TP-Link Deco X80-5G review: Mixing Wi-Fi 6 with a 5G modem!

When it first announced the Deco X80-5G in 2021, TP-Link received a Red Dot Design award for its unique combination of a 5G modem and a mesh Wi-Fi 6 router. If you look at its specifications, TP-Link Deco X80-5G is an innovative mesh router that can be useful in many situations. After seeing it launched in various markets, I wanted to test it and see what it could do. To know more about this product and its real-life performance, read my detailed review:

TP-Link Deco X80-5G: Who is it good for?

This mesh Wi-Fi router is a suitable choice for:

• People who need mobile 5G connectivity on their mesh router
• Wireless networks with a large number of devices
• Those who own large apartments, office spaces, or multi-floor houses

Pros and cons

Here are the things I like about TP-Link Deco X80-5G:

• Good performance when using the Wi-Fi 6 standard
• Useful 5G mobile connectivity options
• 2.5 Gbps Ethernet and mobile ports available
• Beautiful design
• Powerful hardware that can manage many networked devices
• Useful security tools and parental controls

Here’s what’s not so great about it:

• It is very expensive
• The HomeShield Pro subscription costs extra
• No USB port and few advanced configuration options

Verdict

TP-Link Deco X80-5G is an innovative product that aims to please users who appreciate beautiful design, fast Wi-Fi, and simplicity. It’s also useful to people who don’t have broadband internet connectivity in their area and need a mesh router capable of using a 4G or 5G SIM card for connecting to the internet. If you need its unique features, you’ll be pleased by how it performs, the speed, and the wireless coverage you get. However, while Deco X80-5G is a mesh router, and you can buy it in packs of two units, its price is quite high. Therefore, buying two or more units may not be feasible for many people. If you need a mesh Wi-Fi system in your home or office, I advise buying one Deco X80-5G to use as the main unit and getting more affordable Deco models as the secondary units to work alongside it.

Unboxing the TP-Link Deco X80-5G

The packaging for the Deco X80-5G is elegant and good-looking. On the top cover, you see a picture of the device you just bought and a list of its main features: the ability to work 5G SIM cards and mobile internet connections, the 2.5 Gbps port available on its back, and its 3-year warranty. The packaging for the TP-Link Deco X80-5G looks great You find further information on the back and the sides, including details about its technical specifications, which I cover in detail in the next section of this review. When you open the box, you see the Deco X80-5G and all its accessories nicely packaged and tucked away for protection. You should read and follow the installation instructions printed on the side to get it working. Unboxing the TP-Link Deco X80-5G When you open everything, you find the following items: the Deco X80-5G unit, an Ethernet cable, a telephony cable, the power adapter, a quick installation guide, warranty details, and a troubleshooting guide. Everything you find inside the box The unboxing experience for TP-Link Deco X80-5G is satisfying. The device looks great, and the packaging includes everything you need to start setting up your Wi-Fi network.

Hardware specifications and design

TP-Link Deco X80-5G is an AX6000 mesh Wi-Fi router sold in kits of one or two stations. As you’ve seen in my pictures, I received the 1-pack variant. Depending on the market, Deco X80-5G can be sold only in white, black, or both colors. In my home country, Romania, TP-Link sells only the white variant. Each unit has a simple yet beautiful rounded design. Its size is 210.5 × 130 × 123 mm or 8.3 × 5.1 × 4.8 inches, and it weighs 900 grams or 1.98 pounds. TP-Link Deco X80-5G has a pleasant rounded design The LEDs are hidden behind a protective cover, and you see the TP-Link company name written in small discreet letters. On the back of each Deco X80-5G, you find one 1 Gbps port, one 2.5 Gbps port, and a phone line port. This is the first consumer mesh Wi-Fi product I’ve tested to feature such a port. Unfortunately, there’s no USB port on the Deco X80-5G. The ports on the back of each TP-Link Deco X80-5G On the top cover, you see the TP-Link logo, placed right in the middle. It isn’t lit, so it won’t bother you during the night, when you want to sleep. The TP-Link logo on the top cover On the bottom, you see four rubber feet that hold the unit into place, the Reset jack, and a sticker with details like the MAC address and the serial number. One standout feature of TP-Link Deco X80-5G is that it can use 4G or 5G Nano SIM cards to connect to your cellular network provider and give you internet access. These SIM cards can be used either for the main internet connection or as a backup when the wired internet connection fails. What you find on the bottom of each unit On the back of each unit, there’s a rubber cover. If you take it off, you will find two ports for connecting external antennas. They are used for improving mobile connectivity when using a SIM card as your main internet connection. However, the antennas are not included with the Deco X80-5G, and you must purchase them separately. The ports for connecting external antennas The Deco X80-5G uses the Qualcomm Networking Pro 1610 Platform and Snapdragon X55 5G modem chips. It has a quad-core processor at 2.2 GHz, 512 MB of RAM, and eight internal Wi-Fi antennas to broadcast its wireless network. The total theoretical maximum bandwidth is split as follows: 4804 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, and 1148 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band, when using Wi-Fi 6. For more information, visit the official product page: TP-Link Deco X80-5G.

