[HN Gopher] Eero Pro 6E and Eero 6 Review: Fast and Easy
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Eero Pro 6E and Eero 6 Review: Fast and Easy
Author : ec109685
Score : 47 points
Date : 2022-04-09 06:51 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (evanmccann.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (evanmccann.net)
| gkop wrote:
| In the Models Tested table row Power input, it's USB-C for all of
| them. How come no Power over Ethernet (PoE)?
| rektide wrote:
| Not cheap but there are PoE to ethernet+usb-pd splitters. You
| could set up your PoE & put one of these at the end[1].
|
| The dual band all ask for "15W usb-c" and the tri band all ask
| for 27W usb-c, which is probably 5V3A and 9V3A respectively.
| I'd expect that you could _probably_ get by with a much much
| cheaper non-PD splitter that simply provides the expected
| voltage.
|
| This feels like a pretty good compromise. USB-C PD is, per
| watt, often half the price or less, and it's convenience imo
| cannot be beat since it's such a common power delivery system.
| Small GaN based adapters with multiple ports are abundant and
| cheap (<$0.50/watt) versus more specialized, less common gear
| that's more expensive (often >$1.00/watt).
|
| It does feel great having one and only one cable! Right now PoE
| is the winner here, especially because it has range. I'd love
| to see USB try & compete a little more. I'd create a USB long
| range standard- target 5Gbps (or 2.5Gbps?) but for many meter
| long runs, with power-delivery. Now that we have (on paper)
| extended-power USB-C with 48V power, restricting ourselves down
| to 1A would still be quite useful (48W)!
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Compliant-Microsoft-
| Surface-M...
| wmf wrote:
| PoE isn't used much in home networking.
| mccanntech wrote:
| Especially in mesh kits which are usually operated without
| Ethernet backhaul. eero themselves claim 90% of their
| deployed networks don't use any Ethernet. Hence, almost all
| mesh kits use USB-C or a DC barrel connector.
| silisili wrote:
| I like the tests - easy to read and compare.
|
| As someone who just spent a bunch of time trying to read and get
| comparisons on a 6e setup, I think my biggest complaint is that
| it's testing against older models.
|
| The ASUS ET8 and Deco XE5300 are closer 6E comparison devices
| than the models tested. I believe both would probably outperform,
| one of which being half the price.
| mccanntech wrote:
| Thanks! I haven't gotten my hands on those two yet, and in
| general haven't spent enough time with 6 GHz to say much more
| than I did in this review.
| samcrawford wrote:
| I've been using Gen1 eeros since they were first released in
| around 2016. They're still getting software updates and they're
| still rock solid.
|
| I'll be first in line to purchase a new set if they offer a model
| that supports PoE here in Europe.
|
| Disclaimer: I've done a bunch of work with the Eero team from
| 2015/2016 til present day. Their team has an extremely high
| concentration of very smart and talented people, they are great
| to work with.
| SrslyJosh wrote:
| Note: Eero is owned by Amazon
|
| (The review mentions this, but only in passing, near the end of
| the very long first page.)
| ksec wrote:
| Slightly disappointed that WiFi 6E, on 6Ghz with 160Mhz only
| managed ~1300Mbps. I was expecting ~1500 to 1600. And only one
| 2.5Gbps Ethernet Port.
| mikhailt wrote:
| They explained why there is only one 2.5 port, it's the
| limitation of the current chipset. Most of the current Wi-Fi 6E
| routers have the same limitation.
|
| > This is a limitation of the Qualcomm chipset eero are using,
| which can't provide 2.5 Gbps connectivity on both ports.
|
| > -- this is the case on the Orbi RBK960, Asus ZenWifi ET8,
| Linksys Atlas Max 6E, Deco X90, and many others.
| mccanntech wrote:
| I did see occasional spikes to the range, 1500-1600 Mbps, and
| I've seen that with the few other 6 GHz APs I've tested. The
| eero's performance on the top end with a very wide channel was
| inconsistent though. Over longer duration tests those spikes to
| 1.5 Gbps+ evened out to what I showed in the charts. This is
| early firmware though (6.9.2, the release version), so things
| could improve in the future.
| knodi wrote:
| For the price i like AmpliFi, its a easy to use but have great
| deal more features than Eero.
