Deco M9 Plus (2-pack)

Let’s get things straight from the outset- this is a great piece of kit! I live in a standard new build of 1300 sq ft which has concrete walls and floors. The walls had proven impenetrable to my previous sky router and my current virgin v4 router. I had tried the usual WiFi extender but it had been unable to pick up the signal to extend! With 2kids homeschooling and 2adults working from home, we were at times on three simultaneous video calls which all had to be taken within the confines of living room and kitchen. This situation proved untenable and I decided to research various types of mesh system, my original idea being to go with the Amazon Eeos package (I had thought of Google but, in true “1984” style, I’m still wary of placing listening devices in my home). However, upon further research, I discovered that the Deco M9 was much faster and, since we are signed up to 600meg broadband, it made sense to invest in a product that could handle the speeds. I also reckoned that, for the next few years at least, I could live without WIFI 6. The product arrived 48 hrs later and, upon unboxing, first impressions were of well-built, solid units that, for a mesh system, were aesthetically pleasing enough. I also liked the fact that they sat low on the cabinet and were pretty unobtrusive. Setting up was really straightforward- download the app to mobile device, change virgin router to modem mode (dead easy- instructions are even on the Virgin website), plug modem into deco router, plug deco router into virgin tv box, power up and wait for the system to show a green light. All in all, took about 10 minutes and downstairs WiFi sorted. Next, take deco unit 2 upstairs (my house only required two units- a useful money saver) and follow instructions on app. Once plugged in, the unit finds the base unit and sets itself up. No hassle, no fuss. I set mine up in the upstairs landing. I also bought one of the plastic cradles for sale separately and now the unit is supported by its plug and sits against the wall, no trailing cables and nothing for young hands to curiously pull or prod. Speeds are brilliant. I have a full 600 meg coming in everywhere downstairs while upstairs comes in very slightly less at 592meg. There’s no noticeable difference in practice. I also made good use of the app to prioritise our work laptops, to turn the leds off in the evening, and to turn on the parental controls for all of the kids’ devices. Again, the interface is really user friendly and the app is intuitive. So, all in all, I can thoroughly recommend the deco m9. Our internet now fills the house (even the garage which is useful for me) and the speeds allow us to work from home with ease. So far, it has handled everything our internet hungry house has thrown at it: homeschooling, working from home, playstations, tablets, phones and WiFi tv all take place concurrently and the speeds remain high, consistent and secure. For around £260, this is a no-brainier investment if you suffer WiFi deserts upstairs and would prefer reliable WiFi to envelop your home!

I am sitting outside in the garden reviewing this after finally getting a solution for unreliable WiFi coverage in a brick built rambling much extended house. A techie friend pointed me in the right direction and then the reviews on Amazon convinced me to give it a go. After a super speed broadband installation, I upgraded all of my devolo extenders to the 1200 in the expectation that this would give me perfect speed and coverage - wrong - it was worse. They simply aren’t reliable in a house with multiple circuit boards and ring mains. Anyhow - I bought 4 of these m9 plus devices to replace the devolos- to ensure coverage across 3 floor house - probably overkill but I am tired of messing around. After 20 minutes all 4 were installed and operational- lo and behold, full consistent, solid, fast WiFi all around the house - just like that. All TVs now show Netflix 4K effortlessly, phones, iPads and PS4 connect wirelessly at speeds in excess of 30mbps. And as previously stated I am delighted to find I have full coverage in the garden too. Installation was simple and stress free through the handy app ( which messages me when a new device joins the network) These are little miracles - not cheap- but will deliver a good solution for tricky houses

I bought these to set up a mesh network. There are lots of positive reviews but as I found out some features were lacking. Pros: Wifi signal is brilliant one disc provides a huge level of coverage and two in a mesh will cover almost any normal to large sized house. Good solid build quality Easy to set up with the app (but requires registering see cons) Wi-fi throughput was really good in my tests most rooms had speeds of 350mbps-750mbps and transfer speed was consistently fast. Cons: You have to register for tp-links cloud service and install their app to set up and use the devices. To do so you have to accept their privacy policy which is extensive. Also the device is always connected to the cloud and you can change settings on it via this connection. Personally I don't like that behaviour on hardware connected to the open internet as it's a potential security risk. The settings are quite limited compared to other more basic tp-link hardware. I was trying to use this in conjunction with a wired tp-link router... this did not go well as it wants to be the DHCP and will not work as just a mesh access point. Conclusion: If you want great wi-fi signal and can overlook the security concerns this could be a good system. It's best suited as a complete replacement for a wifi router but it lacks a DSL modem which is a problem for most people. Currently most people still get broadband via a phone line and all the providers supply a combo modem/router to connect. As a result most people will end up plugging their router into this routers WAN creating a double router system (or double NAT) which is not a good network architecture. If you have cable or FFTP and internet is provided from an ethernet port and not over phone line this would work much better as it will be directly linked to the internet. Personally I returned this as it was not able to work in the way I needed and I could not get over the security concerns.

