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To current eero owners, how did you get here? What competing products did you test? Will you stay with eero?

Hey all,

Day 2 of being an eero owner, and unsure yet If it's for me. Really curious to hear from current owners.

I come from a relatively solid tech background, while not fluent in all things networking, I know more than enough to be dangerous. I live in a 2,500 sq ft home with a 1,300 something basement. I have ethernet run to almost every room in the house. I've had a couple different setups in my time that inevitably have caused me grief in one way or another.

As of yesterday, I was running a single Asus AC5300 router, which hit the whole house and partial outdoors, relatively well. 5ghz did not have much of a reach and at times the latency on my 2.4 was not ideal. More often than not, the network was solid, but random hiccups between streaming buffering, my wife's laptop dropping VPN, and other little misc. nuances just became annoying to the point that I wanted to try something new.

I realize I could/should probably stick with my current router and impliment some Unifi' AP's given that I have the ability to do so with having Cat5e run through the entire house. Still debating the option, but honestly ... it's more work and I'm feeling lazy these days.

So yesterday I went and brought a Netgear Orbi as all things considered, they seemed to the best of the new/cool kids club of home networking solutions. I ultimately only lasted on Orbi for about 5 hours due to a multitude of frustrations. Between the latest firmware breaking connectivity to the satellites, a very slow and painful interface, dropping network connection on mobile when switching satellites, poor choices being made on devices connecting to satellites, lack of ethernet backhaul with no timeline (lots of posts on their forums), and the physical appearance of the Orbi satellites ... all helped for me to give up on it.

I ran out to BestBuy last night and picked up the eero Pro three pack last night. Overall, was pretty pleased with how quick and easy it was to setup. Had several hiccups with devices not being detected which simply required some reboots, but all in all, very easy and painless. The system is up and working like a champ, but I have some issues/concerns as of now:

1) The hot temperatures of the devices themselves
2) eero+ costs $10 a month; whereas competitors offer this service for free
3) eero is a kickstarter born company, will they last?
4) Mobile only app
5) Limiting configuration options
6) Lack of utilization data
7) Lack of QoS
8) No logging/debug
9) Devices are making poor decisions on which node to connect to
10) No enhanced functionality like VPN, local/cloud storage accessibility, etc.
11) Range isn't as good as one would hope/expect

I mean in the end, I get it. eero is meant for today's typical, non tecchy family. Yet, it seems like so much more could be possible with this system but enabling some "advanced" features/functionality. I question if any of that will happen?

Anyway, this was definitely a long winded rant. Really just curious to hear from others. I realize I should probably just go buy a couple AP's and call it a day, but I like what eero is doing here. I want to say this is the right choice, but I really just wish there was more features and functionality. 

Thanks

60 replies

    • turnem05
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Nnyan Thanks for that info.  Was not aware of those options.  While I'm sticking with Eero I'd be pretty interested to see what sort of speeds someone can get in a wireless uplink environment.  In my house, I've run ethernet cabling from my bonus room (where the AT&T fiber modem/router is as well as my gateway Eero) to my master bedroom (which sits in a better location to mesh with other wireless clients) in order to get a better setup.  When I was trying to run everything wirelessly I was having serious difficulty getting good wireless signal routed out of my bonus room due to my house configuration (lots of brick to go through).

     

    I'm guessing the Meraki would work pretty well.  BUT... I'm sticking with Eero.  It works flawlessly for me at this point and I'm tired to sinking dollars into my never ending search for the right solution!  LOL!  But if you get the Meraki I'd be very curious how it works for you.

      • txgunlover
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nnyan I use 90+ devices daily, with about 70 connected 24/7/365.  So far, yes, some things like vlans are limited, but at least in my couple weeks of experience, the stability and speed of Eero has outweighed those shortcomings. 

