, nosotros'll do a quick overview of each unit of measurement. We'll mention their stated coverage and bandwidth, but these numbers should merely serve equally a baseline as real scenario performance tends to be considerably different.

In terms of usability, all routers were all extremely like shooting fish in a barrel to set up up out of the box. That's something that has kept improving in recent years with all systems offering a mobile app that guides you through the process from offset to cease. Discovering the devices via Bluetooth has largely replaced default passwords. All of the systems were up and running inside 5 minutes with very easy to follow instructions. They pretty much all accept some sort of RGB LED to let you know the status of the network at a glance. For the industry every bit a whole, we're glad how far this process has come up to aid less technically inclined people setup their networks.

The Mesh Systems

First up we have the Asus ZenWiFi XT8. Information technology has an advertised coverage area of 5500 sq. ft. for the dual node system and total bandwidth up to 6600Mbps. Pricing is $250 for a unmarried unit and $450 for a 2-pack. 1 notable feature of the XT8 is the 2.5G WAN port. This can help people with fiber or other 1Gbps internet packages brand the most of their service.

Asus offers several other Wi-Fi six products including their lower-cost AiMesh AX6100 system all the mode up to their over-the peak ROG Rapture GT-AX11000.

The ZenWiFi XT8 could be seen as their mainstream mesh offering. Of all the devices we tested in this roundup, nosotros like Asus' app and spider web interface the all-time. Information technology looks a chip "gamery," but information technology gives good insights and details about the network without being overly circuitous.

Next up is the Linksys MX10 Velop, pictured below side by side to a previous generation Wi-Fi v mesh node. It continues the same slightly tapered rectangular design and status LED on top. It advertises coverage of up to 6000 sq. ft. at upwardly to 5300Mbps.

The Velop comes in at $400 for a single unit, and $700 for the pair making it the most expensive system in our roundup today. Linksys offers essentially the same product in a different package called the MR9600 and a lower-stop model called the MR7350. The mobile app experience is positive and nosotros were hands able to find all the settings we needed. Device management is effortless allowing yous to turn on/off access to private clients and besides prioritize them. Both units tin can provide 12 separate data streams to permit for more simultaneous devices.

The Arris SURFboard mAX Pro is a newcomer to the market. Arris is well known for making modems, cable boxes, and other service provider equipment, just this is their commencement standalone Wi-Fi router. We have the AX11000 model which covers up to 6000 sq. ft. at upwardly to 11000Mbps of total bandwidth. It as well comes with an upgraded iv.8Gbps backhaul connection between the two mesh points compared to other systems.

Like the Linksys system, each device offers 12 network streams for enhanced multi-device support. The units come with two LAN and two WAN ports on the bottom which tin can be aggregated for upward to 2Gbps. I would accept appreciated a 3rd LAN port, but if you're in the market for a organization like this, a $15 switch isn't going to break the bank. The SURFboard mAX Pro sells for $330 for a standalone unit of measurement and $650 for a 2-pack. Arris also offers an AX7800 kit for $455 and an AX6600 kit that is coming before long. The user interface is somewhat bones and lacks avant-garde features like AP mode constitute on all other devices.

The last mesh system we are testing today is the TP-Link Deco X20. This is the but 3-unit system in our roundup. Despite the extra mesh point, the X20 merely claims 5800sq. ft. of coverage. It retails for $270 which makes information technology one of the well-nigh affordable mesh Wi-Fi six systems on the market. Withal, you miss out on a considerable portion of the speed since this system maxes out at 1800Mbps.

If you lot want more, there is a 3000Mbps Deco X60 model available for under $350, and an upcoming 6600Mbps X90 model. The units are quite small and unassuming making them less obtrusive than the other models in our roundup. They have ii Ethernet ports on the back, so y'all'll virtually certainly want to pick up a switch if you lot have several wired devices to plug in.

The Routers

For testing purposes, we likewise tested two standalone Wi-Fi 6 routers. The Asus RT-AX3000 offers speeds upwardly to 3000Mbps for a price of $180. It'south a standard Wi-Fi 6 router at a decent toll, and so there's not much else to say about information technology. It is compatible with their AiMesh arrangement to allow normal Wi-Fi routers to grade mesh networks.

And so there's the Netgear Nighthawk AX4 which is a direct competitor to the Asus model. It retails for $190 and has a maximum speed of 3000Mbps. The Nighthawk offers four-streams and is designed for smaller homes or apartments.

