A three-piece system with strong performance

The Motorola MH7603 is a three-piece Wi-Fi mesh system that delivered solid throughput and signal performance in testing. It offers free parental control and network security software, but lacks a few essential Wi-Fi 6 features.

If your current router is unable to deliver a usable Wi-Fi signal throughout your home, it may be time to consider a whole-home solution such as the Motorola MH7603 Mesh Wi-Fi 6 system ($239). Designed for medium or large homes, the MH7603 is a three-piece mesh system that is a breeze to install and manage. Strong parental controls and anti-malware software add to its appeal. It’s a solid performer for the money, but it can’t keep pace with our more expensive Editors’ Choice winner, the Asus ZenWiFi XT8.

The MH7603 is a three-piece system that provides up to 5,000 square feet of coverage (2,000 square feet for the router and 1,500 square feet for each node). For smaller dwellings, you can buy a single router node for $119.99 and add more nodes as needed.

All three low-profile nodes are identical. They sport a white finish, stand 2.6 inches tall and 5 inches wide, and contain two internal antennas. There’s a Motorola “M” logo on the top and a small LED indicator on the front that glows solid white when everything is connected and working properly, or solid amber when a node has a poor connection to the router. A slowly blinking blue indicator means the system is in setup and pairing mode, while rapid blue blinks indicate a firmware upgrade. 

The MH7603 lacks the multi-gig WAN/LAN connectivity that you get with pricier systems such as the TP-Link Deco X90 and the Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8), but it is equipped with a gigabit WAN/LAN port and a gigabit LAN port. When serving as a node (extender), both ports can be used as LAN ports, or you can use one for wired backhaul. Link aggregation is not supported here, though, which means no joining the ports together for multi-gigabit speeds. Along with the LAN ports on the back panel, there is a USB-C port used exclusively for power, and a reset button off to the left of the other ports.

The system is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, 256MB of DDR3 RAM, and 128MB of flash memory. It’s a dual-band AX1800 system, which means it's capable of maximum (theoretical) data rates of up to 574Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and up to 1,200Mbps on the 5GHz band. It supports most Wi-Fi 6 technologies, including 1024 QAM, direct-to-client beamforming, 2x2 MU-MIMO data streaming, and OFDMA transmissions. But it lacks support for WPA3 encryption and 160MHz channels, two key features that we expect to see in midrange and high-end Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems.

The MH7603 does not offer a web management console. Instead, it uses the new motosync mobile app(Opens in a new window) for iOS and Android devices. The user-friendly app opens to a Network screen with icons for each node, and an icon that shows the number of connected devices. Tapping the router icon lets you see which devices are connected to it, and allows you to reboot the node. Tapping any satellite node lets you view its current and historical signal strength and bandwidth usage. Here you can also run an internet upload and download speed test, see which clients are connected to the node, and see which channel it is using for backhaul.

If you scroll down on the Network page, you’ll see panels for Security, Full Home Filter, Connection, and Top Data Use. The Security panel tells you if your network is secure, or if you have any malware, intrusion, or known vulnerability issues. The Full Home Filter panel lets you set filters to block websites with adult and malicious content, and enable ad blocking for all connected devices. If you don’t want to place restrictions on every user connected to the network, you can create profiles for each user and set individual filters.

The Top Data Use panel displays hourly, daily, and weekly bandwidth usage for each client device and for each user profile. The Connection panel displays the results of your latest speed test, and tells you if your network is optimized for things like gaming, 4K video streaming, web browsing, and music playback.

At the bottom of the Network screen are five buttons. The Network button returns you to the Network screen from anywhere within the app, while the Profiles button takes you to a screen where you can create individual user profiles, assign devices to each profile, apply filters, set access schedules and time limits, and view usage reports for each profile.

The Timeline button lets you view a log of network events such as configuration changes, new device connections, and speed test results. The Support button provides access to an online user guide, and offers a support chat option and support contact information. Last, the Settings (gear) button takes you to a screen where you can enable or disable web filtering, add new users, add more satellite nodes, set the time zone, and configure Port Forwarding and internet connection settings.  

