Got a big house? Pick me up a three-pack
I’ve been working with computers for ages, starting with a multi-year stint in purchasing for a major IBM reseller in New York City before eventually landing at PCMag (back when it was still in print as PC Magazine). I spent more than 14 years on staff, most recently as the director of operations for PC Labs, before hitting the freelance circuit as a contributing editor.
The Motorola Q11 is a three-piece, dual-band mesh system that's an excellent choice for delivering strong Wi-Fi 6 signals to homes of up to 5,000 square feet.
When we reviewed the Motorola MH7603 mesh system earlier this year, we were impressed with its ease of use, built-in network security and parental control software, and solid performance. But we bemoaned the absence of multi-gig LAN and USB ports, and lack of support for some Wi-Fi 6 technologies. With the Motorola Q11 ($329.99) reviewed here, you still don’t get multi-gig or USB ports, but this mesh system does support 160MHz channels and WPA3 encryption, and it’s a better performer than the MH7603. It can’t match the performance and features of our less expensive Editors’ Choice winner for Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems, the Eero 6 Plus, but it's a solid pick for large homes and a good choice if priced enough off list price.
We're reviewing Motorola’s three-node Q11 combo package, which provides wireless coverage to homes of up to 5,000 square feet. For smaller spaces, you can buy a single node for $129.99 and get 2,000 square feet of coverage. The low-profile nodes are identical to the nodes used by the MH7603 system, at least on the outside. They are 5 inches wide and 2.6 inches tall, and have a white finish with an M logo on top.
You won’t find any multi-gig LAN ports or USB ports on this system like you will on the killer Asus ZenWiFi ET8 Wi-Fi 6E system. Instead, each node has two gigabit LAN ports, one of which serves as a WAN port for the router node, and a USB-C port that is used exclusively for power. A Reset button is located next to the ports on the back of each node. The Q11 doesn’t support link aggregation, but you can use the LAN ports for a dynamic wired/wireless backhaul solution if you've got the ability to run Ethernet cables between the nodes.
Each node has a small LED indicator on the front edge. The LED glows solid white when the router node is connected to the internet or when a satellite node is connected to the router, and blinks blue when the router is trying to connect to the internet or a node is trying to connect to the router. A solid amber light on a node indicates a poor connection to the router, while a rapidly blinking blue indicates the router and nodes are updating their firmware.
Each node also has two antennas, but they're internal for a cleaner look. Also inside are a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, 256MB of DDR3 RAM, and 128MB of flash memory. The Q11 is a dual-band system that can reach maximum data rates of up to 574Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and up to 2,400Mbps on the 5GHz band, for a maximum of 3,000Mbps—hence its AX3000 rating. As with the MH7603, you cannot separate the bands to give each one its own network name.
The Q11 utilizes Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) technologies including Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) data transmissions, MU-MIMO simultaneous data streaming, direct-to-client signal beamforming, and 1024 QAM. As mentioned, unlike the MH7603, the Q11 also supports 160MHz channels and WPA3 encryption.
The Q11 uses the same user-friendly Motosync mobile app as the MH7603 system, but a few changes have been made since we last used the app. For example, the Timeline button, which has been moved to the top right corner, is replaced by a button that takes you to the Motorola website.
When you launch the app, it opens to the My Network screen, which displays icons for each of the three nodes, the network name, and the number of connected devices. Tap any node to see which devices are connected to it, or to view information such as the IP address, the MAC address, and the firmware version. There’s also a reboot button for restarting the node. Scroll down on the My Networks screen to access Wi-Fi settings, where you can edit the SSID and password, and see which devices are currently connected via Wi-Fi. Missing are settings for selecting a Wi-Fi channel, QoS settings for assigning bandwidth priorities, and the ability to separate the radio bands.
Below the Wi-Fi panel is a Security Center panel that tells you if there are any security issues. Tap the panel for a more detailed look at any recently detected malware, intrusions, and known vulnerabilities. Keep scrolling down to view the Connection panel. Here you can run a speed test to measure upload and download speeds to see if your current internet connection will support SD, HD, and 4K video streaming, as well as gaming, music, and web browsing.
