Wifi and You: What you need to know

Wifi has become more critical than ever to many Mainers, with telecommuting and remote work being the only way to maintain your employment. So what should you do if your wifi isn’t performing the way it should? Read on for 3 tips… wait that sounds too much like clickbait. Wifi unfortunately is an extremely complex technology that depends on your wireless router/access point providing proper connectivity, your client device connecting in a compatible and reliable way, and your environment to not interfere. This can include construction materials restricting wireless signal penetration, as well as noise sources that can throw off your connection, such as a microwave or other device.

Get intimate with your wif-i.

Wireless networking has been around for decades, but became popular in late 1999 with the introduction of 802.11b. Beyond that, you have 802.11A, 802.11G, and what’s considered the “minimum” these days, 802.11N (Wifi-4). 802.11N is good for around 150-200mbps in good real world conditions, with minimal clients/devices. 802.11AC, or Wifi 5, is only available on the 5Ghz spectrum, 2.4Ghz is 802.11N. 802.11AC is good for around 250-400mbps typically, however it can be less often times due to interference. The latest standard, Wifi-6 (rarely called 802.11AX), operates on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz spectrums. It’s also a significant improvement in many ways from 802.11N/AC, namely the implementation of MU-MIMO, or in English, the ability for multiple devices to communicate simultaneously. Up until 802.11AC, wireless radios could only communicate with 1 device at a time. So if your kids were streaming Youtube, your laptop would have to wait for gaps in the stream to communicate with the router. This leads to latency, jitter, and poor performance. 802.11AC (Wifi-5) introduced MU-MIMO when transmitting from the router to multiple client devices, but still only 1 client could communicate back to the router when you wanted to make a new request, or upload data. Since 802.11AC is only available on 5Ghz, these benefits were never realized on cheaper, older 2.4Ghz clients either. Wifi-6 changes all this, and allows for multiple devices to communicate simultaneously, when sending AND receiving, on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies.

Or at least that’s the way it should work…

In practice, Wifi-6 is still a very new standard. Most implementations are incomplete, and don’t support the full featureset of Wifi-6. This affects several new features found in Wifi-6, as seen here: https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/33221-what-s-missing-from-your-wi-fi-6-router-ofdma

So the high dollar, $500+ Wifi-6 router you buy today is likely to be faster than the Wifi-5 router you had yesterday, but it’s not going to be as fast or reliable as a second generation unit that will come out later this year.

Don’t buy a Wifi 6 router today expecting it to be the last router you’ll need for the next 5+ years.

Wifi-6 also requires your client devices to support Wifi 6 as well. So that means most brand new phones released over the last year, a few laptops (but no MacBooks… not even that $3,000 16” Macbook Pro you splurged on a month ago), and that’s it. So you’re likely going to be running at Wireless AC / Wifi 5 anyways.

My Advice…

If this is for your home, it’s more important to have a high quality, strong signal, than to have Wifi 6. That means having a proper mesh system, rather than hoping that a single Wifi-6 router will cover your entire house. If you have a small property, and can locate your router centrally, and the construction materials aren’t fighting you, then you might not even need a mesh system! But if you need to install the access point at the far end of a long, multi-story house, and you have a bunch of smarthome devices clogging up your airspace, then a Mesh system can help improve connectivity immensely when deployed properly. Unfortunately with everyone upgrading their Wifi systems now at the same time, stock levels are running low, so you might nee to wait, or be more flexible on your choices.

I like Netgear’s ORBI mesh systems. They’re easy to deploy, reasonably reliable, and provide decent speeds. I like the RBK50 system which you can buy here: https://amzn.to/2UVDjzE

If that’s not in stock, then I’d recommend the Google Nest Wifi, if you’re ok with Google bundling a smart speaker in with the extender. https://amzn.to/3bEED0u It’s not a tri-band unit with a dedicated backhaul radio like the Orbi, but the performance is still decent. So if you’re ok with a Google potentially listening in on you, then that’s a good route to go,

These systems are designed for home use, and can be restrictive in a business environment. Contact us to discuss options for your office, which can offer far greater flexibility, security, and performance for dense offices and spaces where you need to share with tenants.