TP-Link has been in the top list for the most affordable price range wireless router in the Philippines. Nevertheless, TP-Link provides us with the most affordable mesh networking to improve your Wifi Coverage at home or office.
TP Link Deco M5: Overview
The TP-Link Deco M5 is their first mesh networking kit. This is similar with the fiber bundled Google wifi mesh provided by our local network provider, PLDT.
The TP-Link Deco is of top value, and it is being offered at lazada in their mall prices at only 13,500 php only. This link can direct you to the lazada mall link TP-Link Deco M5.
TP-Link Deco M5: Unboxing and Review
The box itself looks simple yet attractive. All features and details are listed on the box. We can clearly see that the unit doesn’t have any wireless antenna, so the antenna houses a small dBi range. This means that these nodes offers a wider ranger, rather than a longer range. But these nodes each has four internal antennas and offers 2×2 MIMO connection with a maximum speed of 400 Mbps on 2.4GHz bandwidth and 867 Mbps on the 5GHz bandwidth. Each of the Deco M5 has built in Bluetooth that will help you set-up your unit faster.
Opening the box itself, we see the three nodes. In our opinion, the Deco M5 is more attractive that your average wireless router. Each node is identical to each other, having a LED Status indicator light on Top, USB type C slot to power the unit, and a pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports.
Under the kit nodes, we see a free Ethernet cable, and 3 similar boxes, which are the power adaptor of each nodes. Each box contains a power adaptor. In our opinion, it would have been better if TP-Link provided a separate adaptor and cable instead, to make replacement of the power adaptor or cable more convenient in case it any is defective, such as a type-C input or Micro-B input.
Most of the wireless brand manufacturer does setting up of device via mobile app. This is the same for TP-Link where in you will need to install the app to set up your Deco M5. Very similar to other mesh systems, it will take you couple of minutes to install each nodes, but we were able to manage to set up everything within 20 minutes. The system will also require you to connect to their cloud system for further management and set-up. Hopefully, these manufacturers will not leak any of your information within your home or office network. Nonetheless, TP-Link offers three years of Trend Micro Security within its network coverage.
TP Link Deco M5: The Verdict
We believe that the TP-Link Deco M5 is a worthy entry level mesh system at only 13,500 PHP, whereas the google system is being offered in Lazada around the price of 17,990 PHP. The price difference of 4,500 PHP for the same mesh technology is set on a different level, compared to its competitors.