The Deco X55 did well in our tests, though we had hoped for slightly faster speeds. An iPhone 12 Pro Max reached up to 739Mbps at close range to the main unit, somewhat lower than the 802Mbps average we recorded with the Eero Pro 6. However, our Lenovo ThinkPad averaged close to the X55’s hard 1,000Mbps limit, which is exactly what you want.

The X55’s wide-range testing is a different story, however.

Mesh kits are great for getting Wi-Fi around corners and onto additional floors—they work even better if they’re in a direct line of sight with each other. Distance still affects speed, however, so if you have a 739Mbps connection at the main node connected to the modem, you may see a reduced speed of 373Mbps at the third node three rooms away.

One way to improve the speed between nodes is to have a third high-speed Wi-Fi connection between them. NETGEAR’s Orbi system uses it solely as a private backhaul road not used by your devices for optimal throughput. Amazon’s Eero Pro 6 gives you access to the third band, but Eero intelligently decides the best route your data should take between all three. The X55 doesn’t have a third band.

Here’s a comparison of the Eero Pro 6 and Deco X55 systems to give you an idea:

The dining room numbers show a big difference between the Eero Pro 6 and the X55. You can use Ethernet cables to increase the node-to-node speed on both kits, but that defeats the purpose of having wireless nodes located throughout your home. Plus, the Eero Pro 6 may ignore Ethernet if the Wi-Fi connection is better for backhaul use.

The bottom line is that you’ll never see download speeds faster than 1,000Mbps using Wi-Fi, but the Eero Pro 6 kit does a better job of getting you close to that number. If you don’t want to pay the hefty Eero Pro 6 price, however, then the Deco X55 is an excellent alternative.

We like that the Deco X55 includes native support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the Deco app. You can find both assistants tucked away under the Friends of Deco section when you tap on the three-line hamburger icon in the app.

The Deco X55 also has native support for TP-Link’s smart devices and Philips Hue smart bulbs. You can create a shortcut to an action that controls smart lights, switches, plugs, and outlets. The automation feature allows you to create a trigger that turns on a specific smart light at a particular time when your phone joins the network, for example.

What we wish the Deco X55 did better

• Built-in VPN tools
• Subscription-free parental controls and security

For parental controls, you can create a profile and block websites, filter content by category, and set a daily bedtime. However, tools like setting time limits and custom bedtimes require a subscription. You also need a subscription for most of the security features, like malicious content filtering and DDoS protection.

In addition to the limited parental controls and security, you won’t find any built-in VPN components or support for cloud services. The QoS portion is also limited.

The Deco X55 is an attractive mesh networking kit. Each unit is a short white cylinder resembling a wide coffee cup but without a handle. The dark lids are highlighted by artsy triangular indentations. They’re footed by little pads that give it just enough lift for ventilation and to shine the LED’s light across the surface underneath.

The three Ethernet ports are handy if you want to use wired devices. On the main unit, you’ll use one of those ports to connect a modem or fiber ONT—the X55 automatically detects your internet connection, so there’s no dedicated WAN port.

What’s disappointing with the Deco X55 is that the 5 GHz band has just two streams. That means it can download to two devices simultaneously at half their speed. After that, devices must take turns receiving data from the X55, creating a higher latency.

Setup requires TP-Link’s Deco app (App Store, Google Play) and a TP-Link ID account. You cannot use this kit without an account, which is a little disappointing, given you don’t need a TP-Link ID to use the company’s standalone routers (unless you use remote management). The Deco X55 does have a web interface, but the information is minimal, and you can’t change any settings. And you still need a TP-Link ID to log in.

The overall setup process is quick and easy—faster than setting up Amazon’s Eero Pro 6 kit. You select the kit in the Deco app, follow the instructions, and then connect your mobile device to the X55’s Wi-Fi. After that, you choose the location, connection type, SSID, and password—then reconnect. Power up the other X55 units, and they automatically join within two minutes—but you must manually set their in-home locations in the Deco app.

The Deco app was a little confusing at first. The main Overview tab displays two columns: Clients and Location. It doesn’t explain what these categories actually do, so we had to do a little digging to find out.

The Deco app itself is divided into four tabs: Overview, Smart Actions, HomeShield, and More. The More tab is where you’ll find the Wi-Fi settings, blacklist, firmware update button, and 30-second WPS feature. The Advanced section contains all the hard-core settings like beamforming and port forwarding.

Overall, the Deco app is easy to use once you map out all the settings in your head and see what the X55 can really do.