Living in a century-old house with bricks as thick as the original Xbox means Wi-Fi routers rarely provide a reliable wireless Internet signal in every room. Particularly in my home office, the furthest away from my modem, those issues were all solved by the phenomenal TP-Link Deco X55, discounted from $279.99 to $169.99 at Amazon. If you want high-speed access all over your home, I've never tested anything better, so I'm still using it almost two years later.
Still the best mesh Wi-Fi 6 system in 2024
TP-Link's Deco range of mesh Wi-Fi systems is a testament to its decades-long expertise in home networking, featuring support for the widely adopted Wi-Fi 6 standard that most modern personal devices use.
There are no discernible speed differences from a pure Ethernet setup with my 500Mb/s ISP package.
Sure, Wi-Fi 6E is out there, and even Wi-Fi 7 is on the horizon, but most people I know and work with wouldn't benefit from all of the incremental upgrades of future standards just yet.
Part of my glowing TP-Link's Deco X55 review highlights the benefit of having three Gigabit LAN ports per unit, meaning I can connect my desktop PC with a standard LAN cable rather than running an unreasonably long extension across my house. Then, I still have space to hard-wire my Xbox Series X and maximize download speeds even at the furthest distance from my base modem, showing no discernible differences from a pure Ethernet setup with my 500Mb/s ISP package.
However, the AC cables for each Deco unit are a little on the short side, which can limit the positioning of each. I've resorted to using power extension cables to properly place each at the optimal point in every room. It's not a devastating downside, as, like many, my home is full of electronic gadgets anyway, but it's worth remembering if your power outlets aren't conveniently placed.
The Deco X55 triple pack offers an outstanding solution to Wi-Fi dead zone issues, has a straightforward setup via TP-Link's companion app, and network optimization tools to help diagnose placement issues. If you want to enhance your home network and overcome dead zones, it's still the strongest contender for the best mesh router despite the minor downsides of power cable length and a lack of USB ports for network-attached storage.
