Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsFast reliable mesh network built using on WIFI 6, but extensive nagware/paywall blocker
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 19 January 2023
I first bought the 3 pack for around £350 in the summer 2022 sale Amazon has prime day I think it's called. Then I needed another (4th) device to install in my garage to add to the network because I am modernizing it and the signal from the house did not reach the garage. The garage is about 12 metres from the house. So I bought a 4th eero in the black Friday sale for around £110 normally an eye wateringly expensive ~£220 each!
Do note this is a mesh network, it cannot act as a modem, you still need a modem to connect to your ISP - at least with the 6+ units I have.
So far so good. The good things about this device:
- Easy to install and setup
- Simple control from the eero app, you can control everything, network updates, adding new devices, viewing and managing who is connected, basic level of bandwidth management - more on this later
- You have a simple indicator that tells you if the device has outbound internet connectivity, simple but very effective. Red means no connectivity, white means connected so a quick glance determines if there is any problems or not. If installed in the bedroom you can turn this lamp off entirely
- There is a single RJ45 socket on the back on the primary device, they call this generally the gateway. But it's possible to have more with the RJ45 ports if you buy additional units, why they didn't just include RJ45 ports on every device is a mystery
- It has a zigbee gateway built into it for low-powered devices like temp sensors, humidity sensors etc. this is an awesome addition. I have not yet used this I hope it works with out the paywall feature (more on this in the later section)
- The network backup feature is good, this allows eero to use another line via WIFI should your primary ISP go down/fail. This is behind the paywall feature though! :(
The cons or not so good stuff hence the 2 stars
Given I have spent close to £550 for 4 eero devices, normally this would have been around £800, why then are so many features locked down/inaccessible?? If you want to do any level of basic management on your network, for example look at the traffic for last week, or see what your kids have been up to, you get nagware in the app. The app will constantly ask you to subscribe to the eero plus service at a cost of £99 per year subscription. It doesn't mention this on the listing for the unit. This should have been absolutely clear if it was I would have chosen a Netgear. So instead I can get an aggregate level of information from my modem - which is free! lol So this really lets the device down imo pure greed locking out features after a customer has spent considerable ££ on it.
Other things you can't do without eero plus, ad blocking, content filters, monthly data reports so I can see what my kids have been up to, blocked apps etc. Some of these features I have enabled at the modem level but this is complex to manage because I have to identify a connected device by MAC address, this is not practical.
Shame on Amazon, this is nothing short of greed, many of these features I have with my modem why have a paywall ??
So until they change this I would recommend looking elsewhere if you want a mesh network.
