Linksys Velop Pro 6E review

The ‘E’ in Wi-Fi 6E may formally stand for ‘Prolonged’, however till lately, it’s additionally stood for ‘Costly’. Linksys goals to alter that with the Velop Professional 6E MX6200, a Wi-Fi 6E mesh system accessible in a 3-pack which you’ll choose up for round $400 / £500. 

Why must you care about Wi-Fi 6E? Velocity. It’s the most recent Wi-Fi commonplace, and presents quicker speeds than Wi-Fi 6 {hardware}. You probably have a contemporary cellphone or laptop computer, you possibly can anticipate to get pleasure from quick speeds over 1Gbps, and older gadgets ought to profit from clearer, much less congested connections on the two.4GHz and 5GHz bands as nicely. 

Think about a brand new lane has opened up on the motorway and all the quicker vehicles are making the most of the additional capability. That’s Wi-Fi 6E in a nutshell. 

Except for efficiency, the Linksys Velop Professional 6E presents the same old perks you’d anticipate from a mesh Wi-Fi system: seamless home-wide Wi-Fi protection and distant administration of your own home community by the Linksys app. 

Every little thing sounds nice on paper, so we took a 3-pack Linksys Velop Professional 6E system for a check drive. 

Design & construct

• Six inside antennas, no inside modem
• One gigabit WAN port, one gigabit LAN

The Linksys Velop Professional 6E models are neat minimalist towers with curved sides, save for one sharp-edged nook. The entire antennas are tucked away inside, simply as with nearly all mesh methods, and just like the Linksys Atlas 6 models, have rubbery bases, which defend the floor you place them on.

Whereas the Velop Professional 6E models are comprised of plastic, they really feel fairly weighty and durable. They stand simply shy of 20cm tall, so they may not match simply all over the place, and as you may anticipate given their form and dimensions, the models can’t be wall-mounted. 

You solely get two Ethernet ports right here, one WAN, one LAN. Most mesh methods gives you no less than a few additional LAN ports to play with, so this can be a downside. 

You would purchase a community swap in the event you want the additional bodily connectivity, for any gadgets in your front room which could profit from a wired connection, video games consoles, or NAS drives, for instance. There are not any USB ports, or another bodily connections on the Velop Professional 6E models. 

One other potential concern is that these are gigabit Ethernet ports. Prospects receiving quicker providers from their ISP could nicely have a modem with a 2.5Gbps port, and in that case, you’d might be shedding out on a variety of efficiency. The Asus ZenWiFi XT9 models have 2.5Gbps WAN ports, however are proportionally costlier.

Alternatively, most individuals nonetheless have sub-1Gbps broadband, so this gained’t be a deal-breaker. It’s simply one thing to be aware of in the event you plan to improve sooner or later.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Set up

• Linksys cellular app makes it easy
• Setup ought to take not more than quarter-hour  

Linksys has made establishing the Velop Professional 6E as straightforward as pie. The Linksys cellular apps take you thru the method, one step at a time. Just about each firm within the residence networking enterprise presents an analogous guided setup for patrons as of late, nevertheless it’s at all times good to see that an effort has been made to streamline and helpfully clarify what could be a complicated course of, particularly in the event you’ve by no means carried out it earlier than. 

The cellular apps see you connecting to the Velop Professional 6E system in your cellphone through Bluetooth to start with. 

Because it’s a mesh system, the set-up course of entails you connecting the primary Velop Professional 6E unit to your modem, and establishing an Web connection – energy your modem off first, then join the Velop Professional 6E to your modem with an Ethernet cable, join the router to the mains, then energy your modem again on.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

See also  Lenovo Legion Go review: The XL alternative to the Steam Deck

As soon as that’s carried out, you possibly can then energy up the opposite two. Specs-wise, all the Velop Professional 6E models are the identical, so it doesn’t matter which one you select to behave as the first node. 

For the setup course of, you’re required to plug the opposite two Velop Professional 6E models into the mains in the identical room as you’ve arrange the first unit, so make the pairing course of simpler. As soon as all of the gadgets are linked, you possibly can then change the community title, set the Wi-Fi password, and create an admin password. 

As soon as carried out, you possibly can then unplug the opposite two models and place them wherever they’re wanted in your house. The app permits you to change the names of the models – they’re known as ‘Router’, ‘Youngster 1’, and ‘Youngster 2’ by default – so when you’ve positioned them optimally round your own home, you possibly can name them issues like ‘Dwelling Room’, ‘Kitchen’, and or no matter you need.

The method of establishing all three nodes took me about quarter-hour in complete. As there are three nodes, and I’m nonetheless reeling from the finale of season 3 of Solely Murders within the Constructing, I modified the default SSID to ‘PickwickTriplets’, as a result of I can’t get that blasted music out of my head. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Options and distant administration

• Linksys app offers a transparent overview of your own home community
• New Secure Searching network-level filter device 
• Channel Finder searches for the quickest Wi-Fi channels
• Visitor WiFi, precedence for as much as three gadgets, and port forwarding are current

The Linksys Velop Professional 6E has all the primary residence networking options you’d anticipate, plus a few others, all of that are very straightforward to activate due to the intelligent structure of the Linksys cellular app. 

