Blanket your entire home in fast, reliable wireless coverage with a whole home mesh Wi-Fi system.
What is whole home mesh Wi-Fi?
Whole home mesh Wi-Fi is a wireless networking system that ensures your entire home is fully covered with a fast, reliable Wi-Fi signal. There are no dead spots, or areas where the signal strength is low. Coverage is continuous. If you move from room to room or between floors with a mobile device like a smartphone, it automatically maintains its connection.
How does whole home mesh WiFi work?
The “brains” of the system is the mesh WiFi router. This unit plugs in directly to your ISP modem. In addition, the WiFi mesh system uses satellite units. These are small devices that plug into a power outlet. They’re designed to blend into home decor, so there are no bristling antennas.
The router and the satellite units all connect wirelessly to form a “mesh.” The system automatically tracks connected devices, and ensures they are connected to the router or satellite that provides the best possible connection. The mesh setup extends the range of the Wi-Fi signal without it degrading, while automatically optimizing device connectivity to ensure the network and the devices are experiencing peak wireless performance.
The number of satellites needed will depend on the size of home, and the presence of wireless obstacles. The nice thing is you can always add another satellite if needed, and it will be incorporated into the home Wifi mesh network.
How do I know I need whole home mesh Wi-Fi?
There are a number of signs that indicate you would benefit by upgrading from your current router to mesh network WiFi. Wi-Fi dead zones or spots where the wireless signal is weak are a classic problem. This means your router is unable to reach those areas. A mesh system uses multiple satellites to blanket your home in Wi-Fi, eliminating those dead zones.
If you have been adding smart devices to your home and finding that they sometimes drop off the network, your router may be struggling to manage the traffic. A whole home mesh router with smart traffic management will help there. And if you find streaming video lags, this is another sign your current router is unable to keep up with Wi-Fi demand.
What’s the difference between whole home mesh Wi-Fi systems and other Wi-Fi systems?
Traditional Wi-Fi systems broadcast a wireless signal with coverage that’s determined by antennas and transmission power. To overcome distance issues, an extender may be used, but this is an imperfect solution. It picks up and broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal from the router that’s already weakened by distance. In addition, devices need to connect to the extender’s network when they move in range.
A whole home mesh Wi-Fi system maintains the signal strength at a distance through use of satellites. These are not simply a “WiFi mesh extender,” they are fully integrated into the network. They use a dedicated backhaul band for communication between units. This maintains full speed, and includes using the same SSID or network name for seamless roaming.