– Tenda Nova MX12 AX3000 Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System - 7000sq ft Coverage - 1.7 GHz Quad-Core CPU - HE160 - Dual-Band Gigabit Whole Home Mesh Network for 160+ Devices - 3-Pack

We live in a large Victorian pile with very thick walls. Previously had installed Tenda MW6 plus a couple of MW5 nodes, needing 5 in total to cover the house. The MW6/5 setup had been in place for around 3 years but was starting to show signs of struggling to cope with the ever increasing volume of devices and data being shunted around the house. Being only dual-band and needing 5 nodes , streaming was starting to suffer and Google speaker pairs kept falling out of sync etc. (Because of the way mesh works the more nodes you have the greater amount of total bandwidth is consumed through backhauling and the more latency is introduced) So after some consideration I decided to try the MX 12 kit as an upgrade. Yep - definitely an upgrade! I was concerned that 3 nodes might not be enough given that I'd previously needed 5. In fact just 2 nodes have provided coverage across the while house and I ended up putting the third in our busiest room just for the hell of it! I also got these because they specifically support LAN backhauling which I could never get working reliably with the MW6 setup. It works on the MX12 but it took a bit of tinkering to get it right. This doesn't seem to be documented, but to backhaul over LAN you must backhaul to the agent nodes directly from the gateway node. You can't do it from an intermediate switch. You can, however place switches on the remote 'leg' either before or daisy chained after the remote node. This might save someone a couple of hours of head scratching! Very impressed for the price - I now have flawless coverage across the whole house, my speakers stay synced and no more random intermittent drop outs. So there

I have StarLink and the routers WiFi is dire. I had an old Deco set-up that worked for a while, but later it was getting very slow speeds and somehow even effecting the main router. StarLink suggested a new mesh system and i got this. It's amazing. Very easy to set-up and the wifi is extremely strong even in an old house that sucks wifi signals out of the air. Each unit has 3 ethernet connections which is really useful. It's been rock solid for a couple of weeks. The only issue I've had is the App. It said main unit was working but the other two were disconnected, but they were working fine. Have done a couple of resets so far which is not great. But the actual wifi has being soild. The app is not highly rated on the itunes store. Overall, I'm very happy considering the cost. I dont need the greatest and fastest system as my Speed tops out at around 320mbps. Just be aware the app is not great. EDIT. It’s turned out to be very janky. All the hubs just randomly lock-up or disconnect. They sometimes show up on the app and sometimes disappear. Entering the password comes back with “incorrect”. You end up having to reset them. Should have done what I suspected in the first place, but something decent.

Easy to set up and the app allows you to position the units to best advantage. I get a good strong signal throughout the house. I took off one star against stability because after a power cut some devices seem to be connected but actually have no access to the internet. Rebooting the modem and the Mesh system in the correct order seems to solve this though.

My husband has been searching for a mesh system for a while and he was inclined to buy a TP-Link but most of them don't allow you to split the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi frequencies but this one said it did so he ended buying this one. In his opinion, comparing to more popular brands, the downside is the UI. It's not that it's bad..it's just not as user friendly as TP-Link one for example and if you're a person with little knowledge, this mesh system might not be right for you, unless you're a patient person and perseverance is your middle name. But if you're knowledge is above average, then this mesh system is a no brainer! It ticks all the important boxes and so far it didn't let us down regarding to coverage and stability. In fact, it exceeded all our expectations. Our house has very thick walls and feels like we live in a bunker and with this mesh system, the lowest we got was 20% loss of speed in the furthest corner of the house (which for us is amazing because with PLCs we had like 80% loss). expert tip: whilst doing the setup, once the main node is up and running, just manually add the remaining nodes...it's a very easy process and it will save you tons of time in comparison to automatic setup. Our system kept registering and deregistering the other nodes until we decided to do it manually which consists in tapping for the app to scan nodes around and you tap on the SN of the node you want to add and voilà! Overall it's an extraordinary mesh system with all the features most people will need with an UI that might not be for everyone but we would still recommend it👌

