WiFi is used for far more than simple web browsing today. Increasingly, it powers the connected home, a task that requires high performance and wide coverage. On average, each U.S. household supported 22 connected devices in 2022[1], according to Deloitte. That number reflects evolutions in both entertainment and work culture—the number of people who primarily work from home in the U.S. has tripled since 2001, accounting for nearly 1 in 5 workers (17.9%), according to the U.S. Census Bureau[2]. These workers depend on video conferencing and fast access to company data to do their jobs.
With so many connected devices throughout the home, many of which require high-speed and high-throughput connectivity, homeowners are discovering that the WiFi router they received from their Internet provider simply isn’t up to the task. About 1 in 6 (15%) of US consumers upgraded their Internet services in 2022 to get faster connectivity, and 44% purchased signal boosters to expand coverage[3].
Extenders increase a WiFi signal’s reach by rebroadcasting the router’s signal over a second WiFi network at each extender. Unfortunately, extenders cannot provide the performance levels needed to power data-intensive work tasks, a connected home, or high-quality video streams In fact, performance often degrades after introducing extenders because they need to receive and send signals to the router.
Even if you have a gigabit connection with your Internet service, extenders may not support more than 500mb, so you only get half the performance you’re paying for. Just as troublesome, extenders frequently cause interruptions in connectivity because devices will drop and reconnect from the router and extenders, depending on the range. It’s not a seamless experience, which results in lost calls, glitchy streaming, and poor performance.
A mesh network is a better option for households that need both consistent extended range and high performance. Unlike an extender, which sets up a secondary WiFi network, a mesh network creates a single network from all your devices. They seamlessly hand off connections to the fastest access point within the home and never need to travel from the node to the router and back, as occurs with extenders. Additionally, because the devices provide overlapping, intelligent coverage, if one node goes down, another can immediately pick up the connection, providing a constant signal.
NETGEAR has long been a leader in providing WiFi solutions, and the NETGEAR Orbi 960 Series provides a mesh network that’s at the top of its class. Want to deliver high-definition video to multiple screens simultaneously? The Orbi 960 Series delivers. With coverage from the front door to the back yard and speeds of up to 10.8 Gps, the Orbi 960 Series can support even the most demanding smart homes, connecting up to 200 devices without breaking a sweat.
Plus, the NETGEAR Orbi 960 is secure. NEATGEAR Armor, which comes pre-installed on the Orbi 960, monitors more than 500 million devices to proactively detect cyber threats. Once any device in the network is targeted by a cyberattack, all others are automatically notified in seconds, and NETGEAR provides instant app notification when anyone on the network encounters a malicious link or other threat, making a successful attack much less likely. But NETGEAR goes beyond reacting to attacks—it also proactively searches the web for signatures and patterns that indicate threats so it can block them before they ever gain a foothold
For power users of WiFi connectivity, there’s only one choice to provide the performance and coverage required: a mesh network. Learn more about how the NETGEAR Orbi 960 Series can power connectivity in your smart home.
[1] Deloitte. Consumers Benefit From Virtual Experiences, but Need Help Managing Screen Time, Security and Tech Overload. 3 August 2022. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/press-releases/connectivity-and-mobile-trends.html. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
[2] U.S. Census Bureau. The Number of People Primarily Working From Home Tripled Between 2019 and 2021. 15 September 2022. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/people-working-from-home.html. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
[3] Deloitte. Consumers Benefit From Virtual Experiences, but Need Help Managing Screen Time, Security and Tech Overload. 3 August 2022. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/press-releases/connectivity-and-mobile-trends.html. Retrieved 9 February 2023.