TP-Link Deco AX3000 WiFi 6 Mesh System(Deco X55) - Covers up to 6500 Sq.Ft. , Replaces Wireless Router and Extender, 3 Gigabit ports per unit, supports Ethernet Backhaul (3-pack)

I have used and tested three different TP-Link outdoor units, the EAP 225 outdoor, EAP 650 Outdoor, and finally this unit the X50 Outdoor. I mounted it approximately 8 feet off the ground. The mount for the 650 will work with the X50 or vice versus. The first two are made for business use and take a little more steps to setup and do not work seamlessly with existing mesh like the XE70 Pro's I am using. First and foremost, clear line of sight is very important. Don't expect any of these to go through a metal shed wall or a thick cover of trees. No wifi will. However, with a medium tree area that you can still see the hotspot from it will work pretty good! I used the 225 for over a year and it would achieve around 150-200 mbps download out to around 100-150 yards. The 650 was another story and I used it for about 6 months now and it will give you around 200-300mbps out 250 yards and even got 50 mbps downloads out at 400 yards. These are plenty for say a wifi camera like Reolink or yes even a battery powered Ring that I tested for several months at 250 yards while only getting around 40 mbps downloads due to shurbs and limbs partially in the way. I decided to pull the trigger on the X50 outdoor as I heard it was about the same strength as the 650 outdoor according to Tplink. There isn't much info out there comparing the two. I understand the 650 has 4 antennas and the X50 only two which made me hesitate but I really wanted a seamless mesh system inside and out so I bought an X50...lets just say I was shocked. I can easily get 300 mbps out at 300 yards and even got a mere 10 mbps at 600 yards which was through a thicket of trees but I could see the hotspot barely. Once again, line of sight is important so don't mount a camera or stand inline with a bunch of trees/tree trunks and expect to get great signal. I did get 100-150 out at 400 yards through some light tree branches though. If mounting a camera, I found the camera better have a good antenna on it because while the S24 Ultra can get great signal at say 400 yards, the new battery power Wyze V3 cannot. I haven't tested the other cameras at that distance but I'm willing to bet the old Reolink Go Plus with external antenna probably will be fine.So if considering any of the three outdoor units above...don't hesitate on the X50 outdoor! Great price at $119. I do have all my units hardwired and is the only way to go in my opinion. I tried using the 225 and 650 to send wifi signals to the other where one was wired and the other about 100 yards away and the drop in download speeds were very poor. I was hoping to boost the signal even farther across property but the signal loss to the hotspot 100 yards away was so bad it was useless to use and I acheived much better speeds from the wired one. You can assign devices to each unit or allow them to roam. If its a static device like a camera/TV/laptop that is not wired then I will assign it to the unit it's closest too or gets the best signal from. Most of the time the TPlink software does a pretty good job itself though.Hope this helps as there wasn't much info on comparisons between these units.

