Linksys Velop AC2200 Triband Router Review

1. Introduction2. Linksys Velop3. Linksys Velop Setup and Software4. Linksys Velop Analysis5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

You wait decades for wireless mesh network products to arrive and then two come at once. Just a few months after NETGEAR’s Orbi hit the scene, we have the Linksys Velop. This attempts to go one better by including not just two meshing units, but three in the kit we were sent. How does it compare to the Orbi?

The Velop uses the same sort of technology as the Orbi. Whereas a WiFi repeater will use to your existing WiFi connection as its pipeline to the network, these products have a dedicated “backhaul” WiFi connection that is exclusively used for the units to talk to each other. This has a couple of really useful side effects. Firstly, the backhaul WiFi connection is only used for hooking up the base units; no clients will be on this WLAN, so it can operate as fast as possible without contention. Secondly, the base units can all use the same SSID, making the user's experience as they move around a building seamless.

Like the Orbi, one of the two 5GHz 802.11ac channels is used for the backhaul. However, whilst the Orbi has a 1,733Mbits/sec 802.11ac backhaul, the Velop's is half the speed at 867Mbits/sec.

Whether this is significant in the real world only testing will tell, but in theory this isn't such good news if you are using more than one extra node for the mesh. In the case of the three-pack we were sent, all three nodes will be relying on this 867Mbits/sec backhaul, potentially reducing the performance available to each.

The Velop is still a tri-band router, again like the Orbi, and its other two channels are the same as NETGEAR's. There's another 867Mbits/sec 5GHz 802.11ac channel for client usage and a separate 400Mbits/sec 802.11n channel running at 2.4GHz for legacy devices.

But overall this means the Velop is classified as AC2200 in aggregate, rather than AC3000, due to the lower-bandwidth backhaul. However, Linksys quotes AC6600 for our three-pack, cheekily adding the bandwidth of all three units together.

Unlike the NETGEAR Orbi, the Linksys Velop units are all identical and interchangeable. Each one sports two Ethernet ports and a power connection, hidden underneath so the little white towers can sit around your house as neatly as possible. They look quite a bit like designer speakers, too, so aren't a complete eyesore like some wireless kit. However, there is no USB so remote USB-attached storage or printer connectivity won't be an option.

The three-unit pack we were sent has another obvious downside, however – it costs around £500. You can purchase the Velop as a two-pack or single units, for £349.99 and £199.99 respectively. Read on to find out whether Linksys's mesh is a NETGEAR WiFi beater.

Price: £499.99

Specification:

Wireless protocols: MU-MIMO with 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz and 802.11b/n/ac 5GHz plus 256 QAM on both
Performance: AC2200 (867 + 867 + 400 Mbits/sec)
Antenna Configuration: 2×2 Internal Antennas
Ports: Per unit: 2 x Gigabit Ethernet
Modem Support: VDSL/ADSL 2+ or cable

Befitting the stylish contents, the attractive box tries to explain what the contents actually do, with some success. The house diagram on the bottom shows a possible placement of the three router units within.

Inside the nicely magnetically closed box can be found three identical router units, each with an external power supply. Only one Ethernet cable is supplied. But it's white and ribbon-type, so fits the white aesthetic of the overall package.

 

There's not much to indicate what the Velop units are, with just the logo on the bottom and a status light at the top.

 

All three router units are identical, so it doesn't matter which one you connect to your broadband and which ones are the satellites. Each unit only incorporates two Ethernet ports, however, which is a bit of a drawback if you want to use the broadband-attached unit as a router in a home office. You will need to use the single remaining Gigabit Ethernet port to connect to another switch via crossover if you want to connect more wired devices.

You will be able to connect two wired devices to each of the satellites, but these will then be attached to the network via the 867Mbits/sec backhaul, which can only be slower than a pure Gigabit Ethernet wired connection. Also notable by its absence is any form of USB connection, meaning that only Ethernet-based storage devices and printers can be connected.

One not so obvious feature that the Velop has compared to the Orbi is that if you happen to have a wired network spanning rooms, you can also connect the router units via this, release the backhaul 802.11ac, and then all three wireless channels can be used for WiFi clients.

