Following the most premium max-performance eero Max 7, eero has expanded its Wi-Fi 7 portfolio with the new eero 7 and eero Pro 7 just launched this month in Singapore. You still get much of the same features as the eero Max 7, but at a much more affordable price point.
Like other eeros, the new eero 7 and eero Pro 7 are designed to be easy to setup and manage. Everything is done through the mobile app. There are no pre-designated ports for the broadband connection, and setting up a whole-home Wi-Fi mesh system is really easy, whether you connected them wirelessly or use a wired Ethernet connection.
Physically, the new eero Pro 7 looks like the eero Max 7, while the eero 7 looks like the eero 6E. Their key differences come down to the Wi-Fi radios and wired Ethernet ports. The following table gives you a quick summary of the eero Max 7, eero Pro 7, and eero 7.
| eero Max 7 | eero Pro 7 | eero 7 | |
| Wi-Fi Radio | Tri-band 2.4/5/6 GHz | Tri-band 2.4/5/6 GHz | Dual-band 2.4/5 GHz |
| Wired Ethernet | 2x 10 GbE, 2x 2.5 GbE | 2x 5 GbE | 2x 2.5 GbE |
| Max Supported Speed | Up to 4.3 Gbps Wi-Fi and 9.4 Gbps wired | Up to 3.9 Gbps Wi-Fi and 4.7 Gbps wired | Up to 1.8 Gbps Wi-Fi and 2.3 Gbps wired |
| Coverage Area | Up to 2,500 sq ft | Up to 2,000 sq ft | Up to 2,000 sq ft |
The eero 7 is the value pick between the two new models, but still offers a decent upgrade for most consumers by offering dual-band 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi 7 and 2x 2.5 GbE wired ports. The eero Pro 7, on the other hand, is the more capable all-rounder tri-band router that supports 2.4/5/6 GHz radio bands and 2x 5 GbE wired ports.
While the eero 7 lacks the 6 GHz radio band, it is otherwise as capable as the eero Pro 7 in terms of Wi-Fi capabilities, including support for the following features:
- Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which allows devices to connect and transmit data across multiple frequency bands and channels simultaneously, thus increasing speeds
- Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), which enhances network efficiency by dividing a wireless channel into smaller sub-channels, allowing multiple devices to transmit data simultaneously, thus incrasing capacity and lowering latency
- 4K-QAM, a new radio modulation technology that allows more data to be packed into each signal, thus improving data transmission speeds
- WPA3, the latest security protocol designed to protect Wi-Fi networks.
Everything you need to do with the eero, including setup, configuration, upgrade, and adding or replacing eero devices, is done through the eero mobile app which is available for Android and iOS. The app is really easy to use.
Adding a new eero device can be as simple as plugging it into the existing network using a wired connection. This will adopt the new eero device into your mesh system automatically. Adding new devices wirelessly isn’t that hard anyway, as you can see from the sequence of screenshots below.
The eero system supports TrueMesh, TrueRoam, and TrueChannel networking technologies, which as you may have guessed from the names, allows for optimal meshing setup, optimal roaming of your devices to the best available eero, and optimal selection of radio channels.
With cybersecurity threats all around us these days, I’m happy to see that eero devices are designed with best-in-class security in mind. Their devices support SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals) which protect traffic between eero devices, and automatically disable weak Wi-Fi features such as Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS). There is also Secure Boot, much like similar technologies on Windows and Mac devices, ensuring that software on the eero cannot be tampered.
Additional security features are available with the eero Plus subscription service. You can block content, apps, and specific sites. These can be applied on profiles (i.e. “kids”, “teens”), which are then associated with specific devices on your network. This gives you control over what your kids can access on the Internet, including the ability to differentiate between different kids. You can also block ads, and turn on Advanced Security to block sites with malicious content or viruses, botnets, phishing sites, and more.
The eero Plus subscription also gets you 3rd party services: Identity & Device Protection from Malwarebytes, password manager from 1Password, and VPN from Guardian. I usually don’t like the idea of subscription services when it comes to value-added features on a router, but eero Plus’ S$139.98 annual cost can possibly be justified from the three 3rd party services, especially if you needed malware protection, password management, and VPN services anyway.
If you had to get them separately, 1Password’s family plan costs US$60 annually, Malwarebytes cost US$45 annually, and Guardian VPN costs US$100 annually. That’s about S$270 in annual cost, thus making the eero Plus subscription quite attractive.
There’s one more benefit of eero Plus subscription that I should mention, that is the Internet Backup feature. It’s unfortunate that Internet Backup is not a basic feature that comes free with eero. As the name implies, Internet Backup allows you to configure a Wi-Fi connection to your phone’s hotspot and use that as a backup in the event that your wired broadband connection is down. Internet Backup allows you to very seamlessly continue to provide Internet access to all other devices that connect to eero should any disruption happen on your main broadband connection. This feature, together with the three 3rd-party services, would be enough push for me to want eero Plus.
All the eero devices are well-built, elegantly designed, and won’t look out of place in your living spaces. They’ve even made sure the USB power adapter looks good, and in the case of the more premium eero Pro 7, comes with a beautiful braided Ethernet cable. With a choice of wired or wireless backhaul connection between the eero devices, you can easily pick and choose any ideal spot to place them in your home without worry about cable limitations.
If I had to fault the eero for anything, I find the 2 wired Ethernet ports on both the eero 7 and eero Pro 7 a bit of a limitation. Obviously, eero was designed for a home where everything is wireless. This may indeed be the case for most people, so this won’t be a problem at all. Some of us might have wired desktop computers and NAS systems, so having more ports would have been nice.
While much more affordable than the eero Max 7, the new eero 7 and eero Pro 7 are still premium Wi-Fi 7 mesh devices. With the heavy reliance on Wi-Fi these days, a single standalone Wi-Fi router is often insufficient in most homes. The eero 7 and eero Pro 7 are great recommendations for casual home users who want great whole-home Wi-Fi performance, want to futureproof their purchase, and need a system that is easy enough for the not-so-tech-savvy person to manage.
I reckon that the entry-level eero 7 suffices for most casual users. Only those with demanding bandwidth requirements and absolutely want to be ready to have 6 GHz radio band need consider the eero Pro 7.
The great thing about the eero system is that you can mix and match different types of eero devices, though with some caveats about performance limitations depending on configuration. This means you can get an eero 7 or eero Pro 7 now to use with a Gigabit Ethernet or 3 Gbps broadband service today, then consider adding an eero Max 7 at a later time when you upgrade to a 10 Gbps broadband connection. I don’t think any casual home user ever needs more then 3 Gbps, but the way the broadband landscape is evolving in Singapore, it is getting harder to find anything slower than 10 Gbps.
You can get the eero 7 and eero Pro 7 from eerostore.sg. The eero 7 is priced at S$219.99, S$369.99, and S$499.99 for the 1-pack, 2-pack, and 3-pack bundle respectively. The eero Pro 7 is priced at S$429.99, S$799.99, and S$999.99 for the 1-pack, 2-pack, and 3-pack bundle respectively.