      • nnyan
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      txgunlover  I had to return my first Pro pack b/c after the 38 update (which failed the first few attempts) none of the units would work with custom settings.  The second units are working much better and updated with no glitches.  Eero is very solid but then again so were the Plumes.  I really can't run with just one /24 so it's not an option for me, but I understand that that is not the vast majority of people.  I only had one 24 port switch and a dozen wireless clients connected to the Eero (I'm not switching everything over until I make a final decision) but I don't think the Eero's ever saw more than 20-22 of my devices at any given time (Fing and Cujo found them all).  I still have not made up my mind yet, once I get a chance to test both side by side I'll decide then.

      • txgunlover
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nnyan Weird, my Fingbox sees all 90+ of my devices.

      • nnyan
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      txgunlover  in my case the Fing app alone found all of the devices but the Eero did not.  I also like the details that just the Fing app brings.  I like that they also added basic parental controls.  So I just ordered a Fingbox to test out.

    • southflguy
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I gave up on the Orbi system.  In all the years I've been using access points (many many, I'm a tech guy), I have never run into the types of problems as I did with the Orbi.  The last few firmware updates have killed the system.  You revert the firmware and it updates again.  Constant wifi drops from my devices and it also affected my wired network.  I have a very large network (all in all probably 70 devices connected).  Enough was enough.  I set up the Eero Pro system less than 24 hours ago.  What a difference.  Awesome mobile app (wish it would have a web interface).  Speed-wise it appears the Orbi had a slight edge, but Eero's reliability is so far outstanding. No drops, no disconnects. 

      • nnyan
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      southflguy 

      Orbi looks like QC issue.  Some friends that have Orbi have had issues but others haven't.  In my tests the Orbi for the most part is significantly faster then the Eero but outside the issues with the first set of Pros it has been solid.  I'm running mine in bridge node so not much to go wrong but still.

    • catmandad
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I've had so many systems over the years.  Linksys, Apple Airports, ISP Routers.  Last one was a NetGear Nighthawk.

    eero has been fantastic.  I have a v1 eero system (2 units, ethernet backhaul as the interconnect).

    I was tempted by Google Wifi, Orbi, and Velop.  

    Google touts stronger signal, Orbi and Velop more advanced features and speed.  But I know too many people that have buggy Orbi systems.  And most people screw up the advanced settings and would be better off with eero.

    What I love about eero:

    • Doesn't overpromise.  Setup on your phone, the configuration just works.  
    • Can still use some advanced customization (Custom DNS so I can leverage OpenDNS filtering, IP Reservations).
    • Easy Guest Network
    • Because the units are small and attractive, I can put one on a bookshelf and get good wireless coverage.

    What could still be better:

    • More advanced security.  Stealth mode for all ports (so port scanners can't detect as much)
    • More features in eeroPlus.  Honestly, OpenDNS with custom categories blocks most of what I don't want to run into on my home network.
    • True IoT profiles.  Define thermostats, cameras, lights to have very limited access so we don't have to worry about them being compromised
    • Fix the silly speed test in the App.  Don't trust it at all with AT&T Fiber.  Yes, I've told support, but this is a silly feature that is unreliable.
    • Enhance the units so they ultimately can win the speed tests versus Orbi and Velop.  That seems to be the biggest reason eero loses some reviews.
    • Optimize for 5ghz.  I live in a large condo complex.  A ton of access points.  Fortunately, eero creates strong 5ghz signal in our small 1700 foot 2-story condo.  I just don't know why 2.4ghz has to be active?  That only extends into my neighbors and creates interference.

    I'm a happy eero customer.  Wifi is just so darn reliable now.

    • turnem05
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Good post!  You bring up a point that I think many have discussed before (and I agree with).  I'd be happy forcing all my clients to work off of 5G.  Although I'm not certain if some of my devices are capable of 5G because they always connect to 2.4G regardless of 5G strength (like my printer and my Ecobee thermostats).

    • Mark.2
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Old question but after frustration with Eero, skyfranks pointed out a sale on the Velop - looks like its time to move on.  Sad, Eero used to be the best of the bunch....

