Mesh WiFi VS Wired Access Points

Wi-Fi is like a pizza: devices share the airtime available on a radio channel. In a wired deployment, each access point connects to a switch by Ethernet; uplink speeds depend on the equipment and cabling.

In a wireless mesh, some access points use a radio link to reach the wired network. That backhaul also needs capacity. A mesh may have multiple wired access points, and some products support dedicated backhaul radios or Ethernet backhaul.

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.

Wiring each access point avoids using wireless airtime to carry that backhaul. The pizza analogy is useful, but the devices still share channels, switches and the internet connection.

Wireless mesh can extend coverage where cable is impractical. Both wired and meshed access points still need suitable placement, channel planning and configuration.

The question then is which one should you choose for your business?

For a business that can run cable, wired backhaul is usually our starting recommendation. Mesh is useful when the practical alternative is poor coverage or no connection. Test the actual load and keep wireless hops to a minimum.

Our preference is wired access points where practical. That is a design recommendation, not a promise that every wired installation will outperform every mesh system.

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.

For help applying this to your facility, explore our network infrastructure services.