Don't Mesh With Anyone But Tenda!!
AC1200 Whole Home Mesh WiFi System MW5s (3 pack)
Review by: Jennifer Griffiths
Video & Testing by: Philip Griffiths
Product Unboxing and Setup Video
🔴 Tenda Nova MW5s Mesh WiFi System, Is the MW5 the best Mesh system?
Introduction :
By now, the Tech For Techs community is no stranger to Tenda's mesh WiFi systems. Every day someone gets one recommended as a solution to their WiFi issue. We've seen both the MW3 and it's big sister the MW6.
Today the middle child is coming forward for its place in the spotlight. It's for when the MW3 is not quite getting it done and the MW6 is just a bit overkill.
I'm very excited about this! If it "meshes up" to its predecessors in quality and performance, it will be an awesome piece of kit!
Let's have a look.......
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Main Features:
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Connect more nodes
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covers bigger area
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connect more devices
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performs on ISP speeds over 100Mbps
Specifications:
Brand name Tenda
Item Weight 898 g
Product Dimensions 9.1 x 9.3 x 9.1 cm
Manufacturer statement:
The Tenda nova MW5s is a whole home mesh WiFi system designed for larger households with 100 Mbps or greater broadband services. Powered by Tenda's mesh technology, each node automatically connects to the other, creating a distributed network throughout your entire home. A 3-pack of MW5s covers up to 3500 square feet. The primary node features gigabit ports, getting the most out of your 100 Mbps or greater broadband service and ensuring smooth playback of 4K videos. And the wall-plug secondary node connects to your existing Mesh network automatically with pre-paired configuration, making setup a breeze.
About Tenda:
We’re Tenda and we provide Smart Devices to connect your Smart Life. In the home, on the go, in the office our suite of products are available to keep you and your digital life connected.
Not heard of us before? Our HQ in China employs over 4ooo people from research and development to marketing and sales. In the UK, our team are based just outside London in Sunbury-on-Thames. Our great value products and happy global customers have made us into a $1bn business. A big business but local service. If you have any questions for us fell free to drop us a message.
Packaging:
There is a nice picture of the product on the front with easy to read fonts. The one thing that drives me up the wall though, is Tenda brand not being on the front of the package. This is important in retail. You don't want your product to be overlooked because the customer saw it on the shelf with no brand and thought it was a generic. Tenda do have their name on the top of the box but I think it needed placement on the front as well. Moving right along...on the sides you will find barcodes etc and specs. On the back we find a diagram of how the product works with a description. It is nicely presented.
Unboxing:
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Instructions
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Tips card
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TOS sheet
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3 Nodes
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3 Power cables
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1 Ethernet cable
Installation:
Tenda tell you to download their app from the Playstore or App Store to your phone etc. In reality you only need to do this if you want to change the settings. So, if you want a straight setup with no changes you an skip this step.
The app itself is for adding additional nodes to the network (that you may buy separately) for changing wireless network names and passwords, adding a guest account, monitoring the logs, monitoring the upload speed and download speed, as well as any information you would get on a normal router including blocking devices.
All we did to set up the device was plug them into the router/modem/switch. Once plugged in, you will get a green light on the main Nova. After this, plug in the additional 2 nodes to power and that's it. They are now set up. All you have to do is input the wireless name and password into the devices you want to use on the wireless. (this information can be found on the bottom of the Novas)
We did install the app on our iphone with ease. We were able to monitor the upload and download speeds. We did a firmware update which took about five minutes to complete. This was done with a press of a button. The rest of the app features can be found in our video.
Testing:
In testing we decided to use it in our store and at home. In the store, we found our direct download speed from Virgin Internet is around 350Mbps. The Novas would transmit wirelessly around the same that our Virgin router does at close distance. When we moved away from the router and had the nodes set up correctly, we were getting a minimum speed of 340Mbps which was a slight drop from when we were close to the main router. But, in comparison the same location where we got 340 Mbps with the Nova the Virgin signal fluctuated drastically between 80 and 175 Mbps making the Nova 3 to 4 times faster.
At home we tested it with PCs, printers, Amazon Prime stick, and phones. (everything you would expect in a normal home environment) We did four tests in the home environment. The first test we did was Ethernet connected to the router and we got 72.8Mbps. The second test we did was connecting wirelessly to the router and we got 55.02Mbps. The third test was connecting wirelessly with the MW5s Novas and we got 65.2Mbps. The fourth test was connecting to the Novas via a pass through connection (where you connect your device via ethernet to one of the slave nodes and we got 70.75Mbps.
Pricing:
RRP: £119.99
Warranty
3 Year Return to Base Warranty.
Suppliers:
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Target Components
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Ingram
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VIP Computers
Conclusion:
It appears that Mesh is he way forward in getting a better WiFi signal. Adaptors are begging to become old tech when it comes to getting a good signal. If I had an issue with my WiFi, this would be my Go To Product. It's more powerful than its kid sister the MW3 and being I don't need WiFi signal to the moon and back, I don't need the MW6. This is bang in the middle just right. I would recommend this product to anyone with an internet speed above 50 Mbps
Stand out point: It does its job with minimal fuss on set up.
Pros:
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Price, more cost effective then buying unreliable Network extenders
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Reliability, if one Nova goes down the others carry on working
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Style/Looks
Cons:
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I would have liked a longer Ethernet cable.
They got a Platinum and a "HELL YEAH!" Award for this product.
