Tenda Nova MW6 review 2024: provides respectable speeds

The new Nova MW6 mesh networking system from Tenda may have trouble competing with industry heavyweights like Google, Netgear, and even BT’s own Whole House Wi-Fi in the UK due to the company’s lack of brand recognition. That isn’t the quickest or most feature-rich mesh system we’ve seen. Yet, it still offers speeds that are respectable for household use, as well as strong range and reliability and a reasonable pricing.

The simple, quick, and clean setup and tidy cube design should also be appealing to home users. It’s important to keep in mind that the Nova, like most mesh systems, does not come with a modem for Internet access, so you’ll still need to connect it to the modem or router that already supplies your broadband connection.

Tenda Nova MW6 specifcations

Tenda Nova MW6 review: Design

The white Tenda Nova MW6 units are cube-shaped and measure 3.9 inches on a side. This is about half the size of the Deco M3’s router tower but much smaller than the Netgear Orbi RBK852 family. In other words, they should be easy to hide no matter how your room looks.

Each Nova cube has a cutout for cords and inserts on the bottom, so it’s ready to hang on the wall without any extra tools from a third party. You can also put them under a desk or shelf. The Tenda Nova MW6 units only have vents on the bottom because they cool themselves. After a week of heavy use, they were warm to the touch but not hot. In the top front corner of each Nova unit is a small LED. You can buy this wifi from its official website.

Tenda Nova MW6 review: Design

The routers’ white, cube-shaped design is different from what most routers look like, which are usually big and bulky. Each side of the three little cubes is only 105mm, so you can easily put them on a shelf or window sill in different rooms of your home. Each mesh point also has two Gigabit Ethernet ports for wired connections, as well as 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking (although the first mesh point will need to use one of those ports to connect to your existing modem or router of course).

But the Nova’s low price means that it has to give up a few things. The routers feel cheap and cheerful because they are made of white plastic. They don’t look very strong either, so you might want to keep them away from small children who might think they look like over-sized Lego bricks.

Tenda Nova MW6 review: Performance

The small Tenda Nova M6W cubes can create a powerful mesh network on a budget, but the two-pack I looked at wasn’t enough to cover my 3,500 square foot home with data. It left a few places on the edges without a Wi-Fi signal, and a third node probably would have helped.

Using my Samsung Galaxy Book Pro as the receiving system, I set up a network and used the Ixia IxChariot networking benchmark to build a busy network with 10 data-hungry users in my 100-year-old home. During the testing phase, the Tenda Nova M6W’s throughput tests turned up average cores that were often a long way behind the best. On the other hand, it worked well and should be fine for people who have a 100Mbps broadband connection.

Tenda Nova MW6 review: Configuration

With a bundle of three identical routers (called “mesh points” by Tenda) costing around £175/US$199, the Nova MW6 is one of the most reasonably priced mesh networking systems we’ve seen. The manufacturer claims that this three-piece system is suitable for homes up to 6,000 square feet in size.

Unfortunately, Tenda does not provide a two-router kit, which would be more practical and economical for many studio and one-bedroom residences. The tested BT Whole House Wi-Fi system has many advantages, including the option to buy a two-pack for £149.99 or a single router for £99.99.

Tenda Nova MW6 review: Final Words

The inexpensive price of the Tenda Nova MW6 is perhaps the most enticing characteristic it possesses; in comparison, the BT Whole House Wi-Fi kit, which costs roughly the same amount, can only serve as an extender.

The Tenda is the most cost-effective choice for a mesh system that can totally replace an underperforming router if you are seeking for a system that can do this. Take into consideration, however, that other options will provide you with a more robust feature set and higher performance levels.

Tenda Nova MW6 review: the good the bad

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