TP-Link Deco XE75 Review: A Cheap Wi-Fi 6E Mesh Router With Solid Performance
Wi-Fi 6E performance without Wi-Fi 6E prices.
Our Experts
- 10 years product testing experience with the CNET Home team
TP-Link Deco XE75
Like
- Terrific value for a mesh router with support for Wi-Fi 6E
- Fast, consistent download speeds
- Auto-pairing Deco devices make for simple setup
Don't like
- Relatively weak upload speeds
- No multi-gig internet support
- Most homes won't see much benefit from 6E connections over the 6GHz band
The TP-Link Deco XE75 is one of the most affordable Wi-Fi 6E routers around, which takes the faster speeds of Wi-Fi 6 and adds access to the newly opened, ultrawide 6GHz band. While the performance is very solid, the mean appeal here is the price tag: just $300 for a two-pack system that includes your main router plus a range-extending satellite device. That's hundreds less than other systems that support Wi-Fi 6E, including the Eero Pro 6E ($500 for two), the Linksys Velop Atlas Max ($900 for two) and the Netgear Orbi AXE11000 (a whopping $1,300 for a three-pack).
TP-Link's been consistently producing some of the best routers around for years, with a string of budget-friendly Wi-Fi routers that stand out for their performance in my speed tests. There's the TP-Link Archer AX21 (our top value pick among entry-level Wi-Fi 6 routers), the TP-Link Deco W7200 (our top value pick among tri-band mesh routers) and even the TP-Link RE605X, which currently sits atop our list of the best Wi-Fi range extenders.
The Deco XE75 is a clear value pick relative to routers like those, but it's an open question as to whether or not Wi-Fi 6E is worth it yet at home. With lots and lots of bandwidth and no interference from previous-gen devices, the 6GHz band makes perfect sense as a sort of VIP section for overcrowded networks in dense environments like airports and stadiums -- but the benefits are much less clear in a residential setting, where the majority of your devices won't be able to connect over 6GHz, and where average internet speeds aren't fast enough for Wi-Fi 6E to really flex its muscles.
Locating local internet providers
That said, if you're lucky enough to enjoy gigabit-or-better internet speeds, then Wi-Fi 6E might make sense as a forward-looking home networking upgrade -- and the Deco XE75 gets you there for a lot less than its competitors. And with Wi-Fi 7 routers starting to debut this year, it might make more sense to hold off on an expensive upgrade.
The Deco XE75 isn't a slam dunk, either. Downloads were as snappy as I've seen in my tests, but the system's average uploads couldn't keep up with the Eero Pro 6E or with last-gen standouts like the Netgear Orbi AX6000. And unlike either of those alternatives, the Deco XE75 doesn't include an Ethernet LAN jack capable of accepting incoming speeds any faster than a single gigabit per second. That means that the Deco XE75 will bottleneck your connection if you spring for a multi-gigabit internet plan like those now available from providers like AT&T, Frontier, Verizon Fios, Google Fiber and others.
Locating local internet providers
Still, there's a lot to like about this easy-to-use mesh system, and at $210 for a two-pack the price is right. If you can live with the compromises -- and keep your expectations for Wi-Fi 6E in check -- then the Deco XE75's rare combination of value and upgrade appeal merits consideration.
Design and features
There's nothing terribly distinctive about the way this mesh system looks. With a white, cylindrical build that's black up top, the Deco XE75 is practically identical to previous-gen TP-Link systems, including the Deco W7200. There are some distinctive ripples on the top of each device and a new "6E" logo stamped on the front, but that's about it.
Each Deco XE75 device is identical, and comes with three gigabit Ethernet ports.
That's not to say that the Deco XE75 is just the Deco W7200 with a new lid. For starters, the XE75's AX5400 build is faster than the W7200's AX3600 build, bumping the top 5GHz speed up from 1,802Mbps to 2,402Mbps and replacing the second 5GHz band with the new 6GHz band, which also tops out at 2,402Mbps. On top of that, the Deco XE75 features a slightly faster processor (1.7GHz quad core, up from 1.5GHz), along with a trio of gigabit Ethernet jacks on the back of each device, up from a pair of them with the W7200. With HE160 support, the Deco XE75 also allows for wider channels of up to 160MHz. That's the same upgrade that helped the new Eero 6 Plus outperform its predecessor in dramatic fashion.