    • nnyan
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I found the Velops to be a bit faster then Eero's but not by a huge amount. It has less features then Google WiFi.  Not a fix if you are looking to move from Eero. 

      • Mark.2
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nnyan My biggest complaint is Eero not working with Circle.  What would you suggest?

      Thanks

      • nnyan
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Mark Velop should work as long as you disable express forwarding. Just be aware of it's limits.  I'm.testing Ubiquiti APs bit I would think most L2 APs will.

      • zimmerman80
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Mark I'm hoping Eero improves their parental control so I don't have to buy a Circle (if and when it starts working on Eero)

    • Fan of tinkering with new hardware. Canadian dude.
    • cotedan87
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Journey with routers includes :

    Orbi + 2 satellite :  newest software upgrade (Dec 2017) is a mess. Rebooted router randomly. Known problem.  

    Google wifi: probably the most stable of the bunch. Would like two 5 ghz bands to increase capacity when I have 50+ things connected  

    Velop: ok but no better performance than Google Wifi. 

    Netgear R7000:  very good but. Range could not reach across house. 

    Eero: just got them yesterday. Easiest setup. Wired connections don’t show throughout. So far, very stable. 

    • nnyan
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    As much as it pains me to say so I've made the decision to move on from my Eero (pro pack).  I have my Ubiquiti system deployed and it fixes all the major issues I had with Eero.  Despite not being as user-friendly as Eero/Plume and the device adoption process being painful at times it is worth it.  By default it shows no ports open to nmap scans, I now have robust port forwarding, DDNS, detailed logging, support for more than a /24, etc... Really more information then I think even I need. 

    This is not a solution for everyone and honestly, I wish I could have stuck with the Eero.  But even my daughters noticed that on their android phones the occasional disconnects as they roamed around is now gone.  But I was still sad boxing up my Eeros and returning them.

      • cMoo92
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nnyan glad you found a solution that meets your needs, but you’re right. It’s not a solution for everyone. Unifi APs are going to require a level of technical skill that is beyond the majority of most people. I manage several networks with enterprise level gear, but I personally love having eero in my home because it meets my needs and it’s one less technical thing I have to worry about and deal with outside of my job.

      • nnyan
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      cMoo92 I would call Ubiquiti Enterprise Lite.  Nothing like the Cisco, Adtran (I was running at home), or Aruba.  No way around it, it is a steeper curve but I do think most people with patience and some technical knack can get it.  I just want to clear up that the issues I ran into was adopting the devices into the software unifi controller BECAUSE I wanted to run the controller in the cloud. The two other installs with a controller on the local network went very smoothly and didn't take longer then Eero.  I also do have a complicated network at home so I expected issues (nothing like the Adtrans but still) and I had them with EVERY mesh systems I tried.  I spent hours with Eero support over days (even returning the first set of Pros as directed by support) and bottom line was to run them in bridge mode.  Ubiquiti is a challenge to set up but I have spent less time "supporting" them since it's running then even the Eero's.

    • Darrell
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I switched to Eero after several frustrating months with Orbi.  Prior to Orbi, I had used the Apple Airport routers for years and had been happy with those, until Apple support for them seemed to go kaput.  The first few months with the Orbi were great - amazing, in fact, regarding coverage and reliability (I had the RBK50, with the RBR50 Router and two RBS50 Satellites).  I had fantastic results... that is until the forced firmware updates began hitting, at which time the disconnects and reboots became rampant.  I'm not talking about the "occasional" reboot every few days - this system was rebooting several times an hour, and streaming video was impossible.  Unfortunately, by that time I was beyond any return period.

    I read and contributed to the Orbi forums for months, trying to resolve the problems that I and others were having. It was like all of us on the forum were talking to a vacuum. I work away from home, but my wife does all of her work from home and her work relies heavily on a solid, consistent Internet connection.  So every evening when I came home, I got a good dose of how badly the network was performing.  Because of Netgear's forced updates, I spent hours trying various remedies including TelNet resets, etc., (which for a casual user, one should never have to resort).

