ARRIS SURFboard mAX Pro W31 Tri-Band Mesh Ready Wi-Fi 6 Router , AX11000 Wi-Fi Speeds up to 11 Gbps , Coverage up to 3,000 sq ft , 1 Router, Alexa Support

I have two of these setup. One as the router and one as an extended satellite. Now the most important thing is to have your phone within 2 feet of the router/satellite when attempting to hook them up. I had multiple connection fails standing 6 feet away, yet when my phone was one foot away I had no more issues. Now once the router was connected to the internet and the network was configured, the instructions tell you to set the satellite up away from the router in the house. This is incorrect. You power up the satellite one or two feet from your phone and the router. Then you connect to the satellite and make sure it connects and registers to the network. Only after that can you move it to the spot you wish for extended coverage (different floor, etc). Otherwise if you move the satellite to a different floor before setting it up, it will fail to connect every time. I hope this saves others the headache and hours of troubleshooting I spent hooking these up.Now that they are hooked up, I have had zero issues and all my Wifi devices from robot vacuum to tv's, computers, cell phones, printers, etc. Everything is happy and speeds are excellent. On a 1GB down I get 750 Mbps and low latency at 7ms. Zero issues gaming over wifi. No buffering on streaming movies or videos. I give it five stars because they work great for me after I figured the install procedure out. Also super limited settings and you have to use the app. But otherwise so far so good.

First off, I have a tech background so my expectations may be different than others who buy this.I purchased the W31 to take over router capabilities on my gigabit xFinity internet service. I have the Samsung S10+ which has ax WiFi and I have the X570 motherboard and AMD R7 3700X for my desktop so both my clients in this review are fully 802.11ax compliant and fully compatible.On the W31 functionality- the setup is very smooth and well done with the app which brings up my biggest gripe and the reason for the poor rating. As a caveat, if you want a "set it and forget it" solution then this is great for you unless you are expecting some major speed improvements over your existing 802.11ac network,The APP is all you get. That's it. There is no web page to access the detailed settings. You have absolutely no access to or the ability to change the WiFi channels or remove the consolidated 2.4 and 5Ghz channels. You also cannot kick a device off your network, you lose all control except to create the network name.In terms of performance I experienced a considerable drop in speed. My xFinity network is split in to 2.4 and 5Ghz networks and I consistently achieve over 600Mbs on my desktop WiFi. On the consolidated W31 network and with a variety of different adapter configurations but never hit over 300 Mbs over a 3 week period with the W31 as my only router.The minute I removed the W31 and went back to my XB6 xFinity router I was again hitting 600Mbs and over consistently.I did not test this on ethernet.For me, the loss of all ability to configure any of the crucial elements of this router and the loss of the ability to directly control what devices were on my network in real time created a low score for this. I really feel that these manufacturers need to allow those who want that detailed control to be able to do that. But with the issues of a loss of WiFi speed too, there is no reason for me to ever use this router again.

I purchased a two node version for my home and a three node version for my Florida House. The set up on my home unit was plug-and-play, I plugged it in Saturday and it worked flawlessly. I have a three node system at my Florida House and the set up was a pain. My son-in-law help me and I was on tech-support for 40 minutes. I was almost ready to give up on it when we finally figured out why it wasn’t setting up properly. The reason was it had a hardwired remote switch plugged in and for some reason once we Disconnected it and re-ran the set up it worked. Ever since they have been set up they have been absolutely flawless. The speed of connections is lightning fast, I have 100% signals in all portions of my homes I dont get dropped by devices anymore. I gave it 5 stars even though it was a pain to set up in one of my homes but one episode connected it exceeds expectations. I think it was a fairly new product and the documentation has been lacking. They need to improve documentation and troubleshooting.

OK. To start with, I couldn't get my phone to connect to it via bluetooth like most other people who buy these refurbished from the internet. I couldn't believe that for all the ones I've bought that they could all be bad. So last night I decided to load the surfboard central app on my fire tablet (you have to sideload Play! to get the app as AMAZON doesn't have it). My tablet has bluetooth 4.0, not 5.0 like my android phones. I was able to connect directly to it the first time. I'm now able to see all 3 of my mesh routers and they're working great!There might be something about the older bluetooth installed on the Arris devices that don't let them communicate with newer phones. Arris would be better off developing another app for PC, or better yet, make a web interface option for configuration.Special Note: This seller contacted me directly when I started the return for this device with some helpful info but it didn't work. They then said they'd issue the refund as soon as the product was returned. Thankfully I didn't need to return it. Awesome communication! I would buy from them again!

I gave this 5 stars because I knew the firmware on this router was lacking functionality when I bought it. If you don’t care about that, it’s the best router I have ever owned.I bought mine used and if you can pick it up for 70 bucks, it’s a steal. Super fast with great distance.