How to Boost Your Home Network with the Latest Technology

Get the Speed You Need Wi-Fi 6  

This past year, everyone gained a new appreciation of how important their network connectivity is. It was the essential lifeline to the world, connecting us to work, school, shopping, family, distantly socializing, and entertainment. However, while we are now returning to normal in New York, the demand for reliable, fast connectivity not only remains but will accelerate as our world becomes more digitized and virtualized.  

If you suffered through too many stuttering connections on Zoom and videos that would buffer or play in low quality, now might be a great time to take another look at your home network installation. There is a new network standard available – Wi-Fi 6 – that promises to boost performance significantly in the home. Aside from the technology, if you've been relying on standard equipment provided by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) in the Hamptons, then you should also consider commercial-grade equipment upgrades for the robust performance you need.  

Let’s explore both ideas in more detail below.  

SEE ALSO: Remote Monitoring: A Smart Choice for Your Smart Home 

INCREASED PERFORMANCE WITH WI-FI 6 

Wi-Fi 6 is the marketing term applied to the latest networking standard. Years in the making, it will offer not just faster theoretical speeds but also significant improvements in capacity that will ultimately affect real-world performance more. Wi-Fi 6 architecture allows routers to handle more connections simultaneously, a boon for our hyper-connected homes where almost every new device and appliance is networked. Newer devices like Apple laptops, phones, and tablets already support the new standard and will offer speedier performance that is noticeable with a Wi-Fi 6 router. Beyond that, the increased capacity will still improve performance in mixed networks as more devices get connected.  

One additional critical advantage with Wi-Fi 6 comes with wireless access points (WAP). With the older standard, a WAP can only throughput one session at a time from a device. With Wi-FI 6, a WAP will be able to manage 12 concurrent sessions. You will notice that performance on everything from faster responses from a smart speaker to snappier browsing to smoother video calls with many participants.  

COMMERCIAL-GRADE SOLUTIONS 

If you’ve been relying on ISP-issued equipment or consumer networking solutions, you should know that not all networking equipment is built the same way. Commercial-grade equipment such as that from vendors like Ruckus, Pakedge, and Ubiquiti offer more powerful processors and radios and more robust construction and software for more reliable, higher performance networking. On the software side, Pakedge solutions also offer professional installers simplified ways to prioritize traffic so your many devices don’t conflict with each other, and you optimize the bandwidth needed for work, school, entertainment, and smart home automation.  

One other important element found in commercial-grade solutions that shouldn't be overlooked is manageability. Solutions from the vendors above all offer remote monitoring and updating, a vital feature for monitoring equipment, network health, and minimizing downtime. Not only do these capabilities allow for monitoring your network health, but they can also allow for monitoring some of the devices on your network as well. For greater peace of mind, we offer a variety of subscription support services to ensure your network and home technology are always there when you need them.  

Ready to get your home network in shape for fall? Get in touch with us here; we would love to work with you!