| ryneandal wrote:
| Picking up a 3 pack of Eeros ~ 18 months ago was probably the
| best tech purchase I've made in years. Incredible coverage for 2k
| sqft split-level home, including the yard.
|
| Management of our children's devices (both content and screen
| time) is incredibly simple with profiles. Even their security
| features have come a long way and provide significant value to
| us.
|
| I always recommend Eeros to any of our friends or family looking
| for networking suggestions.
| wtvanhest wrote:
| Does anyone have any sense how the pro 6e will perform in the
| city with interference vs something like google home Wi-Fi? I'm
| having a lot of issues on video calls and hardwiring is not a
| good option.
| drewg123 wrote:
| If you have a 6E / 6GHz capable client, a 6E router will help a
| lot with interference. The 6GHz band is new enough that its not
| likely to be crowded.
|
| However, since its so new, you're unlikely to have a 6GHz
| capable client... There are 6Ghz capable PCIe cards (desktop
| and M.2 form factors), but I haven't seen any 6Ghz wifi USB
| adapters.
| wtvanhest wrote:
| I have a new Wifi6 in my laptop, but obviously dual band. I'm
| considering hardwiring into the nod which will be wirelessly
| connected to the mesh, but that may solve all issues.
| mccanntech wrote:
| In my experience, very well. I only tested Google Wi-Fi for a
| few weeks, but I was unimpressed with it overall. eero does a
| good job at adjusting things behind the scene. It does an RF
| scan nightly, and adjusts channels and works around
| interference better than any other mesh kit I've tested. Most
| just pick a wide channel and broadcast as loud as possible.
| btgeekboy wrote:
| As soon as they add support for putting wireless networks on
| VLANs, I'm buying.
| kcb wrote:
| I've been increasingly tempted to switch to one of these consumer
| mesh setups from my current Unifi. I just pick up two new Unifi
| Wifi 6 APs(A U6-Pro and a U6-Mesh) and the performance is just
| poor. I don't know whats going on. I'm lucky to get 300mbps with
| a Wifi 5(3x3) or Wifi 6 client.
|
| I'm pretty sure there's something physically wrong with the
| U6-Mesh as it gets scolding hot in use and seems to throttle
| between 30-300mbps. I ended up reverting back to the Wifi 5 APs
| while I figure out what to do.
| mccanntech wrote:
| That hasn't been my experience with the U6-Pro and U6-Mesh. Are
| you running 80 MHz channels? Do you have a lot of 5 GHz
| interference around you? I'm typically seeing 500-800 Mbps on
| the top end, from close range, with those APs. That's with a
| relatively clean 80 MHz channel though.
| kcb wrote:
| Yea, I have 80 MHz channels on with one AP at 36 and the
| other at 149. I live in a suburban area and the channels
| definitely aren't perfect. My closest neighbor seems to have
| quiet a few Google Wifi APs with pretty strong signal at my
| house.
|
| Did you ever notice your U6-Mesh running hot like really in
| an alarming way?
| mccanntech wrote:
| You might have more reliable results with 40 MHz then, or
| with moving to a DFS channel. The U6-Mesh definitely does
| run hot, but most UniFi APs do. The U6-Mesh does seems the
| hottest-running of the dozen plus models I've used though.
| I know some people have had to RMA them, but it's too early
| to know if that's a real problem or not.
| [deleted]
| rhexs wrote:
| I switched my family from AmpliFi to Eero --- drastically more
| reliable. Few firmware update hiccups but they've been great so
| far. Better speeds.
|
| Only thing missing is good QoS --- the "SQM" they advertise
| doesn't work nearly as well as true SQM on OpenWRT. In fact I
| was never really able to see Eeros SQM doing anything on
| multiple connection types.
| runjake wrote:
| The things not really mentioned about Eero, tailored for this
| crowd.
|
| - There is no SNMP.
|
| - There is no decent network monitoring at all: on the app, or
| available via the API, if you were to use one of the unofficial
| API libraries off of GitHub. At all. I've put significant effort
| into this and ultimately routed the Eero through a dedicated VLAN
| on my network switch, and have a SPAN port up to do traffic
| monitoring and analysis via a Linux box.
