Eero is widely considered as one of, if not the first, to bring mesh WiFi systems to the general consumer. It sparked a range of competitors from Google to Linksys, TP-Link, and pretty much any other router manufacturer. Now, mesh router networks are considered the modern standard for home internet.
Eero’s new parent company Amazon was kind enough to allow us over a month to test the latest eero Pro 6 setup and I’ve come away more than impressed.
Design
The eero is basically a plastic and metal puck with internal WiFi antennas. The Pro 6 system includes a tri-band setup capable of WiFi 6 at both 2.4 and 5GHz. This allows for your network to have up to a full Gigabit of speed potential.
The eero Pro 6 is also smart home ready with a built-in Zigbee smart home hub radio and Amazon’s Frustration-Free setup. This makes the eero systems more compatible in fewer steps for any smart home devices that are approved for Amazon’s Certified for Humans program.
Amazon Frustration-Free makes other Amazon devices and other certified smart home units easier to set up and ofter only involves one step with eero. Echos, Echo Dots, and many Fire TV devices will be able to communicate directly with your new eero Pro 6 and link up with little fuss using the stored router credentials.
Wrapping up the hardware are the ports. One of the key features of the Pro 6 versus the standard eero 6 models is that every unit of the Pro series comes with two ethernet jacks. The only other port is the USB-C power input.
Setup and app
Eero’s most prized feature might just be how easy the setup and app are to use. Once you download the app from the Google Play store, you simply plug in the first Pro 6 puck into your internet modem and a wall outlet for power. The app will take a few moments to locate the device and then prompt you through the setup of this Gateway unit.
From here, you take a few steps to get your home network up and running. You will set things like the WiFi SSID name and then your password to keep everything secure. Next, build out the network name and credentials and complete the most important step.
Afterward, the app will then ask if you have more satellite eero Pro 6 units to add to the new network. You can purchase the eero Pro 6 in a single, two, or three-pack so your experience may vary. However, adding additional devices is the same. Just like you plugged in the first puck at the modem, you simply add power to the surrounding units and the app will automatically find them and duplicate your settings on the new eero Pro 6.
That’s it on the setup. From here, you can play with the features of the eero app. You can choose to enroll in things like 1Password login manager, complete network ad-block, and content filtering via the eero Secure and Secure+ subscription. Depending on the additional options you’d like to turn on, you can do $2.99 or $9.99 monthly. You can discount with yearly rates of $29.99 or $99 annually.
Rounding out some of the eero Pro 6 app features are free inclusion of speed and network tests. This will troubleshoot your mesh system to make sure all the eero devices are communicating properly. The speed test allows you to get visual confirmation of your actual internet speed on each hub.
Speed and performance
Speaking of speeds. The eero Pro 6 outperforms the last two mesh systems I’ve had in my home. I have Comcast at the 300mbps package and I am seeing this true maximum speed when plugged in with ethernet on all my eero Pro 6 units.
Similarly, I see well over 200mbps on my closet eero Pro 6 satellite away from my modem in my bedroom. This is almost 100mbps better on average than the previous competitors from Google and TP-Link I’ve used.
The only eero Pro 6 unit that falls below this is the furthest auxiliary unit I have in my bonus room. This is by far the furthest from my internet source and is also upstairs and above my garage on the exterior side of the home. Even here, I still see around 80-100mbps consistently.
Latency also seems to be stellar. I rarely see a ping in testing come back over 50ms. Overall, I have no complaints about the performance of the eero Pro 6 system. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to see much difference in my usage over the previous mesh networks I’ve owned. eero has blown those expectations away by being much more reliable even under heavy loads of video streaming or gaming via Google Stadia.
I also saw a performance bump in the few WiFi 6 devices I currently have laying around. This is a huge future-proof reason to upgrade to the eero Pro 6 system. WiFi 6 offers faster speeds and better latency in new smart devices that have the hardware to take advantage of the new protocol.
Conclusion
Eero is the main pioneer of the mesh WiFi network craze and I now see why. The now Amazon-owned company has truly found the easy button for home internet with the eero Pro 6 routers. The setup, app, and performance are a “set it and forget it” system many of us have dreamed of owning.
The only real knock I can give the eero Pro 6 is price. This latest generation is expensive at $229 for a single router, $399 for the dual units, and $599 for a three-pack. However, this does offer potential buyers flexibility for their homes. A single eero Pro 6 can cover 2,000 square feet while the test three-pack has 6,000 square feet of range.
Obviously, you can purchase the eero Pro 6 directly from the eero website or from Amazon. Amazon will often run bundling deals with Echo devices so if never hurts to shop around. Personally, I can’t see anyone being disappointed adding the eero Pro 6 to the home office.
Purchase eero Pro 6 from Amazon
