Mesh Wi-Fi

What is mesh Wi-Fi?

The main unit plugs into the internet cable. The others, sometimes called nodes or satellites, sit in other rooms and pass your traffic along to it. Your phone or laptop moves from unit to unit without a new name or password. The standard behind the roaming handoffs between units is part of the IEEE 802.11 family, and the Wi-Fi Alliance certifies multi-unit systems under its EasyMesh program.

The advantage is coverage. The disadvantage is that units that connect to each other over the air spend part of their capacity talking to each other, so each hop costs speed. A cable between the units avoids that.

When does it help on a rural Northern Nevada property?

It helps in a large or long house, a split-level, or a home with stone, adobe, stucco or metal in the walls, which block Wi-Fi. A detached shop, barn or guest house is better served by a cable or a point-to-point link than by a distant unit. Our guides on whole-home Wi-Fi and mesh, stucco, adobe and metal walls and Wi-Fi to a shop, barn or guest house cover those cases.

The router on a High Desert line is your own equipment, so a mesh set from any maker can work if it accepts an Ethernet cable on its internet port. The company does not name a brand to buy.

What should I do about it?

Start with placement, which costs nothing. Move the router to the middle of the house and away from the microwave oven. If that is not enough, add one unit, and where you can, join units with Ethernet instead of radio. Only then add more.

Test before and after, with the steps on the speed test page. The line speed does not change when you add mesh. If a wired test at the main unit is slow too, call 775-575-9593. The related terms are Wi-Fi bands and band steering.