eero mesh
- IoT friendliness: 7/10 — Single Wi-Fi name suits most 2.4 GHz gadgets, though a few need coaxing.
- Reliability: 9/10 — One of the lowest rates of 'keeps dropping' cases we see.
Reviewed September 2026
Best Wi-Fi for 50+ smart devices
The short answer
Dozens of small 2.4 GHz gadgets need a system that lets them all join one network and stay there.
For this one job we'd pick the eero mesh. Its overall WiFiXpert Index score is 79/100 — which is not the same thing as being top of the overall table, and doesn't change it.
Ranked for this job
Same published scores as the main index, weighted towards what matters here.
| # | System | Suited to this | Overall Index |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | eero mesh | 78/100 | 79/100 |
| 2 | NETGEAR Orbi | 78/100 | 79/100 |
| 3 | TP-Link Deco | 71/100 | 73/100 |
| 4 | Ubiquiti UniFi | 71/100 | 74/100 |
| 5 | BT Smart Hub 2 | 66/100 | 65/100 |
| 6 | Sky Broadband Hub | 65/100 | 64/100 |
| 7 | EE Smart Hub Plus | 64/100 | 64/100 |
| 8 | Virgin Media Hub 5 | 62/100 | 63/100 |
Why each one landed where it did
NETGEAR Orbi
- IoT friendliness: 7/10 — Bands can be split temporarily, which rescues stubborn setups.
- Reliability: 8/10 — Steady, with occasional satellite drop-outs when placed too far out.
TP-Link Deco
- IoT friendliness: 6/10 — The dedicated IoT network sounds helpful and often isn't.
- Reliability: 7/10 — Mostly steady; a chunk of our cases trace back to the IoT network setting.
Ubiquiti UniFi
- IoT friendliness: 5/10 — Fine once multicast forwarding is on; painful before that.
- Reliability: 9/10 — Very stable once configured; unstable when half-configured.
What we're assuming
- Device limits are rarely published honestly; we weight our own case data instead.
- Try the free fixes first — moving the router, or moving one box — before buying anything. Common problems and free fixes.
Scored using WiFiXpert Hardware Index Methodology v1.0 — how we score.