|
| - The (iOS) app is pretty flakey when it comes to syncing the
| state of the router vs what you see in the app. Eg. you'll have a
| device paused in the app, but it's not actually paused on the
| router and vice versa. You end up having to toggle it a couple
| times until the settings are synced properly.
|
| - The CEO/founder and engineers hang out in a certain subreddit
| and are communicative about the underlying technology. I get a
| strong sense they care deeply about their product -- with the
| caveat that they are entirely focused on the non-technical
| consumer market.
|
| I still use Eero, because it's the best I've found for dealing
| with kids and Internet use. If I didn't have kids, I'd just do
| OPNsense on a Protectli mini-computer.
| cameronh90 wrote:
| I use Eero Pro, don't use any of the content filtering or
| anything, and would still say it's the best WiFi experience
| I've ever had, far better than the Unifi network it replaced.
|
| However, I do wish it had battery and 4G backup. I know that
| sounds pretty niche, but nowadays with regular consumer
| security cameras, alarm systems, smoke detectors, thermostats,
| etc. all running on WiFi with built-in battery backups, it
| would be very nice if I could still connect to them all if the
| power or internet drops out.
|
| Interestingly my Ring alarm has battery and 4G backup, and
| that's also owned by Amazon. Supposedly there's a Ring Alarm
| Pro Base Station which is a sort of Eero/Ring hybrid device,
| but that doesn't exist in the UK, and is equivalent to the non-
| Pro Eero anyway.
|
| I might add a Firewalla Gold and a UPS, but it's a lot of
| hassle and negates some of the value of Eero.
| m-p-3 wrote:
| I received an Eero 6 (free loan) from my ISP and it seems
| decent so far. Howevet, the lack of webUI, being forced to do
| the configuration entirely through a mobile app, and being
| forced to authenticate through an Amazon account to do anything
| in there rubbed me the wrong way. It's good enough for the
| average consumer.
| tyjen wrote:
| Cannot vouch for Eero Pro 6E, but I can for the Eero Pro 6. I no
| longer wanted to waste time troubleshooting network issues at
| home for insignificant performance gains concerning my use, so I
| purchased several Eero Pro 6s to cover my house and property
| perimeter. I bought them in Dec. 2020 and have had zero problems.
| No more long trouble shooting sessions putting a damper on my
| day.
| singhrac wrote:
| I bought a 3-pack of Eero 6s for use in a Manhattan apartment
| where I had been struggling with interference of various kinds,
| and it works perfectly. Really a 15 minute setup and I haven't
| thought about it again.
|
| The most convenient thing is that placing one of the Eeros next
| to my desktop meant that I could run ethernet to it; I thought
| that this would be awful because of the wifi hop in between but
| surprisingly I had very consistent ~20ms ping (iirc).
| andrewmg wrote:
| > If you want to plug it in and forget about it, eero is one of
| the best vendors for that kind of solution.
|
| That has been our experience with a fleet of the original eeros
| and, for the past year or so, eero 6s. And that's in a relatively
| large urban home with many devices and lots of nearby networks.
| Our setup currently uses a wired backhaul, which helps with
| speed, but the wireless backhaul worked pretty well, too.
|
| Also, for what it's worth, no hardware issues across the 8 or so
| eeros total (1st gen and 6) that we've had.
| apohn wrote:
| I've been using consumer/home WIFI hardware pretty much from
| the time it was cheap enough that people started using it
| broadly (2001?). As the "computer guy" I've also dealt with so
| many brands I can't even remember them. If they are not garbage
| when you buy them, use it for a year until the warranty
| expires.
|
| The Eero is the only wireless hardware I've purchased in my
| life that was easy to setup and doesn't need to be rebooted
| every month. Plus, all the pieces in the whole mesh are still
| working well after the warranty period is over.
| thfuran wrote:
| I don't think I've had to regularly reboot any of my access
| points since before I got my first draft N device in...2007?
| apohn wrote:
| I'd love to say that I had some weird or crazy network and
| that was the cause. But it was all the usual stuff. 1 TV, a
| few phones, a few laptops, a printer, etc. Probably less
| than 15 devices, some of which were only occasionally
| active (e.g. printer) at any given time.
| [deleted]
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