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Forum Discussion
Nighthawk Whole Home Wifi 6 Mesh System (MK62) or Wifi 6 Mesh Range Extender (EAX20)?
I just got AT&T Fiber in my home. It came with a Wifi 6 Router. I ran speedtest throughout the house and in most places I am getting excellent speeds. There are a couple of rooms with fairly weak signals where the speed drops significantly. I want to get a stronger wireless signal in these rooms so I get a more stable and higher performance connection.
When would you use the Nighthawk Wifi Mesh System versus the Wifi 6 Mesh Range Extender (EAX20)? If I understand things properly, if I use the Nighthawk Wifi Mesh System, I will plug its router into my new router I got from AT&T and disable my current wireless network. The Nighthawk router takes over as my wireless router. And then I use the Satellites to extend coverage. I woudl have one Wifi name throughout my house and devices would automatically connect to the best satellite or router.
With the Wifi 6 Mesh Range Extender (EAX20) I would use my current AT&T provided Wifi 6 router and use the Wifi 6 Mesh Range Extender to increase my coverage. It would use the same Wifi name as my current wifi and again, devices would automatically connect to the Wifi 6 Mesh Range Extender (EAX20). Is there some reason this wouldn't be as good as the Nighthawk Wifi Mesh system? It seems like the end result is the same. I guess the little cubes look cool, but I don't really care what it looks like. To be honest I am a little concerned the Nighthawk router might not be as good as my AT&T router (which is a very new model) since I am getting great wireless speeds with it. I know you can add multiple satellites with the Nighthawk Wifi Mesh system. If one Wifi 6 Mesh Range Extender (EAX20) didn't cover everything I need, could you add a second and have it work just like the Nighthawk system? Is the only difference that the Nighthawk system has its own router and the Wifi 6 Mesh Range Extender (EAX20) does not? Unless the Nighthawk cube router is really, really good, I would rather just use my current one since it is working well.
I would appreciate any pros and cons of the two systems so I could make an intelligent choice on what to buy.
1 Reply
What att router is it?
And are you having to pay to rent it?
I usually tell people to avoid dual band mesh systems unless they're planning on hardwiring in the satellites. Reason is that the satellites run at half the speed the primary router does. this happens becuase they don't have a dedicated backhaul like the tribands do. so they have to go router---satellite and then satellite---devices using the same wireless chip and they can't do both at once. Versus the triband setups have a dedicated wireless link from router---satellite.
so depending on what router you have (if it is a solid performing one), I'd probably go with either something like the EX8000 (triband AC extender), EAX20, or EAX80 versus the MK62 system.
