Today, it has become the norm for more and more devices to require an internet connection or have the ability to connect wirelessly to the internet. Wireless internet traffic in and around your office is carrying a heavier and heavier load demand from users daily, which, more than likely, will result in slower speeds. It’s more important than ever before to maintain a consistent wireless connection for your staff, guests, and devices in your office to keep consistent workflow and reliability intact. Luckily, mesh networking makes it easier to do just that.
How Mesh Networks Differ from Standard Wireless Networking
The wireless network in your office may only be using a single point like a router, or perhaps a router with an additional single access point, to expand the coverage. This type of set up may still leave your office open to dead zones and/or slower speeds in some areas, however. In many cases, a router and additional access points may not be enough to cover the entire office with a strong wireless connection.
Range extenders only repeat the signal that they are getting from the source of your wireless connectivity. These extenders will typically just blindly repeat traffic back to your router and offer a name close to your wireless name with an “_EXT” after it. This means you’ll see two wireless names in your network – the one the router creates and the one from the extended network. This can be confusing for guests and staff sometimes, because they may not know which signal they should connect to. Often, many default to the extended network even when the router is closer and is producing a strong signal.
Simply repeating a wireless signal is also inefficient as it repeats packets blindly back to the router and sends packets on a path with no internal logic.
Unlike wireless extenders or repeaters that extend the network from your router, mesh networks are often total replacements for your wireless needs. Mesh networks relay the same information back and forth to each other since they are all running on the same software. This enables mesh networks to blanket your office with wireless ensuring a strong connection throughout. We recommend that when setting up a mesh network, all mesh points are hardwired in with ethernet to ensure the strongest connection throughout.
This also allows your office to have one singular WiFi network name throughout and enables office devices to always stay connected to the strongest mesh network point. Office staff and guests can roam throughout the office, and their wireless devices will always stay connected to the strongest mesh point.
It’s also much easier to manage mesh networks as it allows you to add new points throughout the office and adjust each of their locations.
If you’re interested in learning more about how a network solutions provider such as Natural Networks can help your office further its WiFi with a mesh network, give us a call today.
