TP-Link Deco X50-5G AX3000Mbps Whole Home Wi-Fi 6 5G Router With Sim Slot, 5G/4G+Cat 6 Mesh WiFi Router, 2.5G Port For Ultra-Fast Speed, 230 m2 Seamless Coverage, Works with Alexa, HomeShield

Unfortunately it was not fit for our purposes, or better yet, the ISP coverage was atrocious! However and even without using the external antennas, this little beautifully crafted router was able to get a better signal than the router provided by the ISP. It so happened that signal was still not enough to be reliable. Examining it I was thoroughly impressed with what TP-Link devices have always been consistent in my experience, ease and utter effortless installation, with the app affording an intuitive user interface. I was quite impressed with the level of manual settings tampering it offers. It provided a very strong WiFi 6, in the whole 3 bedroom house. Because WiFi is independent of internet connection. Please don’t be like my partner and sister and many friends of mine who like to wind me up with their inability to make the distinction between WiFi and Internet! Despite the ISP signal being pathetically weak, both WiFi bands expanded nicely having no problem penetrating even the middle structural walls and the small boiler and plumbing room with all its metal gear that would ordinarily be something one would expect to cause dead spots. The security and serious parental controls are subscription only after a 30 day trial, but the protection applied on the router protecting everything that connects to the internet through it is worth it. I use my own setup but the trend is towards getting a subscription based protection anyway, and on that front TP-Link offers a very affordable solution. The power cable is long enough to ensure adequate a distance from potentially interference causing power outlets, and the option to add external antennae, of your choice, which I think includes even the outdoor signal booster types makes this router even more adaptable! Alas being restricted in the rental accommodation punching holes though the wall to test that was beyond the scope of our allowances. Despite having to return it, I am somehow sold to the idea when the ISP get their act together I will be coming back for it, especially seeing how the one that came with the connection felt very much wanting in settings options and overall performance. I am not saying you should, but I will come back to TP-Link having seen how easy it is to use. I can only hope that my having to return it does not make the company doubt for a minuet that it was due to a failing on the product side or that my loyalty to this brand is compromised. I was so looking forward for it to work for me because it would have been great for peace of mind as it was intended for my sister who had not intention of learning how to manage it, but which would have been so easy I am sure of it. Plus it has the standard remote management options which I would be using to ensure her connection was safe and reliable. Oh well, shame really! Oh btw the option to buy in interest free instalments is a really sweet cherry on the top! 🤗

Update Jan '24 ---------------- Well, this TP router worked well for three years....until recently. My mums 4g router went on the blink, it would drop out every half an hour or so and became more and more frequent. No use when you're trying to get tasks done online. I troubleshooted all the usual things; reboot, reset, firmware updates, tweaking settings, others experiences online....nothing worked, whatever I tried. Strangely, I have the exact same make and model of router but 'with less miles on the clock'. I swapped the routers over at my mums, yet the problem still exists, it kept dropping out. Maybe it was the SIM? Nope, it worked fine in my phone. Ultimately I never got to the bottom of the problem. Other users echoed similar problems but with different models of the 4g routers....I got frustrated and fed up, bought a Huawei 4g router and haven't looked back. Such a shame. TP Link I thought had high standards, but this device fell low of my expectation. 3 years and it goes wonky. Not good enough. Update 3 Jan 2021 ----------------- -Only one minor problem that my mum has reported with the router; it does slow down after a few weeks and therefore a reboot of the router is required. After a reboot, everything is back up to speed. Otherwise, no problems. Original Review - Oct 2020 ----------------- I recently purchased this for my aging parents who live rurally. As most people know, landline broadband out in the sticks is as much use as a chocolate teapot. Before purchasing this 4g router, my parents were subscribed to BT for their broadband, and it was expensive, slow, unreliable, kept dropping out, and there was a 'fault' somewhere along the lines that - with countless engineers visits - failed to resolve their internet issues. I had enough of it and purchased them this 4G router. All I can say that this 4G router is BRILLIANT! A complete 180 from before! It has totally changed my parents experience of accessing the internet now. They can now watch HD films and YT videos without constant loading and buffering, and pages load super quick now. It's incredible! They can fill in forms and do their shopping online more reliably now than ever, and video call family which is essential for these Covid restricted times we live in. I bought them a GiffGaff SIM to pop in, let them choose what they want from it and they were good to go. 4G worked flawlessly from the get-go! __________ A few pointers to be mindful of though: Even though the product description says 'just plug in and play', I don't find that *entirely* true. There is an element of some quick setting up to be done before you can surf. - Stating the obvious, you have to buy a SIM card. And depending on who you decide to go with, you may well have to activate the SIM before you can use it. I bought a GiffGaff SIM from a supermarket, activated it online and then popped it into the router when it arrived. It worked perfectly. - When you set up your router for the first time, you have to go to the routers settings 192.168.1.1 and do some quick set up stuff before you get going. It only takes 5 minutes if that, then you're online - but if you're a total geek, you can rummage through all the other advance settings and set up the router to your liking. ___________ In short, this router is A MUST for those of us who live out in the countryside and have lousy landline internet. Also, in the long run, I very much suspect that this will save my parents £££ from going into BT's coffers, which was very costly and wholly unreliable service. This 4G router has blown them right out of the water. Touchwood, so far so good. I hope to update my review in the coming months and see what my parents think of it too. So far 10/10. Happy bunny indeed.

