The Eero 7 has the same eero simplicity and reliability of prior models, yet now provides multi-gig LAN networking capability.
Recommendations:
- Consider buying at least one eero 7 to enable a multi gig lan infrastructure as no other eero can do so.
- Consider using eero pro 6Es as access points rather than buying multiple eero 7’s. (At least for now til WiFi 7 laptops, PCs and phones are readily available)
- Use Ethernet cabling to connect your Eeros. You won’t be disappointed. This is the single best thing you can do to improve speeds and coverage.
- Don’t be too quick to replace old Ethernet cat 5e or above as it CAN DEFINITELY support multi gig speeds over 5 to 25 foot runs
Here’s my network objective, lan architecture and results
Objective: For now I don’t need 10 gbps but I’d like to have bilateral 2.5 gbps lan with option to upgrade in the future to 10 gbps should the need arise.
ISP status: My current ISP only provides 1.4 gbps service but fiber is being strung in my neighborhood by two different ISPs simultaneously with both promising up to 10 gbps bilateral service - soon.
Challenges of home environment: I have a large three story 170 year old granite exterior walled stone home with interior plaster walls and a detached carriage barn. There are numerous smallish rooms with many WiFi blocking walls. The house has prior cat5e cabling throughout which can carry multigig speed at short distances of 5-20 feet even though cat5e is only rated at 1 gbps beyond a 30 ft run. All of my cable runs are less than 20 feet.
Design architecture: I’m using the eero 7 as my primary router. Using one of its 10 gbps port to attach to the ISP modem and the second 10 gbps port to connect to two 2.5 gbps switches in the basement for an Ethernet backhaul across all my cat 5e cabling. I’ve connected 5 prior-owned eero pro 6e access points to the switches via the Ethernet cat5e cabling, placing them at 5 strategic locations in my home and barn. I have a variety of additional spare ethernet lan ports around the home.
Rationale and tradeoffs. The eero 7 was key to powering up the multi gig lan as the chipset in the eero pro 6e limits one of its two ethernet ports to 1 GBPs. (That means you can input multi gig speeds to an eero 6e as a primary router but the eero 6E can’t output multi gig speeds to your Ethernet lan and downstream eero pro 6e access points). I chose not to replace the 5 eero pro 6es with eero 7’s due to cost of 5 additional eero 7’s for now and instead am using the eero 6Es as Ethernet backhaul connected 2.5gbps access points. I also chose the 2.5 gbps switches instead of 10 gbps switches as a cost tradeoff savings of about $400. So my total cash outlay of $1,000 was for the two switches and one eero 7.
Results: For my 5ghz wireless clients I’m pulling 650 mbps flawlessly in every room of my home without any distance based degradation. Clients seamlessly handoff between access points as I walk from room to room. For my wifi6e clients on a 1.4 gbps ISP feed I’m pulling 1.3 gbps within 10-15 feet of every access point. All of My wired Ethernet ports pull steady 1.34 gbps off the internet. I have not clocked the intranet lan speed internal to the home but the switch indicator lights on each of the switches’ ports acknowledge a 2.5 gbps connection to each eero pro 6e access point via the green indicator lights. All of my 4k tvs connect wirelessly with outstanding performance. My wireless SONOS system of 14 devices throughout the home are all connected to the wireless lan and plays flawlessly without any drops. (I wouldn’t recommend connecting any SONOS device via Ethernet, as then Sonos will automatically set up its own private parallel wireless network to communicate to the other Sonos products which will not be as widespread and strong as your Ethernet based backhaul LAN with the eeros). My security panels and cameras are all connected via 5ghz with no more warnings of connection issues. I’ve supported 5 simultaneous networked teleconference sessions with several broadcasting 4k video. No glitches.
Future plans: I’ll upgrade my isp connection to either 2 or 5 gbps bilateral connections once the fiber infrastructure in my neighborhood is complete and will retest speeds and republish. Should I ever decide to get into gaming, ill upgrade the isp to 10 gbps but the eero 7 is in my home office where I’d game so I’d need only insert one 10gbps switch on the outbound port of the eero 7 and then Ethernet connect the gaming console to it along with the downstream switches in the basement. I just don’t currently see the need to upgrade the rest of the eero pro 6e access points until phones and computers readily support WiFi 7 and applications exist beyond gaming that require 3-10 GBPs communications.
Carbon emissions from the lifecycle of this product were reduced compared to similar products or previous models.
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