Do You Need A Mesh Network? Don

Mesh Wi-Fi is a cool technology that can be essential for providing strong Wi-Fi coverage in challenging conditions, but spending a bunch of money on mesh routers you don’t need is like buying a Ferrari to drive at a walking pace around Monaco, except it doesn’t even make you look cool. That being said, if you don’t mind spending the extra money, a mesh Wi-Fi system will work fine in a home that doesn’t actually need that much coverage. Mesh networks will work well in any home, but most homes don’t really need one.

Set realistic speed expectations

Do you really need gigabit for TikTok?

Most Wi-Fi routers use 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands with some newer Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers also offering 6GHz bands. Lower frequencies pass more easily through walls, so the 2.4GHz signal will travel further than the 5GHz and 6GHz signal in your home. One problem with this, however, is that due to the available bandwidth, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi is much slower than 5GHz, so if you’re using a speed test, it may seem underwhelming.

Keep in mind, though, that for most of what we do online, we don’t need that much speed. If you’re just browsing the web on your phone or tablet, your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi could offer plenty of performance. If your phone is still hanging on to a fragment of 5GHz signal and it’s unstable, check in your router settings to see if you can create a separate SSID for your 2.4GHz connection. If you’re not too worried about total throughput, that may be all you need.

If you signed up for a fast internet connection and want to get that speed in every corner of the house, I understand, but it’s going to cost you. Realistically, only a few devices will really benefit from speeds faster than a few hundred megabits per second, like a gaming PC.

Can you run a wire instead?

Ethernet is almost always the best connection

An Ethernet cable connected to a laptop with an adapter.

If you’re a gamer, bad Wi-Fi can suck the fun right out of a good game with lag spikes that make it impossible to nail your shot. While game servers have gotten better at predicting player movement and compensating for the wide range of connection qualities they need to manage, lower ping is always better.

To get the best ping times, your best bet is to run an Ethernet cable to your PC or console. A copper connection isn’t susceptible to wireless interference from your neighbor’s router and doesn’t need to share bandwidth with your mom’s iPad. While Wi-Fi has gotten a lot better in the past few years, Ethernet has as well. Ethernet also gives you symmetrical download and upload speeds, which Wi-Fi can struggle to deliver, so if you’re a streamer, a wire could be a big improvement right away.

If you aren’t comfortable drilling holes in the wall, you could get a flat Ethernet cable to run along the base of the wall and under the carpet to get there. There are also power line adapters that use your electric wiring to transmit a wired Ethernet signal, though the consistency can be variable. If your home was wired for cable TV, however, a MoCa adapter can generally use that wiring with better speeds and consistency.

If you can’t run a wire, and you still need to game rooms away from your router, gaming on a mesh network is possible, and with a powerful QoS, as we find in ROG Rapture mesh kits, gaming on a mesh network is still possible. Just make sure you’re getting a mesh kit with enough power to handle all of your tech.

You need to overbuy with a mesh setup

Fronthaul and backhaul needs

Building a mesh network is inherently wasteful. Your mesh nodes need to be able to talk to the base router without giving up too much speed, so each node needs to be well within the coverage area of the primary router. Unless you’re wiring every node, you’ll have a lot of overlap in your mesh. All that compounds when you remember that you have to buy two or three routers for a mesh, driving costs up even more.

Mesh nodes need to maintain a connection to another point on the mesh while also staying connected to the devices using it for internet access, so you need enough capacity to handle both. Some routers have a dedicated band just for the mesh link, but the fact remains, you’re using a lot of your capacity bouncing your data from node to node. If you buy a budget mesh system or one with similar specs to your router, you may notice that while your connection quality is high, the speed really isn’t.

Should you get a standard router?

Why not both?

Houses have gotten big, and if you’ve just closed on a new one, there’s a chance your old router, or the one provided by your ISP, just won’t get the job done. Buying a mesh kit or renting mesh pods from your ISP will get you the coverage you’re looking for, but can be slower than you’re expecting, and will be more expensive than a single router.

Mesh Wi-Fi kits can be much more expensive than a standard router, so before you pay for a whole kit, you might want to start with a standard router with mesh capabilities. Some router manufacturers have been building mesh compatibility into their standard routers for years, like Asus with AiMesh and Linksys with Intelligent Mesh. TP-Link is also joining in with EasyMesh support on some of its newer routers. EasyMesh isn’t proprietary to TP-Link, so you can actually expand your mesh with other brand routers.

A router that can mesh

TP-Link Archer BE800 Wi-Fi 7 router review: It doesn’t get much better than this

The Archer BE800 is one of the first Wi-Fi 7 routers to market with a tri-band BE19000 connection and 10Gbps Ethernet.

If you’re looking for a mesh-capable router, something like the Asus RT-AX88U Pro is a good starting point for most people, with plenty of speed for the fastest home internet connections available. There is easy mesh expansion with other Asus-branded routers, including ROG and ZenWiFi models. If you’re looking for Wi-Fi 7, TP-Link’s Archer BE800 has more speed than any home needs with multiple 10Gbps Ethernet ports, but it also supports EasyMesh expansion.

If you’re ready for a new router, checking out one of the best Wi-Fi routers with mesh support – you can save some money if likely all you really need is a newer router. With mesh expansion support, you can get the best of both worlds without overspending on a mesh kit that offers way more coverage than you need.