I’m all the time cautious of suggesting a mesh wifi answer to a buddy or member of the family who wants higher networking. Mesh wifi has improved my life considerably since transferring to a home, so I really feel chargeable for main others to take full benefit of their web. But even an entry-level mesh system just like the Eero 6 prices $280 for a starter pack of three, which is prohibitive for many individuals, particularly those that would possibly already wrestle to pay for the broadband they want.

That’s why I used to be concerned with testing the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi System. It’s a mesh wifi router that prices a mere $20 a unit for comparable performance and efficiency you’d get from a a lot higher-priced Eero or TP-Link Deco system. The Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi System is with out a lot aptitude, however don’t mistake its plainness for uselessness. The mesh router system is impressively in a position for a product that’s accessible in a pack of three for underneath $100.

A Tiny Tower

The Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi seems to be like a shrunken-down model of the Linksys Velop’s large towers. Each node is white, weighs almost a pound, and is barely three inches excessive. The models look greatest positioned on the finish of an open bookshelf or on a desk close to a flower vase to mix into the background. The emblem is on prime of every node, so there’s no distinct branding.

Each node has a bodily energy button and indicator gentle. Out of the gate, one among Vilo’s greatest options is that it gives three Gigabit Ethernet ports on every system, with two of them accessible to tether something round the home that might profit from an Ethernet cable plugged in, like a printer or a gaming console. Not even the second-generation Google WiFi gives this many ports per node, nor does the Eero 6.

Each Vilo mesh node is dual-band AC1200 with 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatibility. There are 4 inner antennae in every system, boasting prime speeds of 300 Mbps on the two.4GHz connection and 867 Mbps on 5GHz. There’s additionally WPA2 encryption, band steering, and MU-MIMO. Each unit can cowl as much as 1,500 sq. toes or as much as 4,500 sq. toes when all three nodes are up and operating. Vilo advertises it will probably help as much as 120 units concurrently, however I couldn’t take a look at that declare.

Setting up the Vilo mesh is basically pain-free. The solely energetic half is connecting the first node to the web modem. Then, all I needed to do to hitch the opposite nodes was plug them in, they usually robotically configured themselves. Vilo assigns them a reputation, they usually virtually instantly present up within the companion app.

The Vilo app is decidedly plain and barebones, however that appears intentional. The lack of flash buttons and overt use of coloration assist me concentrate on the supposed utility of the app (although I do want there was a darkish mode). And it makes it simpler to decide on between the accessible choices.

At the highest of the principle web page of the Vilo app is a button that takes you to the System Dashboard, the place you possibly can verify on the relative well being of every of the totally different nodes, together with which units on the community are linked to every. You may use the shortcut button from the house display screen to inspect every particular person system and its bandwidth utilization. Or swipe all the way in which to the suitable to get a fast learn on general community exercise.

Unlike different mesh wifi router producers, there may be little additional aptitude supplied with the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi. If you need further security measures like spam management or advert blocking, you’ll should discover a third-party app to facilitate it. At the very least, Vilo has the important “extras” required of mesh wifi routers for an general pleasant consumer expertise. They embody built-in parental controls you can arrange for particular units linked to the community, in addition to an choice to arrange a brief visitor community, which expires on the finish of the day and ensures no visitors overstay their welcome. There can also be a useful Usage Report characteristic to verify how a lot bandwidth goes out and in at any given time. The Vilo app will refresh these studies on the finish of each hour.

Ample Internet

I examined the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi system a number of occasions round my 1,700-square-foot family with Ookla Speed Test on quite a lot of Android units, in addition to a Chromebook and an older Windows 10 laptop computer. However, my good residence stayed on my main community, and I arrange the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi as a secondary community for my bed room and residential workplace units.

