Arris Surfboard Max Pro review
Our Verdict
It may be large and tall but the Arris Surfboard Max Pro W31 mesh kit tin can deliver moderate amounts of information throughout the house with a tri-band design, defended backhaul channel and Wi-Fi 6 performance. It adds powerful parental controls but falls short when it comes to competing with those that have longer range and add an extra later on of security.
For
- Tri-band performance
- Height speed specs
- Parental controls
Against
- No security software included
- Large
- Brusk range
Tom's Guide Verdict
It may exist big and tall but the Arris Surfboard Max Pro W31 mesh kit tin deliver moderate amounts of data throughout the house with a tri-band design, dedicated backhaul channel and Wi-Fi 6 performance. It adds powerful parental controls only falls short when it comes to competing with those that have longer range and add an extra afterward of security.
Pros
- +
Tri-band functioning
- +
Top speed specs
- +
Parental controls
Cons
- -
No security software included
- -
Large
- -
Brusque range
The tall Arris Surfboard Max Pro W133 towers scream high-performance with a tri-band blueprint and dedicated backhaul data channel that has the ability to push upward of 11Gbps of data throughout the domicile.
The kit doesn't quite live up to its potential, lacks security options and has a short range but tin can help any digital family fighting over bandwidth.
Arris Surfboard Max Pro review: Pricing and availability
Arris Surfboard Max Pro: Specs
Wi-Fi Spec: AX11000
Number of Antennas/Removable: 12/No
Ports: 1 WAN/3 LAN gigabit per second
Processor/Memory/Storage: Quad-core i.viii/512MB/256MB
Wi-Fi chip: Broadcom BCM 43684
Peak 802.11ax performance: 820.3Mbps (at 15 feet)
Range: 80 feet
Size: five.0 ten five.0 ten nine.8 inches
Estimated Annual Electricity Cost: $35.10
The $650 Surfboard Max Pro kit comes with 2 devices, Ac adapters and a apartment networking cable; extra units are $400 each. That's roughly on a par with the $700 Orbi RBK852 ii-pack while others, like the TP-Link Deco X20 sell for a more reasonable $270 for three devices.
- Unmarried unit of measurement Arris Surfboard Max Pro (Model W31) - $399
- 2-pack Arris Surfboard Max Pro (W133) - $649
Our review focused on the mesh router 2-pack, which offers up to 6,000 square feet of Wi-Fi coverage. Larger homes will want to expand their coverage area by calculation an additional unit or two that are sold singly as the Surfboard Max Pro W31 and capable of covering iii,000 foursquare anxiety on its ain. That's more than the Netgear Orbi RBK852's 5,000 square feet of Wi-Fi coverage.
Our review measures range and performance between ii units, and an additional unit of measurement should offering identical performance, so our recommendation applies to both purchase options.
Arris Surfboard Max Pro review: Pattern
Long known every bit a maker of cable data modems, Arris has branched out into Wi-Fi 6 mesh networking gear with the whimsically capitalized SURFboard mAX Pro kit. The grayness and black tall cylindrical units measure 5.0 x 5.0 x 9.8 inches. Slightly bigger than the Netgear Orbi RBK852 devices, the Surfboard Max Pro devices should exist but as hard to hide only can be used as bookends on a shelf but tin't exist directly wall mounted. They accept cooling slats also as a big cutout in the bottom to arrange power and networking cables. Both devices are identical, and you need to designate them equally either the host router or a satellite during installation.
Each Surfboard Max Pro belfry has an angled LED ring as an indicator light, whose brightness is adjustable in the app. When it's amber, the system is starting upwardly and the low-cal alternates between blue and white when it'south ready to pair. When everything is OK, it's solid bluish. There'south no warning that the device is offline, something that'due south mostly reserved for a reddish light.
Both devices utilise Broadcom's BCM43684 Wi-Fi fleck with a 1.8GHz processor along with a one.5GHz processor for each band. Each Surfboard Max Pro unit has 512MB of RAM, 256MB of wink storage and 12 internal antennas, but none can be aimed or replaced. The tri-band design creates ii.4GHz and ii five.0GHz 802.11ax (Wi-Fi vi) networks, one of which is dedicated to backhaul communications from the satellite to the host.