The Velop is unusual in that it's designed exclusively to be set up via smartphone. Linksys has gambled that everyone now has one of these, and for the more consumer-oriented market the product is aimed at, this will be a convenient way to get things going – much better than having to use a laptop or desktop. The App is available for iOS and Android, and is a free download.

Once you have the app installed, the first screen gives you the choice of logging into an existing setup or creating a new one. Then, although the app is primarily aimed at Velop, you can also configure other Linksys Smart Wi-Fi routers.

Next up, unless you already have an account, it's time to set one up. You also need your smartphone's Bluetooth turned on, although if you read the small print you can also set things up without this.

You can choose whether your broadband comes in directly from a modem-router, or you already have a modem connected to a separate router. You are then told to get your kit together to install the first node.

The next few stages get our smartphone and node talking to each other. You're guided through the process step-by-step in exhaustive detail.

Next, your hand is held as you connect to the WiFi on your router. The three units come out of the box preconfigured on the same WLAN, so you simply read this from the bottom of one of them.

You can then choose your own WLAN name and password, and again your hand is held as you connect to this new WiFi – note that we chose the same details as was shipped so we could remember the settings!

Next you're asked where your node is situated. This is just so the names given to the nodes make sense and help you remember which one is placed where.

Now it's time to add another node. Again, a simple but extremely detailed wizard guides you through the process. Note that you can create a custom name if none of the preset ones fit the location. Adding the third (or any further) nodes follows exactly the same process.

Just a couple more bits of housekeeping before everything is set up.

Once everything is configured, you end up in the dashboard, which tells you the health of your Internet connection and lets you browse wireless clients. You can send the settings to a friend via SMS, email, or copy and paste them – a handy touch for inviting friends and family onto your WLAN.

You can set up a separate guest access SSID and password, which is handy if you want to keep these setting separate (and then change them later without having to reconfigure all your clients).

You can use the parental controls to block a device entirely or restrict individual websites. However, we couldn't find any way to block devices based on time of day, which was hinted at in the app. This is a pain if you want your kids to have no Internet after bed time. You can also prioritise up to three devices – for example your games PC or a video streaming unit.

If you delve into the menu (accessible via the three-line “burger” icon in the top-left-hand corner), more advanced settings are available, including administrating your Velop nodes, and detailed WiFi control such as port forwarding and Wi-Fi MAC address filtering.

Overall, setup and configuration are painless, albeit rather involved. The app is nicely designed and easy to use. So far, so good.

We tested the Linsys Velop in two ways. First, we wanted to assess the raw throughput of the “backhaul” connection between the three devices, then the wireless throughput. For both tests we used the open-source iPerf 3.1.3 software and three Windows 10 systems (HP Folio 13 and HP Spectre 13 X2 notebooks, plus a self-built Intel Core i7 workstation). For the backhaul test, the HP Folio 13 and workstation were connected via Gigabit Ethernet, the workstation to the router and Folio 13 to a satellite. The two Velop satellites were placed at about 5m on the same floor and about 10m on a lower floor respectively.

First we tested with both workstation and Folio 13 systems connected to each-other directly via an Ethernet cable. This was to show the maximum theoretical throughput of the network adapters. Unlike with the Orbi, we couldn't then attach both systems via the primary Router, because the Velop only has two Gigabit Ethernet connections and one was connected to broadband already.

Then we attached the Folio 13 notebook to each Satellite via Ethernet at 5m and 10m (approximately) away from the Router in succession, so it communicated with the desktop via the Velop’s “backhaul” connection. There was a wall in the way of the 5m distance, and a couple of walls and a floor with the 10m test.

Once we had assessed the best-case scenario for the two node distances, we tried out the Velop's range extending abilities. Our primary test notebook for this portion, an HP Spectre 13 x2, supports 802.11ac, although not with multiple antennas.

We placed the notebook 1m, 5m, 10m, and 15m from the Router, although with the 5m test it was near the first satellite, and with the 10m test it was near the second satellite, then 5m from the further satellite for the 15m test. Then we moved it successively further away down the garden of our test location, reaching a distance of approximately 35m, which was actually behind a shed.