    Finally, I got sick of the constant monitoring, rebooting and fixing.  One evening, my wife showed me the Eero TV commercial, and I bought the V2 Eero Pro version out of desperation.  I haven't regretted it since.  Yes, the Eero updates sill cause me trepidation because of my Orbi experiece.  But I have had absolutely ZERO problems with any of the updates.  Frankly with Orbi, I began to feel like I was a beta tester.  With Eero, I am one happy camper (and so is my wife).  I was a Netgear user for various devices for years. But given what I've seen of Netgear support on the Orbi, I am not inclined to ever buy ANY Netgear product again.  As for Eero - I'm totally impressed in every way.  And No - I'm not an Eero employee or associated with Eero in any way.

      • Fan of tinkering with new hardware. Canadian dude.
      • cotedan87
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Darrell seems your experience is a very common one. Eeros are great, aren’t they.  

      • southflguy
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Darrell this is literally what happened to me with Orbi. Eero is amazing. Set it and forget it. 

    • bfeley
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I also ditched Orbi for eero, and could not be more satisfied with my decision.

      • Fan of tinkering with new hardware. Canadian dude.
      • cotedan87
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      bfeley seems to be a pattern here. Orbi, are you listening?  

      Eero for the win !

    • zimmerman80
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I tried Orbi too, and after hours and hours through one week of tormented network setup hell, I returned it for a refund.  Yes, I too have a CS background and know enough to be dangerous.  Still, I really really like Eero 2nd Gen.  I have two eeros, and two beacons, to cover a 3 story house (not too big, just tall).  After Orbi, this was a piece of cake and the speeds are really good and reliable.  Sometimes older devices (like my old raspberrypi) picks the wrong Eero if one is updating or rebooting, and I have to reboot the server to make it chose wisely.  But then it stays there, so that's probably a old wifi adapter/linux thing.  

     

    So, for a week of Eero, I love it and have decided to use Eero plus for better filtering for my 6 year old and the extra features (security, malware).  I like it so much that my parents recently needed a new router, and I immediately sold them on a Eero+beacon for their house.  

     

    For Eero, I have added my ideas to the feature request section.  But more info on utilization between Eeros would be nice, and maybe the ability to anchor old devices to one AP would also be handy when the device will not moving around.  Better, fine grained parental controls would be nice. too.  

    • Steve1963
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Add me to the list of ex-Orbi-ites.  Orbi was my first "mesh" (but not really) system; I excitedly bought the RBK50 system, but the first day was hellish - I kept losing internet, satellites would crash, web page would lock up, etc.  I literally reset the thing at least 30 times the first day.  Took it back to the store out of frustration, exchanged up for the RBK43 system, and had similar issues.  Finally got it working, after Netgear support told me to leave the SSID and all of the configuration in default form.  Worked OK for awhile, and then satellites would start randomly dropping while I traveled, and I couldn't see my cameras.  I'd have to have someone go to the house and reboot them manually.  The system was brilliant when it performed, but too often, it just didn't.  What a mess.  It replaced an Apple Extreme router + extender that was terrifically stable, but aging technologically and which you couldn't manage remotely.  The Orbi, by the same token, can technically be rebooted through the Genie app, but the satellites would never re-sync.  I was SOOO frustrated with it.  Orbi's firmware updates seem to make things worse, not better.

    I then tried Amplifi HD with three routers.  Very slick app, nicely designed, similar to eero in many ways, but it just couldn't handle my very heavy device load (60+ at the time), and the system slowed to about 1/3 of my paid internet speed at the satellites.

