Computer Shopper - UK (2020-07)

ISSUE389|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JULY2020 27

MESHSYSTEMSUSUALLYcomewithat
leastonemainunitandthenasatelliteor
twotospreadaroundyourhometoimprove
yourWi-Fi.It’ssomethingofasurprise,then,
to open the Linksys VelopMX5300 Home
Mesh WiFi 6Systembox andfind that there’s
just asingle router inside.
This is whatLinksys calls a‘one-pack’,
whichmeans that it’s notreallyamesh
system at this point, althoughit’s capable
of being expanded intoone at alater date.
Well, it would be if you could buy additional
satellites but,atthe time of writing, you
couldn’t; norcan youbuy the two-pack,
which is duetocome later.

ALL BY MYSELF

At the moment,then, the MX5300 is very
much astandalone Wi-Fi 6routerthat at
some point you’ll be able to expand intoa
mesh system. It’s arather plain-looking
tower of adevice,but that’s quiteagood
thing, as once it’s unpackedand set up,the
router kind of fades into the distance.
At the rear,there’s the standard port
layout,with aGigabit Ethernet WANport
and four Gigabit Ethernet ports forwired
devices. It’s ashame that there’s not a
faster WANport in preparation for
the full-fibre connections
that are startingtoroll out
across theUK: if you’re going
to buy arouter withthe latest
Wi-Fi standard, it kindof
makes sense to be prepared
forthe futureinall ways.
There’s also aUSB3 portthat
you canuse forsharing
storageover your network.
As with most modern
routers, theMX5300 is set
up and configured through
asmartphone app;there’s
also aweb interface that
mimics the app if youdo
want to connect via aPC.
The configuration is rapid,
quickly taking you through
setting up your broadband
connection andconfiguring
the Wi-Fi network.
This router is tri-band,
with one 2.4GHz network and
two 5GHz networks. Unlike
the rival Netgear OrbiRBK852

LINKSYSVelopMX5300

HomeMeshWiFi6System

★★★★★

£370•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT

AfastenoughWi-Fi 6 router,butthelackofadditional
satellitesmeansthisisnotyetafullmeshsystem

80 2.11axROUTER

system(Shopper 387 ),

Linksysdoesn’treserve

oneofthe5GHzbands

fortheinterconnection

(thebackhaul)between

satellites.Instead, all

networks areopen to

clients and,ifyou ever

have them, satellites.

As thisisaWi-Fi6

router,the specsare

quite impressive.The 2. 44 GHz

network hasfourstreammsrunningg

at 114 7Mbit/s,thefirst5GHznetwork

hasfourstreamsat2,4 04 Mbit/sandthe

last5GHznetwork(running onthehigher

channel) has four streams at 1733Mbit/s.

That’s atotal of 12 streams.

STREAMTEAM

Streams, as we’ve mentionedinShopper

before,are particularlyimportant in the

Wi-Fi 6world. Arouter candevote

streams to clients, giving each one dedicated

bandwidth, or afaster device can pull in

multiple streams to get faster transfer rates.

In short,then,the more streams you have,the

better the total bandwidthcan be shared.

To test the system, we used aWi-Fi 6-

enabled laptoptoget thebest

throughputs. At close range,

we saw fast throughputswith

upload speeds of 448Mbit/s

and download speeds of

468Mbit/s. Moving to the

first floor,speeds dropped

alittle but were still quick,

with upload speeds of

314Mbit/s and download

speeds of 315Mbit/s. On the

second floor,the single

router dropped off massively,

with upload speeds of

16Mbit/s and download

speedsof63Mbit/s.An

extra satellitewould have

proved useful here.

All wireless networks

appearunder thesame name,

with the router choosing

whichone connecting devices

join based on features,

performanceand range. If you

want to change the settings,

there’s very little choice,with

no manual control

oovernetworkchannels.

YYoucanforcethe

roouter to scan forthe

beestchannelandletit

mmakeanautomatic

deecision,butthat’sthe

limmitofcontrol.

There’sdevice

prrioritisation,togive

uptothreedevices

networkkpriority, whichcan

be handyyforrasmartTVtomake

sureitcanalwaysstreamcontentfrom

the internet. However,other devicesonthe

networkare throttled back, as we sawinour

initial performancetests.

FAMILYFAVOURITES

Parental controls arebasicout of thebox: you

can blacklist awebsite manually,and you can

schedule accessonaper-device basis. If you

want to createprofiles and use pre-defined

categories to blockwebsites, you have to

upgrade to LinksysShield. We’d have liked a

betterfreetier of blocking, with apaid-for

option improving featuresfor those that want

it, much like on the Orbi system.

As aWi-Fi 6router, theLinksys Velop

MX5300 is adecent enough performer,

although it struggles at range.Ifyou’reonly

after asinglerouter,the Netgear Nighthawk

AX8 (Shopper383) is abetter,and cheaper,

choice. If youneedameshsystem, the

NetgearOrbiRBK852 is faster,althoughitis

very expensive and currently lacksparental

controls,although these are coming soon.

Fornow,however,most people will findthe

original Wi-Fi 5-basedNetgear Orbi RBK50

(Shopper358) offers the best combination of

price, performance and features.

DavidLudlow

Seepage100 forperformancedetails

MODEMGigabitEthernet•WI-FISTANDARDWi-Fi 6•

STATED SPEED2,402Mbit/sand 1,733Mbit/s(5GHz),

1,147Mbit/s(2.4GHz)•USBPORTS (^1) • WALL MOUNTABLE
No•WARRANTYThreeyears RTB•DETAILSwww.linksys.
com•PART CODEMX5300

SPECIFICATIONS

5GHz 2m

5GHz 5m

5GHz 10m

0200 400 600

458Mbit/s

314Mbit/s

⬆The MX5300 is configured

through asmartphone app

40Mbit/s