Since the advent of Wi-Fi 7, we haven't seen many Wi-Fi 6E mesh systems here at PC Labs -- that is, until the Motorola MQ20 arrived. A tri-band mesh system, the MQ20 uses Wi-Fi 6E technology to deliver 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz transmissions throughout your home. The two-pack we tested delivers decent performance and is a snap to install, but its parental control and network security tools are locked behind a paywall. If you can find it on sale -- we've seen it for as low as $199 -- it's an excellent value. However, it's hard to justify paying the full price ($629) for this system when, for $70 more, you can get our Editors' Choice winner, the $699.99 eero Pro 7, which uses Wi-Fi 7 tech to deliver superior performance, offers 5GbE networking, and supports all of the latest home automation technologies.
Motorola sent us the MQ20 two-pack, which provides 6,000 square feet of coverage. If you don't require that much coverage, you can opt for a single node for $329, which will cover 3,000 square feet. The mini-tower nodes are available in black or white and measure 9.0 by 4.0 by 4.9 inches (HWD). A tiny LED indicator on the front blinks white when the router is ready for setup, blinks white and amber when a node is being configured as a repeater (satellite), glows solid amber when the router is offline, and glows solid white when it is online.
Air vents are on the top of the tower, and around back are a 2.5GbE WAN port, three 1GbE LAN ports, a power port, and a reset button. You won't find any USB ports on the MQ20, and it lacks the multi-gig LAN ports that you get with the eero 7 Pro and the TP-Link Deco BE63 BE10000 mesh systems.
Each MQ20 node contains eight internal antennas and is powered by a 2GHz quad-core CPU, 8GB of flash memory, and 2GB of RAM. This is an AXE8350 system that offers combined maximum data rates of up to 8.35Gbps across the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz radio bands. It utilizes Wi-Fi 6E technology to deliver 6GHz transmissions, but it doesn't support the speedy data rates (up to three times faster) that you get with Wi-Fi 7, nor does it provide the reduced latency and increased capacity that the latest wireless standard offers.
You manage the MQ20 system using the MotoSync Plus mobile app for iOS and Android devices. The app lets you do things like suspend internet access, test internet speed, view data usage reports, configure Wi-Fi, LAN, and WAN settings, and configure QoS settings. But you'll have to pay extra for access to parental control and network security software. For $9.99 per month or $89.99 per year, the Premium Protection plan gives you network security tools that scan your network for vulnerabilities, identify infected devices, and block malware. The plan also offers parental controls that let you create user profiles, view browsing history, schedule internet access times, and filter web content.
The top of the Home screen displays the name of the network, the number of nodes (repeaters), and the number of connected devices. Below this is a panel urging you to sign up for Premium Protection. You can scroll down to view Wi-Fi credentials, run an internet speed test, and view data usage reports.
At the bottom of the screen are buttons labeled Alerts, Users, Devices, and Settings. The Home button returns you to the Home screen. Tapping the Alerts button lets you view system and device logon notifications, and tapping the Users button shows you who is online, though this requires a MotoSync Plus subscription. The Devices button opens a screen where you can see which devices are currently online, and the Settings button takes you to a menu where you can configure Wi-Fi, LAN, and WAN settings, choose an app color theme, view firmware information, back up and restore device settings, and remove unwanted devices.
As is the case with most mesh systems, the MQ20 is easy to install and manage. To get started, you'll have to download the MotoSync Plus mobile app and create an account. Once the account is verified, you'll see an installation checklist with a Begin Setup button. Tap the button, scan the QR code on the router node, and follow the instructions to unplug your modem. Connect the router to your modem using the included LAN cable before powering up both the modem and the router node. After a few minutes, the router will be connected, and you'll be prompted to create a network name and passwords for each band. (You can instead enable band-steering to use one name and password with a single combined band.)
To add a mesh node, go to the Home screen and tap the Mesh Repeater + button. You then scan the QR code when prompted to add the node to your network.
The MQ20 turned in solid scores on our performance tests. The router node's score of 920Mbps on the 6GHz close proximity test was pretty much in line with what we saw from the eero Pro 6E (922Mbps) and a bit faster than the TP-Link Deco XE75 (900Mbps). However, it was significantly slower than the Arris Max6E (1,868Mbps), which has the benefit of a 2.5GbE LAN connection.
On the 30-foot 6GHz test, the MQ20 router managed 355Mbps, while the eero Pro 6E scored 375Mbps and the Deco XE75 scored 371Mbps. The Arris Max6E led with a score of 651Mbps. However, all of these pale in comparison with a combined band configuration using a Wi-Fi 7 system. To illustrate the enhanced performance that comes with Wi-Fi 7, consider that the eero Pro 7, which offers multi-gig LAN and was tested using a combined band configuration, scored 2,850Mbps on the close proximity test and 860Mbps on the 30-foot test. We're not including these results in the charts below.
The MQ20's score of 925Mbps on the 5GHz close proximity test was identical to that of the eero Pro 6E and faster than both the Arris Max6E (801Mbps) and the Deco XE75 (853Mbps). At 30 feet, the MQ20's score of 318Mbps trailed the eero Pro 6E (330Mbps), the Deco XE75 (322Mbps), and the Arris Max6E (328Mbps) by small amounts.
The MQ20 satellite node scored 621Mbps on the 6GHz close proximity test and 380Mbps on the 30-foot test. Meanwhile, the eero Pro 6E turned in scores of 601Mbps and 382Mbps, respectively, and the TP-Link Deco XE75 scored 611Mbps and 375Mbps, respectively. Once again, the Arris Max6E garnered the fastest Wi-Fi 6E scores with 901Mbps (close proximity) and 631Mbps (30 feet). The eero Pro 7's combined scores of 2,293Mbps (close proximity) and 1,118Mbps (30 feet) were significantly higher, again thanks to its support for Wi-Fi 7.
On the 5GHz tests, the MQ20 satellite node scored 801Mbps on the close proximity test and 550Mbps on the 30-foot test. The eero Pro 6E node scored 801Mbps and 512Mbps, respectively, while the Deco XE75 node scored 812Mbps and 565Mbps, and the Arris Max6E node scored 888Mbps and 637Mbps.
To measure wireless signal performance, we use an Ekahau Sidekick 2 diagnostic device and the Ekahau Survey software. (Disclosure: Ekahau is owned by PCMag.com's parent company, Ziff Davis. For more, read about our ethics policy in the Editorial Mission Statement.) Together, they generate a heat map that displays Wi-Fi signal strength throughout our test home. The circles on the heat map represent the router and node locations, and the colors represent signal strength. Dark green indicates the strongest signal, lighter yellow a weaker one, and gray indicates a very weak or no measurable signal.
As shown on the map, the MQ20 did a good job of delivering a strong combined Wi-Fi signal to all corners of the home.