Folks living in rural communities have a few challenges that are far different from those faces by residents of more urban environments. Thankfully, Country Connect are here to address getting communities connected to super fast broadband. But what about signal strength inside houses for all the devices we have now? A mesh WiFi network might be the answer, but what is mesh WiFi?
Why?
We know what WiFi is by now don’t we. It’s a technology that gets Internet signals to our wireless devices. Reliability and speed have gotten much better in the past 5 years particularly. Some of that is due to Internet Service Providers turning up the signal power on customer’s home wireless access points. However that’s not always the right solution.
Mesh
Another approach to whole home WiFi is to have many smaller devices rather than having more power. Nobody wants to have to disconnect from the downstairs wireless network when they head upstairs. So we needed a way for these smaller access points to talk to each other. What about if your home is across lots more floors? Or you want an access point in the garden to reach the pod office or the kids’ tree house?
Mesh networks work by having every access point connect to at least 2 others. In that way, each access point can relay your signals to the next, depending on which responds more quickly. This can change depending on people in the house, the weather, or any number of other factors. So having a dynamic network set up like this is super useful! It all happens like magic without you needing to do anything.
Incidentally, this is exactly how the internet itself works. There are loads of ways your computer can get to, for example, Facebook. But if one of those routes from you to Facebook is busy, your requests will be directer a different way. It’s just like cars on a road. If there’s a traffic jam, you might know a different way to go that’s a maybe a bit longer, but is faster.
Whole-Home Broadband
Latest housing statistics for the UK confirm that while the rooms in houses are getting smaller in general, there are more of them packed into the same amount of land. That means more 3 and even 4 story homes. Obviously WiFi coverage isn’t the top priority when these houses are being designed and built, but think about all the stuff in the way of those WiFi signals! WiFi is a radio wave just like just like all the rest, and if you put more stuff in between the thing transmitting that radio wave and the thing receiving it, you’re going to get more interference. In this case, the stuff in between is walls and floors, and the interference results in slow broadband.
But with whole-home broadband, we give you 2 or more wireless access points, so you and your laptop or smartphone are physically closer to one access point or the other. That means a stronger connection with less interference, and that means faster Internet!
Rural Houses and Whole Home Broadband
I started this article talking about the challenges of rural communities, then I’ve wellied on about town houses. But I promise, I’ve not forgotten about our countryside-dwelling chums!
Nope, us rural lot often live in older houses, with much thicker walls, and other design choices which make sense when housing density is less of a concern. If we think back to our thought process around “stuff in the way” of our WiFi radio signals, great big thick stone walls are probably not going to be ideal are they.
Indeed they are not, but again, Whole Home Broadband to the rescue! We can install and configure a mesh WiFi for you, so you can enjoy full speed broadband wherever you are, and whatever type of house you live in.
Why not get in touch today to talk about how we can supercharge your web surfing?