PSA: The Smart WiFi Pro (WiFi 7) Extenders are overrated & unreliable,

ZombieMkI — Fri, 22 May 2026 13:20:50 GMT

Disclaimer, I used a pair of these for about 9 months after the OR contractor deigned to install our new fiber ONT at the far aside of the house, as far away from my home office / server room as possible

After griping about this on the phone someone suggested I try the Smart WiFi package which came with the then-new WiFi 7 router and mesh extenders. I went with the EE package because at the time the homeowners (who I live with due to care commitments) didn't want me drilling holes to run Cat6 out to my office. So my layout was thus:

Router (Smart WiFi Pro)
Smart WiFi pro paired to above #1 (Wireless)
Smart WiFi pro paired to above #2
TPlink gigabit switch connected to above #3
Workstation / gaming machine connected to #4 - this is a device I remote connect to when in the house
Work laptop connected to #4
Proxmox server connected to #4

All in all, the speeds ranged anywhere from 100mbps - 500mbps on devices physically connected to #3 in the list. Connectivity was pretty OK, I could even sometimes remote connect to #5 from the house, but the wireless latency and reliability was utterly terrible and the devices would become randomly unpaired. Eventually I removed #4 from the equation by running a cable out from the room #3 was placed in (as it had an old vent) out to my office and connected it to the switch. That did improve the speeds, which went up to a good 900mbps when it was "working" but this didn't eliminate the latency or random pairing issues.

A few months ago, I got around the cable limitation by using existing holes (eg old coax hole) to run a connection out from the room the router was in, out to the room the mesh extender was in - therefore connecting each endpoint up to cat6, but then another problem emerged. While the link from the router (#1) to mesh (#2) was great (as in if you tested on it, easy 900mbps speeds, <1ms latency when ping testing to the router) if you tested downstream of the mesh extender (when it was hardwired ethernet connected to the router) the link speed tanked to about 300-600mbps instead of the full gigabit it should've been capable of.

To prove it wasn't the link, I introduced an unmanaged switch to that room, connected my office switch (#4) to one port and the mesh #2 to the other, and testing downstream the speeds went back to full gigabit speed. As such I am looking to detach myself from that ecosystem and look at other solutions.

In summary, the Smart WiFi Pro package does have some pros, but it has some major cons that IMO aren't worth the extra £8 a month it costs vs just buying and setting up your own kit:

EE software (and especially the EE app!) is unreliable and cannot be relied on. If you want to manage these things, do it via the WebUI (eg https://192.168.1.254) for your router
If you need to pair up the Smart WiFi extenders so they could run wirelessly, my recommendation is to physically cable them to the router (or the mesh unit you want to pair them to) then leave them on for about 10 mins, then disconnect and place where you need. Please note you will be having to re-do this step several times a month
The Smart WiFi extenders regularly become unpaired (on a weekly-daily basis) when connected to each other Wirelessly
It doesn't state this, but the Smart WiFi extenders CAN pair to each other rather than just straight to the router, but looking in the app / webUI implies its just paired to the router
The worst offender imo, when connected via ethernet, the link speed degrades in half

Adding to this, all my other householders are disabled. As in, if something stopped working, I was the only person who could deal with it. Which defeats the point of why I wanted the system to begin with, as it was to extend connection / service reliability across the house.

Re: PSA: The Smart WiFi Pro (WiFi 7) Extenders are overrated & unreliable,

JimM11 — Fri, 22 May 2026 13:30:46 GMT

@ZombieMkI Not a good experience then, EE gear is just typical off what you get from most ISP's, keep the user away and hope that EE CS can deal with any issues as they arise.

Buy Asus and you will never look back.

Wired backhaul is always going to be best but as you say can be very impractical at times, do have a mixed wired/wireless Ai mesh 4 node Asus, was all wired, but you cannot beat the wife with furniture moves so will not get caught out that way ever again and the Wireless mesh saved the day rather than going to do new cabling....

Re: PSA: The Smart WiFi Pro (WiFi 7) Extenders are overrated & unreliable,

ZombieMkI — Fri, 22 May 2026 14:23:36 GMT

Yep, unfortunately does my head in though as I'd rather have the option to take their **bleep** training wheels off so I can configure it to my liking. Apparently even something as basic as QoS is something they charge extra for now.

I was looking between TPlink decos, Netgear Orbis and Eeros. Ideally want to get something Wifi 7 capable if I'm going to spend mind. If you have recommendations re ASUS kit be my guest.

[Mod edit: Edited out swear word]

Re: PSA: The Smart WiFi Pro (WiFi 7) Extenders are overrated & unreliable,

JimM11 — Fri, 22 May 2026 14:34:38 GMT

@ZombieMkI All my Asus is wifi 6, do not have a single wifi 7 device, few 6e's but get max speed for me internal, only have FF500 internet wise... Someone on the Forum went wifi 7 so have a search they upgraded from the lower mesh to a single top speed one 6-8monts ago, will try to find again and link, trouble with Asus they are expensive but there is not one thing extra as every feature is covered. Old link but there os a mention off a deco, will keep looking for the other.

Asus ZenWifi BQ16 on EE full fibre 1.6Gbps ? - Page 3 - The EE Community

topic PSA: The Smart WiFi Pro (WiFi 7) Extenders are overrated & unreliable, in Broadband & Landline

PSA: The Smart WiFi Pro (WiFi 7) Extenders are overrated & unreliable,

Re: PSA: The Smart WiFi Pro (WiFi 7) Extenders are overrated & unreliable,

Re: PSA: The Smart WiFi Pro (WiFi 7) Extenders are overrated & unreliable,

Re: PSA: The Smart WiFi Pro (WiFi 7) Extenders are overrated & unreliable,