TP-Link Deco X68 Vs X80 Vs XE75 Mesh System

Lendlesseuphoria on 26/08/2023 - 15:12
Last edited 26/08/2023 - 15:24 by 1 other user

Hi all,

Long time lurker under a previous username. Not that it matters at all…. hope you're all having a great weekend 👌

Basically I am looking to upgrade the mesh system in my apartment. It is a three bedroom place, roughly 150 square meters. I am currently using the TP-Link Deco X20, just two of them, but sadly it isn't fast enough anymore for what I need to do these days. When I bought them, I was hardly ever home, and never needed high speed internet.

One way or another, I am looking to upgrade my mesh system to the ones listed in the title. I have been really impressed by how well the X20s have held up… they look stylish and fit in well, the app (although basic) is easy to use, there have been minimal blackouts and they have been very reliable. Hence wanting to stick with TP-Link (with, of course, the option of using one or two of the X20s as satellites if needed in the future, although I know they'll be bottlenecked).

Long story short, I can get both the X80 and the XE75 for around $500 for a three-pack each, less for a two-pack naturally, or a two-pack of the X68s for around $300 or $450 for three.

It's worth noting, I think, that my NBN plan supports up to 300 mbps downloads, the walls in the apartment are quite deep brick, it is only my partner and I using the internet normally, and we don't do anything that would require a large amount of bandwidth. E.g. we don't stream movies in 4K, not yet at least, and I don't game anymore.

Really, I just want a setup that will give me the speeds I'm paying for (with some leeway of course) and that will extend all throughout the apartment without there being any black spots. I would also note that around 12 different WIFI systems appear when I go into the settings to choose my X20s - unsure if that leads to any meaningful interference that requires a certain setting or system? It's in Melbourne.

At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, I cannot hardwire any of the satellites other than the one acting as a router. I've hardwired my parent's mesh system, so that they have wired backhaul, and it makes a huge difference for them, using a set of four X50s.

I know that the advantage of the XE75 is that it supports 6E, of course, which gives you the extra bandwidth, but none of our devices currently support 6E. I know it can be used as a wireless backhaul, by default, but does that make it any faster than the X68, which also has a wireless backhaul, albeit "only" a second 5 Ghz band? Then there is the X80, which seemingly offers super fast speeds under a dual-band arrangement, but I worry about congestion with that system, given that it seemingly has no backhaul option, not wirelessly at least.

I'm really just unsure and would appreciate any help. I'm also hoping to future-proof ourselves for a while with this upgrade.

Anyway, I digress. Thank you for any help!

The speeds seem to be as follows:

AX3600/X68
5 GHz: 1802 Mbps (802.11ax)
5 GHz: 1201 Mbps (802.11ax)
2.4 GHz: 574 Mbps (802.11ax)
3×3 MU-MIMO
7 Streams

AX6000/X80
5 GHz: 4804 Mbps (802.11ax, HE160)
2.4 GHz: 1148 Mbps (802.11ax)
4×4 MU-MIMO
8 Streams

AXE5400/XE75
6 GHz: 2402 Mbps (802.11ax, HE160)
5 GHz: 2402 Mbps (802.11ax, HE160)
2.4 GHz: 574 Mbps (802.11ax)
2×2 MU-MIMO
6 Streams

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  niknewys on 26/08/2023 - 16:34

  +1

  Good questions, I'm also looking at those very same options and doing the comparison. The x80 looks like a pretty good option to me, but the xe75 seems alot more common around online when looking at reviews etc…
  Hopefully someone can shed some light who has experience with these.

  • 

    endlesseuphoria on 26/08/2023 - 18:18

    Yeah whereas I'm leaning towards the XE75, but only because I've used systems that had a dedicated wireless backhaul before, and it made a big difference in those settings. Gah I just don't know. I really do think the X68 would be amazing, possibly the best one for me, and maybe for you… but I can't get it for wholesale prices, that's the issue, otherwise it would be much cheaper for a three-pack. But the problem is that it ends up being the same as the XE75 and the X80. I might DM you if you're happy with that!

• 

  dragond on 26/08/2023 - 17:57

  +2

  I have personally benchmarked the Deco XE75 Pro a month ago.
  The "Pro" has a 2.5 gigabit WAN/LAN port so can theoretically do faster than gigabit.
  I also bought a WiFi 6E PCI-E card, to test performance on the 6ghz band, which is not being used by any of my neighbours.

  I found right next to the Deco XE75 Pro, I got max speeds of 1,080 megabits for both 5ghz and 6ghz bands in iPerf over UDP.
  The Deco was plugged into a 2.5 gigabit switch, and the server I was testing with has a 2.5 gigabit PCI-E card, so was not limited by wired network throughput.

  Around 5 metres away from the Deco, speeds dropped to 840 megabits for both 5ghz and 6ghz bands in iPerf over UDP.
  I re-ran the test over the wired network only (to make sure it wasn't limiting throughput) and achieved speeds of 2,400 megabits in iPerf over UDP.

