At first we would like to thank Linksys for offering a sample of their VELOP Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About Belkin International:

 

“At Belkin International, we create products that help people realize the power of technology and make people’s lives better, easier and more fulfilling. This has been Belkin’s mission since our inception in 1983.

 

Belkin was founded by CEO, Chet Pipkin, in his parent’s garage. Even back then, Chet’s passion was driven by solving customer’s needs. He manufactured computer cable assemblies in the evenings and on weekends, and sold them to local computer manufacturers and dealers in response to the burgeoning personal computer market in the 1980’s. Since then, we’ve kept our southern California origins and are based in Playa Vista, right in the heart of the Los Angeles tech center.

 

Today, Belkin International has three brands – Belkin, Linksys and WeMo – to enhance the technology that connects us to the people, activities and experiences we love. Belkin products are renowned for their simplicity and ease of use, while our Linksys brand helped make wireless connectivity mainstream around the globe. Our newest brand, WeMo, is the leader in delivering customizable smart home experiences. Its product platform empowers people to monitor, measure and manage their electronics, appliances and lighting at home and on-the-go.”

 

Product Features:

 

Product Specifications:

 

 

Besides the mainstream and high-end routers, Belkin is proposing an alternative solution from the Linksys series of products that is composed from a Tri-Band Wi-Fi mesh, for providing optimal signal and performance throughout the home; this is meant to be realized with a minimum amount of cables and a very easy install procedure. The Tri-Band AC2200 (867+867+400Mbps) system does support MU-MIMO and the following network standards:

 

802.11b

802.11a

802.11g

802.11n

802.11ac

 

The three-node mesh system is shipped inside a large cardboard enclosure, the manufacturer showing right from the top cover some of the product main highlights:

 

 

 

For the initial setup phase, VELOP does need a mobile device with Android 4.4 / iOS 8 or higher in order to work with the dedicated Linksys application; on the side of the packaging, Belkin has also included the list of technical specifications:

 

 

 

Nearby, we will be able to spot a small product description, but also a general list of applications VELOP performs great in:

 

 

 

Even more details are spotted on the bottom area of the box; here we will be also able to take a look at the mobile application:

 

 

 

After lifting the top cover, we will be able to spot the three nodes, along with a Setup Guide leaflet:

 

 

 

After the removal of the leaflet, we will also get to see a slim, non-tangle LAN cable:

 

 

 

Moving further, the manufacturer has included a separate power adapter for each node:

 

 

 

The Setup Guide is pretty straight-forward; it simply guides us to download the dedicated application and start the procedure:

 

 

 

Besides the cable we have mentioned earlier, we are also getting the documentation in electronic format via disk, but also some other important technical info:

 

 

 

Each node looks like a small tower, with a light grey Linksys logo in the front:

 

 

 

Plenty of ventilation holes are available on the sides and thanks to these, the nodes barely get warm during normal operation; for optimal performance, it is recommended to install these in non-obstructed areas:

 

 

 

 

The right side of the tower is similar to the frontal area:

 

 

 

On the bottom of the unit, the manufacturer has designed the chassis in order to permit optimal cable management:

 

 

 

The top does come with some other ventilation holes, but also a LED which signals the status the current VELOP node is in:

 

 

 

Each node is equipped with dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, a red Reset button for bringing the unit to factory defaults, the DC-IN 12V port but also a Power On/Off switch; the main node will have one Ethernet port already occupied by the cable coming from the Modem (ISP) hardware, so you will only have one port available to use. This small “issue” can be easily solved by adding an extra switch to it, in case you have more wired devices in its vicinity:

 

 

 

Each node does come with two stickers; one of them does show the product serial number, while the other does display the MAC address:

 

 

 

The secondary sticker does describe the name of the initial SSID created by the node along with the password, but also a recovery key which needs to be entered in case we would like to modify the administrator password:

 

 

 

The charging adapters do follow the design lines of the nodes:

 

 

 

These are rated 12V at 2A, with a VI efficiency level:

 

 

 

The charging jack plug is angled, in order to permit optimal cable management:

 

 

 

After connecting the LAN cable from our modem and powering up the first node, it booted up; once the LED did turn purple, it basically notifies us that it is ready for the setup procedure:

 

 

 

After the installation of the dedicated Android application and the first run, the node was detected successfully thanks to the Bluetooth 4.0 communication; certain Terms and Conditions need to be accepted:

 

 

The application does also need us to set up a Linksys account in order to proceed further; the VELOP setup will then be added to our online account:

 

 

In order to have an error-free installation procedure, we will be asked about our current setup:

 

 

Afterwards, we will be instructed on the installation procedure:

 

 

The node will then be detected by the application:

 

 

Some extra configuration steps will be needed:

 

 

Moving forward, we will have to name our WiFi network; the password will be also specified here:

 

 

The entered configuration will be then sent to the node:

 

 

For an easier identification, the Linksys application will ask us to name the current node:

 

 

If everything went well, we will be welcomed by a confirmation:

 

 

As a secondary setup part, we can always add another node:

 

 

We will be informed that necessary product updates will happen without the user input and we can also help the team by allowing VELOP to send out crash data (if this happens):

 

 

The application has begun to search for firmware updates on the current node:

 

 

A new firmware version was found, so it has been flashed; no extra user input is needed:

 

 

The Dashboard will be shown next, with extra options for configuration:

 

 

From here we can easily access Parental Controls, for Internet usage restrictions:

 

 

Three devices can be prioritized in order to have full access to the bandwidth of our ISP subscription:

 

 

The connected devices will be shown in the respective area, along with the band and the node they are linked to:

 

 

Wi-Fi Settings can be further customized:

