Amazon Eero 6 review: Future-proof your WiFi with this no-brainer upgrade

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Eero 6 is the brand’s first mesh network to support the Zippier Wi-Fi 6 standard (Image: AMAZON • GETTY • EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)

When it comes to treating yourself to a shiny new gadget, there are probably quite a few items lying around the house that you’d want to upgrade before the humble Wi-Fi router. A new smartphone with a nice new camera perhaps? Maybe one of the newest game consoles? Or how about a new addition to your growing smart home?

While we wouldn’t begrudge anyone choosing either of these options, the truth is that you’re probably better off checking out the nondescript plastic box in your closet.

If you’re paying for a half-decent internet connection every month, you don’t want to be let down by the Wi-Fi router sent by your broadband provider when you started your contract two and a half years ago. With more and more internet-connected devices in your home and new threats from malicious parties every day, it pays to have a good router.

And that’s where the Eero 6 comes in.

While it started out as an independent company, Amazon bought Eero in February 2019. You wouldn’t know it from the outside, though. Unlike Google, which has added a hands-free smart speaker to every Wi-Fi boost node in its rival mesh system with its latest hardware upgrade, Eero isn’t trying to sneak Echo Dot speakers into your home. Eero isn’t even controlled from the Alexa app. Instead, it has its own software on Android and iOS.

For those who have invested deeply in Amazon Echo-compatible smart home gadgets – don’t worry, there are some integrations between Eero and Alexa available if you dig deep enough. But for those who don’t like Amazon services so much, without reading the fine print on the box, you wouldn’t know that Eero was owned by Bezos and co.

So, what is Eero? In a nutshell, instead of having a single Wi-Fi router in the back of a closet that manages the Internet connection of every device in your home, Eero is a mesh network. That means you have several smaller nodes scattered around the house.

While it still looks like a single Wi-Fi network in the settings app on your phone, behind the scenes these nodes will shuffle devices as you move around your home, so you’re always connected to the closest node. is located at. u for the strongest WiFi signal. It also means devices are evenly distributed across the network, so you can connect more devices to Wi-Fi without sacrificing reliability or speed. Each Eero 6 node can support 128 separate devices, so with a three-pack at home you’ll have no problem connecting as many as 384 gadgets to your home Wi-Fi network.

Amazon Eero 6 Mesh Wi-Fi Network Wireless Home Broadband Speed ​​Amazon UK Update

Unlike your broadband provider’s router, Eero uses multiple nodes in your home (Image: AMAZON)

Unlike the single Wi-Fi router lying on its side behind your television or crammed into your closet under the stairs, the Eero 6 system should eliminate all the black holes in your home… yes, even the guest room or at the bottom of the garden.

As the name suggests, Eero 6 is compatible with Wi-Fi 6, the latest industry standard for wireless internet. It is designed to provide faster speeds over Wi-Fi, higher performance, and better support on concurrent devices. To take advantage of this new technology, you need Wi-Fi 6 compatible devices.

Fortunately, manufacturers have been slowly adding technology to their gadgets in recent years. Since the iPhone 11 series, which launched in late 2019, Apple has supported Wi-Fi 6 on its smartphones, while Samsung has been an early adopter of the standard – supporting Wi-Fi 6 in its handsets since the launch of the Galaxy S10. in March 2019.

In other words, if you’ve bought a new smartphone or tablet in the past few years, chances are it’s Wi-Fi 6 compatible. If so, the only thing stopping you from taking advantage of this newer WiFi. Fi standard is the router in your closet.

If you haven’t upgraded your phone in a while, Eero 6 can still boost the signal in your home and better juggle dozens of devices, but the improvements offered by Wi-Fi 6 will remain dormant until you start upgrading yours. technology .

Amazon Eero 6 Mesh Wi-Fi Network Wireless Home Broadband Speed ​​Amazon UK Update

The Eero 6 boxes are quite neutral and fit into any interior (Image: AMAZON)

Setting up and managing the Eero 6 is handled using the companion app, which is available on both iOS and Android devices. The app has helpful step-by-step instructions to add and place each node in your home. The Eero app asks how many floors you have at home to help you place the network extenders for maximum coverage.

