Luma Home Wi. Fi System Review & Rating. There's a new type of wireless product hitting the market: Wi- Fi systems use individual modules to create a mesh network that delivers wireless networking to all areas of your home. The Luma Home Wi. Fi System ($3. 99; 3- pack, or $1. Eero, Ampli. Fi, and Plume systems as the latest modular Wi- Fi solution to tout ease of use and whole- house coverage. Luma makes it easy to invite users to a guest network and to create filter policies for each user. The system delivered good close- proximity throughput in our testing, but we found that performance took a hit as we moved away from the main module. Moreover, management options and ports are limited. For half the price, you can pick up a traditional midrange router, like our Editors' Choice Linksys EA7. Max- Stream AC1. 90. MU- MIMO Gigabit Router, which delivers much better overall throughput and offers plenty of ports and management settings. Design and Features. Among the many problems and complains we receive through our mailbag address ([email protected]) are connectivity problems most especially WiFi and the Samsung. The 3- pack system of routers reviewed here (which Luma refers to as modules) is designed for the typical home, but you can add more modules (up to ten on a single network) if you require more coverage. In the box, you also get three power supplies, and one Ethernet cable. The hexagon- shaped modules are available in white, gold, orange, or silver, and measure 4. HWD). There's a round LED ring on the face of the module that flashes blue during the initial setup, green when configuring the Wi- Fi network, and red when there's an error. The light goes out when everything is up and running. Hello Eric, Do these emails display when you log into the webmail? Are you seeing the same emails on both devices? How do you have outlook and your android set up? Find out how to use and troubleshoot your DROID Turbo 2 with interactive simulators, how-to guides and support videos. Setting up Android Marshmallow, without Google Privacy and battery life come hand-in-hand when Google is missing! It’s that time of year again – the Android fairy. IPhone: iPhone 7 (Plus), iPhone 6 (Plus), iPhone 6S (Plus), iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS: Android: Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, Google. It's very easy to install, but it's pricey, and. ![]() The modules communicate with one another via a proprietary mesh network and are designed to be placed within 4. Wi- Fi coverage. Each module is an 8. GHz and 5. GHz). They are AC1. Mbps on the 2. 4. GHz band and 8. 67. Mbps on the 5. GHz band, as well as support for Multi- User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU- MIMO) data streaming. Setting Up Wifi On Droid 2 Not Charging![]() As with the Asus Google On. Hub SRT- AC1. 90. Luma uses automatic band steering and chooses which band is best, based on location and load. It's a nice feature, but it shows up as a single SSID, which means you can't dedicate a band to specific devices, such as gaming consoles and media servers. You only get one Gigabit LAN port on each module; it's on the back of the device and is joined by a Gigabit WAN input and a USB 2. The USB port can be used for charging peripherals, but at the time of this writing, it was not yet able to connect to USB hard drives. The Luma network is controlled using a mobile app for Android and i. OS users. As with the Starry Station, the Eero, and the Asus Google On. Hub routers, the Luma does not offer a Web- based management console and can only be accessed and controlled using a mobile device. The app opens to the Wi- Fi page, which shows the placement of each module in a generic home floor plan. It tells you how many Luma devices are online, as well as your current upload and download speeds. Swiping the screen to the left brings you to a page where you can see each module by name; tapping a module displays the status and IP address for that module. The three- bar icon on the upper- left corner takes you to the Main Menu, where you can access Wi- Fi and Account settings, launch an online help page, and shop for Luma devices on Amazon. Wi- Fi settings are limited to changing the network's name and password and enabling the Guest Network, and Account settings are limited to changing the name of each module. There are no Qo. S, Firewall, or Port Forwarding settings, nor are there settings for creating access schedules. Parental controls include a Content Filter policy with five rating levels: Unrestricted, R- rated, PG- 1. PG, and G. You can apply a rating across the entire network or add users, and assign a different level to each user as you see fit. When you add a user, you can also add their frequently used client devices to make sure the filters are always in place. You can use the Control page to give users access to your guest network via text or email and to add new Luma modules to the network. There's also a Pause button that instantly switches off Internet access across the network until you disable it. The Luma offers a built- in Security feature that continually scans all connected devices for malware and vulnerabilities to hacking and viruses. It will quarantine infected devices and attempt to purge them of infections, and will send a push alert to your mobile device when something is detected. You can check your status by tapping the Security icon on the bottom of the Home screen. Installation and Performance. To install the Luma routers, you have to download the free Android or i. OS app. When you first open the app, you press the Setup Luma button and select how many modules you are installing. You'll be asked to answer questions, such as what type of home you live in (single- family, apartment/condo, or townhouse) and how many floors are in your home. I chose single- family home with two floors (basement and main floor). You then have to tell the app where your router/modem is located by clicking on an area of your home (front, back, middle, upstairs, or downstairs) and then create a network name and password. The app will prompt you to plug in the first Luma module, connect it to your modem, and restart the modem. You can then name the module using a list of room names (Master Bedroom, Kitchen, Office, etc). The light ring will spin blue briefly and turn solid blue when the module is initialized. Press the Start Wi- Fi button and wait for the light ring to flash green seven times. It will turn off when it's ready. The entire process took less than five minutes for me. You can tap Add Another Luma to install additional Luma modules or you can opt to add more at a later time. When adding more Luma modules, the process is similar to that of setting up the first module, but the app will tell you where to install your next module based on the location of the first device. In my case, it was the upstairs center of my house. It took around one minute to initialize, and 2. Wi- Fi setup. The app had me install the third module in the center of my basement, and the installation was as quick as the first two. See How We Test Wireless Routers. Performance in testing was mixed. I ran my usual throughput tests, but since I could not isolate the radio bands, results are based on the Luma's band- steering feature. On the close- proximity (same- room) test for the main module (the one connected to my modem), the Luma delivered an impressive 4. Mbps. That's right up there with the Linksys EA7. Mbps) and much faster than the Eero (1. Mbps) and the Asus Google On. Hub (3. 07. Mbps). The Starry Station managed 3. Mbps on this test. On the 3. 0- foot test the Luma's score of 7. Mbps edged past the Eero (7. Mbps) and beat the Asus Google On. Hub (3. 9. 8. Mbps) handily, but couldn't keep pace with the Starry Station (1. Mbps) and the Linksys EA7. Mbps). I ran the same tests on each of the two satellite modules and found that the close- proximity throughput was significantly reduced (1. Mbps for the upstairs module, and 1. Mbps for the basement module), while the 3. Mbps and 7. 5Mbps, respectively). Conclusion. The Luma Home Wi. Fi System is a good bet if you seek simplicity when setting up and maintaining a home Wi- Fi network. Like Eero, it's relatively expensive, especially if you need more than three modules to cover your home, but technically challenged users will appreciate its built- in parental controls and no- hassle security features. If you want total control over your network, however, the Luma will likely disappoint, in which case you're better off with a traditional device, such as the Linksys EA7. Max- Stream AC1. 90. MU- MIMO Gigabit Router, our Editors' Choice for midrange routers. It's about half the price of the Luma system, offers better throughput performance, and is packed with features, including multiple LAN ports and plentiful management settings.
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