Thanks to Prime Day it was time for me to finally upgrade my home network. I was looking for a reasonably priced WiFi-6 mesh system with 3 stations (1 main + 2 satellites), at least AX3000 speeds, and a price tag of up to $300. It came down to two choices: the Eero 6+ and what I chose instead, the TP-Link Deco X55. Both systems had similar specs, but I liked how the TP-Link Deco had 3x Gigabit ethernet ports per satellite (the Eeeros have just 2). That meant I could wire each satellite in a daisy-chain configuration for a wired backhaul AND connect the 3rd ethernet plug to the gigabit switches I had at each satellite location. This meant that all of my hard-wired devices could stay hardwired, while adding mesh WiFi at full speeds (no bandwidth reserved for transmission thanks to the backhaul).Installation was quick and easy - I simply turned off my cable modem, disconnected my previous router, installed one of the Deco X55's in its place (in my bedroom), and turned everything back on. After downloading the TP-Link Deco app I had an internet connection set up and good to go in less than 5 minutes! Once that was working, I added the other two Deco's into the mix - one in the living room and one in the family room - with all three forming an almost perfect triangle for whole-home coverage. In less than 15 minutes after opening the box, I had a fast, Wifi-6 mesh system in my home.I had been using an older AC1900 router for almost 10 years now and back then it was just fine - but with more and more smart home devices being added to my home, it no longer was enough. I have a medium-sized amount of smart home devices (around 50 devices including hubs) and on occasion, I'd experience signal dropouts on some of the farther cameras, and other devices would sporadically go offline/online at random. With the X55 mesh installed, all of my issues disappeared! My smart cameras used to show a signal strength of between 80% (indoor cameras) down to around 55% (outdoor cameras). With the TP-Link Deco mesh in place, the signal strength changed to 100% indoor and 95% outdoor - a major improvement for sure. Pulling up live and recorded footage from the outdoor camera is so much quicker now. All of the other indoor smart devices I have all show 98-100% signal strength. Needless to say, this was a definite upgrade!As for my rating, I give it a solid 4-stars. There are a few small details that keep me from giving it a full 5-stars: some missing features that I had with my old router. One of them is being able to bulk reserve IPs by entering them into the app beforehand; with the TP-Link Deco, the device has to be connected to the network FIRST (with whatever DHCP IP address the Deco gives it), then you have to go into the app to reserve it with a static IP. I would rather have the more common table where you just enter each Mac address, static IP, and device name and it's done. Another missing feature is being able to have at least 2 separate SSIDs (not including a guest SSID). With the Deco you can only have one main SSID and one isolated guest SSID.Finally, to see some speed numbers I ran speed tests using both fast.com and speedtest.com, and the day before installing the mesh system I had an average internet speed of around ~260Mbps. The day after I installed the TP-Link mesh system my speeds went up to well over 490Mbps! Downloading is a lot faster, and streaming is super snappy as well.So in the end, I am very happy with my purchase of the TP-Link Deco X55 Wifi6 mesh system. Aside from the small feature complaints above, everything is awesome! I no longer have devices going offline/online. My internet speed has almost doubled (my old router was the bottleneck!) and streaming seems quicker as well. If you are looking for a mesh system to upgrade your current home network to the current WiFi6 standards, I would say that this is definitely a good buy!------------EDIT 02.18.2024: TP-Link Improvements Are Awesome!TP-Link has been steadily pushing out Deco firmware and app updates, and my -1 star complaint no longer exists thanks to two added features that completely address my complaints:- CUSTOM IP RESERVATIONSFirst, I don't have to play the game of connecting a new device, letting the Deco assign a DHCP address to it, then having to go back into the app to manually change the reserved IP. Now I can go straight into the Deco app and under the "Address Reservation" tab I can now select "Custom"; this brings me to a page where I can manually type in a MAC address AND the local IP address that I want to assign to it - without having to connect the device first.- SEPARATE IoT NETWORKMy other complaint was that I only had the option to have two SSIDs - one main and one guest network. I wanted to be able to configure another SSID specifically so I could group all of my Smarthome devices, and after a couple of firmware updates later TP-Link not only gave me that option, but an even better one: they added a dedicated Iot (Internt of Things) network! Not only does this group my sparthome devices separate from my main network, but it also restricts communications between networks so that the IoT devices stay isolated. This is exactly the feature I wanted them to add during my initial review.- VPN COMPATIBILITYTP-Link has also added the option to use a VPN (server or client) directly through the router, as opposed to having to VPN each individual device manually. Furthermore, the VPN can be assigned to the network in two ways: either all devices (every device connected to the mesh will go through the VPN) or I can select specific MAC addresses that must pass through the VPN before reaching the Internet (tI chose option #2). With this I can make sure that certain devices that like to "call home" can only do so through the VPN, helping to protect my network and privacy.All in all, TP-Link has done a great job at supporting these devices, and their ability to add additional features over time have made me feel confident to revise my initial review now give this system a worthy 5 stars!

I needed to upgrade my wifi because my sprinkler control unit in my detached garage was not getting a strong enough signal. Initially, I set one of the satellites inside my home at a window sill just 10 yards away from the garage hoping to get an improved signal. Unfortunately, the signal to my garage was still too weak for my sprinkler unit (which apparently has a poor wifi receiver). I was close to returning this product, but I decided to try and place the satellite inside the garage instead....and that was the magic solution! Although the signal going through walls is disappointing, if the satellites can just barely reach each other, then you will be able to utilize the improved range if your connecting device is in close proximity of any of the satellites. If you are trying to to extend the range outside the main home or through multiple walls, I don't think this is the best solution, but if you are inside, I think you will be fine if you space the satellites correctly.The app was the main reason I ended up giving it 5 stars because it is very easy to use and gives you the flexibility to choose a frequency like 2.4 GHz for some smart devices that require it. I think it's a great product IF you end up getting the range you need, but be aware it may struggle penetrating walls.