    Tried Zyxel Multy X, which is actually pretty good - but it had some hiccups with Google Home devices causing the router to be overwhelmed and drop all wireless clients every few days.  Still, the Multy's backhaul connection is much more reliable than the Orbi's was and the satellite nearly never drops.  The Multy, however, has no web configuration page and its app is slow and horrible, and you really can't do much with it.  Performance though is similar to Orbi's.  Even when the Multy had issues, I could always access it remotely through the app and reboot it, and rebooting always corrected the issue, with the satellite syncing properly.

    I bought three eero + Beacon two-packs on eBay.  I set the three eeros up in an "Eero Pro" configuration and added one Beacon, for a total of four units.  Eero's app is the best I have seen - fluid, fast, and stable.  Firmware updates are seamless and never seem to cause issues.  Great remote management, just like you're at home.  Eero also has, far and away, the most reliable and dependable service I have seen in a mesh system.  The thing just NEVER crashes or goes off-line, or if it does, it quickly fixes itself.  It's not as fast as Orbi or Multy X, but much faster than Amplifi HD.  I get 200-230 mb/s internet connectivity at remote computers connected to satellites from my 300 Mb/s service.  Eero claims it can handle 128 devices per node (seems accurate based on my experience) and I did read that Velop, which I considered, can only handle 32 per node.  It's very Apple-esque in its minimalism, user friendliness, reliability, and simplicity.  Eero is the only system that easily and with stability handles my heavy device load (now sometimes 80+) with no stability impact, no compatibility issues, and little speed degradation relative to the other systems.

    ONLY thing I don't like is that I wish they'd vent the units.  I hear what eero is saying about comparing it to a warm laptop, but the things get HOT - especially the gateway unit - hotter than any router I have ever used.  All in all, a clear winner from the perspective of speed balanced with stability, specs, and app quality.

    • Steve1963
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Oh - regarding your comments about lack of configuration options with Eero, whether we'll stay with it, etc.....

    I get your frustrations about the lack of configurability.  A lot of people have complained about the lack of an ability to split the SSID into separate 2.4 and 5GHz networks.  That has its advantages and is convenient in controlling what devices attach to which network.  Orbi offers LOTS of config options - problem is, many of them don't work properly, or cause problems when you enable them - like Mu-MIMO, beamforming, etc on Orbi which made things worse when I enabled them, only to have support tell me to turn them back off - which made me wonder why the options were there in the first place.

    I think Eero's goal is to offer the user an exceptionally stable, consistent, reliable system, and my guess is they've limited changes and options that they believe might compromise this.  All the configurability in the world is not helpful to me if the system's not reliable and I can't trust it.  So, I am OK with the trade-offs to have a system I can rely on and where I know I can access my cameras, NAS files, etc when and where I need to.  The nice thing is, I can access the system remotely (unlike Airport) and take action if I see a node fall off line or just want visibility to what's happening.  I will also say that Eero seems to band-steer extremely well, and my PC's and 5GHz-capable devices always seem to attach to the 5GHz band.

    On the range, I think Eero claims 1,000 sq. ft per node, which seems about right.  Think about it, many of its competitors (like Amped Ally, I believe) claim a crazy 15,000 sq. ft of coverage with two nodes.  Unless you're in an open field, that's not going to happen.  I would rather have them make conservative but accurate coverage claims than boisterous ones that don't live up to the hype.  I don't see Eero really having worse range per node than anything else I have seen.  It has more antennas per unit than most of its competitors.

    One wish is that I would like to be able to drill into each Eero and quickly see which devices are attached to it.  Right now, you have to go into each individual device to see which Eero it's attached to.

    I like that I can quickly and seamlessly add nodes to the mesh as I need to, with no impact to stability or connectivity elsewhere in the network.  Would be nice however if they could add a third band to the Beacons, as the regular Eeros in my testing (2nd gen.) are much faster than the two-band Beacons.

    I will stay with Eero for now, though am concerned about future speed limitations with current hardware, since right now their 5GHz band is de-facto limited to 600 Mb/s, with some higher-end routers offering much, much faster speeds.

Content aside

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