OK WOW! OK WOW! OK WOW, Sorry had to say it three times. These Superpods, No joke have to be the single best purchase I’ve ever made in Tech. Buy this I’m on Cloud 9, It’s A steal worth every penny and I’ve only had it for 20 hours. Let me give you a little bit of background about my Internet. My house is built like a Doughnut I have a central courtyard that my house is built around it was impossible to get clear Wi-Fi to 1/2 of my house And to complicate things further I have an office in a detached garage. My old Internet consisted of two routers with two different addresses just to barely cover to makes things functional. I live in a college town so my population increases 3 fold From 15k to 60k. I also love Technology And have been trying to have a smart home for year’s, Before Plume I always thought I only had 50 devices turns out I have over 80 devices I’ve been connecting things that I have owned. that just never worked with my old Wi-Fi. I have surveillance cameras from three different manufacturers . Switches, thermostats ,smoke dectectors, lights etc. my initial response after a couple of minutes, was OK it’s better than it was before. Then a message came up said The system needs 24 hours to optimize then next morning like magic all my devices Are all working Flawlessly.
My old Internet was an XB3 three from Xfinity with 299 mbps down I would have to reset it multiple times a week just to maintain service so I saw Comcast were offering Xfinity Xfi pods I Purchased a Set of 6. Setup was a bit bumpy but when I got them working and they work fine for week. then system went down and it wouldn’t recover I had spent multiple hours with tech-support and had a technician come out to my house. They were all clueless about the technology So I came across Plume as the Provider of this technology to Comcast. So I started doing some extensive research came across Ars Technica articles On WiFi and Mesh Networks. So even though I wasn’t direct customer of Plume I reached out to them.
They were more than happy To answer questions about their product. But understandably apprehensive to answer questions about Xfinity’s product. I was primarily asking if I would be able to introduce plume superpods to Xfinity xfi pods. Because I was Planning to upgrade my service to gig speed, short the answer was NO. So it Decided to return Xfinity xfi pod.
First I upgrade my internet to gig speed got the xb6 router I noticed an improvement in service But it didn’t fix my problems. I decided to Buy Plume SuperPods with lifetime Subscription. They arrived yesterday although they were packaged in a box way too big By amazon. Plume Packaging was minimalistic And highly recyclable thanks to Plume for that. When I first held the superpods it had a good weight to it, an inspired quality .
SETUP I took an extra step on setup that I uncovered from my research. It was to Disable the radios and my SS ID from my main router to minimize ip conflicts . (I dont think you have to do this first?) This turned out to be the hardest step because of the slowness in response to my router via http. But once I got into the Plume app set up was almost too easy. It was up and running in five minutes, I Purchased three Superpods. Two pods We’re connected via ethernet from my bedroom to my detached garage/office and the third remained wireless in my living room. Initially they were all connected wirelessly because I forgot to reconnect my ethernet cable but when I did it recognized the Ethernet connection immediately. The app like the box is super minimalistic but don’t let it fool you there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes. At first I was extremely turned off by the subscription service. But after exhaustive research it turns out that you’re not paying any additional cost over any other Mesh Network product because plume has reflected a discount in the cost of their hardware. Actually to be honest They are not the most expensive mesh network on the market today.
I am forgetting to mention on top of my 80+ devices I have two kids that are addicted to the Internet so I’m more than happy to utilize their parental controls and offer a line of defense to the content they may be exposed to and Super psyched to use your multiple logins so I no longer have to give out my main password to houseguests. Plume also gives you control on what devices can access other devices on your network for instance I don’t want my kids playing with the pump to My koi pond. The lifetime Subscription also covers five years hardware warranty on all your devices under one network even if you plan to expand further than the insulation kit. I Believe the subscription price on Expansion is $39 for Regular pods and $99 for Superpods.
