Linksys Atlas 6 review: A fuss-free, affordable mesh networking system that works

Note: This review was first published on 15 May 2023.

Gotta mesh it

Do you remember what a Wi-Fi repeater is? It’s a device that we used to use to help expand Wi-Fi coverage in the house. Looking back, it’s quite shocking how compromised it was. Not only was it not very good at expanding coverage, but it also greatly increased latency and reduced speeds. And in that context, the mesh networking system must be one of the greatest inventions of modern home networking. Without it, many of us would still be screaming about poor Wi-Fi in the bedroom. And if you happen to be looking for an affordable mesh networking system, you are in luck because there’s the Linksys Atlas 6 for your consideration.

The TL;DR version:



A solid entry-level mesh networking system for anyone who's looking to increase Wi-Fi coverage at home.

What is an Atlas 6?

The Atlas 6 is Linksys’ most affordable mesh networking system with specs that are less headline-grabbing and more everyday-usable. To start, it’s a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 system that supports speeds of up to 574Mbps on its 2.4GHz network and up to 2,402Mbps on its 5GHz network. It’s by no means the fastest mesh networking system in the market but its rated speeds will be more than sufficient for everyday web browsing and video streaming.

In keeping with the design language that Linksys started with its Velop mesh networking units back in 2017, the Atlas 6 has a fairly plain aesthetic. It won’t be wrong to just call it a small white tower. Some will regard it as boring but the upside is that it won’t look visually obtrusive in most homes. 

Though it’s fairly compact – just over 18cm tall and 8.6cm wide at the base – Linksys has managed to cram four Gigabit Ethernet ports. One serves as a WAN port for connecting to your optical modem or LAN port for backhaul, and another three that you can use to connect to devices like a gaming console, Apple TV 4K, or a NAS device. These four ports widen the Atlas 6’s functionality around the home. 

Setup & features

Where the Atlas 6 really excels is in its ease of use. Like most mesh networking systems, setting up the Atlas 6 was a breeze. Simply connect the Atlas to your optical modem, download the Linksys app onto your device (iOS or Android), and follow the on-screen instructions to set up the main router and then additional nodes. If everything goes smoothly, you could easily get it up and running in around 10 to 15 minutes.

However, this does mean you need an iOS or Android device to get the Atlas 6 up and running, you cannot do it with a PC or Mac.

One noteworthy thing about the Atlas 6 is that all of the units are identical, this makes the setup process slightly easier since there’s no need to concern yourself between a main router and satellite nodes. Adding nodes to the network is a straightforward process. Again, you open the app and simply follow the on-screen instructions. I was able to add a second node to the network in just 5 minutes.

The app is clear, concise, and has the features that most users would need like parental controls, device prioritisation, guest networks, and port forwarding. The parental control feature, however, is a little restrictive in that you can only specify a single block of time to block access. In other words, you cannot block access in the afternoon, resume access in the evening, and then block access again at night. You must pick one block of time a day.

Performance analysis

To test the Linksys Atlas 6 mesh networking system, we are using our standard test setup that consists of two notebooks – one acting as a host machine and another as a client device. The router acts as a gateway. For systems where manual settings are possible, a channel bandwidth of 160MHz is selected.

The Wi-Fi client device we are using is the ASUS ZenBook UX425, which supports Wi-Fi 6 via an Intel AX201 wireless card.

Performance will be measured by calculating the speed achieved when transferring a 1GB zip file. We will do multiple tests at different distances to simulate use around a typical 5-room apartment.

The router was placed in the living room and we repeated the test from four locations in the flat, starting from the closest to the router and then to the farthest.

Here are the locations and the rough ranges that they represent:

• Living room (2 metres, clear line of sight)
• Bedroom 1 (5 metres, behind closed door)
• Master Bedroom (12 metres, behind a closed door)
• Master Bathroom (12 metres, behind two closed doors)

The tests were then repeated with the Atlas 6 in a mesh configuration. In this configuration, the second node was placed somewhere near the middle of the house and within the line of sight of the first router.

To give the results some context, it’s important to know that the results of the Atlas 6 is being measured against flagship-class tri-band mesh networking systems. The ASUS ZenWiFi XT8, for example, is a tri-band AX6000-class system and so is the Orbi RBK853. These systems are not only faster, but they also have more antennas, which should translate to greater range and coverage.

Single node performance

Despite being comprehensively outgunned on paper, the Atlas 6’s single-node performance was quite good. Download speeds at closer ranges were competitive but they tapered off significantly once we moved further away. Upload speeds were a little more disappointing. While it was quite strong at a close range, it fell rapidly once we moved away.

Mesh performance

When used as a mesh networking system, we can see a noticeable boost in performance. In the master bedroom, for example, download speeds increased from around 60Mbps to 230Mbps, whereas upload speeds were boosted from a mere 20Mbps to around 140Mbps. That said, the mesh performance of the tri-band systems was clearly better because of the additional network band that can be used for backhaul transmission.

Conclusion

At S$389 for a pack of two, I’m hesitant to call the Linksys Atlas 6 cheap, but it is the most accessible mesh networking system in Linksys’ lineup and it’s priced competitively against other mesh networking systems with similar specs. More importantly, it offers decent performance, ease of use, and features that most users would need and want. All things considered, this is a good choice for anyone who’s looking for a solid entry-level mesh networking system to expand Wi-Fi coverage at home. 

A Linksys Atlas 6 in a pack of two is S$389 and you can find it on Lazada, Shopee, and Challenger.

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