I’m looking into getting a mesh wifi and on a budget. First I was looking in to getting the Tp Link Deco M5 but found out that Tenda MW6 Or MW3 is a good alternative too. So my question is, how really reliable is Tenda? Does it require restarting often? Anyone who owned one can you please share your experience. Thanks.
Should I Buy The Tenda nova MW6? Is It Reliable?
kongkee on 13/04/2020 - 22:42
Comments
Nice. Where did you buy them? I'm looking to buying them at https://www.pcbyte.com.au because they're the cheapest there atm.
They're running a little expensive at the moment (probably due to the crap AUD) and everyone doing WFH.
I just bought one, expected to come this week but it had everything I needed (ethernet backhaul, ethernet passthrough, etc.).Sorry a little off topic, so back on topic:
Amazon: 4.5 - 9 reviews… but that's where the good reviews generally stop.3.2/5 Just states it's what you pay really.
7.7/10 As above. You get what you pay for
3/10 although some of this was on a pre-production unit. A very good read
2/5 highly criterical review. Those drops to 0 are really concerning. I hope it was just a dodgy set for him.Some concerns on Whirlpool for the MW3
In all some concerning questions around relability but if you're not going to be doing crazy things or accessing large files from a NAS drive, it'll probably suit you. If you're concerned about the restarting often requirement, there is a "maintenance schedule" feature that you can reboot every so often. I turn it on for every router I own at 5am on a Sunday anyway. Essentially, in summary for all the reviews you get what you pay for, and at $150 lets hope it lasts a few years and I'll be happy.
Thanks for the reply. Sounds like it might satisfy my needs. I don't do any crazy networking stuff, just to be able to stream 1 netflix, play mobile games and control my smart home (15) devices anywhere in my 2 story apartment without having do restart the mesh wifi frequently, I'd be happy.
So my question is, how really reliable is Tenda? Does it require restarting often?
You will get different answers even for the same device because the reliability and stability of consumer grade Wi-Fi products really depend on the traffic load and the number of simultaneous clients you have on the WLAN. This is also the reason business grade products are relatively more expensive, as they are reliable under heavy loads and should not require restarting.
Okay I have about 15 smart home devices, 1 TV streaming netflix and couple of computers and laptops that don't need to be on the network at the same time. Maybe this would cover my needs. Thanks for the reply.
I purchased the MW3 around 2 months ago ($100 eBay) - I operate it in bridge mode, so theoretically I have 4 wifi access points (including the original wifi router). I haven't ever rebooted it - works fine, thousands of gb streamed and surfed over a couple of months - multiple youtube/netflix streams running at once at any given time, coverage of a 2 level 400m2 house fine - even worked superbly last weekend camping and watching movies in the backyard. At this point in my ownership journey I couldn't recommend it highly enough for the price point. I am sure there are better alternatives (like the google mesh) but for $100 per 3 points you really can't complain about the MW3.
+1
Nice to see a comment for a long time owner. Just I understand this correct, you run the MW3 in bridge mode? Not the original wifi router? I thought you should run the og router as bridge mode.
So no issues at all? If there's anything you don't like about it, what's that and why? Thanks!
My secondary nodes have dropped out at times and do not seem to reconnect until I reboot them, to resolve this I have turned off the maintenance schedule as it seemed to happen after this occurred and quite a large delay until the secondary nodes reconnect to the primary.
When they are up and running though they have been great for some of the farther reaches of the houses.
Thanks for the reply. Without the scheduled reboot, it is now working fine? No need to manual reboot them after some time?
Tenda is owned by China. That says enough in terms of security and back-doors.
I've found the mw6 three pack pretty reliable. Very occasionally it will say too many devices are connected even though I only have about 20 devices. I tried the Capacity-orientated mode but it makes no difference. The best thing about the mw6 for me, is that it plays really nicely with my Ring cameras and exterior ring 2 doorbell. I tried a a cheapo external access point and a ubiqiti LR. Neither one nor my router, registered a good signal to the Ring gear. For some reason, the tenda mw6 does a great job.
The mw6 supports gigabit Ethernet backhaul. I have one satellite on this and one on wireless.
I am using in bridge mode as I have various stuff set up on my existing router. Initially I had to setup using the Wan port in router mode. Once up and running I switched to bridged mode and the lan port.
Sometimes clients seem to attach to a more distant and lower signal node. No idea why.
Ooh, that's concerning about the 'too many devices'. Very easy to hit 20+ connected devices in a family of four.
Merged from Those Who Bought and Used Tenda MW3 or MW6. How Is It Holding up Now?
Pretty much title sums it up.
Can you please share your experience with it? Would you buy it again now that you've owned it know how it works?
