Linksys MR8300 MESH

The Linksys MR8300 AC2200 Mesh Wi-Fi Router is the latest router in Linksys’s impressive lineup of products. It’s an MU-MIMO, high-performance router that provides the home with impressive Wi-Fi coverage allowing for impressive speeds that will handle any task, whether it be for streaming or gaming. It comes with four external antennas and with its beamforming technology and quad-core processor, it is certainly no slouch. It’s also a tri-band router, so with three Wi-Fi bands broadcasting simultaneously, you won’t have to worry about devices crowding the Wi-Fi.

As a full disclosure, I’d like to say here that I reviewed this product on behalf of the Linksys Friends and Family program. The testing set came with the router itself along with the Linksys Velop Mesh Wi-Fi extender, an easy-to-use Velop node that helps expand coverage. As part of the testing, I was asked to test the router with the following Wi-Fi extender, so my testing reflects results with both products.

Upon opening the router, it seems pretty straightforward. The contents included the router itself, an instruction booklet for quick setup, an Ethernet cable, and an AC adapter. The antennas for the router are not detachable, but they are fold-able for easy collapsing. The AC adapter is nice as well. Its main part isn’t really bulky, so it doesn’t take up a lot of space on a power strip.

Setting up the devices was pretty straightforward. All of it was done through the Linksys Smartphone App, which is a bit of a bummer if you don’t have a smartphone. Nevertheless, setting up through the app was rather painless and easy, though it took some time after connecting to the router, waiting for the light to turn solid blue.

My testing location is a 2200 square foot house with two floors and a fair number of rooms, so there’s plenty of walls to overcome. I’ve tested it with three devices, all smartphones with 802.11 AC capable Wi-Fi. Using Ookla Speedtest as a rough measurement, the results were very impressive. As a whole, the router averaged around 100.97 Mbps download and 51.83 Mbps upload. When testing up close, the tests showcased an maximum speed of 220 Mbps download and 109 Mbps upload. That was certainly beyond my expectations.

Despite the results, the router wasn’t exactly able to reach all parts of the house. On the second floor at the point farthest away from the router, two devices were not able to connect to the router for a speed test, while one device managed to achieve a download speed of 2.25 Mbps and an upload speed of 1.28 Mbps. In terms of signal strength, at this troublesome corner, it varied from -74 dB to -81 dB depending on the wireless band.

These results improved dramatically with activation of the included Wi-Fi extender. Upon activation, running the same tests again, I’ve achieved a download speed of 95.6 Mbps and an upload speed of 46.7 Mbps in the best case. Roughly speaking, with the Wi-Fi extender, I’m achieving a speed improvement averaging around 39x what it was without the extender.

As a result of testing, the Linksys MR8300 router certainly exceeded my expectations. With an easy setup procedure and a decent range, it was more than capable of providing sufficient Wi-Fi speeds for most of my household. When used in conjunction with the Linksys Wi-Fi extender, the coverage became undoubtedly stronger in the problematic areas. Overall, I highly recommend both the router and the extender for any household.

Superfast WiFi for all of your connected devices

Using Tri-Band and MU-MIMO (Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) technology, the MR8300 delivers high-speed WiFi to multiple devices simultaneously. You’ll be able to stream 4K media, browse the Internet, and play games online as if each of your devices had its own, dedicated WiFi router.

WiFi Coverage for every area of your home

With built-in Mesh WiFi, this router is designed to scale to your household’s WiFi needs. As your WiFi needs grow, simply add a Linksys Velop node to expand your coverage. Velop nodes all work seamlessly together with the MR8300, so there’s no need to manually switch between networks.

Easy Setup

Simply connect your router to your modem, download the Linksys app, name your network and choose a password.

Multiple Ethernet Ports Offer Versatile Connectivity

Equipped with four Gigabit Ethernet ports, the MR8300 supports wired connections up to 10x faster than standard Ethernet and allows you to easily connect shared storage devices, printers, and other supported peripherals to your network.