Compared to signing up for a new broadband contract, where a router arrives in the mail with almost no explanation, you feel in good hands with the Eero app.

Eero says a bundle of three extenders will comfortably cover a 5,000-square-foot home with Wi-Fi, while smaller homes require fewer units than that. A single Eero 6 will cover 1,500 square feet of Wi-Fi, so apartment owners might be able to do enough with it.

Although if so, you won’t be using the mesh portion of this mesh system – you may still want to use an Eero 6 to take advantage of some of the smart features you don’t get with your bog- default router of your ISP.

And if you move to a new place in a few years, you’ll have the flexibility to buy one or two additional nodes to extend your Wi-Fi coverage.

Amazon Eero 6 Mesh Wi-Fi Network Wireless Home Broadband Speed ​​Amazon UK Update

The Eero app is an extremely easy way to juggle dozens of devices, test your speed, limit kids’ internet time, prevent malware and more (Image: AMAZON)

Juggling your gadgets in the Eero app is a lot of fun. With the Eero app, you can assign all gadgets connected to your Wi-Fi network to a profile, for example for a specific family member. Then, Eero lets you schedule any downtime when they can’t connect to the internet, so you can make sure dinner is always phone-free, or prevent your kids from logging into Instagram in the wee hours without you knowing.

Renaming devices, adding them to new profiles, and connecting new Eero 6 nodes is a cinch. But don’t worry if you don’t care – the Eero app automatically sorts new devices into categories – so all connected doorbells, light bulbs are separated from your iPad and Pixel 4. A small icon also illustrates each connected gadget. So even if you haven’t spent an evening sorting devices between family members’ profiles, you should be able to easily find what you’re looking for in seconds.

A separate Activity tab in the app lets you track your network speeds over time. That’s especially helpful if you’ve been having issues with your service and need to send a screenshot to your ISP to prove how patchy your speeds have been over the past few months. In our time with Eero, we’ve had no issues with the app, which was reassuring as making changes to your network is software dependent.

Eero also sends out a weekly report with the latest statistics about your network speed, including the fastest download and upload speeds recorded in the last seven days, the total amount of data downloaded over your network and more. If you don’t have an unlimited subscription, this can save you an unpleasant surprise bill at the end of the month.

The optional Eero Secure plan protects all devices on your network from malware, phishing attacks and more. Since it works at the network level, it stops the threat before it reaches your smartphone, tablet or laptop.

There are also options to block ads, filter searches – useful if you have younger family members at home, and the ability to block individual sites for certain users or devices. Content filtering is divided into three categories: illegal or criminal content, violent content, or adult content.

Amazon Eero 6 Mesh Wi-Fi Network Wireless Home Broadband Speed ​​Amazon UK Update

Eero says a single Eero 6 unit will comfortably cover a 5,000-square-foot home with fast Wi-Fi (Image: AMAZON)

Amazon Eero 6 review: final verdict

  • Pros: unlocks the potential of all the Wi-Fi 6 gadgets already in your home, simple app makes managing dozens of devices easy, no more dead Wi-Fi zones
  • cons: To protect everything on your network against malware you need a separate subscription
  • ⭐ ⭐

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use Wi-Fi 6 upgrade for your home network, you’ll struggle to find a better option than Amazon’s Eero 6. If you have Wi-Fi 6 enabled gadgets, you’ll appreciate the benefits from day one, but if not, Eero remains a fairly affordable way to future-proof your home for the latest wireless standard.

The Eero app is an idiot-proof way to manage devices, restrict Internet access to certain household members, create a separate network for guests (or neighbors), and block malware threats and adult content. Daily speed checks are also a great way to keep your ISP honest about the speeds you’re actually getting.

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Neela
Neela
I work as the Content Writer for Gaming Ideology. I play Quake like professionally. I love to write about games and have been writing about them for two years.

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