Recently upgraded from the Linksys Velop Wifi 5 model. It decided to die just before Christmas (good riddance), so I was on the hunt for a new wifi system.
If i hadn’t stupidly covered the data point in my Master Bedroom with the in built wardrobe (7 years ago, didn’t know better), i would have gone with UBQT. That said, i needed a system that provided reliable wireless backhaul.
Decided to try my luck with the TP-Link BE85, 2 Pack. Most of my devices at home are wifi 6E only. Right off the bat, the two units performed better than 3 of the wifi5 velops. Provided better coverage and speed but the improvement was not dramatic. MBR Speeds went from 300mbps to 580mbps. I knew it could do better if i improved the location of the nodes. One satellite was in the MBR with the main in the closet by the main door.
I decided i wanted to get another router and put the TP-Link BE85 in AP Mode. I built an OPNsense router and wired that up to the main node which had a direct path to the satellite. This setup gave me the improvement i was looking for, my MBR speeds were reaching 900+ for downloads which is exactly what I had hoped for.
TLDR; upgrade Velop Wifi 5(3 Pack) to OPNsense router with 2 x TP Link BE85 Wifi 7(Wired 2.5gbps backhaul to main and wireless backhaul to satellite. Speeds in furthest area went from 300mbps to 900+mbps. OP is happy.