Having been using the bt home hub for several months with fibre 150mb, I decided to purchase the Deco M9. The primary reason for this is because whilst the signal was strong in the room where my home hub was placed, the signal and speed upstairs suffered drop outs. I had initially used an Asus extender and then a nighthawk mesh and neither resolved my issue. Installing the Deco M9 (2 disc) was a doddle and all my devices connected pretty seamlessly (for example smart tvs/devices, cctv printer and more. The one key consideration which must be made is if you have Sky Q and Mini boxes. I have 1 main Sky Q box and 2 minis. Initially after connecting my sky to the Deco M9 (my setup is further below) I was experiencing a picture freeze (going yellow/purple) and messages about unsupported picture format. This occurred on all 3 boxes at different times. Further research allowed me to establish that as the sky q setup used a mesh network too, this conflicts with the deco m9 mesh setup. There were recommendations that the deco m9 is therefore best to setup as AP mode rather than as a router, however there is a really simple fix that worked to address this... Once your sky boxes are connected to the deco m9 router, go into the app, click on each of the sky devices shown in the connected network devices section, hit the cog icon in the top right for settings and turn off mesh technology. This then ensures the sky q and minis do not attempt to use the deco m9 mesh technology and use there own. Once done, problem was fixed. The way my bt hub and sky is setup is as follows: 1) Bt hub 2 has WiFi disabled (both 2 and 5) within the default gateway router config. You'll read online that this isn't recommended due to double NAT and may see recommendations for a dedicated modem as the bt home hub 2 cannot be but into modem only mode, however disabling the WiFi works fine) 2) My deco m9 has an ethernet cable from the the deco to the bt home hub 2. 3) The deco is setup as a mesh network in router mode (not AP). 4) As mentioned above, mesh technology was then disabled if you have sky q, as this uses its own mesh network to connect minis together (to note, if you have as many deco m9 discs as you do sky boxes, you could hard cable each into the deco by Ethernet and deactivate the wireless on each sky device as an alternative solution to disabling mesh technology- if you do this the app will pick up each sky device as hard wired. 5) The additional disc was then connected in an alternative location as desired. Overall I'm really pleased with this solution. Just be advised that if you do use sky, you will need to use one of the two solutions above to get sky to work correctly! I have 23 devices connected to my deco m9 and the only issue was with sky due to their use of a mesh network.

I deliberated a lot between the TP-LINK and the comparable Linksys unit. A month on and I am pleased I chose TP-LINK. Installation was simple once I had the app on my mobile phone and tablet - the interface is really clear. Coverage across a 4-bed house is great - the Alexa Dots no longer complain about not being able to connect to the internet. A dedicated 5Ghz channel for the backhaul between nodes means file sharing between devices in the house across different access points is fast and reliable; as is streaming content simultaneous from multiple Fire tablets, laptops and TVs. I haven't needed to contact customer support yet so cannot comment on how got that is but the added security features (e.g. the ability to create profiles for each member of the house and associated their devices) is great and makes this a great value purchase.

Just replaced 3x deco M5 with 2 M9s. The coverage is greater and the speed is excellent. I just tested it at 440 mbps all round my house. (Please note I have fibre to the house so a fast line) the WiFi reaches out into the garden far enough for us to still use everything. Though our garden is small. Installation was a breeze. This is a great piece of kit and I’d recommend it. The app too is easy to use and there is a lot of flexibility for controlling various settings if you want to.

I'll keep this short and simple. 1. It works brilliantly. 2. 2 units cover our victorian terrace house. 3. Wifi deadspots and wifi signal / throughput are pretty perfect in every room. 4. In my previous deadspot speedtest results went from 1mb to 80+ 5. App works well and child controls and security are easy to use. 6. Resolved bandwidth throughput using virgin super hub. Previously having 4 people (2 adults and 2 kids) work from home and streaming games and video would impact performance. Not a problem anymore and that using a 100mb virgin connection. Well worth the money and would recommend to anyone.

Very disappointed and have returned this as basically it knocked everything off the WiFi network. Was easy to install and set up but after 3 weeks of constantly having to reconnect sky, mobile devices, sound at you name it. I checked and updated the firmware and software and consulted with tech support. Not what I expected given the hype and for the cost certainly not worth it in my view. WiFi signal was not significantly improved and coverage not really enhanced. However what was interesting was the security aspects as the built in security and virus protection is excellent. Found myself asking my neighbours why they were trying to jump on my WiFi and also identified several port scanning attacks on our Apple Mac and printer. Don’t waste £200 on this