TP-Link Deco X20 review
Our Verdict
Inexpensive, small and easy to prepare, TP-Link's Deco X20 mesh networking kit is a cheap thrill that can assistance fill a habitation with Wi-Fi 6 data while protecting a family's identities with an extra layer of online security. It's a steal at $270 for the iii-piece kit.
For
- Modest router and satellites
- Inexpensive
- Excellent range
- Extra security
Confronting
- No defended backchannel for data
- Lack of customization options
Tom's Guide Verdict
Inexpensive, small and easy to prepare, TP-Link'south Deco X20 mesh networking kit is a cheap thrill that can assist fill up a domicile with Wi-Fi 6 data while protecting a family's identities with an extra layer of online security. It'due south a steal at $270 for the three-slice kit.
Pros
- +
Small router and satellites
- +
Inexpensive
- +
Excellent range
- +
Extra security
Cons
- -
No defended backchannel for information
- -
Lack of customization options
TP-Link Deco X20: Specs
Wi-Fi Spec: AX1800
Number of Antennas/Removable: four/No
Ports: 1 WAN/1 LAN gigabit per 2d
Processor/Memory/Storage: Quad-cadre 1GHz/4GB/1GB
Wi-Fi chip: Qualcomm Networking Pro 400
Elevation 802.11ac performance: 622.1Mbps (at 15 feet)
Range: 95 feet
Size: 4.iii 10 4.three x 4.v inches
Estimated Annual Electricity Toll: $34 for three devices
The TP-Link Deco X20 does a lot with a little past squeezing Wi-Fi 6 applied science into small-scale and easy to hide mesh devices. At $249 for 3 devices, the Deco X20 is almost one-3rd the price of like gear from Netgear, Asus and Arris, however does surprisingly well with extended range and a potent Wi-Fi indicate throughout a home.
The system is not just piece of cake to set upward only includes an actress layer of embedded security software to safeguard a family's digital possessions and identities.
In other words, our TP-Link Deco X20 review shows that information technology's a mighty mite of the mesh networking globe. It even earned the runner up for best mesh router in our 2021 Tom'south Guide Awards.
TP-Link Deco X20 review: Pattern
Modest and easy to hibernate, the TP-Link Deco X20 mesh networking kit is an inexpensive alternative to the likes of the Arris SURFboard mAX Pro or the Netgear Orbi WiFi vi (RBK852). The squat cylinders are 4.three x 4.3 ten 4.five inches and slightly taller than a Planters Mixed Nuts can. They're tiny compared to the mammoth Orbi RBK852 or Arris SURFboard mAX Pro units.
The Deco X20 units are available but in white and have cooling slots underneath simply no mounting inserts underneath for hanging on a wall. Fortunately, 3rd parties brand inexpensive plastic brackets for attaching to a wall.
Like several mesh products, the Deco X20 devices have LED indicator lights that cast a glow from underneath. When it'south solid yellowish, the arrangement is starting up, followed by a pulsing blue light to show information technology is set to be gear up up. When the low-cal is dark-green, everything is OK, just if information technology blinks red, the device has lost its Internet connection.
Unlike the Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8) or Netgear Orbi RBK852, the Deco X20 is based on a dual-ring approach to mesh networking. Its 2.four- and 5GHz networks can be combined but because it works with two wireless bands, it lacks a dedicated 2nd 5GHz backhaul aqueduct for sending data from the satellites to the host. The devices dynamically manage the data flow and you can use an Ethernet cablevision to connect the Deco X20 host router with its satellites.
The Deco X20 may be pocket-size but it's a big value for Wi-Fi 6 mesh networking. The three-device kit can cover 5,800 square feet, according to TP-Link. The 2-piece Deco X20 kit costs $200 and should exist proficient for most four,000 square feet. The company doesn't sell private units but the price of two is roughly the price of a single Orbi satellite, making the Deco X20 one of the best mesh networking bargains.
