Does Mesh Wi-Fi make your internet faster?

(Dan Tri) - The Wi-Fi Mesh system does not increase internet package speed, but can help many locations in the house achieve speeds close to the maximum speed allowed by the connection.

Mesh Wi-Fi has been around for a long time in the military and telecommunications, but this system has only been widely used since 2016 (Photo: shine.graphics/Shutterstock).

Wi-Fi Mesh is not a new technology. Mesh networking has been used for many years in military, telecommunications and sensor networks.

However, Wi-Fi Mesh systems for home users have only really become popular since around 2016, when many large companies began commercializing their products.

The Wi-Fi Mesh system consists of a main router (router) connected to the modem or internet connection of the network and one or more satellite nodes (nodes) located in other locations in the house.

All nodes operate as a unified Wi-Fi network, using the same network name (SSID), helping the device automatically switch to a hotspot with a stronger signal when the user moves.

Many people think that just by installing Wi-Fi Mesh, internet speed will increase. Actually, this is not entirely correct.

The maximum speed at which users can access the Internet is still limited by the package and connection quality from the Internet service provider (ISP). Wi-Fi Mesh cannot turn a 100Mbps plan into 300Mbps.

The strength of Wi-Fi Mesh lies in its ability to maintain high speeds over a wider coverage area.

When standing close to the router, the device can often reach speeds close to the maximum capacity of the connection. However, when moving to farther rooms, the Wi-Fi signal will degrade due to distance, concrete walls, floors, furniture or sources of electromagnetic interference. As the signal strength decreases, the data transmission speed also decreases.

In the Mesh system, the device will connect to the nearest node instead of having to communicate directly with the main router. This helps shorten the radio transmission distance, thereby improving signal quality and maintaining more stable speeds in areas that previously had weak signals.

The point to note is that Mesh nodes still have to transmit data to the router through a connection called backhaul.

Backhaul can be a wireless connection or a wired connection using an Ethernet cable. Some high-end Wi-Fi Mesh systems are also equipped with a dedicated backhaul band (usually a tri-band system), in which one band is only used to exchange data between nodes, not serving the terminal device.

This design helps reduce bandwidth sharing between devices and traffic transmission between nodes, thereby improving performance.

However, not every Wi-Fi Mesh system has a dedicated backhaul. Many popular products use the same frequency band to both connect devices and transmit data between nodes. In this case, the actual speed may decrease after each wireless transmission hop if the traffic is heavy or the distance between nodes is too far.

Therefore, Wi-Fi Mesh does not increase maximum Internet speed, but can help multiple areas of the house reach closer to maximum speed than using just a single router.

Should you invest in a Wi-Fi Mesh system?

Wi-Fi Mesh is especially suitable for houses with many floors, large areas or many rooms that make it difficult for Wi-Fi waves from one router to cover the entire area.

The advantages of this system are wide coverage, seamless roaming between nodes and managing the entire network from a single interface.

However, the biggest disadvantage is still the cost. A Mesh Wi-Fi kit usually costs significantly more than a regular Wi-Fi router.

If there is only a small area in the house with weak signal, users can consider using a signal extender (Wi-Fi Extender/Repeater) or installing an additional access point (Access Point) connected by network cable if there are wiring conditions.

In particular, Access Points connected by Ethernet often provide higher performance and stability than Wi-Fi Extenders and many Mesh systems using wireless backhaul.

If you have used Wi-Fi Mesh but the speed is still slow, the cause may not lie in the Mesh system itself but due to the unreasonable location of the nodes, the distance between the nodes is too far, interference from neighboring Wi-Fi networks, the terminal only supports the old Wi-Fi standard or the Internet package speed does not meet the needs.