Reviews of the router indicated that set up was easy but I did not find that to be the case. I followed the instructions, inserted the sim and switched on. Sure enough the mobile network was discovered but I just could not connect any device to Wi Fi. Instructions with the device were minimal so no help there. I am reasonably good with tech and decided to connect the router to my desktop via an ethernet cable and access it using it’s IP address. I checked all the settings and discovered the Wi Fi login pin was actually 12345670 and not the pin shown on the bottom of the router. I suspect that 12345670 is a default TP Link pin but why didn’t mention this anywhere? The instructions actually contain an image of the underside of the router showing the SSID and pin so I think it only reasonable to assume that the pin shown is the one to be used for Wi Fi login. I changed the pin in the router settings to that on the bottom of router and it worked fine. I could have kept the default pin but thought it better to use the one shown on the bottom of the router. I give it four stars because of the pin issue but otherwise it would be five stars. Apart from the set up issue I am very pleased with the router. I have it in a spare room upstairs and in that room I get 74mb down and 25mb up. Downstairs in the lounge I get 62mb down and 25mb up and sometimes more. These speeds are certainly better than BT are offering but I am about 800 yds from a mast and perhaps I am getting a good signal. I think an unlimited data package is essential for streaming Netflix etc but if only basic internet and email are used a cheaper data plan would be fine. I bought a 20gb sim and am rattling through it but I am testing how much data different applications use. Turning off automatic updates is very wise with a limited amount of data. Apart from the initial set up problem it is a doddle to use and seems to do the job well. The companion App is very useful and allows easy management of the router. Virgin are my ISP at the moment and I am heartily fed up with their woeful customer service and continual price increases. If this router continues to perform well I will certainly be dumping them.

TP products, I buy now as a matter of default. For me they have always just worked, doing what they claim and this is no exception. It is not the fanciest or the most complex. Indeed its quite basic in my opinion however it does exactly as claimed. I get good signal reception and transmition. Setup is quick and simple. It just works and at a reasonable cost.

