After more than five long years with my eero (first generation), I finally got around to upgrade it to eero Pro 6 which supports wi-fi 6.

I got the 3-pack eero Pro 6 for US$389 (S$535) as there was a discount a few weeks back. If not, the usual price is US$599 (S$823). Since eero doesn’t ship to Singapore directly, you must go through a freight forwarder. In my case, I am using my usual HopShopGo. Shipping to Singapore is an additional US$55 (S$76), which excludes the 7% GST you have to pay since the item and shipping exceeds S$400 in value.

Unboxing
eero Pro 6 is much bigger than I expected it to be. It is easily two times the size of the first generation eero.

eero Pro 6 - Box Front
eero Pro 6 – Box Front
eero Pro 6 - Box Back
eero Pro 6 – Box Back
eero Pro 6 - Box
eero Pro 6 – Box
eero Pro 6 - Box Open
eero Pro 6 – Box Open

The 3-pack eero Pro 6 comes with three eero Pro 6, three power adapters, and one cat 5e LAN cable, which I forgot to take a picture of.

eero Pro 6 - Box Contents
eero Pro 6 – Box Contents

Design
The first generation eero is on wi-fi 5, dual-band, 1.1 GHz dual-core processor, and 512MB RAM. eero Pro 6 gives you wi-fi 6, tri-band (two 5 GHz, one 2.4 GHz), Zigbee Smart Home Hub, 1.4 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and 4GB flash storage.

In deciding between eero Pro 6 and eero Pro 6E, I opted for the former because I don’t have any devices that support 6 GHz yet. At the expense of the 6 GHz, eero Pro 6E tri-band only has one 2.4 GHz and one 5.0 GHz. It is also not guaranteed that the eero Pro 6E will use the 6 GHz as the wireless backhaul between the nodes.

The two 5 5GHz bands in eero Pro 6 is the most important feature to me as I will need one of the 5 GHz band for wireless backhaul and that is the primary reason I chose the eero Pro 6 over the eero Pro 6E.

eero Pro 6 - Top
eero Pro 6 – Top

Besides being bigger and heavier, the design language is essentially the same between eero Pro 6 and the first-generation eero. It is in a glossy white finish with a rubberized base.

eero Pro 6 - Bottom
eero Pro 6 – Bottom

Two auto-sensing gigabit ports are at the back together, with one USB-C port for power in the middle.

eero Pro 6 - Back
eero Pro 6 – Back

The power rating also has been increased for eero 6 Pro. For the first generation eero, you get 18W. For eero Pro 6, you are getting 27W.

eero Pro 6 - Power Adapter
eero Pro 6 – Power Adapter

Relacing Existing eero Devices
Upgrading existing eero devices to newer eero devices is also straightforward.

eero iOS App - Add or Replace eero Devices
eero iOS App – Add or Replace eero Devices

You have to click the plus sign in the app, choose Replace eero device and indicate which eero device you are replacing.

eero iOS App - Replace Or Add eero Device
eero iOS App – Replace Or Add eero Device
eero iOS App - Which eero Device Are You Replacing?
eero iOS App – Which eero Device Are You Replacing?

After this step, unplug your old eero device and plug in the newer eero device.

eero iOS App - Unplug Old eero Device
eero iOS App – Unplug Old eero Device
eero iOS App - Plug New eero Device
eero iOS App – Plug New eero Device
eero iOS App - Looking For eero Devices
eero iOS App – Looking For eero Devices
eero iOS App - Setting Up Your eero Pro 6
eero iOS App – Setting Up Your eero Pro 6

That is it.

eero iOS App - Home
eero iOS App – Home

I am still keeping the eero Beacon for my Kitchen because there is a blindspot area.

As for the eero Pro in Penguin Room, I am leaving it there for now since it uses a wired backhaul.

Speed – Wired Backhaul
So if you are wondering, is there any speed difference between wi-fi 5 and wi-fi 6? Yes, there is a 100 Mbps to 200 Mbps wireless speed difference.

Tests are done using my iPhone 13 Pro Max.

iPhone 13 Pro Max - Wired Backhaul - Wi-Fi 5
iPhone 13 Pro Max – Wired Backhaul – Wi-Fi 5
iPhone 13 Pro Max - Wired Backhaul - Wi-Fi 6
iPhone 13 Pro Max – Wired Backhaul – Wi-Fi 6
Wired Backhaul Type Download Speed Upload Speed
eero (1st Generation) 506 Mbps 474 Mbps
eero Pro 6 711 Mbps 603 Mbps

Speed – Wireless Backhaul

iPhone 13 Pro Max - Wireless Backhaul - Wi-Fi 5
iPhone 13 Pro Max – Wireless Backhaul – Wi-Fi 5
iPhone 13 Pro Max - Wireless Backhaul - Wi-Fi 6
iPhone 13 Pro Max – Wireless Backhaul – Wi-Fi 6
Wireless Backhaul Type Download Speed Upload Speed
eero (1st Generation) 211 Mbps 184 Mbps
eero Pro 6 437 Mbps 602 Mbps

Conclusion
The speed difference is more significant than I expected since my Internet connection maxed 1 Gbps. A wireless speed above 700 Mbps is good enough for me.

You might not necessarily feel the speed difference if you randomly surf the Internet or check out Instagram/TikTok on your phones. But you will feel the difference when consuming more bandwidth-intensive content like streaming 4K content on Netflix/YouTube/Disney+ or having multiple Zoom calls within your household.

So if you are still on wi-fi 5 after all these years, it is time for you to upgrade your routers.

eero Pro 6
eero Pro 6