The Test

We used several wireless clients to exam all systems. Although many of these devices claim huge theoretical speeds, at that place's only no practical way to test something that fast without specialized lab course equipment. Instead we opted to exam on a home/home office setting with diverse clients, positioning and distances.

Nosotros used ii Asus PCE-AX58BT PCIe Wi-Fi 6 adapters which offering up to 3000Mbps each. For more portable testing, we relied on an Acer Swift iii laptop which has a congenital-in Intel dual-ring Wi-Fi six adapter. For legacy Wi-Fi v performance, nosotros used a OnePlus 6T smartphone. Without going overboard, this should represent fast clients y'all can use on a Wi-Fi vi setup available on the market at present.

In addition to the devices listed above, we too threw in 2 older Wi-Fi 5 systems for reference. The performance results for them are the aforementioned as what was used in our Wi-Fi half-dozen vs. Wi-Fi 5 characteristic.

The graph above shows the representative location of each test. The Wi-Fi systems were positioned at the red locations and the test clients were located in the bluish positions. This variety of devices and locations ensures we become a more than realistic example of how the devices will perform. We found this to exist a more meaningful setting than testing each device only once or twice in an isolated surroundings.

Information technology should likewise be noted that testing in an open environment like this means there are neighboring routers causing interference. Most of these routers are non Wi-Fi six and don't have the avant-garde spectrum sharing and client management algorithms that Wi-Fi 6 has, so we can't directly test those features. Besides that, our performance numbers are something that every habitation or small office user volition be able to reach.

Wireless Functioning

Starting with signal strength, the units of measurement here are in dBm and represent the corporeality of betoken power at the receiver. The values are negative and larger numbers (closer to 0) represent a stronger bespeak. This scale is logarithmic, then each increase of 3dBm represents a signal that is twice as powerful. At that place are federal limits to how much power a device can transmit, so this examination is aimed at characterizing the antenna quality and how well each device makes use of its limited ability budget.

Although there are varying levels of performance depending on how much yous want to pay, signal forcefulness is a consistent metric across all models. On the two.4GHz band, the results are mixed. Generally annihilation higher up -50dBm is considered a great point. Between -50 and -threescore is considered adequate. In one case you go below -60dBm, the bespeak becomes weak.

Overall, the Asus ZenWiFi XT8 is the winner hither, but merely slightly. Nosotros come across the non-mesh units struggle to reach through iii sets of walls while the mesh units maintain good coverage all around. A varying RF environs and physical obstacles tin sometimes issue in a better bespeak even when you lot're further away. That happens in a few cases here when moving from two rooms away to three rooms away. We likewise come into ameliorate range of the secondary mesh bespeak which is why some systems had better signal forcefulness three rooms away.

On the 5GHz band, we'll give the win to the Arris system with Linksys' Velop coming in every bit a close 2d, only the SURFboard'southward huge win in the outside location puts it over the acme. Each device transmits signals on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and through the utilise of advanced algorithms like 802.eleven k, v, and r, the customer can choice the all-time one to employ. We tin tell Arris did their homework in optimizing this procedure.

Let's move on to throughput now. Data was transferred via iPerf3 from each customer to a server which tracked how fast the network performed. Tests marked with "wired" correspond data transfer speeds to a server connected to our router via Ethernet, while tests marked as "wireless" were sent to a wireless server within the same network.

In the wired prepare of tests, the data is sent over Wi-Fi once from the client to the router and then via Ethernet to the server. In the wireless tests, the information is sent over Wi-Fi twice: once from the client to the router so again from the router back out to the server. The wireless tests are more than enervating since the Wi-Fi connection must share the transfer in both directions.

All of these results represent actual file transfers, not theoretical marketing numbers. Y'all can expect to achieve very similar results on your network. Nonetheless, proceed in listen that wireless devices like these can be very finicky. Depending on what other devices are dissemination about you and causing interference, y'all may encounter faster or slower numbers.

Nosotros'll showtime with platonic speeds. For these tests, the routers and clients were near 1-2 feet away from each other. This represents the maximum speed whatsoever consumer would be able to achieve. All the Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems were correct around 830Mbps. The winner though was the Asus RT-AX3000 with a whopping 950Mbps transfer speed. This is the fastest wireless operation we have ever seen. Information technology is likewise virtually certainly bottlenecked by the router's single gigabit WAN port. While mesh systems tend to get the about attention and hype, standalone routers typically offering the all-time operation. Since they don't have to share a network environment with two or more than other admission points, they maximize performance in a single device.