I'm wfh and I'm tired of restarting a bunch of my extenders. I'm torn between getting one of these or the TP Link Deco M5. They said that the Tenda have low quality chipset. But I don't care about that as long as it works and reliable. My networking needs are not crazy. I have 15 smart home devices, 1 Netflix stream and a couple of mobile phones for gaming.
Also I'm on Optus 4G home broadband with Huawei B818 router. I'm assuming it'll work the same as normal ADSL/NBN cabled router.
Thanks everyone!
I run the MW6 - it's brilliant, can't fault it. Running multiple smart TV's (or dumb TV's with FireTV sticks), Playstations, Xboxes, solar inverter, multiple laptops, tablets, phones etc.
Thanks for the reply. How often do you have to restart?
Never - I think it auto restarts itself at 3AM or something every night if it detects nothing is using it, but I don't have to touch it or do anything with it at all, it's set and forget.
@kongkee: I'd say about a year or so now? They're a bit of a no brainer in my book - very easy to set up through the app, and literally just sit there and work.
OP, did you end up picking between the two? I'm in the same boat myself! Small Net Builder ranks the Deco ahead of the Tenda, but not by much.
The Deco seems to have a better processor and more ram, but unsure if there's any real world benefit from that.
Unfortunately I haven't. I'm so close to buying the Tenda MW6 tho, but I'm just thinking down the road if it's going to be reliable.
So much so I made another forum for users and used the Tenda to share any experience: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/531229
Yeah I know what you mean, really difficult to get a good gauge on any given wifi system as everyone's setup/performance is different.
I'm actually leaning towards the TP-Link after reading @muststop's reply above.
Yeah true. I got mixed reviews on Tenda. What do you think you're getting?
@kongkee: I think I'll be going with the Deco, but just realised Amazon has sold out of them which is frustrating!
@poppingtags: I haven't really decided.
But doing a quick search, looks like Mwave have them cheapest. Maybe you can price beat it on Officeworks.
I bought a pack of MW6
Quickly came to the conclusion that they are junkI recently bought a razer sila (am aware that most razer products are crap)
But my one sila is better than 3 of the tendas
Beamforming seems to work really well
and I have option to mesh if i need/want
My shed 50m away gets a strong signal through multiple walls so its not really needed howeverWhat about the Tenda didn't you like?
signal was not that strong
kept dropping out randomly every few days (needed restarting)
firmware not very good
What was it that made them junk? Slow wifi or keeps on dropping out?
Did you return them? If you have them lying around, maybe you're interested in selling them
To those who are wondering, I ended up ordering the TP Link Deco M5. I was going with Tenda but weary about not being reliable and having to restart every week or so.
Will post my experience with the Deco M5 after month if anyone asked. Thanks everyone who shared their experiences!
Let us know!
Hey I posted an update as requested.
Just an update on this since someone asked.
It's been a month now since I have them. And it is the best thing I have purchased for my wifi needs!
Setup was easy as expected. The app works well with some really nifty features I'm loving. Being able to see and notified if someone has joined your network has been a blessing. So much more I won't post it here cause you'll hear the same thing from Youtube reviews.
I like that the wifi signal doesn't degrade. What I get from my original router, is the same speed all throughout my apartment unit. I have a two storey unit and the floors are not your typical setup where level 1 is directly above level 2. My level 1 is on at the end my level 2. Hart to explain but it'll be like a zigzag. Being able to cover all these is amazing!
Also I haven't restarted since I set it up. So that's a big relief coming from wifi extender where you have to restart them everyday.
Now I can stream Netflix, play mobile games, work on my laptop from everywhere in the house without experiencing any lag. That's awesome!
Anyone on the fence, please do yourself a favour and buy this. You're just prolonging your suffering. I wish I could have bought this two years ago.
Happy to answer any questions you have. Thanks.
You’re amazing 😍 thank you!
Concur that MW3 also delivers same benefits for those looking for cheaper and less powerful model.
Glad that MW3 is working out for you. But some reviews has put me off saying that it's not reliable in the long run. I was going to get the MW3 if not for this.
I have kept the default option of restarting every night. Had excellent performance and no issues for last couple of months.
I use MW6 in Bridge mode with Ethernet Backhaul so have Capacity Mode disabled. Disabling capacity mode allows more than 4 x 5g devices to connect to each node.
Surprised how compatible this system is, devices like my wireless doorbell connect without issue, where it was problematic with my Telstra Router WiFi.
iPhones are great, 5G coverage the entire house, without them dropping to 2.4ghz like they did prior.
In general just seems super responsive.
I got it about a month ago and haven't had any issues, setup was quite easy, speed is good. Doesn't really have many settings to configure but not really something that I was expecting/wanting to do anyway. Overall, happy with it although I've only had it a month, so hope it continues.