Askey AP5100W mesh Wi-Fi system review: Chic but is it any good?

Note: This article was first published on 3 December 2018 and is republished now because the mesh networking system is still offered by Singtel.

What’s an Askey AP5100W?

It is a dual-band Wi-Fi mesh networking system that comes in a pack of two and is currently offered by Singtel to its fiber broadband customers for $10 per month. For folks with larger homes, additional nodes can be had for an additional $5 per month per node.

Er, wait, what is mesh networking?

Jeez, where have you been hiding? "Mesh networking" is the hottest buzzword in networking right now. To put it briefly, it refers to a wireless system where multiple nodes contribute to spreading Wi-Fi across an area and uses the same Wi-Fi network name (SSID). This is particularly useful in solving the problems of Wi-Fi dead spots in homes. You know what? You should read our mesh networking guide before you continue reading this review to ensure you're familiar with the basics.

So how does affect Singtel’s WiFi Mesh lineup? Isn’t there the AirTies 4920 which also costs $10 per month?

What’s going to happen is this: The Askey AP5100W is going to be positioned as the main model at the $10 per month price point, while the AirTies 4920 is going to be continued to be offered for folks who, for whatever reasons, prefer the AirTies over the Askey, or are expanding their existing AirTies mesh network.

How does this compare to the AirTies 4920 then?

The Askey AP5100W offers greater overall throughput than the AirTies but the difference is slight and mostly negligible. Data transfer rates over 5GHz are the same at 1,300Mbps but the Askey AP5100W offers faster 2.4GHz throughput of 450Mbps. The AirTies 4920 manages 300Mbps. But given that most modern devices support 802.11ac, the faster 2.4GHz throughput of the Askey isn’t all that significant.

The main difference between the two lies in their designs and perhaps performance (we will find out later). The Askey AP5100W is meant to offer folks who prefer something white that might match their home decor more appropriately. The AirTies 4920, which comes in black, looks more business-like and less like a lifestyle product.

How does it look?

Pretty good, actually. Compared to the AirTies 4920, the Askey AP5100W looks more approachable and stylish. The black of the AirTies 4920 certainly makes it look and feel more business-like and less casual and welcoming. The Askey AP5100W, on the other hand, looks like it could blend in homes more easily. In terms of dimensions, the Askey is considerable larger but still compact enough that I think finding a suitable place to position it shouldn't be a problem.

I bet it has next to no ports.

You would be right. The only ports on the Askey AP5100W are two Gigabit Ethernet ports. You can use these ports to connect to a wired client device like a NAS, set-top box, or media streamer. And if you already have a LAN network in place, the Gigabit Ethernet ports can also be used for backhaul transmissions. The Askey AP5100W does not have any USB ports.

Is it easy to setup?

Like most mesh networking systems, the Askey AP5100W is a breeze to set up. Simply power it up, plug it to your modem, download the Askey app on your mobile device, and then follow on the onscreen instructions and you will have your Wi-Fi network up in just a couple of minutes.

Adding additional nodes to the network is a bit tedious because Askey asks you to put new nodes next to established nodes for the initial pairing process before positioning where you might want it to be. Fortunately, LED indicators on the units make it easy for users to quickly see if they have placed additional nodes in an optimal position. What you want is for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz indicators on the device to glow green. If any of the indicators glows red then it is out of range and performance won’t be optimal.

Mesh networking systems are usually short on networking features, what does this have?

The Askey AP5100W doesn’t offer much on the features front. You can manage your SSID name and Wi-Fi password, create guest Wi-Fi networks, test your network performance, and create parental controls settings. That’s all there is. The parental controls setting is basic and has some serious limitations. You can create schedules to restrict Internet access to specific devices but these are in fixed two-hour blocks. In other words, you can block access to the Internet from, say, 8pm to 10pm, but you can’t block access from 9pm to 10pm. It has to be within one of the predefined two-hour blocks beginning from midnight to 2am and ending at 10pm and midnight.

More importantly, the thing to note here is that advanced settings such as port forwarding, dynamic DNS, private VPNs, and the like are all missing. If these features are important to you, you might want to stick to a traditional kind of router and use the Askey as a supplementary system to provide additional Wi-Fi coverage.

So, how does it perform?

The Askey AP5100W’s performance was actually quite remarkable. At close ranges, it was the fastest the mesh networking system by a fair margin, beating even the Netgear Orbi. Its mesh performance was also very respectable, easily matching comparable mesh networking systems like the Samsung Connect Home Pro. It was even about as fast as the TP-Link Deco M9 and Linksys Velop which are supposed to be more powerful and faster since they are tri-band systems.

For the rest of you who like to pore over graphs, here they are. But first, a quick run through of our test setup.