The app’s major function is to offer you an outline of your own home community. Tapping on the ‘Gadgets’ icon brings up an inventory of every thing that’s presently linked to your community, whether or not it’s utilizing 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or 6GHz Wi-Fi, or if it’s utilizing a wired Ethernet connection. 

Tapping on a tool icon on this listing (e.g. ‘Google Pixel 6’) means that you can prioritise that machine, to make sure that it’s at all times acquired ample bandwidth in your community – helpful in the event you’re working from residence and wish to make sure that you’ll at all times have the ability to make video calls from a particular machine. You may solely prioritise as much as three gadgets, thoughts, so select rigorously. 

From this listing, it’s also possible to apply parental controls to particular gadgets. These allow you to manually pause Web entry, or schedule a break, if you wish to implement a while away from screens. You even have the flexibility to create a blocklist, by including particular person internet addresses – efficient, however time consuming. 

Rounding this out is a brand new beta function known as Linksys Secure Searching, a function which guarantees to “block undesirable content material on gadgets linked to your community utilizing DNS safety”. On this case, ‘undesirable content material’ is content material of the grownup selection. It’s a network-level filter, which implies it’s utilized to all gadgets utilizing the community, as an alternative of particular person gadgets. 

URLs for all the Aylo (previously MindGeek)-owned websites and the websites of some well-known excessive road grownup retailers had been inaccessible from all of my check gadgets when this function was activated. 

It’s not excellent; one excessive road title you might have heard of escaped the dragnet, and all the main UK playing websites might be accessed too, in addition to websites promoting alcohol. It’s a beta function, so you possibly can’t be too important, it’ll seemingly enhance over time. Till then, your finest wager is to utilize devoted parental management software program or change DNS settings your self.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Channel Finder, which we noticed on the Linksys Atlas 6, is current right here, and this scans all the radio bands, and selects the least-busy channels inside these bands on your gadgets to make use of. A few days after I set the Velop Professional 6E up, I ran Channel Finder, and all the nodes switched channels on the two.4GHz band.  

You’re not in a position to manually choose channels your self, which is a bit irritating in the event you occur to know for sure that sure channels work finest in your house. You’ll simply need to run Channel Finder, which takes about 5 minutes to do its factor, and hope for the very best. For most individuals, this gained’t be a problem. Linksys says that the Velop Professional 6E makes use of one thing it calls ‘cognitive mesh’ to routinely decide which channels are the very best to make use of, and it’ll change these itself with out your enter. The Channel Finder device then, is a approach of manually forcing a re-scan of accessible channels. 

Different extra frequent residence networking options are right here – Visitor Entry permits you to create a short lived sub community for company to make use of, in the event you don’t wish to hand out your essential community password, and port forwarding choices – discovered below Superior Settings – embrace single port forwarding, port vary forwarding and port vary triggering.

You even have the choice to allow DFS (Dynamic Frequency Choice), which sees you in a position to entry extra of the 5GHz band that’s typically utilized by radar methods. The app warns you to not allow this in the event you dwell inside 20 miles of an airport, as you might lose connectivity – because of this, it’s turned off by default. In testing, having DFS on didn’t seem to make a lot distinction, however you might have extra success in your space. 

Linksys deserves credit score for having an app with a transparent and straightforward to navigate structure that’s full of genuinely useful info, which might be a lifeline to anybody new to residence networking. Typically talking, you gained’t need to trouble with opening up the desktop management panel. The one causes you’d want to do this is in the event you needed to alter sure DNS and VPN settings. The one factor that’s dangerous about it’s that it’s typically sluggish to load, often taking a few minutes to get previous the ‘Getting router settings’ display. 

Efficiency

• Constantly delivers 1Gbps speeds in the event you’re in the identical room because the router…
• …and also you’re utilizing a tool with Wi-Fi 6E
• Anticipate 400-700Mbps in all different indoor places 

The Linksys Velop Professional 6E demonstrates very nicely the professionals and cons of 6GHz Wi-Fi. As you possibly can see from the pace check outcomes under, taken utilizing the WiFi Velocity Check Professional Android app, I may reliably get 1.2Gbps when in shut proximity to Velop Professional 6E node. 

That’s nice information in the event you’re planning on establishing a node in a house workplace working house, or your front room is the place you’ll be spending most of your time together with your cellphone, laptop computer, sensible TV, and video games consoles. 

It additionally exhibits that the 6GHz frequency can’t penetrate even skinny non load-bearing partitions. In all exams the place I used to be stood greater than 5 metres away with a single wall in the way in which, I used to be bumped again on to the 5GHz band. 

Whether or not I’m testing out a single router or a mesh Wi-Fi system, I take various pace exams in the identical 4 places in a two-up two-down home in south London. One is when stood a metre away from the first node, one other stood 5 metres away, with a non load-bearing wall between me and the first node. 

