If you’re struggling with spotty Wi-Fi coverage in your home, it might be time to look into upgrading to a whole-home solution.
The Motorola MH7603 Mesh Wi-Fi 6 system ($239) is a great option for medium to large homes, and it’s super easy to set up and manage with its three-piece mesh system.
With features like strong parental controls and anti-malware software, it’s definitely worth considering for parents or those looking to help oversee their aging parents and their networks.
While it’s a solid performer for its price, the MH7603 is a case of “you get what you pay for” in that you may wish to spend a little more money for added features.
The MH7603 is a comprehensive system that offers up to 5,000 square feet of coverage, with 2,000 square feet for the router and 1,500 square feet for each node, making it ideal for larger homes. If you have a smaller home, we recommend starting with a single router node for $119.99 and add more nodes if they’re needed.
All three nodes in the system are low-profile and identical in design. They have a sleek white finish, stand at 2.6-inches tall and 5-inches wide, and they come with two internal antennas. Size-wise you’ll need about as much space as a typical cereal bowl or three-wick candle.
The top of each node features the brand’s iconic Motorola “M” logo, while the front has a small LED indicator. The LED light glows solid white when the system is working properly and connected; a solid amber light indicates a weak connection between a node and the main router. If the LED light blinks slowly in blue, the system is in pairing mode, and should you see it blinking rapidly in blue, it’s probably undergoing a firmware update.
The MH7603 offers a gigabit WAN/LAN port and a gigabit LAN port. As a node (extender), both of these ports can be used as LAN ports or for wired backhaul, providing plenty of options. Link aggregation is not supported, however, so you won’t be able to combine the ports for multi-gigabit speeds. On the back panel, in addition to the LAN ports, you’ll find a USB-C port used exclusively for power, and a reset button.
Under the hood, the system is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, 256MB of DDR3 RAM, and 128MB of flash memory. It’s a dual-band AX1800 system, offering maximum (theoretical) data rates of up to 574Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and up to 1,200Mbps on the 5GHz band.
The system supports most Wi-Fi 6 technologies, including 1024 QAM, direct-to-client beamforming, 2×2 MU-MIMO data streaming, and OFDMA transmissions. However, it’s worth noting that it does not support WPA3 encryption or 160MHz channels, two features that are typically found in midrange and high-end Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems. Should these be important to you, you’ll have to look elsewhere or consider spending a little more.
Rather than offering a web management console, the MH7603 relies on the motosync mobile app for managing the system, for better or worse. We come from an era where logging into a website or desktop client helped us to oversee networks, drives, and other systems so sometimes that’s missed. The user-friendly app presents a Network screen with icons for each node, as well as an icon that shows the number of connected devices.
Tapping on the router icon allows you to view which devices are currently connected to it and gives you the option to reboot the node. When you tap on a satellite node, you can see its current and past signal strength and bandwidth usage. Additionally, you can run an internet upload and download speed test, view which clients are connected to the node, and see which channel it’s using for backhaul.
The Top Data Use panel provides hourly, daily, and weekly bandwidth usage data for each client device and user profile. Looking to find out who is using all of your bandwidth or data? This makes it pretty easy and intuitive to figure out.
The Connection panel displays the results of your most recent speed test and informs you if your network is optimized for activities like gaming, 4K video streaming, web browsing, and music playback.
The Profiles button directs you to a screen where you can create individual user profiles, assign devices to each profile, set access schedules and time limits, apply filters, and review usage reports for each profile.
Parents will appreciate being able to lump of all of their child’s devices into one profile, giving them hard cut-off times or apply filters for content. It’s also nice to go in and simply freeze things for the time being.
The Settings (gear) button takes you to a screen where you can configure web filtering, add new users and nodes, set the time zone, and configure Port Forwarding and internet connection settings.
Setting up the MH7603 Mesh Wi-Fi 6 system is a pretty simple affair, and is like other mesh systems. To start, you’ll need to download the motosync mobile app and create an account. Then, simply tap “Set Up a New Device” on the Get Started screen and use your phone to scan the QR code on the router node.
Follow the app’s instructions to unplug your modem, connect the router node to the modem with the included LAN cable, and power up both devices.
After selecting “Set Up a New Device,” I scanned the QR code on the base of the router node and followed the instructions to connect it to my modem and power both devices. Once the LED began flashing blue, I confirmed the connection and waited for a firmware update.
Then I added the extenders by scanning the QR code on one of the nodes and following the onscreen instructions to pair it with the router node. After repeating the process for the second node, I optimized my Wi-Fi settings and completed the installation.
The MH7603 router and satellite node delivered a generally strong combined (2.4GHz and 5GHz) wireless signals to all corners of our test house, and, for the most part, equally to each floor.
Having previously used other mesh systems I’ve become familiar with certain troublesome pockets in the home, one in the basement and the other on the second floor. The Motorola system worked as well as others, generally speaking, but did seem to require some trial and error with physical placement.
It was almost as if these devices needed more space between them and that things weren’t stronger by being closer in proximity. A little searching online told me that this is not entirely uncommon; it also speaks to the strength of a single unit. I found connections were as strong, if not stronger, when I removed one of the satellite pieces.
Similarly, I noticed that speeds and connection were much more consistent when using the main router. Tablets, TV’s and other devices connected to an extender would sometimes be much slower or seem to drop entirely. I suspect it might be due to overlapping placement, but I wish it would default to grabbing the main unit over any satellites.
At one point I removed one of the extenders and things were less troublesome. Perhaps my home is just not big enough to merit this three-piece system.
The Motorola MH7603 Mesh Wi-Fi 6 system may not offer top-notch performance, but it provides decent throughput speeds and wide signal coverage for medium-sized homes. Its easy installation process and motosync mobile app enable parents to assign parental controls, monitor user activity, and apply filters to prevent access to specific websites.
While it may not offer multi-gig and USB connectivity these features are not typical in mesh systems within this price range. However, the addition of WPA3 encryption and 160MHz channel capability would be beneficial.
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