Tenda Nova MW12 in the test: Mesh system at an attractive price
Source: Hardware Luxx added 19th Dec 2020
Page 1: Tenda Nova MW 12 in the test: Mesh system at an attractive price
In the mesh network hardware sector, Tenda is unlikely to be a household name for many, even though the company has been active as such for some time. In the past few months there has been more attention in this country – especially with regard to cheap, yet fast mesh hardware. One wants to have left the established providers behind. We have the Tenda Nova MW 11 looked more closely as a beginner’s solution.
Tenda is in the year 2012 partnered with Broadcom and has become a key partner in China. The company has been using Broadcom’s chipsets since then and wants to be able to guarantee a certain degree of compatibility and performance. In addition to the mesh products, routers, switches and much more in the area of network hardware are also available.
The Nova MW 12 with its three stations covers an area of 500 m² from. The set consisting of three stations can be extended to 12 Mesh node can be expanded and then covers up to 2. 000 m² from. With the help of the Tenda WiFi app, the stations can be managed and, if required, a guest network can be set up or a child lock can be activated.
Now we come to the Nova MW 12 or to the technical data of the mesh system:
| Model | Tenda Nova MW 12 | |||||
| Street price | from 220 Euro | |||||
| Homepage | www.tendacn.com/de | |||||
| Technical specifications | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet | Dynamic IP, Static I. P | |||||
| LAN | 2x Gigabit Ethernet 1x WAN |
|||||
| Telephony | – | |||||
| WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS | IEEE 802. 11 a / b / g / n / ac tri-band WiFi 1x 2.4 GHz: up to 300 Mbit / s 1x 5 GHz: up to 867 Mbit / s 1x 5 GHz: up to 867 Mbit / s (backhaul for the mesh)
The starter set consists of three meshes 11 – stations that are all identical. Depending on which node is integrated first, this is the gateway or the central element of the mesh network and is also connected to the rest of the network or the router via Ethernet. The system automatically detects what type of Internet connection it is – for example, whether an IP is assigned dynamically or if this is done manually. At this mesh node, Two more Gigabit Ethernet connections are available, as the third is used as a WAN connection. Mesh nodes that are only integrated via WLAN therefore have three gigabit connections available. The WLAN is according to 802. 11 ac compatible, but can of course also integrate clients with older standards. The 2.4 GHz network is 300 Mbit / s possible, for 5 GHz networks it should be 802 Mbit / s. Of course, we’ve seen faster network hardware here – at least on paper. WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK are supported in terms of encryption. Each station has an SoC with 900 MHz and 220 MB DDR3- RAM installed. This is to enable the network up to 100 Can process devices simultaneously in the network. In addition, the computing power is apparently necessary to control the MU-MIMO, QoS, and Beamforming +. The delivery includes the three mesh 18 stations, each with a power supply unit, an Ethernet cable and a brief instruction that can be helpful during commissioning.
The Mesh 12 – Stations are designed as cubes and have dimensions of exactly 100 x 100 x 100 mm. The mesh hardware is therefore quite compact, because we have also seen solutions that cannot be easily placed on a shelf or the like. Small and inconspicuous, this is how the design of the Nova MW 12 describe. The housings are also simply kept white. A Nova lettering and a light gray, grid-shaped imprint are everything that can be observed from the outside.
At one corner of each mesh station there is an LED that lights up green when everything is OK, while the integration flashes green and then shows with a yellow or red LED how good the reception quality is of the individual mesh nodes.
As a cube, the mesh nodes can in principle be set up in any orientation, but of course there is a bottom, because access to the connections must be granted somewhere. Here you can also see four padded feet, which allow the mesh station to set up non-slip and without scratches. Wall mounting is theoretically possible thanks to the two holes. The otherwise closed case offers some openings on the underside so that the hardware inside can also be cooled a bit.
The connections of each mesh node of the Tenda Nova MW are located on the underside 12. The power supply connection can be seen on the right. Next to it are the three Gigabit Ethernet ports, of which the one on the right can also serve as a WAN port. Wired devices can also be integrated into the network locally and at the installation site of the mesh nodes via the Ethernet connections. Commissioning of the Tenda Nova MW 12Mesh networks usually promise a simple set-up that the layman should be able to do without any problems . Often, however, problems arise that can have various causes. Tenda also promises a hassle-free setup that the app should help with. This is available for Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. In a first step, one of the mesh stations must be set up and supplied with the network and power. As soon as the LED lights up green, the user can connect to the factory-set WLAN. The necessary access data are on the underside of each mesh station. Then the setup takes place step by step. So the user chooses his own WLAN name and assigns his own password. The other mesh stations can then be integrated. For this purpose, these should first be set up in the immediate vicinity. When powered, they will automatically search for the primary node or gateway. The connection is established after 1-2 minutes and is confirmed with a green LED or in the app. The mesh stations can then be set up in the desired positions. A green LED then indicates that the connection is fast enough. A yellow LED indicates that the connection quality is not good and it would be better to put the nodes closer together. A red LED indicates that the node is not involved at all.
If you have given the nodes correct names, the app gives you a nice overview of your own network structure. Numbers on the nodes show how many devices are currently connected to it. A display for the downstream and upstream provides information about the load on the WAN connection. Additional detailed information can be called up for each individual node. The LED display can also be deactivated here if it is too bright or disturbs for other reasons. Firmware updates are also possible at this point. The WLAN settings (SSID and password) can be changed via the settings. A guest WLAN can also be set up here, if you don’t want to invite every user to your primary network. Applications can be prioritized and bandwidth limits set using QoS services. Parental controls allow groups with end devices to be defined that are only allowed to use the Internet at certain times. Some services are also blocked here. Of course there are also rudimentary functions such as port forwarding, a WPS assistant or the option of entering your own DNS server, the Tenda Nova MW 12 but does not offer the extensive possibilities of some other network hardware. This is also not absolutely necessary in this case, because not only should the setup be simple, but also no unnecessary functions should interfere with operation. Very few users in the private network go into the settings in depth. Set up, connect, start surfing – this is the premise with which most users of such mesh networks approach the topic and usually nothing more is needed. < > Tenda Nova MW 12 in the test: Mesh system at an attractive price
brands: 11 Apple Broadcom Element Google MW Nova other Street Tenda Unit media: Hardware Luxx keywords: Android App Apple Gigabit Google Internet IOS LAN Server WLAN Related postsNotice: Undefined variable: all_related in /var/www/vhosts/rondea.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/rondea-2-0/single-article.php on line 88 Notice: Undefined variable: all_related in /var/www/vhosts/rondea.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/rondea-2-0/single-article.php on line 88 Related ProductsNotice: Undefined variable: all_related in /var/www/vhosts/rondea.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/rondea-2-0/single-article.php on line 91 Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/vhosts/rondea.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/rondea-2-0/single-article.php on line 91 | |||||