We performed a similar test using the HP Folio 13’s 802.11n connection, but only up to 15m.

In each case we took 60 readings of throughput at one second intervals and calculated the average (iPerf does this automatically). We are also comparing the Velop's performance with the NETGEAR Orbi. Note that for the wireless tests the Orbi's satellite was at the same 10m distance as the Velop's second satellite.

Router-to-Satellite Results

The backhaul test is not a great result for the Velop. The half-speed backhaul clearly reduces the bandwidth available compared to the Orbi at the same distance from the base station. The bandwidth is behind already at just 5m, and then very obviously at 10m.

Over just Gigabit Ethernet ports, we saw an average of 645Mbits/sec, or 80.6MB/sec, which is close to what we might expect for Gigabit Ethernet. When we switched to the 802.11ac backhaul, we saw 40 per cent of the performance of the Gigabit Ethernet ports, averaging 258Mbits/sec, which isn't stellar for 802.11ac but not a real problem either. Unfortunately, the 10m result was the big disappointment. The Velop is clearly losing a lot by having to transfer data from router, to satellite, to satellite.

802.11ac Results

Although the Velop's 802.11ac performance is pretty close to the Orbi's when the notebook is not far away from the main router, it drops very quickly as the distance grows. At 5m, where the notebook was right next to the first satellite, performance is already 81 per cent of its best. At 10m, where the notebook was right next to the second satellite, the bandwidth had dropped like a stone to 52.7Mbits/sec, or 18.6 per cent of its top speed.

The 15m test was a little better, with a slight increase to 59.3Mbits/sec, but it was downhill again at 20m to a rather paltry 30.1Mbits/sec, where the Orbi was still managing 114Mbits/sec. The Velop did manage to maintain this kind of level up to 30m, but essentially failed at the 35m “behind the shed” test, where the Orbi still managed a usable 20.7Mbits/sec.

Note that the distances above are shown relative to main the router, so the 5m reading is right next to the first satellite, and 10m next to the second. Clearly, 35m from the router and 25m from the furthest satellite was pushing things a bit, but whereas the Orbi would still let you browse the Web and maybe even watch HD video, or at least a lesser resolution, the Velop's connection was dropping out left, right and centre and was not useful for very much at all.

802.11n Results

Again, the Velop's slower backhaul gives it reduced performance for 802.11n devices as well, although this didn't drop off so much as we moved 5m away from the most distant node from the main router.

Overall, the Velop is way behind the Orbi. The three-satellite strategy clearly doesn't give any benefit over the Orbi's two nodes thanks to the slower backhaul, and could even be a hindrance since the three nodes are sharing a backhaul that is already half that of the Orbi.

The Linksys Velop isn't all bad. The styling is nicer than the Orbi's, and the smartphone-driven setup makes it accessible to a less tech-savvy audience. But otherwise NETGEAR has the jump on Linksys. The Orbi's performance is in a different league to the Velop's, and that's with just two satellites, thanks to having double the backhaul speed.

The extra Ethernet ports on the Orbi also make it more of a replacement for an existing router. The Velop, on the other hand, will need a separate switch or wired router to sit alongside a wired office network to provide enough ports for non-wireless systems.

With no USB either, there's an opportunity missed as well to use the extra node for convenient positioning of a USB-attached printer or storage device. There's no price advantage either, considering that the two-unit Velop costs around the same as the Orbi's two-unit pack. So, overall, if you're looking for greater WLAN coverage via mesh networking, NETGEAR's Orbi keeps its crown as the most effective option.

EDIT: 10th May 2017 – see our two unit follow up retest article over HERE.

Pros:

• Extended WiFi range compared to a single router.
• Easy step-by-step setup via smartphone.
• Smartphone access to advanced settings.
• Attractive, unobtrusive styling.

Cons:

• Performance eclipsed by NETGEAR Orbi.
• Relatively expensive.
• Only two Gigabit Ethernet ports on each unit.
• No USB ports.

Kitguru Says: The Linksys Velop uses mesh technology to provide larger WiFi coverage than a standalone router, but it's nowhere near as fast as NETGEAR's Orbi.

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