One other pace check is taken upstairs, roughly 15 metres away from the first node, whereas the ultimate check takes place exterior within the again backyard, roughly 20 metres away from the first node. 

You may see the place I’ve arrange the three Velop Professional 6E nodes in my residence within the NetSpot heatmap under. The purple areas point out a robust Wi-Fi sign, cooler colors point out a weaker sign. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

The Google Pixel 6 has a Wi-Fi 6E radio, and is due to this fact in a position to entry the quicker 6GHz band. The opposite two check gadgets have Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 antennas respectively. This could provide you with an concept of the sort of speeds you’ll get from the Velop Professional 6E on older gadgets. 

Anecdotally, I can say that the quicker Wi-Fi 6E does add a sure one thing, if that sure one thing means with the ability to load YouTube movies and Bandcamp streams barely extra shortly. For essentially the most half, efficiency was broadly on par with most Wi-Fi 6 methods I’ve examined within the final yr.  

I used to be unable to hyperlink all the gadgets with Ethernet cables within the rooms I’d set them up in, and so I can’t touch upon how nicely the Velop Professional 6E system works with wired backhaul. 

The system makes use of what Linksys calls ‘dynamic wi-fi backhaul’ by default, which signifies that any of the radio bands can be utilized for community visitors. There aren‘t any channels or further radios that are are ‘devoted’ – the place sure radio frequencies are reserved for community visitors, in order that they don’t congest the 5GHz frequencies your telephones and laptops are utilizing. 

As soon as approach you possibly can often inform if a system helps devoted wi-fi backhaul, is that if the {hardware} options an additional pair of radios – which can be expressed as one thing like ‘4×4’ as an alternative of ‘2×2’ within the spec sheet.

Programs such because the Netgear Orbi RBK760S and Asus ZenWiFi XT9 function devoted wi-fi backhaul. There’s often an additional value related to this, however on your cash you get extra sturdy protection, and in the event you’ve acquired a busy family, it’s a function that must be in your radar – see our greatest mesh Wi-Fi spherical up for extra on this.

Linksys says that its method presents clients 6E speeds in a 2×2 setup at an reasonably priced value, and in equity, it‘s arduous to disagree with that. Then once more, folks‘s wants range, my specific home setup, with two adults and no youngsters, won’t mirror the wants and makes use of of bigger, busier properties.

Value & availability

The Linksys Velop Professional 6E is available for purchase within the UK and US. Value and launch date info for Australia and Canada just isn’t presently accessible. 

Being model new on the time of writing only a few locations had been promoting the Professional 6E.

Within the UK, the Velop Professional 6E is listed on Linksys’s website, however there’s no choice to purchase immediately. 

Amazon UK has single models for £199.99, in addition to 2-pack and 3-pack variations for £379.99 and £499.99.. 

Ebuyer has particular person Velop Professional 6E models on for £211.49 and a 2-pack for £396.99, however no 3-packs presently. 

Likewise, Ballicom has single models and a 2-pack for £211.87 and £397.27 respectively, however no Velop Professional 6E 3-packs simply but. 

In america, you should buy a Velop Professional 6E 3-pack immediately from Linksys, for a way more reasonably priced $399.99.  

Alternatively, Amazon has single models plus 2-pack, and 3-pack bundles for $169.99, $299.99, and $379.99. 

There are presently no touchdown pages for the Velop Professional 6E on Linksys’ Australian and Canadian websites, nor and nor had been any accessible from third get together retailers on the time of writing. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Ought to I purchase the Linksys Velop Professional 6E?

The Linksys Velop Professional 6E offers Wi-Fi 6E speeds for a lower cost than rivals. The large profit is the brand new 6GHz frequency which might ship nice speeds. Nonetheless, this implies it’ll attraction to consumers who’ve lately upgraded to a brand new cellphone or purchased a brand new laptop computer that help 6E, such because the iPhone 15 vary. In case you haven’t, and none of your gadgets can entry that new 6GHz band, then you definitely’re not going to get the quickest speeds accessible right here.

In case you nonetheless wish to get a mesh Wi-Fi system, the Linksys Atlas 6 and Atlas Professional 6 are actually accessible cheaper than after they launched so contemplate these as related options as they use the identical app.

The main focus right here is actually on Wi-Fi 6E at a extra reasonably priced value, besides, it’s disappointing to not have extra Ethernet ports on no less than the principle router at this value. That’s merely solved with an affordable Ethernet swap, although.

I may criticise the dearth of a devoted wi-fi backhaul band, too, however no less than you could have the choice to hyperlink all the Velop Professional 6E nodes through Ethernet.

The marginally pricier Netgear Orbi RBK760S options devoted wi-fi backhaul, as does the marginally cheaper Amazon Eero 6, however neither of those methods provide Wi-Fi 6E.

Finally, and to reply the query: you should purchase the Velop Professional 6E in the event you’re after an reasonably priced but quick mesh Wi-Fi system and have no less than one machine that really helps Wi-Fi 6E. It’s actually a extra tempting choice within the US the place it’s less expensive than within the UK, too.