Setting up and using the TP-Link Deco X80-5G

Install the Deco app on your smartphone or tablet, plug in the TP-Link Deco X80-5G unit and look at its bottom for the default network name it uses. Then, start the Deco app, connect your TP-Link ID to it, and begin the setup process by choosing which exact Deco you want to install. After selecting the Deco X80-5G, you’re asked whether you want to use it as a 4G/5G or Wi-Fi router. If you have a SIM card, make sure to insert it into the router before going ahead with the setup. How do you want to use the TP-Link Deco X80-5G? Read through all the instructions provided by TP-Link, and do what they say. After you select the location of your Deco X80-5G, the app detects the type of internet connection you’re using and asks you to enter the necessary connection information. Enter your internet connection details Then, you create your Wi-Fi network and choose whether you want to add other Deco units. Finally, you get to the Home screen of the Deco app, asking whether you want to enable HomeShield Pro. If you don’t enable it, you get the Basic protection level, which is free but gives you access to fewer security tools. If you choose to enable the Pro level, it is free for the first thirty days of use. Then, you have to pay a monthly or yearly subscription, which is quite expensive. Prices vary from country to country but in my home country (Romania), TP-Link asks for the equivalent of 6 USD for a monthly subscription and 50 USD for a yearly subscription. The HomeShield Pro costs extra Considering how expensive the TP-Link Deco X80-5G is, I think it would have been a better idea to offer the HomeShield Pro services included in the purchase price of the product or to extend the free trial to six months or a year. Getting back to the Deco app, I find it easy to use but also limited in the available advanced configuration options. For example, you can’t do basic things like disable Smart Connect or choose which Wi-Fi standard is used for each band. By default, TP-Link Deco X80-5G uses Wi-Fi 6 for both its bands. However, it is compatible with older devices that use Wi-Fi 4 or Wi-Fi 5. One upside is that you get support for WPA3 security, even though it’s not enabled by default. The Deco app is easy to use I wanted to test the mobile connectivity offered by TP-Link Deco X80-5G so I took my 4G SIM card and plugged it into the Nano SIM Card slot on the router’s bottom. The slot for the Nano SIM Card I was pleasantly surprised that the Deco app automatically adjusted its settings for my local mobile telecom provider, so the SIM card worked immediately without any manual intervention on my part. The Deco app automatically adjusts its SIM card settings I also made some quick SpeedTest measurements, and I noticed that the 4G internet connection speed on the TP-Link Deco X80-5G was similar to that of my smartphone. However, if you live in an area where mobile connectivity is spotty, purchase two external antennas and mount them to the back of your Deco X80-5G. The speed you get when using a 4G SIM card If you are a knowledgeable user, you may be tempted to access the web-based admin interface. Even though one is available, it is also “bare-bones,” with even more limited configuration options than the Deco app. I’m disappointed by TP-Link’s approach because, on their Wi-Fi 6 routers, their web admin interface offers all the settings you need, including advanced tools and features. I don’t know why they aren’t available for their Deco family, but I hope future firmware updates will improve the situation. The web admin interface is very basic Moving on to the Wi-Fi experience, things were generally good: the Wi-Fi signal was great everywhere in my apartment, and network connections worked well and with satisfying speed. The variability of network transfers deserves some improvement on the 2.4 GHz band, but on 5 GHz, things are smooth and stable. Overall, I enjoyed my Wi-Fi experience with TP-Link Deco X80-5G. If you want to know more about the real-world performance offered by the TP-Link Deco X80-5G, go to the next page of this review, where I present detailed measurements and comparisons with other routers.

Wireless network performance

My test apartment is set up similarly to the diagram below. As you can see, I’ve placed the TP-Link Deco X80-5G in a central position to provide good coverage in all the rooms where I spend most of my time. The apartment in which I tested TP-Link Deco X80-5G I evaluate the quality of the wireless network managed by TP-Link Deco X80-5G through measurements made in three different places:

• I record the maximum speeds when no walls absorb the wireless signal in the room where the Deco X80-5G is placed.
• Room 1 - is separated by one wall from the router.
• Room 2 - is separated from the Deco X80-5G by two walls absorbing the wireless signal. Also, the wall between Room 1 and Room 2 is twice as thick as the one between the router’s room and Room 1. As a result, Room 2 can be a difficult challenge for many routers.