Did I mention my Internet speeds I get a 1gig Every room I have a Superpod and about 300mbps at the Furthest this point from a pod in my house. But more importantly I tested my Internet Before and after pods with two apps (wi-fi SweetSpots), test your speed in real-time it showed my Internet speed coming into My home in a wave Format and before superpods the Wave would Bottom out Occasionally indicating that points in my service that would relate to device failure or lag. But with superpods the service never bottoms out. Check it out it’s a free app. The Second app was Wi-Fi Dr has a great real time ping Showing how responsive of Devices on my service. before ping was 18 to 26 after 8 to 18
I Included two photos first photo shows my network is with all its devices circling around like satellites The two green planets signify ethernet connected devices the white shows wireless. second Photos it’s from ars techinca Article when they visited Plumes HQ . Plume Outfited a test house with Wi-Fi gadgets and attach the price tag to each item. It represents what we spend on Wi-Fi connected devices and makes the best argument for Wi-Fi Subscription service model.
10/19 update
Ok Nobody called me on it yet but I should mention the above speed’s are throughput speeds Which mean internal network speed not Internet service provider speeds. ISP speed are 900+ mbps via Ethernet from Superpods That remain connected via ethernet. my one wireless pod Plugged into ethernet I’m pulling 700mbs. Wireless on 5 GHz AC 10 feet from the pod My highest speed is 499 mbps and at 25 feet I’m pulling 300 mbps. And as far as response (ping) I’m seeing about 12-20ms depending on distance From pod These speeds are coming from the iPad Pro first GEN. What does it all mean because of the throughput speeds My network connected security cameras that are wireless Transmit within Network At near real time via Alexa fire TV. I also have an ethernet POE camera Transmitting at real time. The most profound Difference is I no longer Notice any difference in service when it’s peak time.
also Impressed With Internet filtering of malware site. Plume also have something new Called ad blocking Which is filtering all those annoying pop up ads that been showing up on iOS Devices lately. Everything Being blocked is conveniently located In list form in the app.
Yesterday I emailed tech-support They have always responded in a few hours. I want to ask about moving pods for a better connection The answer is Simply unplug and plug back in. I was also worried about orientation which doesn’t matter because of Omni directional antennas No problem plugging into powerstrip when pods are facing upwards. I’m also happy to report when I disconnected two pods from network Recovery time was 10 minutes and full optimization was about three hours Where I felt things were operating as they were before. in my email I also inquired about this recovery time and they said it’s different for each network depends on complexity
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10/20
it just get better ever day new speed record 533mbps this morning on a I pad pro 12 feet from main Superpod. But later in the day I did see a slow down video on Security cameras got a little Choppy. I guess there limits, it’s peak time internet on weekends with kids and wife streaming video, Browsing, games etc. But just to clear my worst day with Internet now Doesn’t even come close to best day before plume. New photo of speed from all around my house. New Photo throughput speed on my wireless living room Superpod 12 feet using sweetspots wi-fi app Notice how flat the line is I never saw this before plume
I’m currently working on a video reviewing this incredible technology look for it on YouTube soon
So in closing I feel like a tremendous burden has been lifted off my shoulders, that my Internet isn’t a problem I have to deal with after a long day of work. THANKS PLUME :)
Bought this as my cable Wi-Fi router is unable to provide sufficient speeds in our 2500 sq. ft. two story house. The cable router is at one end of the house on the ground floor and my study is at the opposite end upstairs. Use one unit as the gateway to plug into the router's Ethernet port, and another unit in the middle of the house and the 3rd unit is near the study room upstairs. Got easily 200Mbps speeds from my laptop across 80ft and one floor. Amazing product! It will continuously optimize the network as Wi-Fi networks do change over time as more Wi-Fi devices are plugged in and being used. This system is a tri-band unit which can truly repeat Wi-Fi without slowing down, not the cheap dual-band units that has to share the same band to both repeat and provide access. It has TWO 5GHz bands and a 2.4Ghz bands, and all 3 bands can operate simultaneously to bridge data across the extenders and provide Wi-Fi access to devices! I am very happy with the performance and ease of use - setup took only 5 minutes and the system is up and running. Before using this extender, I am only getting 10Mbps at the other end of the house. After installing the Plume SuperPod, I am getting the full 200Mbps bandwidth available from my ISP. I believe it could go even faster as the limit is now the bandwidth from my cable router! In the future if I upgrade my data speeds, I will not have to worry about upgrading my Wi-Fi!
