Here’s an unpopular opinion from an IT solutions provider, Mesh Networks for your home: we’re not the biggest fans.
Before we launch into it, we’re going to accept a couple of caveats. For many people, Mesh Networks work fine straight out of the box, allowing you to be up and running in less than an hour; however, when they don’t work or don’t work as advertised, it can be incredibly frustrating.
It’s usually about this point that we get the call to come and sort it out, just before it goes through the window.
Many MESH networks will be installed in the home, but they require a certain amount of knowledge. They will often try to create their own network, which can be confusing for your networked equipment. We’ve had more than one example where users can’t print because their printer is connected to their router, and their device is connected to the MESH network, and they can’t see each other.
In reality, most home users want a ‘flat’ network where every device can talk to each other if required.
Signal strength and speed drop-off can be quite significant, depending on your house or property.
Many reviews of Wi-Fi networking equipment are conducted in perfect lab conditions, not in a 1780 house built from 400mm of sandstone blocks. We’ve installed home networks in all kinds of buildings, and the performance of Wi-Fi equipment can vary wildly.
If you’re a gaming fan, Wi-Fi /MESH equipment is not the best solution either; your PlayStation or Xbox really does prefer a hardwired Ethernet connection.
Another thing you have to think about in your MESH network is performance drop-off. As your Wi-Fi signal passes through the wall of your house, physics gets in the way, and the signal becomes weaker.
We’ve seen examples where the user has lost up to about 80% of Wi-Fi strength due to thick walls.
You can also see slow speeds on your Wi-Fi network when things get busy. Look around your home and count up how many devices are connected, when everyone is using the network, the network can slow down.
Did you know you can have too much Wi-Fi?
Sometimes people add too many MESH nodes ( dishes to you and me ), and it can actually cause problems.
We have examples of homes where we had to take nodes out, and the Wi-Fi improved.
If you’re struggling with your home network or MESH network, then give us a call today and let us make your network work.
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