TP-Link Deco XE75 mesh system has Wi-Fi 6E, but you shouldn't buy it

XDA

TP-Link Deco XE75 mesh system has Wi-Fi 6E, but you probably shouldn't buy it

By Corbin Davenport

Published Apr 11, 2022

TP-Link has a new Deco XE75 mesh system that supports Wi-Fi 6E and the 6GHz band, but you probably shouldn't buy it.

TP-Link has been selling routers for what seems like forever, but more recently, the company has branched into mesh Wi-Fi systems that can cover larger areas with a more reliable wireless network. TP-Link released the Dexo XE75 mesh system on Monday, which is built to support the new Wi-Fi 6E standard that has started to show up in devices, but there's (probably) a catch)

The Deco XE75 has most of the features you would expect from a modern mesh Wi-Fi system, including an estimated range of "up to" 5,500 feet with two units, tri-band connectivity (so there's no speed loss on the secondary stations), and a mobile app for network management. There are also three Ethernet LAN ports on each station, which is certainly an improvement over most mesh systems — the Google Nest Wifi doesn't have any LAN ports on the secondary nodes, for example.

TP-Link's main selling point here is support for the latest Wi-Fi 6E standard, which adds a 6GHz channel for improved performance and more bandwidth. That means devices that support Wi-Fi 6E will be able to reach theoretical speeds of up to 5,400 Mbps. Wi-Fi 6E is mostly only found on products released in the past year, such as PCs with Intel Wi-Fi 6E modems, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra/S22 Ultra/S22 Plus, Asus ROG Phone 5, and so on. Apple doesn't even sell iPhones or Mac computers with Wi-Fi 6E. The Deco XE75 is still fully backwards compatible with earlier Wi-Fi standards, you just won't get all the benefits unless your devices also have Wi-Fi 6E.

The main catch is that many of TP-Link's routers, including the Deco X68 we reviewed last year, send most network activity to a third-party company (Avira) under the guise of malware detection. There's no way to turn this off, even though TP-Link told XDA Developers last year that a settings option was in the works. That's a significant privacy issue, to say the least, and there's no indication TP-Link has removed that from the Deco XE75.

Update 1 (04/15/2022 @ 02:16 ET): TP-Link told XDA Developers that this model does not contain Avira data tracking, but XDA has not independently verified that claim.

If the excessive data collection doesn't bother you, a two-pack of the Deco XE75 is now available for $299.99 at the source link below.

Source: TP-Link