Tenda Nova MW12 Mesh WiFi System - Whole Home WiFi Mesh System - Tri-Band AC2100 - 4000sq² WiFi Coverage - 3 Gigabit Ports - Easy Setup - Replaces WiFi Router and Extender Booster - 2-Pack

I live in an old Victorian semi spread over 4 floors, basement, ground floor, first floor and attic bedrooms - and I’ve had trouble with WiFi signal for as long as I can remember. Over the past few years I’ve invested in Extenders, extra routers, power line adapters but nothing has done the trick and all have caused drop-out of signal or disconnect from the network.I spent ages reviewing tech sites for a Mesh solution and these looked straightforward and very reasonably priced.UNBOXINGThe devices are probably twice the size of Rubik’s cubes and I opted for the three-pack due to the size of my house. The devices come well packaged with Uk plugs and also comes with a thin Ethernet lead to plug into your existing router/modem.SETUPAfter a quick read through the brief instruction booklet, the first decision I needed to make was where I was going to position the devices to get the best signal throughout the house so that I could eliminate all the dead-spots. I positioned the devices in the Attic hallway, first floor hall way and ground floor hall way.I connected the first device to the router and downloaded the Tenda app from the AppStore. Setup was very easy as all the admin passwords are at the bottom of the devices - not figured out yet how to change these yet.CONNECTIVITYWithin 5 minutes all the devices were connected and my teenage kids whooped for joy when the SpeedTest app reported >100Mb wireless speeds in most of the bedrooms - nothing was less than <30mb in speed. Even the kitchen, which usually had my wife complaining as she got <2mb previously was working at around 40Mb! Result.ISSUESSince installing the devices I’ve had one instance where the routers have dropped signal or appear to slow down to <1mb throughput for some unknown reason. This appeared to be a similar problem to what some other users have reported but I then made the decision to attach my devices to the ceiling in each hallway and to be honest they don’t look out of place. Having them on the ceilings has meant that I get very little interference from other electronics nearby and so far I’ve got no complaints as signal strength is perfect for the whole household.SUPPORTThe one issue I had was the connectivity dropping and getting hold of a technical support phone number or email address is almost impossible with no contact details provided for UK or Europe. For that reason I just hope I never have to to contact them as I’ve had no reply to my support request for almost a week!RELIABILITYSo far I have very little to complain about in terms of daily operation as the devices have been working fine since I reset them (powered off and then on when I last lost connectivity).RecommendationI’d recommend to try these if you want basic Mesh WiFi and are not too bothered about fancy VPN or lots of advanced parental controls. They have cured my WiFi dead spots but time will tell how they fair over the long run for reliability.UPDATE 02 FEB 2020I’ve had the devices now for over a week and I’ve not a had a single problem with them. Speed has been stable at around 80-100Mb throughout the house - I’m hoping it stays that way. Really pleased with the WiFi devices and would highly recommendUPDATE 23 JUN 2020The router and satellites have been running flawlessly now since Feb. Even my neighbour has invested in the same model. Not a single complaint to make about these devices. Better than any range extender or power line adapter.

I had been using the BT Wholehome discs (3) primarily to give a WiFi signal to a craft room in the garden for a few years. These were nothing short of the proverbial pain in the butt, with the first set replaced by Amazon under warranty after a couple of years. Now just out of warranty one of the second set gave up and with one disc having to be connected to the router the distance between the remaining two was simply too far to get any sort of a signal. To replace all three discs of the same type was £300 or £110 for just the one. This cost and the fact that they were never very good and the App was appalling meant a rethink. Fortunately I have a retired BT engineer as a neighbour and sought out his advice. He showed me his setup, the Tenda Nova 3 box system, saying ‘I’ve had it for about four years, never a problem’ and adding ‘don't touch BT’. Not great recommendations from one of their own so to speak.So I took his advice, ordered them in the late afternoon and Amazon delivered the next morning at 0900. I had already downloaded the App and despite some negative reviews of the App I found no problems with it. Installing the three units was straight forward and the signal on all three was excellent, with only a marginal drop off in download speed in the garden cabin some twenty metres away and all this for less than £80. The wife says she’s never had such a good signal when using her WiFi dependant gear in her craft room.The App shows which devices are connected to which unit with the ability to change the names of the units and the connected devices which include security cameras and lighting as well as the usual tablets and phones (currently 27 in all) and has worked flawlessly since being installed for the last two weeks.Tenda do more expensive set ups and these may well suit you but their £80 three box system works well in our system.