So I tend to be pretty needy with my WiFi. Why I pay for 300 mbps down. I expect a lot out of it. I had some high end Linksys router WRT1900AC along with high end Netgear Nighthawk extenders EX7300 and EX8000 and the extenders would always reboot. So I couldn’t trust them for reliability. The router was great but I needed more range. I could never stream UHD to my fire tv without buffering from the router either.
I went to a mesh system tried Linksys Velop Tri Band setup. But I would still have buffering issues or issues on phone from 3 feet away or a tower that was 20 feet away in line of sight disconnect. It would never move my devices to different connection points either. It just was not smart enough to know I had moved around the house.
Finally I discovered Plume and I decided to give them a try. And I have to say they have been incredible. Everything just works! And if I do have an issue support is super fast to help me even at 3am on a weekend. The access point moving is amazing I am always on the strongest connection no matter where at in the house I am. My setup is likely more complicated than most with my main pod going to a 16 port switch. But once again Plume handles this without issue. I can stream 4K movies now without issue and no buffering and it makes you really appreciate how great WiFi can be.
If you are on the fence on this just buy it. It’s worth it. There is a reason Samsung and Xfinity are now using Plume mesh networking in their own hardware. It just works.
UPDATE: I'm leaving my original review for context but I am now upgrading my review from 2 stars to 5 stars. As I said before, the customer service has been stellar and continues to be. After a series of tests and working with me and my ISP the problem was likely identified as occasional dip in signal with the ISP resulting in poor transmission to the Plume. No way I could have figured that out myself, but with this information, and Plume's optimization, I am back using the pods. Has been stable now without a drop, excellent signal across the entire house. I appreciate the extremely professional company. No complaints from the kids, smooth hockey games, and business as usual but with better coverage across the house. Thank-you!
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Old original review:
I bought this Jan 2019 and was just about to return it, but it’s 1 day past the return window. So, I’ll continue to try to make this workout.
I bought the 3 Superpods and followed the install instructions. They wouldn’t connect, but after 10 minutes on the phone with support, I was up and running.....and it worked for about a week.
Then, I started to get Plume connection is down messages about 5-10 times a day. My kids were not happy. I followed the instructions from support to reboot the modem and the Pods, switch out the pods, etc. This didn’t help, so I submit a support ticket...
Support told me that it was a known issue and they would like to upgrade the firmware. They have to do it all for you, as there is no way to access this yourself. So, they updated the firmware and it worked well for a day...
So then I replied to the support ticket that it still wasn’t working and they recommended several steps including 1) check to see if my modem connected directly to my computer works (it did), 2) power down the modem and switch out the Superpod connected to the modem and restart (no change, same problem), 3) be sure the cables are connected (duh, they were. And I bought new cables). All this didn’t help, so I contacted support again.
Support said that it was a known problem with the new firmware that it drops the connection, and they would need to downgrade my firmware. So, they downgraded the firmware. It worked well for 1 day.
Now, I write this review on my phone which is connected to the cellular network because my Plume internet connection is down again. I came online to Amazon to see if I could return this product after 1 month headache. Looks like I am the fool; I’ve spent 1 month and 1 day troubleshooting with Plume support (who were very nice and responsive this entire time) really trying to make this work.
I guess I’m going to keep trying to make it work because I own it now. I actually really want it to work, because when it does it covers all the corners of my house really well.
I’ll update my review if I get more information, but for now Plume gets 1 star for nice support people, and 1 Star for working well on the days it does. It loses 3 stars for all the hockey games, video games, business meetings, tv shows, shopping that have cut out and ruined my fun this past 1 month and 1 day.