An internet changing experience. I was a copper line user before this with EE getting 31mbps download and 4 upload. The service was steady but not very dynamic and for what I got expensive. I changed to Talk talk and unsure what happened but the whole service went OFF. Now having a web shop I had to find an alternative and quickly..I had thought about a 4g service before..now as a stand in I had no choice. I ordered the TP link DECO 5G and it arrived same day via Amazon. Inserted a sim card I have in my van from Vodaphone ..I live in a poor mobile service area regardless of what provider but Vodaphone and 02 are probably the worst signal so I wasn't expecting miracles. Pleasantly surprised as the download speed saw 25 to 40 mbps... I thought maybe I'm onto something here so ordered again from Amazon a multi sim..the type that uses any provider so I could switch and see who is best...this service is available with the app..you just select a provider and lock it in The router itself is and excellent well made and even aesthetically pleasing piece of kit and its app is simplicity itself to use. So inserting the new multi sim I looked about and set it for each provider in turn EE,o2 Voda and lastly Three . To my surprise we ain't in a 5g area..but upstairs I just got a wiff of 5g signal..at 110mbps..I got more than excited!!!. So to improve on this I further ordered an external antenna the Nelawya 4G LTE 5G Panel Antenna Outdoor Mimo Directional Antenna to be exact. I installed this the same day it arrived...and BINGO...260 mbps download and 20 upload. Couldn't have been any happier..gone is the old dinosaur service from EE/Talk Talk..I now have an internet fit for the 21st century ...and gaming on my Quest 3 is just another experience the wifi link speed is a lot faster than my ASUS gaming router too.. As mentioned the router is a nice piece of kit,well made and with an excellent app . I have been using it now for 4 weeks and its been extremely stable and almost self maintaining the app shows you all sorts of data from signal strength to how much data you have used per day/month or total ...I have noticed with routers they kind of settle in and steadily speed have settled at a higher average than my first use...at times I can get a peek of over 400 mbps but likewise if the service is being hammerd like when the kids come out of school it can drop to 190..still far more than copper though . So to me this device is now my favorite gadget of 2025 and rightly it earned that title. In house coverage is good..I live in a 5 bedroom house and there isn't anywhere I cant get a signal..it slows down as you get further away obviously but even outside with 2 walls between us and 20 meters from it I get 80 mbps ...so for me range is excellent . Coupled with the exterior antenna its a brilliant set up and buying my Three sim with unlimited data and paying for 2 years in advance it cost me only £8.50 a month. I wont be going back to the copper line ever again...why would you. If you live in a good 5g area then this device would work out the box..its own antennas are very capable..and you can improve on them with simple rabbits ears anyway I only added my exterior malarkey to reach out a little further to drink from that 5g pool as covergae by me is poor. Thoroughly recommended peice of technology that you dont need a degree in IT to set up . See attached pics for before and after..you just have to love it

I bought this to replace an aging ZTE MC801A that I'd been using as a 5G router for the past few years. Having fairly recently bought a different TP-Link WiFi router that completely resolved the previous WiFi issues we'd been having, I had high hopes for this with it being another of TP-Link's brands. The setup was incredibly easy, insert the SIM card, plug it in and download the Deco app. From there, the app guides you through and it was up and running within a couple of minutes. I've used this with both a Vodafone and Three SIM and both times it automatically picked up the APN settings and connected quickly. This has been flawless so far, providing fast speeds and good coverage. It's definitely a step up from the ZTE which was needing a restart fairly regularly to reconnect to 5G. My only complaint is that Amazon dropped the price significantly within a couple of weeks of me buying this for the Spring Sale! It's not cheap but it's a very capable bit of kit.

Bought this in the hope to replace my 12Mb landline internet. No FTTP in my village! I considered the Three option of an outdoor/indoor 5G combo but their website gave me a "computer says no" response. Did my research, best 5G coverage in my area is Vodafone, rated as excellent indoor and out, so got a cheap Lebara 30 day SIM to try. Activated it in my new Motorola Edge phone which gave a strong 4/5 bar 5G signal (indoors, not by a window) and a consistent 180+ download speed, excellent. Popped the SIM into the 5G router, did the setup, checked the APN settings, barely got 2 bar signal which varied mainly 4/4+ and 5G occasionally no matter which window I put it against. Most of the time the app reported that the signal was too weak, red light constantly coming on, speed tests all very slow. Wi-fi 6 signal to my phone was okay only when on the same floor of the house, floor below the signal massively dropped, current landline router easily covers the whole house. So not impressed, wasted a day tinkering with settings and moving this awkward shaped thing around the house to try and get a stable signal >2 bar. Other dislikes are the crazy short length of the power lead, overly large 12v converter plug, the Deco app arrangement of screens, the round footprint and trailing underside lead meaning awkward to balance on a small window-sill and finally shaped like a kettle with a missing handle and spout was certainly enough to make my blood boil. Maybe I got a dud? A device such as this should be getting a better signal compared to a mobile phone given that it has much bigger internal aerials compared to micro sized ones. Certainly not wasting money on an external aerial when the SIM+phone gave excellent 5G signal indoors, life if too short. Sent back to Amazon.

I moved into a new house and needed an internet connection quickly, so bought this hoping it would be good enough until I got a 'proper' connection sorted out. I signed up to a monthly contract giving unlimited data on a 5G SIM from Lebara and had everything up and running in minutes (and I'm no tech expert!) Much to my surprise it's working so well that I don't feel the need to do anything to improve my internet. I'm consistently getting download speeds of 150+Mbps and upload speeds of 40+Mbps. Various TV's, computers, a printer and a doorbell are all connected and after 3 weeks it's proving to be 100% reliable. Obviously it needs a decent 5g signal, which I have, in the suburbs of Nottingham.