Linksys Velop Mesh WiFi System
Unlike other traditional Linksys routers, this device has ports on the bottom of the device. On the other Linksys routers, you’ll find connection ports on the back of the device.
This device contains 2 Ethernet ports. You can connect your main node with your internet modem or modem/route to one of the Ethernet ports on Node.
For other Linksys routers, you must connect a computer or laptop to the router for initial setup. But in the case of the Linksys Velop setup, you don’t need any computer. This system can be configured from the mobile. You must download and install the Linksys Velop app on your Android or Apple device. With this app, you can easily configure your device.
Take the Ethernet cable that came with the device and connect it to the Internet modem and the Velop Ethernet port. Connect the power and turn on the device. When starting the node, you will see flashing blue light. When the blue light is solid, the node is on and working.
Launch the Linksys app. Select Velop System from the option. Your mobile Bluetooth connection will be used to configure the system, so I will ask you to activate Bluetooth on your mobile phone. In case you ask to turn on location, turn on location access as well. Now the App will look for the Primary Node on the network and try to connect to it automatically. Once it finds the device.
The Program will check the Internet connection. In the case of the PPPoE Internet connection type, the program will not find an Internet connection if you are directly connected to the modem. Here click on the link that says I want to enter my ISP settings manually. Enter the PPPoE username and password and go to Next. In some cases, your ISP may provide you with a static IP address configuration. Enter the static WAN IP address provided by the ISP.
If everything is ok, it will give you a success message.
If you are adding a new node with the wired connection, you don’t need to do anything. Just connect power to the device. Connect the Ethernet cable to the device going to the main node or another existing node. Wait for the device to turn on. Wait for the blue light to turn solid. once it’s solid blue then it’s working.
Launch the Linksys app on your mobile device and sign in. Press the Menu icon. Select the option at the bottom “Set up a new product” Select Add nodes to existing Wifi network. Press Next.
Instead of relying on a single Wi-Fi router at one end of your home, you place multiple Velop access points around your home to create a mesh network, which looks like a single Wi-Fi network for all your wireless devices. Your devices can seamlessly hop between Velop nodes as you move around the house, depending on the strongest signal, which is like your phone switching between cell towers.
Using Range Extender will reduce the Wi-Fi speed of the network. The image below explains how the range extender will affect speed.
According to Linksys support on their forum, each node can handle up to 32 users. So if you have 100 users, 4 nodes will suffice. The Linksys engineering team is still testing the maximum number of nodes that can be added, but they have currently tested up to six nodes.
No computer needed for initial setup. You can do this using the Linksys app that you can download on your Android or iOS.