The Surfboard Max Pro devices use the latest MU-MIMO techniques, beamforming, an automated optimization feature and 4X4 data streams to support a home full of data hungry members. It can handle upwards to 255 simultaneous connections, making information technology platonic for those with large digital homes. Information technology carries an AX1100 rating, nearly twice the level of the Netgear Orbi RBK852 kit.
Underneath, the Surfboard Max Pro has i input WAN connectedness and iii downstream LAN ports, one less than the Netgear Orbi RBK852 has. But it lacks a USB port for connecting a printer or hard drive, and is missing the ability to aggregate two of its downstream ports for high-speed gaming or get 2.5Gbps of bandwidth from a broadband modem. It does without a power switch, but has a reset button.
Arris Surfboard Max Pro review: Performance
Based on its Broadcom BCM43684 Wi-Fi flake, the device is gear up every bit a router or satellite during its configuration process. Each device has a i.8GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 512MB of storage space. It hits a height at 10,800Gbps, making it one of the most powerful Wi-Fi devices on paper.
Based on our testing in my 100-year-old home using Ixia's IxChariot networking benchmark software, the Surfboard Max Pro was a middle of the pack performer that neither took start nor last place in any of our tests. In other words, it was a moderate performer.
The Surfboard Max Pro started out strong with the ability to move 820.3Mbps at 15-feet, just off the step fix by the Netgear Orbi RBK852 at 883.6Mbps. Both were second best to a conventional Wi-Fi 6 router, like the 1.389Gbps operation seen in our Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) review.
When we moved the receiving organization to fifty-feet, the bandwidth the Surfboard Max Pro delivered dropped to 208.1Mbps, well ahead of the Orbi RBK852 (124.4Mbps) but shy of the TP-Link Deco X20 (255.4Mbps). At 75-feet the Surfboard Max Pro's sixteen.6Mbps was near the bottom of the WiFi-6 mesh systems we've tested and far backside the TP-Link Deco X20's 112.7Mbps. It had a range of lxxx-feet, falling curt of the Netgear Orbi RBK852 (85 feet) and the TP-Link Deco X20's 95-foot range.
The Surfboard Max Pro couldn't keep up with the Netgear Orbi when it came to punching a signal through a wall or ceiling. While the Surfboard Max Pro did well at 692.2Mbps of throughput delivered 20-anxiety and through a wall, the Orbi RBK852 did nearly 100Mbps better at 782.9Mbps. It lagged farther backside the best when it came to sending a signal through a ceiling to our exam organization in a room direct in a higher place the host router's location. It moved 88.8Mbps versus 670.1Mbps for the Orbi RBK852.
Its results every bit a mesh network were mixed with the Surfboard Max Pro doing amend at sending a Wi-Fi indicate upstairs and 40-feet across the house (at 353.9Mbps available). All the same, it's well off the pace set past the Netgear Orbi RBK852 (405.5Mbps) or the Asus Zen WiFi XT8 (389.3Mbps). Past contrast, the Surfboard Max Pro pushed only 79.6Mbps across the aforementioned floor with the satellite 40 anxiety abroad and the test motorcar another 50-feet away. This stands in dissimilarity to the 125.8Mbps for the Asus Zen WiFi XT8.
Overall, the Surfboard Max Pro did a adept job of distributing a Wi-Fi connection but barbarous short of covering my entire dwelling house, with dead zones at the extremes. They would probable have been filled with a 2nd satellite.
The Arris proved to be a reliable networker that worked well for emails, online searching, gaming and downloading files. It passed our saturation exam where we connect an iPad Pro tablet and a Macbook Air for playing video and an Net radio station, while a ThinkPad T470 was viewing videos and an HP dragonfly notebook moved data onto and off of a network-attached RAID storage organization. Throughout, the sound and video came through loud and clear without interruption, freeze-ups or skips.
