How to do a Wireless WIFI Installation Using Mesh

We’ve talked about the many benefits of wifi on this blog before–ease of use with portable devices; flexibility in the workplace; and cost-effectiveness–but businesses can reap even greater benefits with a wireless WiFi mesh created by Ubiquiti’s UniFi access points. UniFi’s APs make it easy to configure a WiFi mesh that has greater coverage and less maintenance than a traditional WiFi network, plus fewer wired components to deal with.

Want to find out more about the benefits of a UniFi WiFi mesh network, how to set up a mesh network, and how it works? Keep reading to find all the answers.

What Is a WiFi Mesh?

Traditional WiFi networks are based around a central router with one or two wall or ceiling antennas to extend the network range. But these networks are often limited in scope and power, which results in dead spots and a small coverage area. To cover greater areas, it is necessary to set up another wired local area network (WLAN) with its own unique SSID.

Mesh networks eliminate that need, and installation of WiFi from Ubiquiti offers some of the best mesh hardware on the market. The UniFi mesh WiFi system uses powerful access points (APs) that communicate wirelessly and increase both the size and quality of the wireless coverage with one WLAN and one SSID. 

This means you can install a reliable mesh network in almost any environment, regardless of obstacles that would tank a regular WiFi system. The mesh is also incredibly flexible, since the APs are easy to deploy on almost any surface and can be rearranged or scaled without disrupting the network.

Mesh networks also create very stable wireless coverage with less lag and/or downtime, because each of the nodes (or Access Points, or APs) connect directly and non-hierarchically with each other. This is because the system doesn’t depend on one node, or on one pathway, to transmit information, but uses the whole network to share the load. This creates a dynamic system that sidesteps failures and faults, and requires less maintenance than other topologies.

It’s important to remember that wireless mesh networks are simply a large-scale extension of a wired network. That means that the strength, stability, and security of your mesh relies on the strength, stability, and security of your central router and gateway

Who needs a mesh network?

Mesh wifi UniFi installation is a great choice for those who want a wide-reaching wireless network with a minimum of easily maintained hardware and software:

• Campuses that want a stable WiFi connection across buildings and outdoors
• Buildings with obstacles that lead to tricky dead spots with traditional WiFi
• Homes that want total WiFi coverage, from kitchen to patio to garage
• Offices where much work takes place on portable devices outside of office