The bad news is that because the support desk is not manned around-the-clock, you might have to wait for a response. The Q11 is a budget-friendly option for those who don’t require top performance because it costs half as much as other products on our list of the best mesh routers, such as the Eero Pro 6 or Netgear Orbi RBK 852. You may use our Motorola Q11 review to decide whether or not this mesh router is the best option for your residence or place of business
Motorola Q11 review: Design
The nodes themselves are reasonably small, with a five-inch circumference, a top that is little larger than a CD, and a height of 2.6 inches. The housing is composed of matte white plastic, and apertures on the bottom, rear, and narrow slits all around the top provide airflow. Although the design, which resembles a cornbread muffin, isn’t the most appealing, it’s pleasant enough to keep in the open and doesn’t call too much attention to itself. Each node has two Ethernet ports on the back, so you can connect any devices that are still using wired connections or that have Wi-Fi cards that aren’t very strong. Since all Ethernet ports are gigabit, connections faster than 1Gbps are not supported. For the majority of individuals, that is just fine.
Motorola Q11 review: Setup
Only the Motosync software may be used to configure the Motorola Q11. It was developed by Minim and works with iOS and Android devices. It makes use of the QR codes that are printed on the bottom of Q11 devices. The total setup time for all three devices was 14 minutes and 30 seconds. It was simple to create an account with Motorola and plug in the Q11 device I wanted to use as the host router after downloading and installing the app on my Samsung Galaxy Note 20. I used the phone’s camera to take a picture of the unit’s QR code when it was operating, and I observed the unit’s LED begin to flicker blue to indicate readiness. I repeated the procedure for each of the satellites—one upstairs and one downstairs—after its automatic configuration was complete. You can buy this WIFI from its official website.
Motorola Q11 review: Hardware and Specs
The Q11 devices have soft rubber feet, so they should be good on a shelf or kitchen countertop, but they don’t have inset holes for wall mounting, and neither Motorola nor outside vendors provide hardware to hang them on a wall. However, they are lightweight enough to be attached almost anywhere with Velcro tape. Each Q11 is powered by a Broadcom BCM6756 Wi-Fi chip behind its white covering. It includes a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 128MB of RAM, and 256MB of flash storage for the firmware and settings of the system. The Eero Pro 6 series supports Bluetooth and Zigbee, however the Q11 does not.
Motorola Q11 review: Performance
In my 3,500 square foot, 100-year-old home, we established a bustling Wi-Fi network using Ixia’s IxChariot networking benchmark software. The Q11 earned an early victory with strong throughput up close but then fell behind higher performing systems at greater distances using a Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro as the receiving device and using the software to simulate 10 data-hungry clients. It transmitted data at a rate of 1.146 Gbps at a distance of 15 feet, which is much faster than the Netgear Orbi RBR850’s 833.6 Mbps and twice as fast as Eero Pro 6’s 436.1 Mbps or Linksys Velop AX4200’s 507.7 Mbps. In fact, it performs nearly as well as the top WiFi-6E routers that utilise the 6GHz data band.
Motorola Q11 review: Competition
The eero 6+ is among the first rivals that come to mind. With the compact nodes, you do lose some overall coverage, but my tests showed that the speeds were roughly unchanged. 3,500 square feet are what Eero calculates with three nodes. The Eero app is more developed and gives the user additional options. Live customer service, device activity reports, profile-based parental controls, and security are things that are missing. These are accessible with an eero Secure subscription, but you will incur additional monthly or yearly costs. In my eero 6+ review, I discovered the router to be a joy to use as a pure router. A similar AX3000 with 160MHz mesh to the eero 6+ and Motorola Q11 is the TP-Link Deco X55. With three nodes, TP-Link estimates that 6,500 square feet may be covered. The same parental control and security options that the Q11 offers require a HomeShield subscription from TP-Link, just as eero.
Motorola Q11 review: Conclusion
If affordability and ease of use are important factors in your search for a home-wide mesh network, the Motorola Q11 is the only option. It is simple to set up, simple to configure, and provides an additional layer of security software that others charge for—all for less than half the price of competing mesh kits. Its app contains a built-in button to contact Motorola assistance if a problem arises. But there is no method to attach a storage device for network-wide access, and the Q11 only has two LAN ports. The Q11 is still a winner for the frugal among us because it can fill a small to medium-sized home with data for a lot less money than the competition while still providing acceptable perfpormance.