After torturing myself with the Asus Lyra for one year I finally had enough and made the switch to this Plume superpod setup.
What a difference! One of the biggest improvements is the far superior roaming ability between pods. Before I could not move around the house once I started a phone call using Wifi Calling or Facetime. I would have issues for seconds when going from one room to the other and the phone had to move to the next router.
Now with Plume it works great no more interruptions you never notice that you just switched from one pod to another.
Second, I had a small issue with the Plume when I set it up originally and decided to try out the famed support.
I have to say it was outstanding as well. I first minor issue was solved in minutes with a person on the phone.
For a second more complex issue I tried out E-Mail support and was promptly moved up to 2nd level support which clearly showed that they knew what they are talking about. (unlike Asus support which was a nightmare when I had issues with the old Lyras)
In Summary: Outstanding product and outstanding support.
Feature Product
- ADAPTIVE HOME WIFI: world's first and only self-optimizing Wi-Fi technology that delivers a reliable and consistent internet experience on every device by dynamically adapting to changing device behaviors and network conditions.
- WHOLE HOME WI-FI COVERAGE: compact, wall Pluggable superpods with dual Ethernet ports ensure whole home coverage. Plug in add-on superpods as needed to expand the coverage area.
- AI SECURITY: protect every connected device in your home from malware, ransomware, viruses, phishing and more. Plus, using advanced security features like anomaly detection and device quarantine, Plume defends IoT devices like cameras, lights, doorbells, thermostats and more from cyberthreats.
- PERSONALIZED GUEST ACESS WITH HOMEPASS: create personalized passwords for guests, all within a single network. Choose which devices you want to share, such as a Wi-Fi printer or a wireless Smart speaker, and block access to others, such as baby cameras and thermostats.
- PARENTAL CONTROLS: get back family time! Manage the Type of content that each device or person can access. Approve or block specific websites per device or profile for an extra layer of protection. Schedule an internet freeze, give a time out to a specific device or person and monitor their levels of internet usage.
- FASTEST TRI-BAND TECHNOLOGY: unlike other tri-band systems with static, dedicated backhaul links that limit client speeds near the router, Plume dynamically auto-selects best backhaul Link for maximum speeds everywhere.
- EASY,FAST SET UP: Set up Plume through your smartphone within minutes. It works with your existing internet service provider & modem and plugs straight into the wall. No more messy cables.
- BEST RATED WIFI APP: The Plume App on iOS & Android gives you full visibility into your network. Run speed tests and get daily reports on how your network is performing. Monitor which devices are connected to your home Wi-Fi
Description
Plume is the only smart WiFi that adapts to your home environment. Cover every room with a better connection, control who can access your home WiFi when, and enjoy simple set-up in minutes. Single-network, secure guest access, advanced parental controls, content filtering, ad blocking. 24/7 support and unprecedented 5-year hardware warranty.Tri-band with 8 WiFi radio chains 4x4 MU-MIMO, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Beamforming, Band Steering, Client Steering, Dynamic Interference Mitigation, DFS. Available in the US only
I was running a dual band 1900AC router with 3 very large external antennae. This is a very powerful standard router that cost me $200 about one and a half years ago. I pay my ISP for a 60/5 Mbps throughput connection which I consistently get when wired directly to the modem (actually get about 70Mbps on the downstream). I have a 2 story home that is roughly 3700 sqft and the modem and old router were placed in the basement centered in the middle of the home. The basement averaged 35-40 Mbps consistently (in each of the 5 room that makeup the basement) but on the main level on the edges of the home (where we stream TV content on TVs) I only received 10-15 Mbps throughput. We had random buffering when streaming 1080p content on PLEX, Netflix and DirecTV Now. At times programs were not watchable without the resolution being dropped to 720/480.
