A few months back, Hathway reached out to us to test their recently launched wifi mesh solution. I readily accepted it because I’ve never experienced internet in every corner of my home. We’ve reviewed some unique internet connections in the past, but this is different. Hathway is the first Internet Service Provider in India to offer plans along with mesh routers. They offer up to 3 routers, with speeds of 300 Mbps and 2TB usage.

Installation of Hathway Mesh

The installation is similar to any modern connection. They bring the fibre directly to your home, and connect it to a router. This router, is then connected to the mesh router. For the mesh router, Hathway is giving away TP-Link Deco M5. The setup is a breeze, and takes just a few minutes on TP-Link’s mobile app which is available for both iOS and Android. Once configured, the user has up to 3 routers with both 5 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz networks. Unlike other routers, they all share the same name. The device can choose which network and router to use depending on the distance. If you’re near router, your device chooses to use the 5Ghz network. If you move away from it and you’re not near another router, it switches to 2.4 Ghz without you having to do anything.

I’ve tried using a wifi repeater in past. They were inefficient and barely worked. With Deco, it was completely different. The experience was much improved than using a repeater. However, it was not as much as I’d expected it to be. On the primary router, I received wifi speeds of 250-300 Mbps. Moving over to the second router, there was a drastic drop in speed to 50-60 Mbps. Over the third router, it was just 15-20 Mbps. But to be fair, I never had internet in that part of my home before.

Hathway Mesh Management 

The app is a breeze to use. It gives an immediate insight over your network, including devices connected and their speeds. It also comes with a bunch of parental control features which could be really useful. I had nearly 50 devices connected to the network at the same time across my home, and the router managed to hold up.

The router itself has a small footprint, making it easy to install anywhere in your home. It comes with one power port, and two ethernet ports. One Ethernet port is the input, and the other is for output. Both ports support gigabit speeds.

Should you get the Hathway Mesh for your home?

Hathway Mesh is offering an excellent deal here. However, the pricing is very tricky. Users will have to pay for either 6 months, or 12 months to get the Deco routers. The 12 months plan for Hathway Mesh is priced at Rs. 14,999, bringing the monthly price to Rs. 1250. The 6-month plan costs Rs. 9999. Deco itself costs Rs. 16,400 for a pack of 3. Paying for Hathway’s annual plan is cheaper than the cost of the router itself. However, users do not own the router and it has to be returned during disconnection.

Average users already spend Rs. 12,000 – 15,000 every year on broadband. Hathway is offering a great deal here with their best plan, and throwing in the mesh router with it. However, users will have to take a rough bite and pay for a whole year upfront.