This article is sponsored by Luma.
Today’s typical home WiFi network handles as much traffic as some small businesses. There are a dozen or more devices connected, with about half of them streaming HD video or gaming, and also usually web browsing and social mediaing at the same time.
The home WiFi industry has responded by creating bigger and more expensive routers boasting impressive speed numbers on their box fronts. But here’s why they haven’t provided better WiFi.
Weak Signal
Your home’s walls and objects are like sponges, absorbing WiFi signals before they reach your devices. Sheetrock walls are bad enough; if you have stucco or concrete walls, you know how much they kill WiFi.
Radio signals from baby monitors, older cordless phones, microwave ovens and your neighbors’ WiFi don’t help either. They appear as noise that can drown out your already weakened router’s signal.
Battle Of The Bands
Most new routers handle devices on both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands simultaneously, but 5 GHz signals don’t travel as far (it’s a physics thing). So devices must choose between a fast connection that doesn’t reach very far or a much slower one that does.
"Faster" routers don’t solve this problem because both radios are sitting in the same box. Transmit power can’t be boosted to compensate because all routers must obey government mandated transmit power limits. The only way to really fix weak signals is to reduce the distance (and obstacles) between your router and devices.
Slower Devices Set The Pace
WiFi devices share your router’s radio by waiting their turn; only one device at a time can use the radio. Slower devices must use the radio longer to transmit the same amount of data, forcing faster devices to wait. Dual-band and "tri-band" routers help a bit by increasing the number of simultaneous transmissions to two or three, if devices are also dual-band.
It’s not just older devices that are slow. Even the newest, fastest devices must slow down as signal levels drop or interference increases.
Dealing with a mix of fast and slow devices is hard enough. Now add constantly changing signal levels and data loads as devices move around and application mixes change. Two or even three radios become a limitation very quickly.
Luma’s Surround WiFi Solution
Luma’s Surround WiFi mesh networking solution uses multiple dual-band WiFi radios (APs) placed where they are needed, an approach business networks have used for years. But Surround WiFi replaces the armies of network technicians required to care for these networks with Luma’s intelligent Surround WiFi cloud.
Surround WiFi starts by guiding optimal placement of Luma APs with easy to use Android or iOS apps. APs can be connected via WiFi or Ethernet; Luma’s cloud will automatically figure out how best to form its mesh network.
Luma’s cloud then guides devices away from interference and intelligently distributes devices across its multiple APs. It also monitors the network to detect bottlenecks and problems and dynamically adjusts APs and devices to keep your network running at peak efficiency.
Lumas distributed throughout your home will ensure that devices always have a strong WiFi signal. Luma also keeps older, slower, legacy devices isolated on the 2.4 GHz band and allows newer dual-band capable clients to use the faster, less crowded 5 GHz band. Having Lumas close by wherever you are in your home allows your newer devices to take advantage of fast WiFi speeds.
Luma also supports “seamless roaming”, automatically and quickly reconnecting devices to the best AP as devices move around. And unlike other mesh solutions, Surround WiFi also monitors the security of your network, guarding against ad fraud, botnet, malware, spyware, spam, and phishing. Parental controls also provide age-appropriate web filtering and access scheduling via individual user profiles.
The Next Step in WiFi Networking
Great WiFi coverage, speed. reliablity and security are core components of an effective home network. Luma’s Surround WiFi delivers them with enterprise-grade WiFi at a fraction of the cost and with none of the hassle. Get yours now!
Read more about Luma.