Luma Whole Home Wi-Fi Router 3-Pack

Are these compatible with this?

At first I thought this was a dinner plate set.

I like to put them next to each other and make a super signal.

Good Day, Woot! techies! We are completely revamping our home tech center and have an Echo, 2 Taps, new Smart TV, and various other new Android devices either under the tree or in use.

I know I’m going to have to upgrade my router and saw this.

What are the pros and cons for this vs a traditional higher end router?

I have had these since they were released (I was a pre-order buyer). I also have installed Eero’s at my office. If price is no consideration and you’re considering mesh APs like this, get the Eero’s. They are more reliable. If I could go back and spend the money with hindsight I would get Eero hands down.

That said, $100 is a good price for the Luma’s. The biggest issue I have is weird connectivity with iPhones, sometimes they’re great and other times I can’t get good access. Android phones don’t seem to have this issue. With laptops, TVs, Roku, etc. they’re generally perfectly fine.

I was a pre-order buyer too and have been generally satisfied. I’ve had issues with the WiFi connection to XBox 360 for streaming video, but everything else works fine - including 4K video. This is a great deal for less than 100 bucks. I now have a great connection on wireless devices (iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire, Chromebook etc) as the devices move from location to location within the house.

Do these take the place of my internet provider’s modem, or are they just “boosters” that I place elsewhere in the house and link/tie-in/sign-in to my current network? I’m a tech dinosaur but do have some weak spots in the house for wi-fi. Thanks!

Nowadays a modem can also act as the router as well. In your dinosauric parlance… the modem was the phone cable and first wireless phone. The base stations would be additional base stations.

When I moved into my house my modem was in my living room and my bathroom / bedroom had extremely week signals. I put in a mesh network (points in my master bedroom and office) now I have better constant speed through my house… hope this answers your question

:rofl: This deserves a useful post!

Alexa but no Google Home capability? Pass.

Any concern with buying these as refurbs? I’ve had great luck with some refurbed products, and I’m interested in these, but the Amazon review of these as refurbs is a 1 star.

Almost. I think my modem and router are separate. So I would just place these around the house, plug them in and they would function with my existing network? Like boosters?
Or do they have to be “hard-wired” into my existing modem and/or router with the ethernet cables or…? Thanks again for your help.

And lol @ “In your dinosauric parlance…”

It’s true.

These act as your network router. The first Luma plugs into the modem from your internet provider. The other Luma units can connect to the master wirelessly or via a wired network.

CNET review here:

Compares Luma to Google WiFi and Eero

Only recommended if “easy way to share a moderate internet connection. It doesn’t have the speed to consistently and fully deliver anything faster than 50Mbps”.

Sort of, the modem is the device that brings the internet into your house and the router hooks into the modem with a LAN cable and transmits the signal from the modem wirelessly. If you have a combination router, such as you might get from Comcast, you will need to turn the wifi function off and turn the router into a bridge. you then connect one of the Lumas to the router with a LAN cable and the app walks you through setting up the wifi. you then plug additional Lumas into wall outlets (with no LAN cables required) throughout the house and they connect to the main Luma and amplify the signal throughout the structure. Make sure to place them close enough together to maintain signal strength.

I was also an early adopter and went with the Luma over the Eero because of cost, but have had no major issues with the set-up. However, it does look like Eero has prevailed in the great Mesh Router Wars of 2017.

The concept of a mesh router is fairly simple, and has been around commercially for YEARS. That it how they have a single wifi signal in a large facility like a hospital and I think it is reprehensible that it has taken this long to come to the home market.

If you have a large house that constantly loses signal on upper floors or at the ends of the house, this will solve your problem and is simple to use. Another advantage is that if one craps out on you, you can simply purchase a single unit to replace the faulty one or switch out the base unit with one of the auxilliary ones, so it should be fairly inexpensive to fix if one goes down.

so the Luna’s connect thru ei-fi and pass on the signal vs power lines that transmits the signals after receiving them thru the electrical wires. also, what kind if speeds do you get? at present i have FIOS (make believe) gigabyte service.

No, this is not a powerline set up. The first Luna will send out a wifi signal that the others will pick up and rebroadcast (hence the need to be close enough together), but they will all appear to be the same network to your devices.

According to speedtest.net, bout 10 mbps down and 6 up.

It’s not too late to go with Alexa. Or, are you waiting for the Apple device, for just $400? :,

I have one of these systems bought a year ago (new). This is a first gen mesh system comparable to the 1st gen eero, and google – all I believe 2x2 ac1200 systems. They added wired backhaul so you can connect the units via ethernet, but you have to set it up wireless. I have it on FiOS and get my full bandwidth everywhere (80/80 – 75 with BPON fluff).

The downside with these consumer mesh products are they are designed for non technical people. Want to add an entry in the DMZ, not available. Static DHCP entries were added but it is annoying to add (no mass import). Custom DNS was added later on. Want to define your subnet? Not an option.

Having said all that, it works fine. I picked up another one for spares or who knows.