 

 

In the Advanced Settings area, we can choose the type of security, Wi-Fi mode (only Mixed is available on the VELOP), but we can also access Channel Finder, for the setup to search for the optimal channel and move to it:

 

 

On the left side of the GUI, we do also have more options available for configuration:

 

 

Guest Access can be configured as well, with a custom SSID and password:

 

 

A Speed Check is also in order:

 

 

When a node goes offline, we can be warned:

 

 

Each node can be accessed independently for more configuration options:

 

 

The utility also allows the user to restart the node:

 

 

If we do have a different connection type from the ISP, we can set it up from the Connection Type section:

 

 

A Port Settings screen is also available:

 

 

We can apply Wi-Fi MAC Filters as well:

 

 

LAN Settings can be modified with our preferences:

 

 

One of the last options is My Account, which personalizes the online account we have created earlier:

 

 

Feedback can be also sent out to the team:

 

 

There is also a help section:

 

 

In order to get the most from the VELOP setup, we can check out some usage tips:

 

 

Upon adding a secondary node, we will be welcomed by some extra instructions:

 

 

The extra node will be detected via Bluetooth:

 

 

Afterwards, to make things super simple, the secondary node will be transformed into a wireless access point and all configuration will be done automatically:

 

 

As an extra step, Linksys application does check if the node has been optimally positioned in order to get the best signal from the main station:

 

 

The third node can be added the same way:

 

 

If you do try to connect to the VELOP node system via a browser, you will be instructed on using the mobile application; HOWEVER, Belkin was nice to also include the regular experience:

 

 

After entering the code and resetting our administrator password, we can proceed to the login screen:

 

 

VELOP is fully configurable via the usual Smart Wi-Fi interface with two exceptions (channel selection and addition of extra nodes); those familiar with Linksys routers will be right at home when seeing the GUI:

 

 

The Device List menu will display the currently connected devices, but also the nodes:

 

 

Guest Access can be configured next:

 

 

As with the mobile application, we can configure the Parental Controls:

 

 

Three devices can be prioritized for accessing the ISP bandwidth:

 

 

The Connectivity menu does come with the usual configuration tabs:

 

Basic

 

 

Internet Settings

 

 

Local Network

 

 

Advanced Routing

 

 

Administration

 

 

Next, we do have the Troubleshooting area:

 

Status

 

 

Diagnostics

 

 

Logs

 

 

Wi-Fi can be configured in more detail versus the mobile application, meaning that we can also separate the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands in two SSIDs; this is not really recommended if you do use more than one node because the VELOP system was designed to seamlessly use the bands for synchronization purposes and we will get lower speed results after separation:

 

 

From here we can also configure MAC Filtering and also Wi-Fi Protected Setup:

 

 

Finally, we have the Security area with three different configuration tabs:

 

Firewall

 

 

DMZ

 

 

Apps and Gaming

 

 

In order to check out the bandwidth between the nodes, we did first set a wired desktop to the main one, with the following configuration:

 

CPU: Intel I5 4690K Retail @ 4.6GHz

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX

Motherboard: BIOSTAR Z97X Gaming

RAM: GeIL Black Dragon 4x4GB DDR2133 (@1600)

Video: HIS RX460

Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W

SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 240GB + OCZ Vertex 460

Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840

 

We have then connected our Lenovo Ideapad 700-15ISK laptop (Intel Core i7-6700HQ, Intel HM170 chipset, Nvidia GeForce 950M, WD 1TB HDD 5400RPM, FHD IPS display), to which we have previously added a Crucial MX300 M.2 525GB SSD as a boot drive, first to the second (Main Bedroom) node and then to the third (Kitchen) node on the LAN interface. The utility we did use was LAN Speed Test, with a packet size of 200,000,000 Bytes and two simultaneous streams. With only two nodes operational, we have got the following results:

 

 

 

When we have configured and started the third node, the upload/download dropped a bit due to the extra synchronization traffic between the nodes:

 

 

 

Overall, we have obtained good results and at the same time we did also max out our Internet subscription speed (300Mbps DL / 150Mbps UP) in any corner of the house! The ping values remained very low to the main ISP server (2ms from the base node, 4ms from the secondary and third nodes) and we haven’t noticed any sudden drops in speed while seeding some torrents or gaming.

 

 

The Linksys VELOP mesh system is quite innovative, very easy to configure via the mobile application but also very stylish looking; its main purpose is to offer full wireless signal in the whole house at optimal speeds and besides the wireless connectivity it does also come with two Gigabit LAN ports for linking wired stations (such as printers, desktops, consoles, TVs and so on). Right after we have realized the setup procedure on the initial node which acts as a main router, the rest of the nodes will be added in a very simple manner, picking up the configuration automatically. If we connect to the main node and perform changes such as a new SSID name/password, the new changes will be automatically sent to the secondary and third nodes in a few minutes, without any user intervention. The mobile application is also able to change the name of the nodes (depending on the room we have them in or other custom names) or we can perform a Wi-Fi channel scan so the mesh system will move itself to the less occupied channel.

 

As with any other high-end router, we can create a SSID for guest access, enable Parental Controls and as extra features we can remind of the instant alerts we can enable when a node drops connectivity or we can operate the system via Alexa.

 

The nodes feature an elegant design and come with a 3-year limited warranty and tech support from Belkin.

 

The VELOP system has dropped in price since we have first seen it to the market and now it is available for about 355 Euros; it is still a very pricy piece of hardware, but if you have a large home and need to cover Wi-Fi dead spots with a stylish, easy to configure system, Linksys VELOP may be the product you are looking for!

 

Linksys VELOP Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Linksys for making this review possible!