Amber Neely
The Amazon-owned Eero HomeKit router system is now available to purchase directly through Apple's online store, though units there are not expected to ship until mid-June.
In February, Eero received an update that made it HomeKit compliant, making it the first mesh router to support Apple's smart home platform.
With HomeKit support, users can restrict communication for smart home devices to only communicate in the home, to the default connections recommended by the manufacturer, or no restriction whatsoever. With smart home devices controlling everything from our lights to our locks, knowing that they are prevented from sending data outside your abode can offer a great deal of peace of mind.
Apple is now selling several Eero products, including the Eero Mesh WiFi System for $249.95 on the Apple Store. It covers up to 5,000 square feet, making it perfect for covering larger homes and even outdoor spaces.
The Apple Store listing highlights that Eero can be set up in less than 10 minutes and controlled by the Eero app from anywhere. Additionally, TrueMesh technology allows Eero to route traffic to avoid congestion, buffering, and drop-offs.
The downside is that Eero WiFi Mesh systems currently won't ship from the Apple Store until June, with deliveries not expected to arrive until June 12 at the earliest, or as late as June 29 for some customers.
Additionally, Apple is selling standalone Eero Pro Mesh WiFi Routers for $199.95, which is available for immediate shipping.
However, Eero is also obviously available on Amazon. Those who have Amazon Prime can get Eero as early as Friday. If purchased through Amazon, Eero is also comes with a free Echo Dot, and is priced at $249.00.
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11 Comments
I would love to see a router that could function as a Homekit hub. Right now I'm using an old iPad for that -- but I have to be careful to keep it charged. And, I simply can't justify buying an AppleTV or HomePod simply so they could serve as a hub. A router would be ideal
The same Eero that was bought by Amazon? No thanks.
I am still baffled by Apple’s exodus from the router market, just as HomeKit becomes a thing. Having an Apple device at the heart of HomeKit should be the height of that security “peace of mind” that Apple customers want.
To enable consistent telework activity from locations throughout the house, I recently spent many hours trying to get a top-of-the-line Netgear range extender to supplement my AirPort Time Capsule router. It was an abject failure. Even a swapped-out replacement Netgear device ultimately wouldn’t broadcast a signal better than 10 MB/s. Seriously, it was inexplicably horrible. Netgear claimed its device would work with all routers, and advertised a simple setup procedure. Their setup app was glitchy and confusing, and their non-app browser-based setup interface wasn’t much better. Both the original device and its second-try replacement would take a good five or six minutes just to boot up to even start the process, and it would go downhill from there.
To the rescue was a friend’s surplussed AirPort Extreme router. About three minutes after plugging it in, I was up and running with an extension of my existing network, with the same high-bandwidth SSID connection throughout the house. Without a hitch, devices that would benefit from it automatically migrated over to the second router. It was the quintessential “it just works” Apple experience. Why they’ve abandoned that to third-party manufacturers, I do not know. I’ll be sticking with this set up as long as it keeps working and hope that Apple will eventually reconsider their decision.