Amazon eero system - thoughts from a new user...

[aj7642]

Afternoon all,

I couldn't find many articles on the Amazon eero mesh wi-fi system on this forum, so I thought I would take a moment to share my experiences. 

Having added a Virgin 200Mb Fibre connection to our house several weeks ago, I hadn't been able to make use of it until I stopped depending upon the Hub 3.0 (which, I'm sorry to say, is an insult to customers because it is the worst router I have ever used). I tried the boosters (well, one, and when I called to order a second, it never arrived so gave up).

I spent a week looking through various whole-home wi-fi systems, having decided to make a one-off investment in a decent system - Netgear Orbi, Linksys Velop, Nest Wi-Fi and Ubquiti AmpliFi. In the end, I took a punt and went with Amazon's Eero system.

The difference is night and day - I receive 150-200 mbit in every corner of our 7-bedroom, 3-floor house, without fail. The connection seems stable with the Hub 3.0 in Modem Mode for now but I am monitoring it as I've heard it can be a little temperamental at times. I will add that all three Eeros are connected together via Gigabit ethernet, but I was receiving similar speeds even when using just Wifi. 

The Eero is missing some key features (such as the ability to turn off the 2.4Ghz network, logging is a little lax) but the best part of the system is that the firmware is constantly updated which adds new features and fixes. The 'Labs' feature allows you to switch on features such as Local DNS Caching, Band Steering (pushes 5ghz capable devices onto that band where possible), etc. 

I'd highly recommend Eero to anyone that is grappling with the Hub 3.0 - I know it is a fair amount to spend (£99/unit for a single, £250 for a triple pack of the standard dual band version) but honestly the piece of mind and time saved messing around with Powerline routers and the Hub are well worth it. If you have been put off using App-based routers due to the VM Connect software, don't be - the Eero app actually works. 

I'm happy to answer any eero questions you may have (and no, despite the glowing review I am not an employee!)... and by the way, it's 20% off on Amazon until tomorrow morning if you're feeling impulsive! 

P.S. My apologies for the essay here. I feel like it may be therapy after the multiple hours listening to VM's too-cool-for-school hold music!

Cheers,
AJ

[ClockSlave]

Have you tested the signal strength close to those devices? If they are 2Ghz I found I had to disable the 5ghz signal on the eero  before those devices would connect. 

[petenice]

Ahh ok cool will look into that.

[ClockSlave]

To stop the 5ghz, it is in settings/trouble shooting/my device won't connect.

[petenice]

Yeah have disabled but still the same issues 😕

[ClockSlave]

☹️

[petenice]

So I've reverted everything back with the intention of using the Eero bridged as an access point. I can only get this to work if it's connected by ethernet to the router. Is that how it's works? Can I not have it connected via Wifi to the router?

[petenice]

So the base Eero needs to be cabled. I've now got the Eero cabled 4 metres away from my back door where the Nest Cam is mounted. I can get live video if I open the door - as soon as I close it the connection fails. 

What do you have to do to get a good connection with these external cameras? Have an extender right next to it?

[Amielea]

Hi I've been looking into this myself as I have a WiFi extender, so does one eero plug into the router and then the other around the house? Thanks amie

[ClockSlave]

That is right, superhub in modem mode. I bought a 3 pack but I may have been able to get away with 2.

[Amielea]

Great any particular one I shud get as u can get ones to replace the virgin modem