Last month I was contacted by a couple that was having issues with their home network. For the sake of the Internet, let’s call them Sharon and Shelly. Sharon and Shelly live in an absolutely gorgeous farmhouse that was built a few hundred years ago and over time was updated to include multiple expansions to the existing home.
This left for an eclectic use of building materials and layout of the property. The original portion of the house was built with stone, plaster, and immense 8x8 solid wood beams, while the updated and expansion portions of the house were built with more traditional materials like sheet rock and wood/metal framing.
During our initial conversation Sharon mentioned to me that getting consistent wireless access to the Internet was a huge pain point dependent on where she was in the house. In response to this she purchased a well-known router and mesh point system (you typically see it plastered all over every other billboard on the highway). She had placed the mesh points (I believe there were 4-5) throughout the house in an effort to extend the WIFI and wasn’t having any success.
Without getting too technical - wireless communication is a half-duplex medium, meaning a link can only transmit (TX) or receive (RX) at any one time. So, for every link or hop, your bandwidth is cut in half, half? - yes HALF! And for every link/hop after that - cut it in half again. Suddenly that blazing-fast Internet connection you pay for is...well....it sucks to be blunt. And this all assumes the wireless signal between points is solid, if it’s not – you lose even more bandwidth (performance). In the wireless industry, the basic ‘rule of thumb’ is two hops max.
If you've been around awhile, you may have heard me say - a physical connection (a wire - copper/fiber) will always outperform and be more reliable than a wireless connection. And given Sharon and Shelly's situation where both of them worked from home they needed to have reliable connectivity throughout the home for both work and play.
Working together, we came up with a budget friendly solution that would replace the entire mesh system by adding new switches and wired access points strategically placed throughout the house to maximize coverage and connectivity. Due to them working from home and not wanting to disrupt their schedule – we opted for a weekend installation and were done in a matter of hours on a Saturday.
This isn’t to say mesh systems don’t have their place in the wireless world, or your tool kit. Sharon wants to extend the WIFI beyond the house to the pool and accompanying cabana in the spring and mesh is definitely a consideration. However, knowing the limitations of the system and your specific application goes a long way to successful implementation.
If you have more questions or are interested in Nova Tech providing any of these services, feel free to shoot us an email (info@solutionsbynova.net) or call us directly at 484.877.1247
Please also join us on Facebook and LinkedIn
Thanks for your time. Rob @ Nova Technologies
0 Comments