The Challenge: A router that could not get Wi-Fi out
In this house, the router sat inside a technical cabinet. The waves stay trapped there: the router's Wi-Fi could barely get out. Trying to cover the rest of the home from that spot therefore made little sense.
The Solution: Several nodes in a mesh network
The intervention consisted in installing several Wi-Fi nodes in a mesh network, spread through the house. They form a single network and carry Wi-Fi where the isolated router could not. Coverage across the home improved markedly.
The router's Wi-Fi switched off: Once the mesh was in place, the router's own Wi-Fi was turned off. Its signal was heavily limited by the cabinet anyway, and it no longer added anything next to the new installation.
The Results: The house covered, the router back to its actual role
This installation made it possible to:
- Extend range substantially: Wi-Fi became usable throughout the house, not only near the cabinet.
- Work around the technical cabinet: The mesh nodes transmit from places where the waves can actually propagate.
- Switch off a useless Wi-Fi radio: The router still provides the connection, without broadcasting a signal that hardly escaped.
When a router is enclosed, turning up its transmit power does not help. Putting Wi-Fi on mesh nodes, where the waves can get out, is what covers the house.