If you want one of the best mesh Wi-Fi networks of 2024, then you're in the right place: I'm going to guide you to the best products on the market at the moment, opening up a future of stable, speedy Wi-Fi that you can rely on wherever you are in your house.
These mesh networks make use of several different units scattered around the home, blanketing the place that you live in with wireless connectivity and cutting out any dead zones with no signal along the way.
The way that they work means these systems may be better for you than one of the best Wi-Fi 6 routers, especially if you're living in a larger home or you've got lots of different devices that need to be connected simultaneously.
Starting your search can feel rather daunting, but I'll guide you through all the specs, features and jargon you need to know about. It's important that choosing the best mesh router system for your needs is as straightforward as it can be.
Now that we're heading quickly towards the holidays, you might also be considering picking up a new mesh system for Christmas – either as a gift or just to make sure your home network is robust for hosting guests. It's a great time to take the plunge!
T3's top picks
The Linksys Velop Pro 6E has a whole lot of broad appeal, from the competitive price point to the wide range of features to the high speeds and reliability. If you want a serious Wi-Fi upgrade without having to break the bank to get it, then this is a great option.
If you want the very latest technology, and you're prepared to pay for it, then give the Netgear Orbi 970 some serious consideration. It boasts Wi-Fi 7 and incredible top speeds – speeds that your broadband will probably struggle to do justice to, but they're nice to have.
If you don't want to pay absolute top dollar but you still want a significant Wi-Fi upgrade for your home, then the Amazon Eero Pro 6E fits the bill perfectly. It's a lot cheaper than a lot of the competing products out there, and the phone app makes it a breeze to use.
The best mesh Wi-Fi systems 2024
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Best mesh Wi-Fi system for most people
There's an awful lot to like about this mesh Wi-Fi system, which is why we think it's the best option for most people: it manages to offer top-tier performance at a competitive price, and it offers enough in the way of speed and reliability to make it stand out from the crowd.
Our Linksys Velop Pro 6E review described this mesh system as "speedy and rock solid", and one that "would definitely suit households with dozens or even hundreds of devices to connect". You're going to have to try very hard to connect enough gadgets to cause any issues.
With Linksys you've got a networking brand name you can trust, and while the app isn't the best we've ever come across, you're not necessarily going to need it much once you've got everything set up. As for the setup process itself, it couldn't really be much more straightforward.
Best Wi-Fi 7 mesh system
If money is no object, and you want the best wireless mesh technology that's out – including the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard – then the Netgear Orbi 970 is perfect. It excels in just about every area, from speeds to reliability to features, and it can potentially transform your Wi-Fi setup.
As you'll see from some of the other entries in this list, Netgear is an expect at making top-end, top-price networking kit, and it's packed just about everything it possibly can into this series of units. It'll be too heavy duty for some, but it's a truly superb hardware system.
Check out our Netgear Orbi 970 review and you'll see we described it as "quite simply one of the best systems around – and with Wi-Fi 7 support, it's likely to be for many years to come too". If you're able to get past the price, then you can't go wrong with this network system.
Best mesh Wi-Fi for ease of use
The Amazon Eero Pro 6E is a compact, intuitive mesh system from Amazon, and it offers what most people are looking for: something that's simple to set up, something that works in a straightforward way, and something that offers fast and reliable Wi-Fi 6E.
This is undoubtedly one of the most user-friendly options out there right now, and part of that is down to the straightforward and intuitive phone app that Amazon provides. You'll be set up in minutes, and all of the features you need can be quickly found in the app.
Take a look at our Amazon Eero Pro 6E review and you'll see we were very impressed by it, calling it "undoubtedly one of the best mesh networks you can buy". What's more, you can pick it up for significantly less than a lot of the rival systems in other positions on this list.
Best premium Wi-Fi 6E mesh
Looking for something almost magic? The Asus ZenWiFi Pro ET12 is a high-level Wi-Fi 6E mesh system, which is the latest and greatest standard of Wi-Fi, capable of the fastest speeds. That means you'll future-proof your setup when more 6E-capable products come to market.
As we enthusiastically said in our full Asus ZenWifi Pro ET12 review: "The Asus ZenWifi Pro ET12 is clearly one of the better systems out there – both in terms of the performance and features of the units – making it a real future-proof winner in the world of mesh routers".
Sure, it'll cost you a fair whack of change, and if you still don't really need the Wi-Fi 6E capability then you can avoid it for one of the more affordable and better-suited options elsewhere on this list. However, if you can afford the price, this Asus system is a mighty impressive one.
Best mesh Wi-Fi for pros
In many ways this model would be our number one pick, because it's so very advanced that it has a strong claim to be best mesh Wi-Fi system in the world. But that honour also comes with a steep price tag, so we'd rather say this is the best option for advanced users.
As we note in our Netgear Orbi Wi-Fi 6E (RBKE963) review, this system delivers awesome performance across the board. It's a setup that gives you "incredible connectivity, stability and device capacity", and we gladly awarded it the full five stars out of five after testing it.
This was originally the world's first quad-band mesh Wi-Fi 6E system – in layman's terms this means that you get next-gen speeds, connectivity, range and device capacity. You can hook up 250 devices to the RBKE963's network, which should be more than enough for most.
Best budget mesh Wi-Fi
We've featured the Pro version of this set above, but the standard Eero 6 is still well worth considering: it isn't quite the fastest option out there, nor does it offer the most advanced features, but it's a compelling blend of performance and features at at very appealing, low price.
As we said in our Amazon Eero 6 review: "the Eero 6 is going to be more than enough for the needs of most users – and its value-for-money, stable performance and simplicity make it stand out". That's quite a comprehensive endorsement, and we stand by it.