I’ve made all my measurements using a laptop with a Wi-Fi 6 network card, running Windows 11 with the latest drivers and operating system updates. Because I received the TP-Link Deco X80-5G as a one-unit kit, and because it is mostly sold as a single unit instead of two, I’ve decided to compare it against wireless routers, not mesh Wi-Fi systems. Therefore, for this review, I’ll compare it to Synology RT6600ax, a fantastic AX6600 wireless router with many advanced features, and TP-Link Archer GX90 - another AX6600 router designed mostly for gamers.

How the TP-Link Deco X80-5G performs on the 2.4 GHz band

I first measured the signal strength using NetSpot. When using the Wi-Fi 6 standard (or 802.11ax), TP-Link Deco X80-5G delivered a reasonably strong signal everywhere in my apartment. Signal strength on Wi-Fi 6 (2.4 GHz band) NOTE: Unfortunately, I couldn’t set the Deco X80-5G to broadcast its signal using only Wi-Fi 4. Therefore I couldn’t make any signal measurements for this standard. Next, I used the SpeedTest app to measure the maximum speed you get when transferring data to and from the internet on the 2.4 GHz band, using Wi-Fi 4. I set the network drivers on my laptop to intentionally use this standard because the Deco X80-5G didn’t offer this option. As you can see, download speeds were pretty good everywhere in my apartment. However, the routers in my comparison easily outmatched the Deco X80-5G. SpeedTest - The download speed on Wi-Fi 4 (2.4 GHz) When measuring the upload speed, Deco X80-5G was second to TP-Link Archer GX90 and a lot faster than Synology RT6600ax. SpeedTest - The upload speed on Wi-Fi 4 (2.4 GHz) I then switched to Wi-Fi 6 on the 2.4 GHz band and repeated the same measurements. This time, TP-Link Deco X80-5G was the speed champion of my comparison, delivering fast downloads everywhere. SpeedTest - The download speed on Wi-Fi 6 (2.4 GHz) Uploads were fast, but TP-Link Deco X80-5G was outmatched by TP-Link Archer GX90 in the rooms furthest from the router. SpeedTest - The upload speed on Wi-Fi 6 (2.4 GHz) For the next set of measurements, I used the PassMark Performance test to transfer data between two computers connected to the network. I was on the 2.4 GHz band using the Wi-Fi 4 standard. TP-Link Deco X80-5G delivered fast download speeds in all rooms. Network downloads on Wi-Fi 4 (2.4 GHz) Uploads were fast too, as you can see below. Network uploads on Wi-Fi 4 (2.4 GHz) I repeated the same measurements on the 2.4 GHz band, using the Wi-Fi 6 standard. This time, TP-Link Deco X80-5G was even faster than the routers I’ve compared it to. Network downloads on Wi-Fi 6 (2.4 GHz) Uploads were slower, but Deco X80-5G remained the winner in my comparison. Network uploads on Wi-Fi 6 (2.4 GHz) TP-Link Deco X80-5G works well on the 2.4 GHz, especially when using the Wi-Fi 6 standard for connecting your devices. You get a wide coverage area and very satisfying connection speeds.

How the TP-Link Deco X80-5G performs on the 5 GHz band

I moved on to the 5 GHz band and repeated the same measurements performed on the previous band. Then, I started using the Wi-Fi 6 standard and fired up NetSpot to analyze the signal strength. TP-Link Deco X80-5G delivered good signal strength everywhere in my apartment. Signal strength on Wi-Fi 6 (5 GHz band) Unfortunately, I couldn’t set it to use only Wi-Fi 5 on the 5 GHz frequency, like you can set other routers or mesh Wi-Fi systems. Therefore, I couldn’t make any signal measurements for Wi-Fi 5. I used the SpeedTest app to see how fast the internet connection is when using the Wi-Fi 5 standard. To make this measurement, I’ve set the network adapter on my laptop to use Wi-Fi 5 instead of Wi-Fi 6. As you can see below, the download speeds offered by TP-Link Deco X80-5G were much slower than the routers I’ve compared it to. SpeedTest - The download speed on Wi-Fi 5 (5 GHz) However, uploads were faster than downloads. SpeedTest - The upload speed on Wi-Fi 5 (5 GHz) When switching to the Wi-Fi 6 standard on the 5 GHz band, the downloads got faster than when using Wi-Fi 5. Deco X80-5G performed much better on Wi-Fi 6. SpeedTest - The download speed on Wi-Fi 6 (5 GHz) Uploads were super fast, getting closer to the maximum allowed by my internet connection. SpeedTest - The upload speed on Wi-Fi 6 (5 GHz) I switched to the PassMark Performance test and transferred data between two computers connected to the network. This benchmark tells me the average speed you get when transferring data only inside the network and not on the internet. When using Wi-Fi 5, the download speeds offered by TP-Link Deco X80-5G were OK, but they didn’t break any records. Network downloads on Wi-Fi 5 (5 GHz) When using Wi-Fi 5, the upload speed was very similar to the download speed in all the rooms of my apartment. Network uploads on Wi-Fi 5 (5 GHz) When switching to the Wi-Fi 6 standard, downloads got faster everywhere. Network downloads on Wi-Fi 6 (5 GHz) Uploads were excellent in all the rooms of my apartment. Network uploads on Wi-Fi 6 (5 GHz) On the 5 GHz band, the TP-Link Deco X80-5G is fast and performs well when using the Wi-Fi 6 standard. You get solid signal strength and fast transfers.