Mesh systems are known for their easy installation. The MH7603 is no different, though with two satellite nodes, it does take a bit longer to set up than two-peice systems with a single satellite. I downloaded the motosync app, created an account, and tapped “Set Up a New Device” on the Get Started screen.  I then used my phone to scan the QR code on the base of the router node, and followed the instructions to unplug my modem, connect the router node to my modem using the included LAN cable, and power up both devices.

When the LED began flashing blue, I tapped “I see the light” and waited 30 seconds or so for the router to connect to the motosync cloud. After a quick firmware update, I tapped “Add extender,” scanned the QR code on one of the nodes, and tapped “Set up my device.” Following the onscreen instructions, I plugged the node into an outlet in close proximity to the router, confirmed that the LED was flashing blue, and waited around five minutes for the satellite node to be paired with the router node. I tapped Next, updated the node’s firmware, and repeated the process for the last node. I then relocated both satellite nodes to their respective rooms, tapped “Optimize my WiFi,” configured my Wi-Fi credentials, and the installation was complete. 

The MH7603 does not support band separation, so we let the system choose the best band while testing, which incidentally was always the 5GHz band. The system didn’t break any speed records, but it did turn in solid throughput scores.

The router node scored 700Mbps on the close-proximity (same-room) test, which was nearly identical to what we saw with the Eero Pro 6 router (701Mbps) but somewhat slower than the TP-Link W7200 router (771Mbps). The Asus ZenWiFi XT8 led with a score of 860Mbps. On the 30-foot-test, the MH7603 router’s score of 245Mbps was faster than the Eero Pro 6, but not the TP-Link W7200 (298Mbps). Once again, the Asus ZenWiFi XT8 took top honors with a score of 347Mbps.

The MH7603 satellite node’s score of 458Mbps on the close-proximity test was just a hair faster than the Eero Pro 6 node (455Mbps), but was slower than the TP-Link W7200 node (528Mbps), and trailed the Asus ZenWiFi XT8 node (675Mbps) by 217Mbps. On the 30-foot test, the MH7603 node managed 383Mbps, once again besting the Eero Pro 6 node (353Mbps) but not the TP-Link W7200 node (475Mbps). The Asus ZenWiFi XT8 node’s score of 619Mbps beat them all.

To test Wi-Fi signal strength, we use an Ekahau Sidekick Wi-Fi diagnostic device and Ekahau’s Survey mobile app to 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. Dark green indicates the strongest signal, yellow is weaker, and gray indicates no measurable signal reception.

As shown on the map, the MH7603 router and satellite node delivered strong combined (2.4GHz and 5GHz) wireless signals to all corners of our test house and garage.

You won’t get class-leading performance with the Motorola MH7603 Mesh Wi-Fi 6 system, but our tests showed that it can deliver wide signal coverage and relatively good throughput speeds throughout a medium-sized home. It’s a cinch to install, and the motosync mobile app makes it easy to assign parental controls that allow you to monitor user activity and apply filters to prevent access to certain types of websites.

This system lacks multi-gig and USB connectivity, but both are relatively rare with mesh systems in this price range. That said, WPA3 encryption and the ability to operate on 160MHz channels would be welcome additions. If you require a mesh system that offers superior performance, multi-gig WAN/LAN, and a USB port for attaching external devices, consider our reigning Editors’ Choice winner for Wi-Fi mesh systems, the Asus ZenWiFi XT8. It’ll cost around $200 more than the MH7603, but it uses two nodes to provide more coverage, offers faster throughput speeds, and comes with a lifetime subscription to Asus’s AIProtection Pro parental control and network security suite.

The Motorola MH7603 is a three-piece Wi-Fi mesh system that delivered solid throughput and signal performance in testing. It offers free parental control and network security software, but lacks a few essential Wi-Fi 6 features.

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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. 

I do all of my writing on my aging but trusty Lenovo Thinkpad T460.

At home I have two wireless networks running: one for streaming, gaming, and other day-to-day networking tasks, and another for testing all sorts of smart home devices including smart plugs and switches, lighting, indoor and outdoor security cameras, home security systems, air conditioners, smart grills, robotic lawn mowers, pool cleaners, and whatever else finds its way to my door.

It’s not uncommon to find people standing in front of my house taking video of a robotic lawn mower traversing my lawn during the summer months. Now if only someone would come up with a robotic snow blower, I’d be all set. 

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