You'll find the regular mix of TP-Link features in the Deco app, available for Android and iOS. The app also does a good job of walking you through the setup process, which is already simple. The two Deco devices are identical and interchangeable, so you'll pick either one to serve as your main router: Plug it in, connect it with your modem and pair with it in the app. Even better, the second Deco device will automatically join the mesh as soon as you pick a spot for it and plug it into power.
With the Deco app guiding the way, setup shouldn't take any longer than five minutes or so.
Apart from the setup assistance, the Deco app offers a quick overview of all the devices connected to your network, along with access to your network settings and other features, including parental controls and a quality of service engine for prioritizing traffic to specific devices. For $6 per month or $55 per year, you can subscribe to HomeShield Pro, which offers deeper control over those features, as well as detailed network usage reports and device-specific security scans. Most will be fine without it, but it's a nice option for power users, and TP-Link isn't too pushy about trying to get you to sign up.
Performance and speed
I've spent the past few weeks testing the Deco XE75 at my home, a single-story house of about 1,300 square feet in Louisville, Kentucky. I also ran tests at the much larger, multistory CNET Smart Home to get a good sense of the system's range. In each location, I ran multiple rounds of tests in multiple rooms across multiple days, and I did so on two different client devices, a Lenovo Thinkpad laptop that supports Wi-Fi 6, and a Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone that supports Wi-Fi 6E.
In a large home with average internet speeds, the Deco XE75 was right on par with other top-tested routers, including ones that cost a lot more -- but it didn't deliver noticeably better speeds than other systems, including previous-gen mesh routers that don't support Wi-Fi 6E at all.
CNET Smart home tests
Let's start with the CNET Smart Home, where the fiber connection nets us matching upload and download speeds of 150Mbps, which is roughly comparable to the average internet speed in the US. The Deco XE75 and the routers I tested it against are all capable of hitting speeds several times faster than that, but the tests still help me see how well the system performs in the type of large-home environment that mesh routers are really intended for.
Sure enough, with the main router situated on the main floor and the extender plugged in on the basement level down below, the Deco XE75 did an excellent job of spreading fast speeds throughout the entire house. Upstairs, closer to the main router, my Wi-Fi 6 test laptop averaged download speeds of 132Mbps; in the basement, nearer the extender, those average download speeds only fell to 124Mbps.
That's a solid result in a 5,800 square foot home, but all of the mesh routers I've tested at the Smart Home have been able to deliver download performance like that. In fact, it's difficult to see much of a speed difference between any of them -- and that includes previous-gen systems like the Deco W7200 and that ultra-fancy, $1,300 Netgear Orbi AXE11000 setup. There isn't even much difference in average speeds to my Wi-Fi 6E test device. Older mesh routers that don't support Wi-Fi 6E at all were able to deliver speeds just as strong as the Deco XE75 and the Orbi AXE11000, the other Wi-Fi 6E mesh router in the mix. Bottom line: With an internet plan like the 150Mbps connection we have at the CNET Smart Home, you shouldn't expect any router upgrade to deliver game-changing performance, and you shouldn't expect Wi-Fi 6E to offer any sort of meaningful speed boost.
The last thing I tested at the Smart Home was the Deco XE75's 6GHz band. By default, that band is used as the dedicated wireless backhaul connection between the router and its extender -- so even if you're using a Wi-Fi 6E device, you'll be connecting to the Deco's mesh over the standard 2.4 and 5GHz bands. However, the Deco app lets you change that setting, making it so the system shares that backhaul band with any 6E devices on your network. Would that speed things up?
The answer, somewhat surprisingly, was no. With my Galaxy phone now connecting to the Deco's network over the 6GHz band, my average download speeds throughout the entire home fell from 137Mbps to 131Mbps, and my average upload speeds fell from 115Mbps to 92Mbps. I call that "somewhat" surprising because it's a shortcoming I've seen before: The 6GHz band comes with weaker range than the 2.4 or 5GHz bands, particularly with respect to uploads, so you might see your speeds start to dip a bit sooner as you move farther from the router. In a big house like the CNET Smart Home, that's exactly what happened.
On a 300Mbps fiber network where the fastest devices I test max out at about 375Mbps, the Deco XE75 (purple) kept my home's average download speeds above 325Mbps in every room I tested from.
