What is Mesh Wifi and Does Your Business Need It?

Does your business have wifi? Whether you’re based in an office or have a retail store, there are certain times when it’s handy to have wifi. If you’re using a laptop to run a presentation in the meeting room, or out the front of your store doing a stocktake on your tablet, you need business wifi. You don’t want to have to use your personal data for business purposes. However, buying modems or routers for every area you need coverage in can be expensive, difficult to maintain, and prove problematic, switching from network to network.

That’s where mesh wifi comes in.

What is mesh wifi?

A mesh wifi network is a series of hubs placed around your business that gives network coverage across your floor space from a singular access point, perhaps a cable or NBN connection.

It’s fairly new technology that is becoming more and more popular with businesses and homes alike. Purchasing a set of hubs and setting them up for ideal coverage, then managing via an app interface can give you wifi everywhere, with the one network, that simply works.

Signs you need mesh wifi

Here are just a few signs you need a mesh wifi solution for your business:

• You have multiple wifi networks in one business location
• You are doing more and more work on mobile devices
• Employees often have to use their personal devices’ 4G network to do work tasks
• You have wifi black spots on your premises
• You don’t have business wifi yet, but you are investigating wifi options and you have a large (or convoluted) floor plan

If any of these sound familiar, then you should seriously consider a mesh networking solution.

It can run rings around wifi repeaters (aka wifi extenders)

Wifi repeaters are devices that capture a modem or router’s wifi signal then re-transmit it outwards. Because of the attenuation (loss) of the signal strength, this will always be weaker than the signal sent out by your router.

Wifi repeaters are not a new technology – they’ve been around for a very long time. You purchase one at a time and position them so it gives service to a wifi black spot. The configuration may be difficult, and use requires switching to the new network if you cross over between different zones.

Mesh networks, on the other hand, utilize a number of different hubs, all working together as one. These are configured together and managed as a whole (rather than by device) via an app. The network appears to connected devices as a singular network, and routing to device from the main access point is done to deliver internet traffic in the most efficient way.

The signal strength of both technologies depends on the strength of the device itself.

Is mesh wifi hard to purchase/configure?

Mesh wifi is much easier to set up than multiple extenders throughout a premise. However, DIY mesh wifi across a business is a little more time intensive than doing it for a home, for example.

If you have a small business premise, you’ll probably be able to get away with purchasing a consumer mesh wifi solution and setting it up yourself with a bit of trial and error. However, those with a bigger or more convoluted business space should seek outside help to setup the solution for the best wifi coverage. Optimal placement of hubs for coverage is key – and is best left to someone who knows exactly what they’re doing.

Once your solution is setup, you can manage the mesh network centrally – so unless you add a further hub or want to move some hubs around, there’s no more configuration once it’s all connected and switched on.

Need a hand with networking for your business?

A1 Technologies offers customized networking solutions for businesses just like yours. Have us around to assess the situation and see which solutions will best fit your business – at the best price. We can help in choosing technology solutions, like mesh wifi vs extenders vs ethernet office, as well as help in determining the best business plans and ISP for your needs.

Make sure your network coverage gives you what you need to do business fluidly and at the right price. Get in contact with us today to set up an assessment!

Julia Sinclair-Jones

Tech writer and ex-software developer with a penchant for travel, techno, and data. Spreading the word of secure, manageable, optimised IT solutions for everyone.