Vilo’s new mesh router system costs just $20 per node, replacing premium Wi-Fi technologies with something a little older but a whole lot less expensive.
Vilo might not be a familiar name in home networking, but at $20 per node, its new Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi System is the lowest-priced kit we’ve ever seen. Is there a catch? A small one: Vilo’s dual-band (2.4- and 5GHz) system is based on older Wi-Fi 5 (aka 802.11ac) technology that first came to market in 2013, and not the newer (and much faster) Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6e. Both Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6e are based on 802.11ax technology, but the latter delivers even more bandwidth by tapping additional radio spectrum in the less-congested 6GHz range. Vilo is betting that instead of investing a lot of money in state-of-the-art hardware at a premium cost, a lot of people will settle for something that’s a lot better than what they have for a lot less cash: $20 ($27.98 with shipping) for a router rated to cover 1,500 square feet, and $20 ($27.