Test Setup

To test this new breed of mesh networking systems, we've changed our test environment, but our test setup remains relatively unchanged. We have two notebooks, one acting as a host machine and the other as a client device. The router, or in this case, node, acts as a gateway. Since mesh networking systems typically manage channel settings on their own, we will leave it that way. For systems where manual settings are possible, a channel bandwidth of 40MHz is selected where applicable, while 80MHz or more is used for the 5GHz AC band.

The client device is a 2015 13-inch MacBook Pro, which is one of the few client devices in the market to come with a 3x3 Wi-Fi receiver, allowing it to achieve wireless speeds of up to 1,300Mbps.

To evaluate, we will be measuring the time and calculating the speed achieved when transferring a 1GB zip file. We will do multiple tests with different setups and different distances to simulate use around a typical single story flat and in a multi-story home.

Here are the test distances we used and what they represent:

• 2m - Right beside the router
• 5m - In an adjacent room
• 10m - In a room that is farther away
• 15m - To simulate extreme distances (e.g. master bedroom toilet)
• Second story - One floor above
• Third story - Two floors above

Here are the different Askey AP5100W configurations that we used:

• A single Askey AP5100W router
• Two Askey AP5100W routers over a single floor
• Two Askey AP5100W routers over two floors

To further clarify, in tests where nodes were placed on the second or third floor, the measurement would be taken with the client device about two meters away from the node. Finally, included in the graphs are results of other mesh networking systems including the AirTies 4920, TP-Link Deco M9 and M5, Samsung Connect Home Pro, Google Wifi, Linksys Velop, and Netgear Orbi.

Single node performance

In this test, we will be looking at the performance of a single Askey AP5100W router in a single-story (using the different distance markers) and multi-story home. All other competitive mesh networking system results are also that of a single node setup.

The performance of a single Askey AP5100W was actually quite impressive. It recorded the highest download and upload speeds I have ever seen from a mesh networking system at 2 and 5 meters. Even at 10 meters, its performance was still remarkable as it was the only router to manage download speeds of above 300Mbps. At 10 meters, it was a whopping 29% faster than the second-placed AirTies 4920. However, at 10 meters, the Askey’s upload performance dropped dramatically. At 5 meters, it managed an incredible upload speed of 453.26Mbps but at 10 meters that fell to just 113.20Mbps. And finally, despite its strong showing at closer ranges, we didn’t manage to get any meaningful signal at 15 meters or from the second and third floor.

Mesh performance at 15 meters

In this test, we placed a second Askey AP5100W router in between the first node and the 15-meter mark to create a mesh network to get signal to the problematic 15-meter mark. We did the same for other mesh networks to see how their performance would compare.

Mesh performance at 15 meters was very respectable. The Linksys Velop and Netgear Orbi were the clear leaders here but the Askey AP5100W was not that far behind. More importantly, it recorded significantly better performance than the AirTies 4920.

Mesh performance on 2nd floor

In this test, we placed a second Askey AP5100W router on the second floor and created a mesh network to expand Wi-Fi coverage on the second floor. We did the same for the other mesh networks to see how their performance would compare.

With a node on the second floor to bridge the distance between our client device and the main router on the first floor, we got pretty decent results. The Netgear Orbi was the runaway leader, but the Askey AP5100W put up numbers that were comparable to other mesh networking systems like the TP-Link Deco M9 and Samsung Connect Home Pro.

Mesh performance on 3rd floor

Typically, we would place a third router on the third floor for this test, but since the Askey AP5100W is offered mainly as a two-pack, the results that you see here are from the client device on the third floor connecting to the mesh networking node on the second floor in the test we did earlier.

While the some of the other systems had a third router on the third floor, I was still connecting to the Askey AP5100W router on the second floor for this test since the Askey is offered as a pack of two. Despite this, I still managed pretty remarkable numbers. Again, the Netgear Orbi was the runaway leader but the Askey system managed to outperform the AirTies 4920 by a considerable margin and was more than a match for the Linksys Velop and Samsung Connect Home Pro.

Final Thoughts?

All told, the Askey AP5100W is a decent mesh networking system but with one serious flaw. It is affordable, easy to set up, and its general networking performance is quite remarkable. The Askey AP5100W acquitted itself well even in the face of more powerful (on paper) mesh networking systems like the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus and Linksys Velop.

The problem with the Askey AP5100W, however, is that it is lacking in terms of networking features. At a time where mesh networking systems like the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus, Linksys Velop, and even the dead-simple Google Wifi are adding advanced features to their mesh networking solutions, the Askey AP5100W’s feature set leaves it looking painfully bare.

As a result, I can only recommend the Askey AP5100W if a) you have no requirements for advanced networking features or b) if you are looking for an additional system to supplement your primary traditional router to increase Wi-Fi coverage to problematic areas in your home. Apart from that, its raw networking performance is commendable for its price point.

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Editor's note: Other than Singtel, Whizcomms is another local fiber broadband provider that's offering the AP5100W to its subscribers.

This article was first published on Sep 7, 2018.

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