Why should a business owner go with a mesh network for their Wi-Fi? In the past… Most businesses didn’t have Wi-Fi. The ones that did might have only had one unit in the center of the location. And as you got out to the edges, the signal would fade.
Nowadays, it’s essential that a business have a good, strong Wi-Fi network from one end of their property to the other. And it really needs to be a mesh network. So what is a mesh network? Well, a mesh network is a misnomer. By default, any Wi-Fi that picks up and amplifies Wi-Fi Wi-Fi.
Let me back up. By default, any Wi-Fi system consisting of access points which pick up and amplify signal from other access points is a mesh. When we talk about a mesh network, what we’re actually talking about is a network that allows for painless roaming. In other words, you can walk from one access point to another and connect without noticing it. In a standard Wi-Fi network that is not mesh capable, You will actually completely lose your signal access point before your phone will give up and hook up to a closer access point. This means if you’re on a phone call, you’ll lose the call.
A mesh network provides seamless roaming, so that you will very quickly jump from one access point to another as the signal drops and closer access points with stronger signal are available. It is a much better way to go. Once upon a time, it was extremely expensive. I’ve installed Orbi systems in homes that cost $2,000. Nowadays however, a business can get a nice mesh network system for around $300. I recommend the TP-Link brand. It is cheaper than Orbi. It is also very reliable.
I have clients that have TP-Link networks in industrial locations that work flawlessly. So TP-Link is more affordable and it’s very good stuff. So you have a home network and you already have a bunch of devices connected to it. And you plug in your new mesh network. What do you do about the network name? It’s possible to transfer your current network name over to your mesh system. And if you have dozens and dozens of devices connected, this might be the best way to go.
On the other hand, it’s good to have. A mesh network uniquely identifying with its own name. In my case, in my home, I did this. I kept my old network name because I did have some devices connected to it. Which I didn’t want to deal with having to change. And I actually have classic repeaters in my home network. I still have these because I have… Actually, I say I have repeaters. I have a repeater. And it’s located in my garage, and it provides Wi-Fi signal to my two external IP cameras. This network is reliable for that purpose because those cameras don’t move. So I have kept my old network name in place. I also have a new network name with its unique name identifying it as my mesh network. And when guests come over, this is the one that I have them connected.
Speaking of that, mesh networks provide a very painless way to provide a guest network should you want to. And if you’re a business, then you’re certainly going to want to. This is true no matter where your business is located in Northwest Arkansas. Whether it’s Bentonville, Rogers, Senerton, Pea Ridge, Decatur, Gentry, Siloam Springs, Fayetteville, Springdale, Greenland, Or even Mountain Bird or West Fork. Or Gravette.
A guest network allows you to throttle down your bandwidth so that users can’t be watching videos and causing your internet connection to strain with your legitimate business needs. A guest network will also isolate each device that connects, if you like, making it impossible for them to run a port scan and see all the devices on your network. You’re going to want to ask a lot of questions about this. Thank you.
Another advantage of mesh networks is that most of them are administered from your portable device. You don’t have to sit down and log in with a web browser. To access your… The biggest advantage is speed. A mesh network will efficiently transfer wireless G across your property so that you have good high speed at all locations. I can get 600 megabit upload and download at the point of my main… Mesh Network Router. Out on the edges, I still get 200 megabit up and down load. I could probably do better than that if I tried, but that’s good enough for my farm. It’s probably going to be good enough for your business too.
If your business has devices that require more bandwidth than that, you’re not going to want them hooked up wirelessly. You’re going to want them wired. So if your business does not currently have a mesh network, then you should give me a call. Have me come out and do a site survey. I’ll give you a price on getting one. If you have Wi-Fi, take advantage of the Wi-Fi 6 protocols used in the mesh network. Mesh networks are only going to get better. But if you invest, say, $300 in one today, you’ll probably have one that’ll be good for years.
At some point, we’re going to saturate bandwidth like we have processor speed. Remember the 80s and 90s? Your computer was obsolete within a year of you buying it.
Nowadays, you can use a 10-year-old computer and it’ll still work well. We’ve reached the gigabit level of internet access. That’s going to be good for quite a while. At some point, we’ll have 10 gig connections. But that’s going to require a massive amount of infrastructure overhaul. For now, you have a mesh network. Then you have. Infrastructure which will serve you for years.