Today I installed 3 Plume Superpods (SP). One directly next to my modem in the basement centralized in the home. The other two SPs on the main level, evenly separated about 25 feet on each side of where the modem/main SP is located but on the floor above (main floor, not basement). Every corner of my home is registering 70/5-6Mbps throughput. Zero buffering when streaming, everything loads fast and crisp. Full 1080p streams consistently with no issues! Solved the WiFi dead areas 100%.
This is an excellent product, expensive... but it does what it claims!
I love the built in parental controls and ability to filter out adult content as well. Keeps my kids safe online.
Plume has risen to the occasion and added a new privacy toggle that protects your internet activity from scrutiny. This setting can be toggled on in the AI security tab if you are anxious about your browsing activity being used.
I’ve purchased a set for my place and a set for a family member and both setups work very well. In our home we have gigabit fiber internet and the Plume SuperPods have truly helped us tap into the potential of this high speed connection. Downstream and upstream speeds are way better than the previous Wi-Fi router we had.
The app is mostly intuitive to use. My only hope is that Plume develops a web interface to manage the network as the app is currently just for iOS. I’d also like to see Plume make an iOS version of their app for iPad.
If you are the designated tech person for your family, Plume makes it very easy to toggle between different Plume Wi-Fi networks you may have set up in different locations.
When you look at the price of Plume with the unlimited membership, it’s roughly the same price as other mesh network systems but you get a proactive support group that does seem to know their stuff and actively reaches out to you when a network issue is detected.
Internet speed increased. Our older home has heavy concrete construction which blocks the wi-fi from filtering smoothly throughout rooms. No more waiting and waiting in the front of our condo or the very back! Installation is easy peasy, done in 5 mins. Plume App works perfectly on iPhone. Now we can watch Amazon Prime movies in the living room with our Apple TV box and they actually stream smoothly. I want to buy one of these for my daughter so she can give the kids their own wireless and turn it off at night to control their wi-fi use. When I get to understanding how that works, I will update this review. Would've given 5 stars but the items arrived looking like it was driven over by a DHL truck. All products were ok inside... but the box was torn, taped, bent, and covered with bright yellow DHL tape. Love being able to work without wi-fi disruption all the time. Thank You Plume!
Me and my wife just bought our first house.
Its a split level with most of the bedrooms on the bottom floor. My office is at the far end on the bottom floor (WHICH IS ALSO WHERE OUR GIGABIT INTERNET MODEM IS LOCATED). The master bedroom is on the second floor, opposite end of the house.
Our wifi signal sucked in our house. The first floor reached speeds around 850-975 Mbps.
On the second floor the speeds cut in half.
In the master bedroom.... we on average saw speeds of 2-10 Mbps. Often times lower than that, to the point where we recieved no service at all. It was insane.
So i bought the plume, over the eeros because i read reviews on multiple sites and everyone said the plume has better features and is easier to deal with. And it also works with 5ghz and gigabit internet.
Well, i plugged it in, gave the new wifi a name, plugged a superpod in our bedroom. And within minutes our speeds went from 8Mbps to 730Mbps.... it took no high tech knowledge, just plugin and let it work.
Im super pumped about this thing because we were suffering lmao.
After 2 years of complete frustration using Linksys Velop Mesh system, I decided that they would be perfect as paperweight, pretty much the only purpose I can think of. I have a full review available on my profile with lot of details around the unreliability of the system.
Anyway, after reading multiple reviews on Amazon and online, I decided to give home Mesh network another try with Plume.
So far, Plume was able to address all the main issues I was facing with Velop, the system is highly reliable, scalable and the mobile app is awesome, just the fact that it works makes it a HUGE upgrade from the Velop paperweight.
I don't have any routing issue anymore between devices on the network, Using Roku, Hue lights and other connected devices work as a charm.
THe packet drop I have experienced for 2 years just disappeared as soon as I installed Plume.
Within 24 hours after install, you get a notification that the backend system is analyzing the traffic and configuration and is improving the system. This really works well as the system just gets more reliable as time goes.
I am very happy about this product and will update this review if anything changes.
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