Each Deco X20 unit is fix every bit the host or satellite in the installation process, and each have iv internal antennas. As is the case with its competitors, none tin can exist aimed or replaced. Based on Qualcomm's Networking Pro 400 chipset, the Deco X20 is powered past a 1GHz quad-core processor. It carries 4GB of RAM and 1GB of solid-state storage of its firmware and commands. Able to connect up to 150 devices, the Deco X20 has an AX1800 rating, pregnant that information technology's rated at a peak throughput of 1.8Mbps.
The back of each unit has two gigabit LAN ports, one for the incoming WAN connexion and the other for a networking apparatus, like a storage system or a wired connexion to a Deco X20 satellite. It, however, lacks the ability to aggregate ports for college throughput or a USB connection for a printer or direct connection to a storage device. The devices do accept a reset button underneath for returning the system to its factory settings.
Like other Deco models, TP-Link has included a plethora of services that make the Deco X20 even more enticing for home networking. Information technology starts with the company's HomeCare security suite that includes Trend Micro anti-malware code embedded in the router's firmware to provide an actress layer of online defenses. It can help protect against attacks on the family'southward digital identity, while blocking network assaults and filtering out objectionable websites.
On the other hand, the Deco X20 mesh system lacks the power to apply two-gene authentication or an iPad's or iPhone'south Touch ID. More to the bespeak, it does without client level malware software, like the security apps that are included in Netgear's Armor routers.
TP-Link Deco X20 review: Functioning
Based on its size and price tag, the Deco X20 was a surprisingly strong performer with the ability to extend a Wi-Fi network into unreached parts of a dwelling. Using my 100-twelvemonth-onetime home and Ixia's IxChariot networking benchmark, I created a busy network. The Deco X20 didn't start out strongly with 522.1Mbps of throughput to the test system 15-anxiety from the host router. That's well behind other Wi-Fi half dozen mesh kits, like the Netgear Orbi RBK852 (at 883.6Mbps), the SURFboard mAX Pro (820.3Mbps) or the Asus ZenWiFi AX (701.0Mbps).
However, it defenseless upward quickly to lead the group with the ability to send 255.4Mbps beyond l-feet, more than than double the throughput of the Orbi RBK852 (124.5Mbps). The Deco X20 stayed on elevation at 75-feet with 112.7Mbps, versus the Orbi RBK852 (85.9Mbps) and the Arris SURFboard mAX Pro (xvi.6Mbps).
The Deco X20 showed it'due south extended range by staying online at 90-feet with 51.1Mbps available, while other mesh systems lost contact at this betoken. It had a range of 95-feet, the best for a mesh router we've seen under these weather.
Its power to send a strong betoken through a wall 20 feet from the router was acceptable at 556.5Mbps available on the far side of the wall. That'south 40 percent off the pace prepare by the Orbi RBK852 (782.9Mbps). This trend held when we ready the test system up a floor above the host router and the Deco X20 yielded 320.5Mbps of throughput versus the Orbi RBK852'south 670.1Mbps.
The Deco X20's mesh results were heart of the pack. In our upstairs-downstairs testing where the satellite is set up a floor above the router and the receiving system is 50-anxiety farther away, the Deco X20 delivered 294.5Mbps. That's well off the 405.5Mbps that the Orbi RBK852 delivered.
On our same-floor testing, where we set up the satellite forty-anxiety from the host router and the test station another 50-feet abroad, the Deco X20's prospects improved with 65.5Mbps available. That might not sound like much in view of the Asus ZenWiFi AX'southward 125.8Mbps performance, just it beat the Netgear Orbi RBK852 (39.1Mbps).
Happily, the Deco X20 kit we used came with a second satellite unit of measurement that we ready downstairs from the host router. It recorded 150.5Mbps of information flow to a system 40-feet abroad. All told, the three-pack was plenty to fill my 3,500 square foot home, roofing locations that other mesh kits left every bit Wi-Fi dead zones. It also passed our saturation test, where I streamed Youtube videos to an iPad Pro and a Lenovo ThinkPad T470 while my Macbook Air played an Cyberspace radio station feed and an HP Aristocracy Dragonfly moved data onto and off of a networked storage organisation. All the audio and video came through without any artifacts.
When it was zipping information back and forth, the Deco X20 used 10.ii watts. If it's e'er left on and you pay the national average of xiii cents per kilowatt-hr of electricity, look that the mesh network will cost about $23 for two and $34 for three devices.
