eero Announces Its Next Generation

[thiggins]

Mesh Wi-Fi pioneer eero today launched the second generation of its mesh Wi-Fi system and an optional subscription service.

The second generation eero replaces the first and looks just like the first on the outside, but it's completely redesigned inside. It's still a Qualcomm-based 802.11ac 2x2 design, but now with a second 5 GHz radio and more powerful quad-core processor. The third radio isn't dedicated to backhaul, but provides more connection options for both backhaul or client support. As with other tri-radio designs, the two are split between low (Channels 36-48) and high (Channels 149-165).

eero gen 2 still has a Bluetooth LE 4.2 radio for setup and two gigabit Ethernet ports. But the USB 2.0 port and power ports are replaced by a single USB-C port. Also included for you IoT fans is a 802.15.4 / Zigbee / Thread radio.

eero Beacon takes a page from NETGEAR's Orbi cost-down playbook as a wall-plugged node. There are no Ethernet ports on Beacon, but it includes a downward-facing "intelligent" LED light that can act as a night light. You'd probably rather have a second 5 GHz radio instead, but Beacon doesn't have one of those either.

eero is trying to keep its margins up as it tries to claw back market share from Google and NETGEAR, who are currently pretty much tied for mesh Wi-Fi market dominance. So if you want a second generation equivalent of the original eero, you'll want to order an eero Pro for $499, which includes three eero gen 2 nodes. The recommendation for "most homes" is the one eero gen 2 and two eero Beacons for $399.

Those of us with limited budgets, smallish domiciles or first generation eero systems can opt for the cheapest combo of one eero gen 2 and one Beacon for $299. And yes, you can buy onesies of eero gen 2 and Beacon for $199 or $149, respectively, to upgrade or enhance your existing eero system.

Since everyone loves optional subscription services, eero is rolling out eero Plus. It'll cost you $9.99/month or $99/year and adds Security, Enhanced Parental controls and VIP support to your eero experience. eero says Plus will be ready to roll when the new stuff starts shipping "in a few weeks". The new eeros will hit Best Buy in the U.S. and Canada "later this summer".

 

[pete y testing]

boy wouldnt like to be a eero version 1 owner about now , i assume they arnt cross compatible

 

[whsbuss]

boy wouldnt like to be a eero version 1 owner about now , i assume they arnt cross compatible

I got my 3-pack over a month ago for $389 minus a $15 gift card. I have networked so many wifi setups over a decade I lost count. When I first setup the eero I spent days checking coverage, looking to see if the mobile devices switched to the closest/fastest node, and the app for general configuration. After a week I completely forget all about the wifi setup. It completely covers my 2800 sq ft 2-story home with ease. Being summer its now a joy to sit on the outside deck watching movies or browsing the internet.

After trying all the current mesh network solutions, I finally settled on the eero and glad I did. I'm sure gen-2 and the Beacon add-ons will provide great wifi coverage for larger or more construction-challenged homes. For my needs, the Orbi would be the only other solution. However, to get the same coverage (inside and out) with the Orbi would have required another satellite which would have been cost prohibited. So for me with the retail reduction of price, eero is the perfect solution. As always, YMMV and this is my opinion based on my environment.

 

[thiggins]

boy wouldnt like to be a eero version 1 owner about now , i assume they arnt cross compatible

Why would you assume that? The gen2 and Beacon eeros work fine with gen 1.

 

[pete y testing]

cause you said it was a completely different design inside , usually that means no backwards compatibility

 

[mlg321]

They are backward compatible

https://support.eero.com/hc/en-us/a...-and-eero-Beacon-with-my-1st-generation-eero-

 

[jramskov]

Eero seems like a nice system in many ways, but it's not available here in Denmark. Not sure whether it's at all available outside the USA?

EDIT: It's still only available in the USA.

 

[wchpitt]

Got the original Eero units back when they were crowdfunded. Lived with them for over a year before switching to Orbi. While the Eero was reasonably fast, reliable and simple to set up it has an Achilles heal. Eero must have internet connectivity in order to provide WiFi in the home. For most users, if your service provider is down and you don't have internet connectivity then you don't need WiFi...
BUT! If you have a smart home with a smart hub that has offline functionality or directly addressable WiFi devices and your ISP goes down... With Eero, you also loose the ability to control your Smart Home devices.
So, when Comcast has a service outage (I know, unheard of) I would also loose my ability to control my lights, Garage doors, Thermostats, Stream music from my NAS, etc.
Having WiFi stay up even if my ISP is down is critical for me and the Eero does not meet this requirement.
I also called Eero and the new units will also have the same feature/flaw.