While shuffling data and connecting clients, the Surfboard Max Pro router and its satellite each used xv.4-watts, the aforementioned consumption as the Asus Zen WiFi XT8. If it's left on 24/seven, the Surfboard Max Pro pair should cost effectually $35.x if y'all pay 13 cents per kilowatt-hour the boilerplate toll of electricity in the U.Due south.
Arris Surfboard Max Pro review: Setup
The Arris Surfboard Max Pro mesh kit's ready process borrows from the best in the manufacture and is merely every bit constructive for networking beginners as for pros. It features lots of illustrations and allows you to skip several basic steps if you feel confident nigh the results. It's all based on using the Arris SURFboard Central app for either an iPhone, iPad or an Android device
Using an iPad Pro, I got the app and later like-minded to the privacy, location and licensing agreements, I chose which hardware I had from the software'south pictorial representation and created an account with Arris. This was followed up with an emailed verification code.
Side by side up, the app offered tips on setting upward the LAN, but as is the case with other sections like this, it tin be easily skipped. I plugged the device I chose to be the host router in simply don't plug in the satellite just yet to prevent the app from getting confused.
Once I allowed the app to use the iPad's Bluetooth, the software got down to piece of work. It found the router, continued to it and linked it with the Internet, followed by a firmware update. It then registers the device with Arris to automatically receive firmware updates.
Adjacent, I typed in the network'southward new name and password and the app automatically inverse the tablet's network connection to go it online with the Arris network. It yielded 190Mbps out of my 200Mbps connection and the Manage Network suggestions can be (yous guessed it) skipped.
After plugging the satellite in forty feet away, I gave it a infinitesimal to offset up. It connected in a few minutes with no intervention on my role and delivered 183Mbps out of my dwelling's 200Mbps connection. All told, it took 17 minutes to go from a sealed box to a working LAN.
Arris Surfboard Max Pro review: Configuration
The Arris SURFboard Central app is the but game in town for configuring the network because the Surfboard Max Pro doesn't have a browser-based connection option for customizing the network. The app'southward Home screen shows the host router, connected satellites, the current online speed, and how many devices are connected.
Below there are iii boxes for which device has the strongest signal, a graph of the Internet connection'due south speed over time and the status of the organization's Parental Controls. The Parental Controls not simply allow the filtering of Web content to something appropriate for children but information technology can limit online viewing time and pause the Internet connection for a little family fourth dimension.
If you desire to know more about the router, tap on information technology to see everything from its IP address to its firmware level to what's connected. I really like the interface's rings around the router that represent the number of clients with good connectivity (green), off-white connectivity (orange) and poor connectivity (red). There are also places to conform the LED's brightness and set the time zone.
Along the bottom of the Dwelling house page are selections for checking the Internet speed, the network settings and the Parental Controls. If yous tap on the carte icon in the upper left, the app has side tabs for running a Speed Test, calculation a new satellite, checking on the Alexa voice control connectedness, getting Help and seeing what level of firmware the units have. The Settings choice shows the name and account details and provides a place to sign out.
Although automatic and reliable, the Surfboard Max Pro does without any major choices for optimizing and customizing the network's operations. It lacks everything from the transmission forcefulness and aqueduct width to the encryption method. Information technology too doesn't have any actress security software, whether it's embedded in the router (as in the case of TP-Link'due south Abode Care products) or resident on the client (equally Netgear does with Armor).
The system comes with a 2-year warranty and support that's much better than Netgear'south xc-days of included support. Online, Arris has firmware updates, several ready videos and a link to download the manual and the Arris Primal apps. The app itself has a slew of general and specific troubleshooting help equally well as links to the support phone number, DIY help and a conversation window.
Arris Surfboard Max Pro review: Verdict
Large and tall, the Arris Surfboard Max Pro non just squeezes in a lot of Wi-Fi 6 gear but has one of the best spec sheets in the business with the ability to move over 10Gbps around a abode. Too bad information technology doesn't live up to its billing with mediocre performance and a brusk range.
At $650 for a pair of devices, Netgear'south Orbi RBK852 is a more than expensive but higher performing culling, while the $270 TP-Link Deco X20 is a better choice for those pinching their pennies.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/arris-surfboard-max-pro
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