TP-Link Deco S4(3-pack) AC1200Mbps Whole-Home Mesh WiFi System, Router and Access Point Modes, 370 m2 Coverage WiFi Booster, 867Mbps at 5GHz+300Mbps at 2.4GHz, Beamforming, Work with Amazon Echo/Alexa

Mesh networking, I was late to the party having struggled with multiple routers, bandwidth controls, multiple WiFi networks was a revelation. I'm more than capable with networking, flashing custom router roms, setting up parential controls, QoS, VLANs..... but sometimes you just want a network that works and not have to touch it, I've better things to be spending my time on.Enter TP-Link Deco, it just works. The setup process is via smartphone app, it detects its way to the internet all by itself and you are pretty much done. Parental controls are pretty good, allowing on/off (bedtimes) per person and some lightweight website filtering. Essentially you can name all your devices that connect to the network and assign each of them an 'owner', these 'owners' are then parentally controlled, i.e. all devices for that owner will have the same behaviours.QoS is very simple, but enough. This is 'per device'. Essentially you set the devices you want to have 'high-priority', this might be the living room TV, or (as in my case) my work PCs.If you are a technical user wanting control of every aspect of your WiFi, this kit is not for you. You cannot set channels, channel bandwidths, transmit power or barely any 'advanced' settings.It's not perfect, here's a few flaws:1) Devices are registered and assigned by MAC address. Both iOS and Android devices in their latest guises have 'randomised' MACs, which can play havoc. It shouldn't as these MACs are supposed to stay constant per WiFi network, I do however have 1 rogue Android device that picks a new MAC everytime. Your kids may also know how to 'spoof' MAC address to circumvent parental controls. It would be nice if new MACs (aka new devices) were blocked by default on the network.2) There is no dedicated backhaul (this involves a WiFi channel dedicated for node to node conversation). My internet speeds are less than 70Mbps, the lack of a dedicated backhaul makes little or no difference to me as the WiFi speeds far outstrip my internet speed. If your requirements are less internet connectivity, but more local network communication, this might be more important to you.3) Existing DSL Modem/Routers present some difficulty. No real fault of the Deco, but if you have an existing DSL modem/router setup isn't really done without some fiddling. You essentally need to 'dumb down' you existing modem/router a) It's WiFi really shouldn't be on b) It musn't be a DHCP server. Some modem/routers offer a 'bridge mode', which essentially turns them into a modem only - this is ideal, then you input your ISP login into your Deco. You 'can' put the Deco into access point mode, downside here is you loose parental controls and other features that you only get when the deco is in router mode. If your existing router is still acting as a router, everthing will still work, it's just you get a double-hop out of your network - for the non-techical this might be a 5 MILLISECOND delay (not that you would notice). The potentally bigger issue with this double-hop is for gamers, especially if inbound traffic cannot get back, here you can put your Deco in the DMZ of your exisiting router.None of this should put you off the Deco, technically it is brilliant, I've been montoring its WiFi behaviour over some time, and its incredibly sophisticated under the covers, optimising the node configuration for maximum performance and stability.For most people it will just work out of the box,1) One single WiFi network identity throughout your home2) Seamless roaming as mobile devices move around the house3) Simple 'app' based control and monitoringIt's the best investment I've made in WiFi hardware for years.

I recently had Fibre broadband installed. Openreach would only terminate the ONT downstairs in the kitchen. I have a 3 storey house and have previously had a Wifi router connected to FTTC terminating on the middle floor where my study is located. I had to completely rethink my topology!The Deco system has been setup with wireless back-haul. I am using PPPoE on the main Deco unit to connect to my ISP via the ONT. I have one unit on each floor. The Wifi speed I get when connected to 5Ghz network is generally very close to the ISP speed and the 2.4Ghz network is more than adequate but obviously limited on speed. I also have a Mac connected on the first floor via one of the Gige ports and it runs at the full ISP connection speed and that includes a wireless back-haul hop from the Deco it's connected to and the main Deco connected to the ONT.All in all I'm very impressed with how easy it was to setup and the performance I'm getting. My ISP speed is 150Mpbs and most of the time this is available to me with devices that are capable both wired and wireless. I suspect if a much higher speed broadband connection is used the wireless back-haul would start to become a bottleneck and in this situation wired Ethernet via the GigE ports is available. There are 2 on each unit. This may be limiting if you use back-haul on one port and connect the other to the ONT then you're left with no ports on that unit to connect to your wired LAN.Since I originally wrote this review, I have managed to set up backhaul over a LAN using a TP-Link TL-SG108 switch which also has various wired objects plugged in (Smart heating bridge, printer and a MAC). In this case everything is working well and I am getting the full 150Mbps through the MAC. I suspect backhaul is possible over most LANs but I know there are complications with VLANs if you are using the Guest Network feature. In this case you may have problems with some switches depending on how they deal with loops caused by VLANs. I don't use the Guest Network so I haven't had a problem.It doesn't boast many features but as a basic router/mesh Wifi it seems like a very cost effective and stable solution.