Tenda AC1200 Nova Mesh WiFi System MW6 (Open Box)

SO we moved to a MESH supposedly WHOLE HOUSE system to cover the dropouts we were experiencing in Wifi signal. We started with 1 set of the MW6, thinking this would solve our problems since the MW6 is supposed to provide a saturated Wifi signal over up to a 6000 sq ft home according to the manufacturer. NOT! ... First off this system has the inherent problem of having your devices AUTOMATICALLY CONNECT to the FARTHEST not the closest MW6 Nova that it can find, which of course degrades the speed and quality of the Wifi signal to that device and since the only way to control this system is through the smartphone app (no web interface) and your phone is going to connect to the farthest unit it can find you can imagine how this plays havoc with everything regarding control of this system, sometimes not even being able to find a network signal to connect to! ...and to make matters worse, there is no way to ASSIGN a device to the CLOSEST MW6 Nova! YIKES! Additionally, when running a system analyzer, come to find out that even though there is a competitive neighbors Wifi in the area using the same Channel, the MW6 is not changing channels to avoid the low SNR (signal to noise ratio) we are seeing and to make it worse, this system has NO WAY TO MANUALLY CHANGE CHANNELS to avoid the interfering Wifi signal! After contacting Tenda's tech support multiple times regarding these issues, I was offered no solutions and was told my feedback was valuable input. I was furious since Tenda seems to have adopted so many other big tech companies philosophy of put the product out there and let the consumer tell us how to make it better! ...I'm not buying anyones product to do their R&D to make their systems better! UPDATE... The FLAWS of ALL MESH SYSTEMS and AMAZONS ECHO and other smart home devices. Thinking of a buying MESH router to use with smart home devices… DON’T! After almost a year of putting up with the inherent FLAWS in MESH and smart home technology, I’ve come to the conclusion that none of the manufacturers of either technology have tested using them together! Otherwise, they would have FIXED the issues plaguing BOTH technologies when being used together as most people do these days! The Good… MESH routers with multiple nodes do provide excellent signal coverage and can overcome areas in your home with weak or no wifi coverage. The Bad… MESH router systems regardless of the number of nodes installed will provide you nothing but headaches if you intend to use ANY smart home devices that are 5ghz capable such as Amazon’s echo devices and the plethora of others out there. ANY smart home deice that supports 5ghz by default also supports 2.4ghz. This typically results in the device constantly switching back and forth between bandwidths attempting to find the best signal. A Major FLAW in the design of todays systems regardless of manufacturer. This Bouncing between bandwidths plays havoc with so called “smart” systems that have voice and other ways of controlling other devices on your network. Devices such as Amazon echo’s that trigger timers, routines and carry out voice commands, require both the echo and the device being triggered to be on the same bandwidth. Since 5ghz enabled devices are always searching for the strongest bandwidth to use between the 2.4ghz (designed for distance) and 5ghz (designed for speed) and since you can’t restrict them OR your MESH router as to which bandwidth to stay on. Another flaw of MESH routers is they are notorious for intermittent device dropouts regardless of bandwidth possibly due to flipping channels seeking the best channel to broadcast on. The Ugly… 1. MESH routers currently do not allow for disabling the 5ghz bandwidth which would prevent the bouncing between bandwidth problem. 2. You cannot use the “Guest” network feature with smart home devices. Another culprit adding to the bouncing issue! 3. Another FLAW of MESH systems is that they do not allow for control to “statically bind” specific devices to their closest nodes. There is no reason that any device within a local area (3-10ft) of any node should decide to connect to a more distant MESH node 40 feet away on the other side of the house! While I’m sure that manufacturers will have to address these issues in the future, until manufactures of BOTH technologies step to the plate and FIX their respective FLAWS, if you intend to use your Wifi setup with ANY smart home device that supports BOTH 2.4 and 5ghz, expecting it to work as the manufacturers advertise, for the sake of your sanity DON’T BUY A MESH ROUTER! Current options for a SOLUTION… Bearing in mind you will need to disable 5ghz and the Guest network features on any router, don’t spend a lot of money by buying the Best router available! Buy a router along with multiple wired access points preferred over wireless wifi extenders/repeaters that will further slow your network speed and may cause buffering issues on streaming devices. The SETUP…Your router along with wired access points to blanket the house with coverage all must be named the same SSID and password and the 5ghz and the Guest network features MUST be disabled! This will stop the bouncing around between bandwidths and/or guest networks of the ECHO and other 5ghz smart home devices thus ensuring all wifi signals are kept on the same 2.4ghz SSID for all smart home devices to recognize, allowing you to keep your sanity when expecting a voice command, timer or routine to trigger something!