  I also tested my old Telstra Smart Modem Gen 2 which achieved speeds of around 590 megabits both next to it, and 5 metres away, on the 5ghz band.

  It is worth reading about WiFi speeds - in real life, speeds are usually at best, half of the advertised speeds and since most clients are 2x2, they cannot achieve the theoretical 4804 Mbps advertised for the Deco X80 on the 5ghz band. A 4x4 antenna configuration should have larger range compared with a 2x2 antenna - and the 2.4ghz band of the Deco XE75 has a very short range.

  You can read further WiFi router reviews here: https://dongknows.com/

  Edit: Given that the real life speed of the Deco XE75 was typically only 250 Mbps faster than my old Telstra Smart Modem Gen 2 (which uses WiFi 5 / AC), the upgrade to WiFi 6 / AX, was not a noticeable speed improvement, especially with sub-gigabit NBN internet.

  • 

    endlesseuphoria on 26/08/2023 - 18:47

    Thanks for the long response! It means a lot. With the EX75, I read in the review you linked that it uses the 6 Ghz band for backhaul, but that it doesn't work well, because when you move out of the XE75's short 6 Ghz range, the backhaul no longer works and instead it reverts to the 5 Ghz band for backhaul. Is that true? Because in that case, and correct me if I'm wrong, the X68 would be better, because it has two 5 Ghz bands, one specifically for backhaul, meaning a further range, and hence (in theory) more of the 5 Ghz bandwidth to take advantage of?

    Or am I misinterpreting something? Likewise, if the XE75 isn't all that it lives up to, and given I won't be using wired backhaul, is the X80 a better deal than the X68, in your opinion? Sadly I can't get the X68 for wholesale prices, only the XE75 and X80. So in theory the e.g. X80 would be $250 off, $750 down to $500, whereas the X68 would be close to $500 for three, despite being an older model. Thanks so much for your time!

    • 

      xxz on 20/02/2024 - 22:58

      +1

      which one did you buy?

      • 

        endlesseuphoria on 09/03/2024 - 10:17

        Ended up getting the XE75s from the Good Guys Commercial, around $530 if I recall correctly. System is running perfectly, getting 800 mbps in all corners of our apartment, including through thick brick walls. Having said that, it's only really the two of us using it… so I don't know whether it is using the 6E band for wireless backhaul, given that none of them are hardwired (except for the one in the lounge that is plugged into the NBN box).

        Either way, really happy with the purchase, and it was so easy to set them up.

        Having said that, I don't know, ultimately, I would've preferred just the X75s (no 6E). Yes, there'd be no Wifi 6E, but none of our devices can use that channel anyway, plus then there'd be a definitive 5G backhaul channel open, which would travel through the walls in our apartment much better. Potentially giving us a really good backhaul vs the 6E.

        I know the Good Guys sell (or used to, I haven't checked) the X80 too. I think that would've been more than enough for my partner and I, and even if we had friends over streaming 4K in multiple rooms etc, I really do think the X80 would be good enough. Yes, it doesn't have a dedicated backhaul, but I trust TP-Link - their system is really well designed, as are their units, you can't get better value imo. And I do think it would intelligently split the 5Ghz signal between all of the connected devices, on the X80, without much (if any) slowdown. But they'd really shine if they were all hardwired, which just isn't an option for us.

        And finally, honestly, the X68s I installed at my family's home works a dream, too. A bit different, as they have fixed wireless only, but even then, I've managed to find a plan (Aussie Broadband - same as in our apartment) that supports unlimited speed (but rated as 30/10), and I've managed to get it averaging 80-90 mbps throughout the entire five bedroom home and into the garden using the X68s. And they do cop a beating - when all of us kids are home, it still performs well, even with someone streaming hi-def in the lounge, perhaps me gaming, about a million phones using Facebook, Insta etc. The second someone starts trying to download a big file, though, and it starts to slow down. But just saying - you can save a decent amount of cash by getting the X68s. I'd still go for the XE75 or the X80, though, if you can.

        Finally, I just am very impressed by TP-Link. The app works great, yes you don't get many configuration options but that isn't the end of the world. They're easy to set up, and not once have I needed to reboot the system, they never overheat or shut down randomly. Very easy to change the network name, password etc, and you can still do some "advanced" things like disabling the 6E backhaul or changing the bandwidth to 20, 40 or 80.

        Anyway, if you've already bought a system, apologies this was such a delayed response, I've been offline for a fair while. I'm sure whatever you've decided will serve you well. Just FYI - you can get the X75s on eBay from NZ. But you'd pay the full $750 or so, naturally, there'd be no commercial discount.

        • 

          xxz on 09/03/2024 - 10:31

          @endlesseuphoria: ok thanks for the detailed reply, I got the x80 setup with ethernet backhaul which works well and haven't experienced any issues yet. I think I could've gone with a cheaper mesh system as I've only got a 100mbps connection, but I guess it is more futureproof when the faster nbn plans are cheaper.