Permit'due south stay in the aforementioned room, but move to a more reasonable and comfortable distance away now to position two. Going just x anxiety away drops our performance by 10-xx% while other Wi-Fi 5 devices perform nearly the same. The standalone Asus device is still our winner with the other Wi-Fi half-dozen mesh devices close behind. Likewise notable is the previous generation D-Link DIR-882 which performs just also.

The side by side location we'll expect at is in the basement or position 5 on the graphic higher up. This is rather close to the router so we don't meet much do good from the mesh capability. Nearly of the devices are within the same range when testing to a single device. The Asus RT-AX3000 gets the win hither and when we add a second device to increase network congestion, the Linksys MX10 wins there. Despite the RT-AX3000 and Netgear AX4 both being 3000Mbps-form devices, the Netgear device but achieves most half of the speed of the Asus device.

The next test is from the aforementioned location, but to a wireless server. This effectively doubles the amount of network traffic for the aforementioned test. On the graphic above, nosotros are testing the throughput from location 5 to location 1 to location 3 and and so back. The results aren't even close.

The Arris device destroys the competition in this exam with the Linksys MX10 coming in for a afar second identify. Doing well in the tests to wireless endpoints means the network tin not only provide fast transfers, but can too efficiently deal with simultaneous connections.

Moving outside to position 7, we become to meet how well these devices transmit through exterior walls and glass windows. The two standalone devices perform well as expected since nosotros're notwithstanding pretty close to the router. Surprisingly, the D-Link device takes the win even though information technology's a Wi-Fi 5 device. Looking at the mesh Wi-Fi 6 devices, the Arris device is our winner for this test.

Our side by side two tests are from two rooms abroad on the other side of the house. The Arris takes the win in this scenario, followed closely by the Linksys system. Achieving 400-500Mbps of sustained speeds on the other side of a house is very impressive. The Deco drops off sharply since our review organisation merely has AX1800 speeds. The Netgear AX4 is actually looking bad with speeds about a third of other devices.

In the same location, let's move to the wireless server. We see a ~50% driblet in operation as expected, merely the Arris device is yet the clear winner. Performance for the TP-Link Deco organisation doesn't drib off as much hither, keeping information technology competitive with the other systems. Nosotros're also at the very limit of coverage from a single access point. The performance of a single device is starting to become unusable at this range.

Our final test is at the contrary end of the house in position iv. As y'all can see, the non-mesh systems hardly work at all from this range. The Netgear AX4 and D-Link DIR-882 could non maintain a connexion to more than a single device. If your floorplan is such that you'll need connectivity at this range, so a mesh arrangement will be required. Looking at their performance results, the Arris device is the winner again. The Asus XT8 comes in 2d place and the COVR 2202 likewise does surprisingly well.

What We Learned

After all testing was done, it was clear the Arris SURFboard mAX Pro was the winner of this roundup. Despite being a newcomer to the consumer Wi-Fi market, they certainly know what they're doing. At $650, this arrangement is out of achieve for most consumers, however if you await at the category of tri-band 4x4 MIMO routers, it happens to be on the affordable side of the spectrum.

We'd accept liked to compare the Arris confronting Netgear's Orbi system, Ubiquiti's newest Amplifi mesh system, and Eero'due south new 6 Pro system, but we weren't able to make that work out. We do expect solid functioning numbers from the Orbi given how well their previous generation system performed, while we're hearing less stellar things about Eero'southward latest release.

The Linksys Velop system also performed well, but costs as much or more than the Arris arrangement depending on current sales. The Asus and TP-Link systems performed well, but all around didn't stand out. They are considerably cheaper though. If you're looking for a basic mesh Wi-Fi 6 system and don't demand the best of the best, nosotros think you'll exercise fine with the TP-Link Deco system. Information technology'due south half the price of the other devices and withal gives decent operation.

The relative size of the 4 mesh Wi-Fi 6 units tested

If you're in a smaller space and don't necessarily demand the actress range from a mesh system, the Asus RT-AX3000 is a great choice. At $180, it's a smashing deal compared to other devices in this roundup. If you're non sure whether y'all need one or ii devices, an added benefit is that it'due south expandable down the road via the AiMesh system. That would be a very powerful solution that offers performance similar to devices costing several hundred dollars more.

The main idea process when choosing a wireless system is this: You can always pay more and go higher speeds. The level of performance you want to achieve and how fast your internet connection is volition make up one's mind whether or non a mesh system makes sense. If you lot simply pay for 50Mbps, information technology won't matter to you exactly how fast a device is every bit long equally you tin still achieve your full speed throughout your whole living space.