At the bottom of the My Networks screen is a Profiles button that takes you to a screen where you can create user profiles, assign devices to each profile, and view network usage statistics for each user—including time spent online and which sites were visited. Here you can also enable filters that will block websites with adult and malicious content, and block ads and ad tracking. You can also see how many visits were blocked and manually add websites to your blocked list.
To access system settings, tap the gear icon in the lower right corner. Tap Notifications to see a list of notices such as when a new device has joined your network or if a network security issue has been detected. Advanced settings include Port Forwarding and LAN settings, Wi-Fi optimization, and UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) settings. Other options allow you to add users, enable web filters, and edit the network name and time zone settings.
Installing the Q11 system is easy. I already had the Motosync mobile app installed on my mobile device, so I connected the router node to my modem, powered it up, and opened the app. I selected Set Up a New Device on the welcome screen and scanned the QR code on the bottom of the router node when prompted. The node was automatically added to my account, so I tapped Next and then tapped Add a Device. I scanned the QR code on the satellite node, verified that the LED was flashing blue, and waited several minutes for the node to be added to my network.
Once the node was added and the LED was glowing white, I moved the node to another room, tapped Continue, and repeated the process for the second satellite node. With the second node installed, I tapped Skip and Finish Setup and gave the network a name. I let the app optimize the new network and created a name for the guest network to finish off the installation.
The Q11 delivered acceptable, though not class-leading, throughput scores in our performance tests. The router node scored an impressive 895Mbps on the close-proximity test, beating both the Asus ZenWiFi XT8 (860Mbps) and the Motorola MH7603 (700Mbps). The Eero 6 Plus led the pack with a score of 938Mbps. On the 30-foot test, the Q11 router managed 315Mbps, once again beating the Motorola MH7603 (245Mbps) but not the Asus ZenWiFi XT8 (347Mbps) or the Eero 6 Plus (367Mbps).
Satellite node performance wasn't as good. On the close-proximity test, the Q11 satellite node couldn’t keep pace with the competition. It scored 441Mbps while the Motorola MH7603 node scored 458Mbps, the Eero 6 Plus node scored 538Mbps, and the Asus ZenWiFi XT8 scored 675Mbps. On the 30-foot test, the Q11 node’s score of 410Mbps beat the Motorola MH7603 node (383Mbps), but came in behind the Eero 6 Plus node (508Mbps) and the Asus ZenWiFi XT8 node (619Mbps).
We use an Ekahau Sidekick Wi-Fi diagnostic device and the Ekahau Survey mobile app to measure Wi-Fi signal strength. Together they generate a heat map that displays the router and satellite node’s signal strength throughout our test home. (Note: Ekahau is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company.) The circles on the maps represent the location of the router and the node, and the colors represent signal strength with dark green representing the strongest signal and yellow representing a weaker signal. Gray indicates no measurable signal reception.
As illustrated on the map, the two Q11 nodes did a good job of delivering Wi-Fi to all corners of our test home and garage. Signal strength waned a bit in the far corner of the bedroom but was still reasonably strong.
The Motorola Q11 Mesh WiFi 6 system is easy to install and manage, and comes with robust parental control and network security software. It also turned in respectable throughput scores, and showed fairly good signal strength in our performance tests.
The Eero 6 Plus nevertheless remains our Editors’ Choice pick for Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems. Its obvious benefit is faster performance for a bit less money than the Q11, but it also offers extra features (like doubling as a home automation hub) while rivaling the easy app-based setup and configuration abilities that the Q11 offers.
The Motorola Q11 is a three-piece, dual-band mesh system that's an excellent choice for delivering strong Wi-Fi 6 signals to homes of up to 5,000 square feet.
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I’ve been working with computers for ages, starting with a multi-year stint in purchasing for a major IBM reseller in New York City before eventually landing at PCMag (back when it was still in print as PC Magazine). I spent more than 14 years on staff, most recently as the director of operations for PC Labs, before hitting the freelance circuit as a contributing editor.
Read John R.'s full bio
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