 

[sfx2000]

eero is trying to keep its margins up as it tries to claw back market share from Google and NETGEAR, who are currently pretty much tied for mesh Wi-Fi market dominance.

Doesn't seem to be as desperate as the quote above suggests - eero has done well enough to afford development of a Gen2 product, and their Gen1 products weren't that bad... Gen2 perhaps fills some gaps and opportunities for improvement - and that compatibility is present with Gen1, one should be able to do a soft-roll rather than a rip-replace.

that being said - Orbi has seen a fair amount of success - better than most other traditional vendors in the multi-point wireless space, but these are different approaches...

Orbi is hub/spoke - and a pragmatic approach - and it works.

eero is a true mesh - and it works - and there's going to be places where Orbi might work better, but there's going to be places where eero is the better answer.

 

[thiggins]

Having WiFi stay up even if my ISP is down is critical for me and the Eero does not meet this requirement.
I also called Eero and the new units will also have the same feature/flaw.

Good point. eero is the only one of the mesh systems I have tested that essentially goes offline if the internet connection goes down for 5 minutes. It's possible Plume also shares this flaw, but I have not tested it. Google Wi-Fi stays up if internet goes down.

 

[sfx2000]

Good point. eero is the only one of the mesh systems I have tested that essentially goes offline if the internet connection goes down for 5 minutes.

Seems like that would be a relatively easy fix as this use case (no internet) shouldn't impact LAN services that do not require internet (DLNA stream to stb/tablet/pc from an internal server as an example).

 

[thiggins]

Seems like that would be a relatively easy fix as this use case (no internet) shouldn't impact LAN services that do not require internet (DLNA stream to stb/tablet/pc from an internal server as an example).

It may be easy to fix. But apparently is not on the to-do list.

 

[sfx2000]

It may be easy to fix. But apparently is not on the to-do list.

Esp. considering that during development - there's bound to be plenty of times where a dev or QA engineer is working on a unit on the lab bench...

 

[mlg321]

Good point. eero is the only one of the mesh systems I have tested that essentially goes offline if the internet connection goes down for 5 minutes. It's possible Plume also shares this flaw, but I have not tested it. Google Wi-Fi stays up if internet goes down.

Any idea why they choose to have them behave this way?

 

[Kris404]

Good point. eero is the only one of the mesh systems I have tested that essentially goes offline if the internet connection goes down for 5 minutes. It's possible Plume also shares this flaw, but I have not tested it. Google Wi-Fi stays up if internet goes down.

Holy crap! That's a deal killer right there. There are many times I had to live with a TWC outage for a couple of hours in my area.

 

[thiggins]

Holy crap! That's a deal killer right there. There are many times I had to live with a TWC outage for a couple of hours in my area.

Hang on a bit. I'm clarifying with eero. They may have changed this behavior.

 

[rlcronin]

It may be easy to fix. But apparently is not on the to-do list.

Ugh, I was seriously considering an eero v2 replacement for a dead router at my Winter home, but this is a deal breaker. I am heavily into IoT.

 

[thiggins]

I asked eero's CEO Nick Weaver about this. His reply:

LAN persistence is a key feature we maintain for eero networks. If there is an WAN / ISP / Upstream or eero Cloud outage the gateway eero [the one connected to the internet] will not reboot and we will maintain the LAN.

The only scenario where an eero intentionally reboots is if a leaf eero loses connectivity to both LAN and WAN. It'll reboot after 5 minutes to attempt to regain connectivity to the Gateway and maintain LAN persistence.

It looks like I misspoke. This behavior has changed.

 

[whsbuss]

I asked eero's CEO Nick Weaver about this. His reply:


It looks like I misspoke. This behavior has changed.

I remember before I got my eero v1 that they said as long as there's not a reboot, the LAN remains in operation.

 

[rlcronin]

Ok, good to know. Thanks for following up with eero, Tim.