Mesh Wi-Fi technology has been around for quite some time now, but there’s a chance it may have flown somewhat under your radar. You might have heard the term somewhere, but maybe aren’t quite sure of the benefits, or why you’d want to get on-board the mesh wireless train.
After all, a router’s a router, isn’t it? Those of you that have signed up for gigabit or faster broadband (more than two thirds of UK homes have the capability) probably think the one your Internet Service Provider gave you for free will do the job, right?
Sure, it might do a fine job for some situations, and your connection speed when you’re near the router is probably pretty good, but start moving into other rooms and you’ll likely find that wireless speeds drop off rapidly. For those with bigger homes, you may even experience your connection dropping out. So,if you’ve got superfast internet connection but you’re suffering from some of these issues, you’ll need a powerful tool to spread a strong and reliable signal around the house.
This is where the Huawei WiFi Mesh 7 can help – offering a great solution to unlock your ultra-fast broadband speeds, no matter where you are in the home or how many devices you’re using. In the same way you’d use a JCB digger to create your house foundations rather than a spade, use the Mesh 7 to help solve the weak performance your current router might not be able to achieve.
So… what is mesh Wi-Fi?
What happens normally in a mesh network is that a main router is ‘flanked’ around the home with other satellite devices to spread the signal, giving you juicy, ultrafast and stable speeds no matter where you are. This is what we mean by mesh Wi-Fi.
And Huawei’s WiFi Mesh 7 is a fantastic solution here, especially where families may have many, many different devices – whether it’s smartphones, tablets, PCs or laptops, and don’t forget all the streaming sticks or TVs, game consoles, smart speakers, and so forth – and all those pieces of hardware need to benefit from that ultrafast broadband connection.
Mesh Wi-Fi tech has come a long way since its inception, and Huawei is one of the frontrunners in this arena, having developed hardware that benefits from Wi-Fi 6 Plus technology and some unique advantages therein.
Why Huawei's mesh Wi-Fi outperforms the competition
Huawei’s WiFi Mesh 7 has a lot of strong suits, so let’s dive in to explore exactly what these are, and how they can benefit you. We just mentioned support for Wi-Fi 6 Plus, and this is a great starting point for understanding how Huawei does things differently from the competition to improve its mesh Wi-Fi routers.
You’ll doubtless have heard of Wi-Fi 6, which is the latest – and fastest – wireless standard. Well, Wi-Fi 6 Plus is Huawei’s own take on the standard which you can think of as a supercharged version, using an amplified signal to deliver better wireless coverage (more ably penetrating barriers like walls or large objects in the way).
Huawei’s WiFi Mesh 7 contain eight high-performance signal amplifiers that allow a single unit to provide Wi-Fi coverage for an area of up to 3,000 square feet. When you combine two routers in conjunction (one main, one satellite), the resulting mesh network can deliver up to 6,000 square feet of coverage – ideal for large homes, or even small offices. Handy then, that Mesh 7 comes in packs of two to achieve this amazing ability.
This isn’t just about ensuring a strong Wi-Fi signal across the entirety of a large house though; there’s also the possibility that with a lot of devices being connected, speeds could suffer due to the router getting bogged down with too many devices vying for precious bandwidth. Now that we’re all spending so much more time working from home, this is becoming even more of an issue.
The Huawei WiFi Mesh 7 can handle up to 250 devices, so it’ll cope just fine no matter how many family members or visitors you have.
Speed isn’t an issue either - the WiFi Mesh 7 offers speeds of up to a theoretical 6600Mbps across three bands (2.4GHz, and two 5GHz, one low band, one high band), meaning you’re getting wide coverage and fast performance across all your devices. Need to stream games, watch 4K / 8K TV, or take lots of work video calls, all at the same time? The WiFi Mesh 7 handles it all superbly.
Another notable advantage is that Huawei’s WiFi Mesh 7 boasts very low levels of latency when switching between the coverage of different routers – a lightning quick 50ms compared to around 240ms for other rival mesh networking solutions, going by Huawei’s own testing. That’s truly seamless.
Huawei has also gone to great lengths here to make it is as user friendly as possible with the Huawei AI Life app. No technical knowledge is required to set it up; just plug in the routers and follow the instructions given by the app, it’s as simple as that. The Huawei AI Life app also gives you a bunch of tools to help run the wireless network on an ongoing basis, allowing for troubleshooting should you encounter any problems, setting up a guest Wi-Fi network for visitors, checking the status of Wi-Fi signal coverage, or implementing parental controls to keep your kids safer online. Another nifty feature in the AI Life app is that it can create a heatmap that clearly shows the areas of Wi-Fi coverage around the house and where the signal is strong or weak – helping you to ensure optimum placement of the Mesh 7 satellite.
Convenience is here in spades, too, as there’s a One-Touch connection feature to facilitate easily joining the Wi-Fi network. All Android smartphone owners (who have NFC connectivity, which is most devices) have to do is tap their device against the router for an instant (NFC-based) connection, with no need for messing around with tapping in Wi-Fi passwords.
As for security, WiFi Mesh 7 supports WPA3 – the latest security standard for Wi-Fi – and you get Huawei HomeSec into the bargain, providing a raft of defensive measures against malware and hackers like a firewall, anti-brute force, and more.
All of this helps to keep your family safer still, along with additional abilities like removing unwanted devices from the network being a cinch. Spot a stranger on your Wi-Fi network? Removing (and permanently blocking) them is a simple one-click process.
Speed, security, style, convenience and more
So, as we’ve seen, Huawei offers a very compelling blend of convenience and user-friendliness with strong security features.
It’s also worth bearing in mind the stylish looks of Huawei’s mesh Wi-Fi routers, too, as nobody likes having an odd-looking piece of hardware cluttering up their environment (and some routers, bristling with antennas, can look truly awful).
All in all, the Huawei WiFi Mesh 7 is an excellent choice for those wanting to get started in the world of mesh Wi-Fi for all the above reasons.
For those with smaller homes that don’t need the same amount of range, Huawei also offers a WiFi Mesh 3 variant, which offers up to 3000Mbps speeds (over two bands, with 4,300 square feet of coverage delivered by a three-pack of devices), while giving you all the same advantages outlined above.
So what are you waiting for? Unlock your superfast broadband speeds now. Visit Amazon to buy the WiFi Mesh 7 (RRP £329.99) or the WiFi Mesh 3 (RRP £249.99).
They are also available to buy from the Huawei Store.
