The Eero 7 has the same eero simplicity and reliability of prior models, yet now provides multi-gig LAN networking capability. Recommendations: - Consider buying at least one eero 7 to enable a multi gig lan infrastructure as no other eero can do so. - Consider using eero pro 6Es as access points rather than buying multiple eero 7’s. (At least for now til WiFi 7 laptops, PCs and phones are readily available) - Use Ethernet cabling to connect your Eeros. You won’t be disappointed. This is the single best thing you can do to improve speeds and coverage. - Don’t be too quick to replace old Ethernet cat 5e or above as it CAN DEFINITELY support multi gig speeds over 5 to 25 foot runs Here’s my network objective, lan architecture and results Objective: For now I don’t need 10 gbps but I’d like to have bilateral 2.5 gbps lan with option to upgrade in the future to 10 gbps should the need arise. ISP status: My current ISP only provides 1.4 gbps service but fiber is being strung in my neighborhood by two different ISPs simultaneously with both promising up to 10 gbps bilateral service - soon. Challenges of home environment: I have a large three story 170 year old granite exterior walled stone home with interior plaster walls and a detached carriage barn. There are numerous smallish rooms with many WiFi blocking walls. The house has prior cat5e cabling throughout which can carry multigig speed at short distances of 5-20 feet even though cat5e is only rated at 1 gbps beyond a 30 ft run. All of my cable runs are less than 20 feet. Design architecture: I’m using the eero 7 as my primary router. Using one of its 10 gbps port to attach to the ISP modem and the second 10 gbps port to connect to two 2.5 gbps switches in the basement for an Ethernet backhaul across all my cat 5e cabling. I’ve connected 5 prior-owned eero pro 6e access points to the switches via the Ethernet cat5e cabling, placing them at 5 strategic locations in my home and barn. I have a variety of additional spare ethernet lan ports around the home. Rationale and tradeoffs. The eero 7 was key to powering up the multi gig lan as the chipset in the eero pro 6e limits one of its two ethernet ports to 1 GBPs. (That means you can input multi gig speeds to an eero 6e as a primary router but the eero 6E can’t output multi gig speeds to your Ethernet lan and downstream eero pro 6e access points). I chose not to replace the 5 eero pro 6es with eero 7’s due to cost of 5 additional eero 7’s for now and instead am using the eero 6Es as Ethernet backhaul connected 2.5gbps access points. I also chose the 2.5 gbps switches instead of 10 gbps switches as a cost tradeoff savings of about $400. So my total cash outlay of $1,000 was for the two switches and one eero 7. Results: For my 5ghz wireless clients I’m pulling 650 mbps flawlessly in every room of my home without any distance based degradation. Clients seamlessly handoff between access points as I walk from room to room. For my wifi6e clients on a 1.4 gbps ISP feed I’m pulling 1.3 gbps within 10-15 feet of every access point. All of My wired Ethernet ports pull steady 1.34 gbps off the internet. I have not clocked the intranet lan speed internal to the home but the switch indicator lights on each of the switches’ ports acknowledge a 2.5 gbps connection to each eero pro 6e access point via the green indicator lights. All of my 4k tvs connect wirelessly with outstanding performance. My wireless SONOS system of 14 devices throughout the home are all connected to the wireless lan and plays flawlessly without any drops. (I wouldn’t recommend connecting any SONOS device via Ethernet, as then Sonos will automatically set up its own private parallel wireless network to communicate to the other Sonos products which will not be as widespread and strong as your Ethernet based backhaul LAN with the eeros). My security panels and cameras are all connected via 5ghz with no more warnings of connection issues. I’ve supported 5 simultaneous networked teleconference sessions with several broadcasting 4k video. No glitches. Future plans: I’ll upgrade my isp connection to either 2 or 5 gbps bilateral connections once the fiber infrastructure in my neighborhood is complete and will retest speeds and republish. Should I ever decide to get into gaming, ill upgrade the isp to 10 gbps but the eero 7 is in my home office where I’d game so I’d need only insert one 10gbps switch on the outbound port of the eero 7 and then Ethernet connect the gaming console to it along with the downstream switches in the basement. I just don’t currently see the need to upgrade the rest of the eero pro 6e access points until phones and computers readily support WiFi 7 and applications exist beyond gaming that require 3-10 GBPs communications.

Since release I have had the 3 node Eero 6 Mesh system, so for about 4 years. During that time I have only had one incident and Eero support was fantastic. Since the mid 90s I have designed and built out multiple nationwide networks. From small ISPs, to Wireless providers getting into the Internet business to deploying mesh wireless system in corporate offices. I love it, it's great to tinker working to make things better and better. Because of that though I don't want to do that same thing at night or on the weekends unless it's work related. When I have some free time to do what I want, tweaking a network is one of the last things I want do. Yet I must have something that is fast, stable and secure. For years the Eero 6 functioned well however during that time we have added devices, increased our bandwidth and have more people working from home and/or gaming. It was time for an upgrade. Frankly reading the reviews I was concerned about purchasing this system. Yes, we all know that people who are unhappy are more likely to write a review than someone who is but this was definitely not ranked as high as my old system. Regardless I knew if needed I could troubleshoot with the support stand so I gave it a shot with the hope it wouldn't be an ongoing ordeal. I'm very happy to say the setup was one of the easiest if not the easiest ever. I unplugged my old system, plugged in the new primary devices and launched the app. It asked if I wanted to replace the old system, yes. It configured the new device using my same settings (network name, SSID etc...) and I was up and running in less than 10 min with a firmware/OS update. Adding the second device, they are both the same and both have the Ethernet ports, it set it up as the secondary in a couple of minutes. Then I removed the 2 old extension from the app and I was done. I did not have to do anything to all the devices on my previous network as everything stayed the same. That also saved me hours of extra work. While I only have a 1 gig connection we plan to upgrade to 2 in a couple of months and this will more than handle it. I went from getting about 40Mbps in our studio room over wireless to a full gig. The farthest room in the house had the second extension in that room previously just to get it covered. With only the two device system that room is now running 800 Mbps. As the extension is in our den I was able to plug our Apple TV directly in Ethernet and any occasional stutters watching in 4K simply vanished. We are on a cable modem system from our local provider. While I did help set it up in the 90s I haven't helped them in 20 years or so and thus there is nothing special about our connection, it's the same as everyone else in town. I am not using the paid version of the app, the free download has worked just fine for 4 years, worked great on our setup and I see no reason, again not looking to tweak anything, to pay for the extra services. I think most people will be just find using the standard app. At the beginning I noted I had the older 3 node system but got the 2 node Max 7. My house is a single story about 2600 sqft. The gateway is located in the office at the front far side of the house, I placed the extension in an are approximately the middle and I'm getting complete coverage throughout including a good usable signal out front or out back. While it notes 5000 sqft, I would suggest 3000 is probably more accurate from my experience. I definitely would not have needed three and if you can place the your device near the center of your house I believe a single unit would easily cover close to 2000 sqft with ease. Yes these aren't cheap but for us it was well worth the upgrade from a speed a quality of life standpoint and they are powerful enough I hope to get more than 4 years of service from them. Very pleased and highly recommend to anyone who needs more speed, especially if they have a lot of devices around the house. <Edit> I just wanted to add that after 3 months the system is still performing flawlessly, updates have been quick and stable.