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aintaining smooth Wi-Fi performance and

throughput for gaming, video streaming, and smart

home devices is important, but now that so many

folks are working from home with no end in sight, you’ve also

got to consider important work applications and different modes

of work communication, especially video conferencing. This is

where whole-house coverage becomes more than a nice-to-have.

Many of the latest wireless routers can provide strong coverage

to most rooms of a typical medium-size house, but larger homes

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concrete substructures, and other structural impediments may

require additional components to bring Wi-Fi to areas that the

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dead zones but typically provide only half the bandwidth that you

get from your main router. Access points offer more bandwidth

than range extenders but require a wired connection to the main

router. And both solutions typically create a new network SSID

that you have to log in to as you move from one area of the house

to another.

The 5 Best Wi-Fi Mesh Network

Systems We’ve Tested

Now that working from home is just as

important as gaming and streaming, defeating

Wi-Fi dead zones is vital. That’s where multi-

node mesh systems shine. Here are the best

Wi-Fi mesh network systems we’ve tested.

BY JOHN R. DELANEY