Long review, so I'll start by saying I returned this product as it wasn't right for me but overall is good value. *Original setup: I had been using a Netgear Orbi AC3000 (WiFi 5) mesh tri-band system with a router and two satellites for a few years. I recently upgraded my broadband to 1Gbps synchronous and decided to treat myself to a new mesh system with at least WiFi6. *First contender: I originally tried Google WiFi Pro, which is a 6E system with 3 units. It would achieve 700mbps on a wifi 6E device when stood next to the router, then 15mbps one room over (through one solid wall), then the final unit would not even join the mesh network. I knew there was no web interface and that features were limited from a config perspective but is something to be aware of for others. I returned them, plus points to Google shop for simple returns process and quick refund. *Tenda WiFi Mesh: I had setup a cheap tenda mesh in my mum's house years ago and they have been stable, so I figured I would give them a shot, although I have much more demanded requirements than my mum had. I looked at the range and I would've liked the MX15 but they have microphones built in, so that went out of window and I instead went for MX12. I figured based on the Google experience that I would buy 5 Tenda units, as the price was similar at around the £300 mark. Side note: Please, stop putting microphones in everything, it's intrusive. If I want a smart speaker, I'll buy one. Setup was fairly easy, although I would recommend using the app over using the mesh buttons on the devices themselves, which was a cause of some initial frustration. Adding the twin pack to the triple pack was easy through the app and the layout and features of the software is quite good, better than Google, worse than Orbi and plus points for not needing a subscription for basic features like parental controls. A similar picture to Google Pro arose in regards to connectivity, with the wired node performing well, with throughput dropping off significantly through each wall. Initially I started with 3 units because there are warnings that having too many units can have a negative effect (too much device switching I guess). When the 3 units didn't perform well, I added the additional two units and ensured the each unit was space roughly according to instructions, ending up with 3 upstairs and 2 downstairs, in a sort of staggered formation. In this configuration I was able to get every node to join the mesh but throughput was still negatively effected. One bedroom across from the downstairs wired router node, WiFi speeds dropped from around 400mbps to 15mbps, and in the back bedroom the speed was around 5 mbps. My Orbi WiFi, for comparison, could manage 50mbps+ in the external garage outside, which was through 2 solid brick walls. I placed one Tenda node in the garage to check and it could not join the mesh network. I assume this was a combination of factors, one being that the Orbi is tri-band with dedicated WiFi backhaul and the other being that it has 6 antennas per node, vs the Tenda Nova's 4 antennas. *Wired network / backhaul: I had already added one wired backhaul line for the Orbi, going to the furthest bedroom in the house (from the main rouer), in order to increase speeds from (what I thought at the time) were lows of 50mbps over WiFi. I used this wired backhaul for the Tenda and while it helped with that one single wired node, it didn't do much for the others, as it appeared that one single solid brick wall in my house was still enough to limit performance to around 15mbps. It did however help bring the garage node online, now joining itself to the wired node in the back bedroom, although at under 10mbps. There was a more significant issue with the ethernet in general, which was that it would struggle to get past 700mbps, even at the node directly connected to the incoming fibre box. Google Pro managed 920mbps on the last wired node and Orbi manages a similar 925, so I do not know what is going on with the Tenda units when it comes to their gigabit network connectivity. Wired Access Points instead of router: I switched to "dumb" AP mode and plugged my ISP provided router back in (Zyxel brand) and used the EasyMesh protocol (exists on the Zyxel and the Tenda). I was surprised how easily it all connected, with the Zyxel MPro app immediately picking the Tenda units up as access points. The Zyxel managed 900+ wired, but the Tenda unit on wired backhaul again only managed in the 600 range. WiFi was similar again with under 20mbps through one solid wall but now the network suffered from constant dropouts, of both the nodes and of individual devices. Maybe the EasyMesh isn't as good as first thought, although the issue could just as easil be with Zyxel, or Tenda, or both. I tried every setup option over the past week or two but every one of them had downsides that I wasn't willing to live with. There is nothing worse than hearing faily memebers shouting "WiFi is down again", which is something with the Orbi that I only heard once or twice a year, rather than every other day with this setup (and the Google Pro, to be fair). I plugged the Orbi units back in yesterday and got that warm feeling inside when everything immediately was back online, stable, running at high speeds over wired backhaul and back to a manageable 50mbps on wireless backhaul. I would love to buy the new Orbi system but, come on, who is paying £1500 for consumer grade WiFi! When I bought the top-of-the-range (at the time) Orbi AC3000 system it was £400 (on a black friday deal). Sort out your pricing Netgear, haha! Summary of MX12: Nice looking units with 3 lan ports each, easy to setup and configure in the app, plenty of features without needing silly subscriptions, decent WiFi signal if no solid walls and stable if used in the expected router + nodes setup. On the downside, no dedicated WiFi backhaul channel and the gigabit ethernet seems to enjoy sitting at 600-700mbps. Overall, good value for money kit and worth a go if no 1920s solid brick walls to get through. Lessons learnt: 1) Don't believe the hype: all mesh systems suffer significant signal loss through solid walls. 2) wired back-haul is your friend, if you can manage to wire any mesh nodes, all the better. 3) if your network is stable and your speeds sufficient, then leave it alone, it's not worth the hassle.

I have had this system since 2022 and use it with Hyperoptic broadband and very rarely have had problems while using it. If the network goes down, it takes a bit of time to reconnect and needs regular reboots due to sometimes dropping connections to devices and then blacklisting that device so it only works after a reboot (of the main node) or if you set static IP in the settings. Old 2.4 GHz power plugs lose connection due to IP lease expiring in dchp or your WiFi channel being busy or just not jiving for some reason. You want to analyse your WiFi spectrum to see most busy channels in different areas of your house and then set the correct WiFi channel.

Purchased 2 sets of 3, returned 1 set because the WiFi was so good but started seeing issues after just 1 day. The WiFi would drop out so cctv cameras and streaming services just wouldnt work. There’s a reason why they added an auto daily reboot to these units, because if you don’t reboot them daily, they would lock up and everything would grind to a halt. The only way round this was to pull the power and start again. The support was extremely slow, 3 days on average response during a working week. I updated the firmware, hoping this might fix the issue but no. So, I’ve returned them all for a refund. A shame they were so unstable.

Replaced BT WholeHome 3 disc set up - which didn't quite cover the whole house and didn't reach garage or garden, and poor speeds in bedroom wherever we placed them. Easy-ish installation - one unit was a pain, otherwise quick and simple - all updated and now have just worked for a few weeks with amazing wifi 6 speeds for wifi 6 devices AND the non wifi 6 devices also have a rock steady and fastest ever connection. Garage and Garden also have a rock solid fast connection too as does every nook and cranny in the house. Recently purchased Sky Stream as FTTP installed and thought I was going to have to run Ethernet cables to the lounge due to where the fibre came into the house, router now in the hall - but the rock solid wifi connections this has given me means I don't have to - result. Purchased just before Prime day at a higher price, but a quick on-line chat and Amazon refunded the difference (otherwise I would have re-ordered and returned!) At the offer price I say these are a bargain.