At-home speed tests
With my tests finished at the Smart Home, I brought the Deco XE75 back to my place, where I have fiber speeds of 300Mbps and the fastest devices I test typically top out at about 375Mbps. I've tested dozens of mesh routers here over the past few years, and the Deco XE75 held up fairly well in comparison, with an average download speed throughout the entire place of about 334Mbps. That's a top-ten result, as you can see in the scoreboard below:
The Deco XE75 finished my speed tests with above average download speeds (blue), but the upload speeds (red) were relatively weak (routers with a * next to their name were tested before Wi-Fi 6, with a Wi-Fi 5 test device).
I've ordered the routers in that chart according to the blue bars representing their average download speed, from highest to lowest. Now, take a closer look at the red bars representing their average upload speed, and note that the Deco XE75's is relatively short compared to other top picks like the Netgear Orbi AX6000 and the Eero Pro 6E. That's a good reminder that this is a budget-minded router we're talking about, so you shouldn't expect uploads to have quite as much oomph as you'll get from something slightly higher end.
As for Wi-Fi 6E, my Galaxy test device saw slightly faster download speeds than the Wi-Fi 6 laptop did, bumping the overall average up from 334Mbps to 361Mbps. But again, that was with the 6GHz acting exclusively as a backhaul and the phone connecting over 2.4 and 5GHz. And, just like at the Smart Home, my average speeds actually fell once I changed that setting and brought the 6GHz band into play, with the downloads dropping to 354Mbps and the uploads falling from 315Mbps to 255Mbps. My connection was still plenty fast, mind you, but it'd arguably be even faster without Wi-Fi 6E at all.
On a gigabit fiber network, the Deco XE75 was able to deliver faster average download speeds than the Eero Pro 6E and the Netgear Orbi AX600, but upload speeds fell a bit short.
Gigabit tests
One last note: I recently upgraded my home network to a gigabit connection (940Mbps down, 880Mbps up), and I'll be re-testing all of my top picks to generate some fresh data on a much faster network, hopefully to show even more differentiation from system to system. I haven't tested many systems yet, but the Deco XE75 was the first, and I made sure to test the Eero Pro 6E and the Netgear Orbi AX6000 alongside it to see if it could keep up.
In terms of download speeds to my Wi-Fi 6 laptop, the Deco XE75 beat them outright with an overall average of 654Mbps, but it was close... and again, the upload speeds fell short, finishing at just 292Mbps. Download speeds to my Wi-Fi 6E Galaxy device were a bit lower, finishing at 571Mbps, but that improved slightly to 588Mbps once I opened the network to allow me to connect over the 6GHz band. Still, I'd recommend leaving that setting off, as my Samsung Galaxy smartphone's uploads were, once again, noticeably lower over 6GHz, dropping from 374Mbps to 319Mbps.
My Wi-Fi 6E test device saw slightly faster download speeds when I allowed it to use the 6GHz band on a gigabit network, but upload speeds were noticeably lower.
That makes three separate tests where the 6GHz band offered my Wi-Fi 6E device no discernible benefit over connecting via 2.4GHz and 5GHz. I don't necessarily fault TP-Link for that, but it does reinforce my suspicion that Wi-Fi 6E isn't going to be a terribly meaningful upgrade in most people's homes any time soon.
I'll have more to report from my gigabit speed tests in the coming weeks, once I've had more time to re-test systems and examine some new ones, so keep an eye out for that.
The verdict
The TP-Link Deco XE75 is a decent mesh router that's capable of delivering download speeds that are about as fast as you could expect throughout homes both large and small. However, the average upload speeds leave a bit to be desired, and the addition of Wi-Fi 6E support isn't likely to make much of a difference in most homes, if any.
At $235, you aren't paying that much of a premium for this system compared to similar, previous-gen Deco systems that don't include 6GHz access, so if you're itching to run some Wi-Fi 6E speed tests of your own, the Deco XE75 is probably your most affordable way in. On top of that, its performance held its own against well-reviewed competitors that cost more, like the Eero Pro 6E and the Netgear Orbi AX6000. If I wanted superior mesh router performance, I'd probably spring for one of those, especially since both support incoming wired speeds faster than a single gigabit. Even so, the Deco XE75 stands out as a home networking value pick, so it's worth a look.