Wired network performance

In this section, I evaluate the performance of Ethernet network connections. My internet connection offers a maximum of 1 Gbps for the download speed and 800 Mbps for uploads. When using SpeedTest, TP-Link Deco X80-5G got very close to the maximum speeds allowed by my internet provider. SpeedTest on wired connections As expected, TP-Link Deco X80-5G has no problems working with 1 Gbps internet connections and delivering 1 Gbps Ethernet connections. However, when connecting my desktop PC to the TP-Link Deco X80-5G using the 2.5 Gbps port on its back, I noticed that sometimes, it would establish a 1 Gbps or 100 Mbps connection instead of a 2.5 Gbps one. To fix this issue, I had to disable the network adapter on my Windows 11 PC and re-enable it. The next time the connection was established, it was at 2.5 Gbps. This may be a bug that TP-Link would want to fix in future firmware updates to Deco X80-5G.

Extra features

The firmware on the TP-Link Deco X80-5G doesn’t have as many advanced features as some competitors do. Here’s what you get for free, included in the purchase price of each Deco X80-5G: The Wi-Fi Assistant from the Deco app

• Wi-Fi Assistant - it is a collection of free Wi-Fi Diagnostics tools which evaluate the Wi-Fi signal, your network security settings, the speed of your internet connection, and the Wi-Fi interference in your area to provide advice on improving things. You can also scan for devices connected to your network and detect IoT (Internet of Things) devices such as surveillance cameras. If you’re more technically inclined, you also have an Open Port Checker, which you can use to evaluate the open ports for any device on your network.
• Guest network - you can enable a separate Wi-Fi for your guests and give them access to the internet without having them interfere with your network. For more details, read: The smart way to give guests access to Wi-Fi on a TP-Link Deco.
• Block List - use it to manually block specific devices from accessing your network and the internet.
• QoS - a simple Quality of Service feature that allows you to set the available bandwidth and prioritize specific devices to get better service at all times.
• Network optimization - a simple tool for analyzing your mesh network and improving its coverage, bandwidth, and reliability.
• Managers - you can add multiple TP-Link IDs to your TP-Link Deco system and set them as managers. They will be able to access reports and change settings just like you.
• If you have an Amazon Alexa or Google Home device, you can integrate your Deco X80-5G and control your network with the help of voice commands.

If you’re a parent, you could be interested in the HomeShield Pro service created by TP-Link in tandem with Avira (a German security company), which, for a monthly or yearly subscription fee, provides you with: Do you want to enable HomeShield Pro?

• Web protection - blocks access to malicious websites on all the devices that are connected to your network.
• Intrusion prevention - identifies potential threats and keeps your network safe from attacks.
• IoT Protection - blocks hackers from accessing your IoT devices, such as baby surveillance cameras.
• Parental Controls - a comprehensive set of parental controls which allow you to set time limits for accessing the internet, set the bedtime for your children, and block inappropriate content online. Here’s how to configure Parental Controls on TP-Link Deco.

TP-Link Deco mesh systems don’t have as many advanced features as the company’s Wi-Fi 6 routers, but you do get some extras that are useful. Parents interested in keeping their families secure, will have to pay a subscription fee. The HomeShield Pro service is not included in the price of TP-Link Deco X80-5G. It works for free only for the first 30 days.

What is your opinion about the TP-Link Deco X80-5G?

At the end of this review, you know what I like and don’t like about this innovative mesh Wi-Fi system. You also have plenty of details about its strengths and weaknesses. If you have any questions left unanswered, don’t hesitate to comment using the options available below, and I’ll try to answer to the best of my knowledge.