The Vilo Mesh Wifi will not be a WiFi 6 answer just like the final batch of mesh routers I reviewed. However, I nonetheless in contrast pace exams to get an thought of how the connection blankets my family and if it’s as constant as the opposite units I’ve introduced into my residence. Overall, I used to be impressed by how the comparably cheaper Vilo mesh routers carried out, although the set-up wasn’t with no few minor hiccups.

During work hours, I pulled down a mean of 475 Mbps from a Pixel 5 and OnePlus 9 in my workplace, seated proper subsequent to the first Vilo mesh node. Upstairs in my bed room, the place I additionally positioned a Vilo node, the common hovered between 112 Mbps and 80 Mbps, relying on the time of day and general web site visitors. Weirdly, my work laptop computer stored defaulting to the bed room “sub” node reasonably than the first Vilo Mesh system straight tethered in my workplace, the place the pc relies. I think that is what affected the leads to the bed room, as my work laptop is the largest consumer of bandwidth. I’ve reached out to Vilo to attempt to perceive the problem.

The numbers fluctuated a bit within the kitchen, too, which sits straight between one Vilo node linked in the lounge, and the opposite tethered in my workplace. I noticed numbers ranging between 179 and 235 Mbps within the span of some days. The storage noticed comparable numbers, between 168 and 272 Mbps obtain speeds relying on if I used to be sitting in my automotive or ready for the laundry to complete. The nearer I used to be to the wall shared with the principle router, the upper the numbers.

I noticed the slowest obtain numbers exterior within the yard. The Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi managed 96 Mbps within the farther level in my yard, which is about 50 toes away from the home’s again door. It examined about 94 Mbps on the aspect of the home, about 20 toes away. That’s not dangerous in comparison with the mediocre outcomes I seen with the Eero 6 once I examined it, which barely handed 15 Mbps on the farthest level in my yard. The Eero additionally topped out a measly 70 Mbps within the storage.

I did expertise some slowdown with the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi system, each when streaming video or downloading massive quantities of knowledge. At one level throughout a live-streamed name via Skype, there was a major drop in bandwidth, and my video couldn’t broadcast to the opposite occasion. I needed to log off and name again to re-establish the connection. From there, the decision was clean, and we efficiently chatted for about two hours.

If you must tweak the community or want extra management, the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi app gives restricted superior settings. It does allow you to cut up up your community into 2.4GHz and 5GHz, which is extraordinarily useful for good houses, as band steering remains to be touch-and-go with that class of units. But it doesn’t have Local DNS caching and community file sharing. It additionally doesn’t have WPA3, which is a characteristic unique to WiFi 6 units which might be nonetheless rolling out.

Not a Bad Deal

The Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi system delivered constant speeds all through the nooks of my home and out within the open yard. However, I’ve Gigabit web, and I by no means noticed the pace exams rank larger than 508 Mbps, which is technically solely half of what I pay for. I at the moment use a Linksys Velop AX M10, as it’s the solely mesh wifi router I’d examined that might ship on my exorbitantly excessive month-to-month invoice. Two of these router models value a whopping $700, nevertheless, and it’s successfully a unique product tier at that value level.

Not everybody wants that sort of overkill networking answer, and that’s the place the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi System matches in. For underneath $100, you can begin a mesh wifi community at residence, which is turning into a necessity when you have extra of us transferring into your family with laptops and tablets of their very own or if you wish to begin bringing good bulbs and good shows into the fold. Or, when you have a residence the place the web isn’t as quick, the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi can guarantee not less than everybody has a share of the small bandwidth pie.

The Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi system formally knocks out the Amazon Eero 6 as probably the most succesful mesh router answer for these seeking to spend the least. It’s additionally for the particular person paying for low- to mid-tier web speeds. If you might be paying for the quickest broadband in your space, it is best to look into fashions just like the Netgear Orbi WiFi 6 System or TP-Link Deco X20 as an alternative. They value extra—$700 and $250, respectively—however they’re each WiFi 6 succesful and stuffed with the bells and whistles you may want if you happen to fancy your self a novice community administrator.