If your home’s Wi-Fi signal sucks, you might be looking at mesh solutions like the Luma Home Wi-Fi System. Luma consists of multiple Wi-Fi extenders that you spread across your house in order to cover every nook and cranny with an excellent Wi-Fi signal. Here’s how to set it all up and how to configure it to deliver the best Wi-Fi possible all around your home.
What Is Luma?
Much like Eero, Luma is essentially a set of routers that link together to create one big Wi-Fi network. If your current router isn’t capable of blanketing your house in Wi-Fi, Luma is a solution that can fix such a problem.
Luma comes in a three-pack, two-pack, and a single unit starting at $149, so whether you have a large house or a smaller apartment, you can get the appropriate amount of units without needing to overspend. Plus, you can always tack on more later if need be.
Of course, you can do what Luma does using regular routers and Wi-Fi extenders for far cheaper, but doing it yourself comes with some downsides. Often, the setup process is much more complicated and requires you to dive deep into the router’s settings to change things around and to get everything connected properly. Plus, depending on your extender, you may end up having to create a secondary Wi-Fi network to connect to when in certain parts of the house, which is a hassle.
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Luma makes this dead simple: just spread the units across your house, plug them into the wall, and follow a few simple steps in the Luma app. The whole setup process takes around ten minutes, and your Wi-Fi signal should instantly improve around your house.
NOTE: Setting up Luma is the same as setting up a brand new router. So rather than it amplifying your current Wi-Fi network, it creates its own separate Wi-Fi network. If you’re using a modem/router combo, you’ll want to turn off the combo unit’s Wi-Fi network so they don’t interfere (and so you can use the same Wi-Fi name you used before, if you want to). Alternatively, you can contact your internet provider and request a standalone modem instead of a combo unit—or, better yet, buy your own and save some money. Ideally, you should do all this before you begin setting up the Luma system.
Step One: Download the Luma App
Before you begin the setup process, you’ll need to download and install the Luma app to your smartphone. It’s only available on iOS and Android currently, and it’s required to set everything up. Sadly, there is no desktop app at the moment.
Step Two: Create an Account
Open up the app and then tap on “Create Account”.
Enter in your name and hit “Next”.
On the next screen, enter in your email address and hit “Next”.
Enter in your phone number and tap “Next”. This is only used if you need help with your Luma setup so that customer support can contact you.
Finally, create a password for your Luma account and then hit “Create Account”.
Hit “Ok” when the “Success” pop-up appears.
Step Three: Create Your Wi-Fi Network
On the next screen in the app, select how many Luma units you’re setting up. If not three, then select “Other Amount”.
Make sure you have the Luma unit, its power cord, and the ethernet cable that came in the box. Hit “Next”.
Next, select what type of of dwelling you live in, followed by the number of floors, including basements (if you want Wi-Fi there). Tap on “Next” when you’re done.
If your house has multiple floors, select which floor your modem is located on, then tap “Next”.
Select where on the floor that your modem is located, then hit “Next”.
On the next screen, enter in a name for your new Wi-Fi network, as well as a password. Then hit “Next”.
Step Four: Install the First Luma Unit
Take the ethernet cable that was included in the box and connect one end into a free ethernet port on your modem/router and the other end into the “In” ethernet port on the Luma unit.
Next, plug in the power cord to the Luma unit and it will automatically boot up, with a blue light circling around the ring.
Hit “Next” in the app until you reach the “Name this Luna” screen. Select where this unit is located and then tap “Next” again. Unfortunately, you can’t type in a custom room name, so pick the best one if none of them fit.
Next, wait for the Luma to start up, which should take a couple of minutes at most.
When it’s ready to go, the light will turn solid blue. Tap on “Start WiFi” in the app when this happens.
Once it’s finished, the app will say that the Luma device was successfully set up. From there, if you have another Luma unit to install, tap on “Add another Luma”.
The app will tell you where to place your next unit for the best results, but you don’t absolutely have to follow this advice. I set my second unit all the way downstairs and it still works great.
To install the second unit (and any further units afterward), all you have to do is plug it in to an outlet using the supplied power cord and wait for it to boot up. You’ll also go through the app and name the unit.
Just like before, tap on “Start WiFi” when that screen appears. When it’s done, keep setting up your other Luma units.
Once you have all units installed, you’ll get to a screen that says “Congrats! Your Network is Active”. Hit “Ok”.
Hit “Ok” again.
You’ll then be taken to the main screen in the Luma app, which is the dashboard of sorts. From here, you can view the online/offline status of your Luma network, as well as the most recent speed test conducted by the app.
A lot of the advanced features of a traditional routers are missing, but most casual users won’t need anything more than the basics that Luma provides.
If you have other devices that connect to ethernet, like smarthome hubs or a network storage drive, you can connect those to either ethernet ports on the back of any Luma unit (the “In” and “Out” labels only matter the one connected to your modem). You can also use these ethernet ports to connect your Luma units together over ethernet if your house is wired for it, making the wireless signal even better.
Right away, though, you should notice a huge difference in your Wi-Fi signal and speed once you switch to your Luma network. In my house, for example, I used to have multiple spots where my signal was really weak. With Luma’s network set up, I’m now getting close to the max speeds that my internet provider gives me no matter where I’m at in my house.
