Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsI loved my eero system, until I didn't. Their business practices lost my business.
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2022
(Edit to add: I purchased the one Router + 2 extender unit package, despite this review verifying my purchase of only the one router.)
(TLDR: The hardware has functioned well enough while I've had it. The problem is the software aspect, and the "support" I've received. I haven't had any kind of contact from the support team for 3 weeks despite numerous attempts. Their software has a paywall on features that are prominently user-controlled when using competitor systems, and they greedily removed the "basic" service package that included those features, bumping the annual fee up to something that costs more than 3x as much.)
Pros:
- While I understand this isn't actually as common as it should be, I personally had very little trouble with the reliability of my Mesh network.
- For $30 a year, I had passive ad filtration at a network level, without having to install extensions on each device and/or browser used on that network.
- As another part of the $30 a year I could see what devices were using data, how much, and how many threats were blocked per device. I monitored weekly data usage as a whole, all from a phone app.
- Setup was quick and easy via the aforementioned app.
Cons:
- The phone app is the ONLY way to monitor and control your network. You cannot use a conventional computer's browser or any other "standard" method to control your network.
- The "live" network monitoring was kind of a joke. The list of active devices would often include things that had been disconnected from the network for half an hour or more.
- The actual business side of eero decided to try to price gouge their existing customers in a way that was predatory. $100 a year for a lot of frills I had no interest in.
I paid for a year's subscription to Eero Secure in the middle of July. At 10 PM on October 12th, I received an email explaining that to "simplify" things, they were doing away with the Eero Secure subscription. Instead, they are forcing everyone to use "Secure+" to access those network security features, which costs more than three times the amount I'd been paying but provides no meaningful added benefit. (There's a bunch of frivolous "perks" like access to Malwarebytes and a feature for bumping from landline internet source to cell phone internet when there's an outage... neither of which I need.) It's worth noting that they "generously" were going to give me a "50% discount" on that unnecessary upgrade, so they intended to only gouge me for an additional $20 to allow me to continue to receive the services I planned on for a year, and only got to keep for just over three months.
This was completely out of the blue. There was very little warning, (the base package will be terminated on November 15th) and I'm angry that I'm now out a few hundred dollars to go buy the Mesh system I have realized that I should've purchased from the start... all so that I can have the administrative control of my network security that I really shouldn't have had to pay for in the first place. (I still went for it because the service also includes a passive ad filtration system that removes banners and the like from websites a la ad blockers, but without having to have the extensions installed.)
I haven't seen any communication about a refund for my one-year subscription that I planned my network security around, and I regret not listening to my friends when they said that the hardware's software side was fishy.
I'm moving on. Don't make the same mistake I did, especially in light of all the other feedback I've seen from others describing a much less reliable Mesh network than I had personally experienced.
All things considered... if you're willing to risk buying a system where you will never see timely communication from the software provider, despite the fact that their software is the controlling component of your network, and you also don't care if they arbitrarily hike your annual subscription pricing more than +200% when they feel like it, this is DEFINITELY the hardware for you. I also recommend you not make any important financial or business decisions, if that's the case.
Have a nice day.