TP-Link Deco X20 review: Setup
One of the near stress-free mesh kits to install, the Deco X20 uses TP-Link'southward Deco app to get started. It has lots of illustrations and helpful hints for networking newcomers. The iOS and Android apps are available online and there'due south a handy QR code in the manual for quickly finding them. The software only runs vertically on phones and tablets, though. Offset to cease, it took fifteen minutes to create a working LAN using my iPad Pro.
After plugging everything in and letting it start up, I linked my iPad Pro to the X20's default network and fired upwardly the Deco app. Then, I created a TP-Link ID account and responded to the verification email the company sent. I tried to pick the X20 device from a grouping of photos in the app simply the closest item was the X25.
Side by side, the app scanned for the device and it found the system in a few seconds. I looked over the listing of locations that the app provided but added a custom description for the host router'due south placement.
The software then interrogated my Internet connection and gave me the selection of changing the Deco X20'southward MAC address. Finally, I added a new network proper name and password. The app changed my iPad'south connection parameters to suit the new network and automatically connected to information technology. On the kickoff try, it yielded 178Mbps from my 200Mbps connectedness.
Finally, the system asked if I wanted to add another satellite to the network. Happily, it did this automatically, behind my back with no intervention. Its last job was to update the X20'southward firmware.
TP-Link Deco X20 review: Configuration
Every bit is the case with other mesh networking kits, the center of attention for the Deco X20 is the app'due south dashboard Overview page. It not only shows that the Net is online but what devices are connected. Click on either item to see details, condition and after a moment the current connectedness speed.
At any time, it's easy to modify the network'south name or countersign and come across a monthly written report of usage and security bug. The Deco X20 has an innovative Milkshake to Share feature that can ship the log-in credentials for the main or guest network after shaking the phone or tablet. Any device can exist blacklisted to prevent it from entering the network.
The Advanced section has everything from setting upward IP V6 and adding a firewall rule to reserving an IP address for a specific customer. Yous can set any of the satellites to deed equally a wired access point, activate or deactivate the router's beamforming equally well equally turn the LEDs on and off.
The Deco X20's browser-based configuration doesn't add much, nonetheless. Although information technology's non mentioned in the Deco X20's manual, type "tplinkdeco.net" into the URL window of a continued organization. You'll want to zoom out of your browser window to take it all in, though.
TP-Link'due south dashboard page has a network map that summarizes all the major settings, only few places to make changes. At that place are bar graphs that show processor and memory load that might be a help in trouble shooting a router problem.
Click on Advanced to get to a list of operational items that networking pros will appreciate. It ranges from online status and IP address to Wi-Fi items like the network names and channels. It's all a tease because nothing can exist changed. The one thing it can do that few mesh kits permit is checking on the firmware level of private units and updating them one at a fourth dimension.
The Deco X20 kit comes with a two-year warranty that'due south a big step upwardly compared to Netgear'due south yr of warranty protection and just 90-days of support. TP-Link's online back up is thorough and includes videos to help you fix the system up and downloads but lacks TP-Link'south signature online emulator to endeavor out its interface. The manual is minimalist and lacks even instructions for using the browser interface.
TP-Link Deco X20 review: Verdict
It may not be the fastest mesh networking kit bachelor but the TP-Link Deco X20 is easy to set up and excelled at delivering data to middle distances where the contest often falls curt. Based on Wi-Fi 6, the Deco X20 3-pack should be more than enough to make full the typical home while its extra layer of security tin can protect a family's digital avails and identities.
If you're looking for a Wi-Fi 6 mesh kit capable of inexpensively filling a home with a moderate amount of data, the TP-Link Deco X20 does the fox. The Deco X20 presents a practiced remainder betwixt value and the power to motion data safely and securely throughout a abode, with packages of two or three units to offering coverage for both medium and large homes.
At ane-third the toll of the higher-performing Netgear Orbi WiFi 6 (RBK852), which also offers a dedicated backhaul data channel and more customization options. For those who desire peace of heed, the Deco X20 stands out with a mix of throughput and security.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/tp-link-deco-x20
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