Plume SuperPod - Review 2022

When we reviewed the Plume Adaptive Wi-Fi System concluding year, nosotros were impressed with its aesthetics and how easy it was to install, but not so impressed with its overall performance and lack of bones features such as parental controls, device prioritization, and guest networking. With Feather'south new SuperPod ($199 for the three-pack starter kit) mesh Wi-Fi organization, you get powerful tri-band Wi-Fi, MU-MIMO data streaming, increased data rates, and an extra LAN port. The system as well offers parental controls and guest networking, even if you accept to subscribe to a membership programme to configure them. The upgrades are appreciated, but if yous're looking for fifty-fifty meliorate performance and more than avant-garde features, we recommend spending $100 more on the Editors' Choice TP-Link Deco M9 Plus Wi-Fi System.

Plug and Play

The SuperPod iii-pack comes with a trio of individual pods that yous plug straight into a wall outlet. They have the same hexagonal shape as the original Plume pods, but at 1.4 by 3.7 by 3.four inches, they are noticeably bigger. Color options include Silver, Champagne, Walnut, and Plum.

The 3-pack provides coverage for the boilerplate iii- to iv-bedroom home with each pod providing 30 to lxxx feet of coverage depending on walls, floors, and other interior structures. For larger homes, a four-pack is available for $259, and you can buy a single SuperPod for $99. You can add together SuperPods to an existing Plume network that uses the smaller Pods or purchase one of the SuperPod/Pod combo packs for smaller homes. That's a lot less coverage than the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus, which covers 4,500 feet with its two nodes.

The SuperPods are not only bigger than the original Pods, but they are too more than powerful too. Each SuperPod is an AC3000 tri-band router equipped with i 2.4GHz band, two 5GHz bands, a quad-core processor, and a Bluetooth radio. The 2.4GHz band is a 2X2 band that can attain speeds of up to 400Mbps. The 2X2 5GHz ring can hit speeds of upwardly to 867Mbps. The 4x4 5GHz band supports MU-MIMO simultaneous data streaming and is capable of speeds of up to i,734Mbps. Each SuperPod contains 2 gigabit LAN ports, a tiny status LED, and a two-prong plug for connecting it to a wall outlet. Equally with many Wi-Fi systems, at that place are no USB ports for connecting to portable storage devices.

As with the original Plume devices, the SuperPods use Plume's Adaptive Wi-Fi technology, which analyzes your network and optimizes bandwidth resource allotment based on client need, but it lacks manual Quality of Service settings that permit you to requite network priority to specific clients and applications. You'll have to pay a membership fee to use Adaptive Wi-Fi and other features including parental controls, HomePass (guest networking), internet speed testing, device monitoring, and pod mapping, which shows what devices are continued to each pod and how they are performing. You'll as well need a membership to purchase addition nodes. A lifetime membership will price you $200 or you can pay $threescore annually.

The Plume mobile app (iOS and Android) is intuitive and easy to navigate. On the Home screen is an animated network map that shows the main router and all installed nodes. Tiny dots orbiting each node stand for how many clients are connected. To see who is continued, tap whatever node and so tap a customer to run across what radio ring and channel they are using, the MAC and IP addresses, and how much bandwidth the client has used. Here y'all tin besides run an internet speed test and freeze online access.

To add together more pods to the network, tap the + icon at the bottom of the Home screen. Also at the bottom of the screen is an Up arrow with the number of connected devices. This opens a screen that shows who is connected and whether they are connected to the Domicile or Guest networks or if they've been granted Internet Just status.

Back at the Home screen, a three-bar icon at the bottom left corner takes you lot to a screen where you lot tin can manage Wi-Fi and PoD settings. Wi-Fi settings include Plume's HomePass, which allows you to create a Dwelling house password to grant users full access to the network, a Invitee network password that provides limited access, and an Internet Merely countersign that lets users access the internet with no boosted network admission.

Below the HomePass tab is an Avant-garde Settings tab that lets you choose to operate the system in Span way or Router fashion and configure port forwarding, IP subnet, and DNS settings. Tap the More button to enable the Secure & Protect feature, which protects your network from malware, phishing, bot nets, spyware, and adware. There's besides an Adblocking option that blocks the loading content from known advertizing servers. In the Pod settings card, yous can fix, rename, delete, and check the point strength of your pods.

Respectable Performance

To install the Plume organization, I downloaded the mobile app and tapped Set Plume, at which betoken I was asked to create an account and a password. One time I verified my email address, I followed the on-screen instructions to connect a Plumage pod to my modem/router using the included Ethernet cable and to plug it into an outlet. Afterwards 15 seconds, I was prompted to create a proper name and password for the Plume network and to go on calculation pods. The next ii pods were recognized within 30 seconds and I gave them names and was finished.

See How We Exam Wireless Routers

The SuperPods turned in some speedy scores on our throughput functioning tests. The main router node garnered 540Mbps on the close-proximity examination, which beat the Linksys Velop Dual-Band router, just came in merely short of the SmartThings WiFi organisation and the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus. At a distance of 30 feet, the SuperPod router node scored 113Mbps, beating the SmartThings and the Linksys Velop scores just non the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus.

The SuperPod satellite node's score of 320Mbps on the close-proximity test was significantly faster than the SmartThings and the Linksys Velop nodes, but couldn't match the TP-Link Deco score. Results were similar on the xxx-foot exam: the SuperPod node's score of 220Mbps blew away the SmartThings and the Linksys Velop node scores, but the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus was faster past 77Mbps.

We examination MU-MIMO throughput using three identical Acer Aspire R13 laptops equipped with Qualcomm's QCA61x4A MU-MIMO circuitry. The SuperPod router gave the states an impressive score of 132Mbps on the close-proximity MU-MIMO test, besting both the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus and the SmartThings router. The Linksys Velop led with a score of 138Mbps. At a distance of xxx anxiety, the SuperPod router's score of 67Mbps was faster than the Linksys Velop router, simply not the SmartThings and the TP-Link Deco M9 routers.

The SuperPod satellite node delivered a relatively speedy throughput of 96Mbps on the MU-MIMO shut-proximity examination, outlasting the Linksys Velop and the SmartThings satellite node and coming in a shut second to the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus node. The SuperPod node'south score of 82Mbps on the 30-foot MU-MIMO test vanquish the SmartThings and the Linksys node scores, but could not all-time the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus.

Powerful and Attractive

The Plumage SuperPod system is an like shooting fish in a barrel and attractive way to fill your dwelling with Wi-Fi coverage. Simply plug them in, let the mobile app observe them, and enjoy relatively fast throughput in every room. Each pod has two LAN ports that you can use to attach wired devices such as gaming consoles and streaming media components, only at that place's no USB connectivity. The thoughtfully designed Plume mobile app makes information technology piece of cake to see who is connected and how much bandwidth they are using, and you tin assign parental controls, just y'all'll have to pay a monthly fee to practise so. You'll pay $100 more than for our Editors' Choice, the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus, just it offers ameliorate overall performance and dwelling coverage, robust parental controls and QoS settings, and a built-in habitation automation hub.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/plume-superpod/29765/plume-superpod

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