It's also really easy to set up and has one of the most intuitive and polished apps that we've come across in all our years of mesh Wi-Fi network testing. You can pause internet access, set up a guest network for your friends, and much more besides, all with a few taps on your phone.
Best mesh Wi-Fi with 5G
The big selling point when it comes to the Netgear Orbi NBK752 is that there's room for a 5G SIM, so you can connect it up to a cellular network as well as a Wi-Fi one – if your broadband should go down, or you don't have great broadband speeds, then the 5G network is available.
As you would expect from the Orbi brand from Netgear, this is a very powerful mesh network system, one that gives you plenty of configuration and customisation options. You're able to cover a substantial area with just two boxes – and you've got Ethernet ports here too.
The downside is that this is going to cost you quite a bit, but this is how we summed it up in our full Netgear Orbi NBK752 review: "If you can afford it – and don't forget the broadband and 5G data costs – then it's an excellent way of upgrading your home network."
Best value Wi-Fi mesh
Get the this system set up in your home and you're guaranteed some smooth, speedy, stable wireless internet all the way around your rooms. While the setup process could be a little bit more straightforward, there's no doubting the quality and performance of this system.
Head over to our Huawei Wi-Fi Mesh 7 review and you'll see we described it as a "value-for-money solution", and it's certainly well up there when it comes to getting bang for your buck on a system like this. When it comes to what you get vs what you pay, it's one of the best out there.
We also like the four wired Ethernet ports that you get on both units here, which is perfect if you have devices like consoles within range. Plus, the tri-band setup means more room on the network for your various gadgets (and a more stable link between the mesh units).
Best mesh Wi-Fi for large homes
If you live in a large home with lots of people and lots of connected devices, this is one of the best mesh networks. It’s a tri-band mesh Wi-Fi 6 system that can reach maximum speeds of a whopping 6,600 Mbps – and you can have up to 200 devices connected to it at once too!
In our testing, it was an absolute marvel at boosting coverage and eliminating Wi-Fi weak spots. You can have someone stream 4K video in one room and play online games in another without any problems at all. The more rooms you need to cover, the more of a difference it makes.
And then there's just how easy it is to set up – it just takes a few minutes. In our TP-Link Deco X90 review we raved about this being a "powerful piece of kit that works very well", offering a "smart" and "modern" aesthetic and a "quite incredible" amount of wireless internet coverage.
Best Alexa-enabled mesh Wi-Fi
If you want a reliable mesh network then the TP-Link Deco Voice X20 will provide Wi-Fi 6 coverage across your home, boosting speeds and eliminating weak spots – it may not be the most powerful out there, but for most households it’ll do everything you need it to and more.
That's not all this networking kit can do though. When it comes to smart features, you've got Amazon Alexa speakers built-in. You can speak to Alexa from anywhere in your home, as well as expand your Wi-Fi network, all in one go. And while saving on space and wall sockets.
To manage your network from anywhere, you just need the Deco app, which is simple to use throughout. In our TP-Link Deco Voice X20 review we described this as a mesh network "you can rely on to expand your home Wi-Fi and boost speeds across all of your devices".
How to choose
Picking one of the best mesh Wi-Fi networks can be a little daunting at first, but once you start getting familiar with the specs, it's not too difficult to tell these different systems apart.
Two key specs to look out for are the area covered by the mesh network, and the maximum number of supported devices (partly determined by the number of units in a pack – a lot of systems have different options available in this respect).
You'll often see the overall speed of a mesh network written in the format "AX2200" or something similar: that's Wi-Fi 6 ("AX") and 2,200 Mbps of speed. "BE" is the code for Wi-Fi 7, by the way.
Bear in mind though that the top speed is an ideal figure: you won't get that in reality, what with walls and floors in the way. Plus, the speed of your broadband connection will play a part too.
Also look for bands – these networks are often advertised as tri-band or dual-band. Bands can be 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz in terms of their frequency – the higher the number, the faster the speeds, but the shorter the range.
Sometimes a mesh network will have a dedicated 'backhaul' band for unit-to-unit communications. This means traffic can be managed between the nodes without getting in the way of the data you're downloading and uploading.
How we test
We want to make sure that the buying advice you get from T3 is as comprehensive and as informative as possible – and to that end we've put together an in-depth how we test page for you to refer too, detailing the thorough review process we stick to. In short: we test our every piece of hardware in all the areas that matter.
When it comes to mesh Wi-Fi networks, that means getting the router and the accompanying units set up in an actual real world home, then connecting as many devices (and as many different types of devices) as we possibly can.
Upload and download speeds get tested of course, and at different times of the day. Our testers will look at a variety of different scenarios too, whether that's cloud gaming, uploading large files, or streaming 4K video.
The mobile apps and web interfaces accompanying these mesh networks get tested too: we're looking for how easy it is to get these networks set up, how intuitive the management settings are, and the kind of features that are on offer (from guest modes to traffic prioritisation).
Reviewer panel
In his time at T3, Rob spent a huge amount of time wandering around every corner of his home, testing Wi-Fi speeds and coverage on as many gadgets as he could. He's seen a lot of Wi-Fi mesh systems come and go, and so is perfectly placed to advise you on which of these groups of units actually work well.
One of our previous T3 Staff Writers, Yasmine knows what's what when it comes to a huge range of technology products, and that includes mesh Wi-Fi systems. She knows her tri-band from her gigabits, and has a wealth of experience in actually testing out these units, as well as poring over the details of their specs.
We asked Dave to estimate how much time he's spent plugging in Ethernet cables, running through setup wizards, and checking Wi-Fi coverage speeds in his life – and we're talking days rather than hours. He's experienced a lot of these systems first-hand, and can tell you which ones are going to be worth your time.
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