WiFi is like a pizza. The more devices you have connected, the smaller the slices you get. In a traditional office environment, you have single or multiple access points, each of which has a one-gigabit uplink to a switch or router.
In a mesh Wi-Fi scenario: there is a single access point that has a one-gigabit uplink, so all the other access points connect to that single access point. This, in turn, splits the one-gigabit uplink connection among all the access points that make it up.
Let us now return to our pizza scenario. If an access point is a pizza and you need to serve slices of pizza to several people in different parts of your office, you’re basically taking one pizza and dividing it among each department and then dividing those slices again among the people in that department. That way, everyone gets a slice, but a very small one that is not filling enough.
With traditional wired access points, each department gets a full pizza and, in turn, they eat larger slices that leave them fuller and more satisfied.
While mesh routing systems are smart access point that uses multiple antennas to transmit internet connection back and forth between our router, the nodes, and your devices, access points are a bit simpler and require a bit more time to set up.
The question then is which one should you choose for your business?
If you want to get the best performance, a wired AP connection will always work best and will allow your company members to eat heartier slices of pizza or enjoy a better connection. If on the other hand, you are looking to connect an access point to the rest of the network wirelessly, then you should definitely opt for a mesh network.
In our opinion, we strongly believe that traditional wired access points are still the superior option available today, so we highly recommend their use over the mesh Wi-Fi alternative.
If you feel your network is not performing at its peak or need to expand or upgrade feel free to reach out we’d be happy to consult with you in design system that would meet your company’s need for many years to come.
