Mesh Wifi- time to change your Wifi Router?

Mesh Wifi

Are you tired of dropping Wifi-signal at home? Do you have dead spots like a basement where the signal will just not reach? Mesh routers may come in handy and will solve "almost" all your dead-spot problems. In fact, Mesh-Wifi routers could be the next common method of setting up Wifi.

What is Mesh Wifi?

Mesh Wifi setup is a collection of nodes. These nodes are radio transmitters that function in the same way as routers. In fact, they follow the same wireless standards like 802.11 a,b and g to connect with users and more importantly, with each other. The various nodes are interconnected to spread the Wifi connection over a large area. The best part is it requires no new technology but still manages to improve over the traditional router setup in a number of ways.

There are several nodes which act like satellites of the network. The only wired port acts as a gateway and connects to the Internet through the modem. The nodes "talk" with each other and expand the network coverage. Instead of communicating with the gateway, they are programmed to communicate among themselves and information travels from one point to another point by hopping through different nodes in the quickest and safest path by dynamic routing. Each nodes amplify the signal creating a blanket of Wifi around the house.

How a Mesh Wifi works? (Courtesy: Eero)

Advantages of using Mesh Wifi:

It is truly wireless: Traditional wireless networks need to have ethernet cables buried somewhere but with mesh networks, we only need one wired connection and the rest can communicate among themselves to create a "cloud of connectivity" that can spread a city or serve a million.
It is "self configuring": the network automatically incorporates a new node into the existing structure without needing any adjustments by a network administrator.
It is "self healing": since the network automatically finds the fastest and most reliable paths to send data, even if nodes are blocked or lose their signal.

How an Extender works? (Courtesy- LinkSys)

Why not use Extender instead?

As it may sound, the Mesh network does what an extender is supposed to do, right? No there is a difference between the two. The mesh networks are supposed to work alongside a main router rather than the extenders that simply boost a signal. Extenders connect to the Wifi and rebroadcast the same signal. Essentially, multiple extenders are unaware of other devices in the network and create individual access points. What it means that you need to manually switch between the networks if there are dead zones. The case is not the same in the case of Mesh Wifi where the data is intelligently routed to the nearest router and ultimately to the central gateway. They are all part of the same network.

Another notable difference is that while Extenders are inexpensive, they are not as user-friendly as setting up the Mesh Wifi which requires only plugging in the devices and following the instructions in the accompanying application.

Do you need it?

You should ask this question to yourself. If your house is small enough for a router to cover it, you may pass on mesh networks for now or at-least, a longer range router or an extender will patch the dead zones for now. If you are tired of resetting the antenna and the everyday hassle is prompting a change, you should go for a more user-friendly Mesh Wifi setup. If you have a big house, you should definitely install Mesh networks like Google Wifi for a change. It is much better than installing a lot of extenders and ensuring a seamless coverage.