Wi-Fi® is the defacto connectivity technology in the home today. Nearly 50 percent of U.S. households are wireless only, and Wi-Fi moves more than half of all global Internet traffic. High-performance Wi-Fi will become more critical with the expected growth in connected devices and the increased distribution of HD and 4K UHD video over Wi-Fi.
Robust Wi-Fi connectivity in the home is so important that builders like Lennar are developing homes, based on Wi-Fi Home Design™, with consistent, whole-home Wi-Fi preinstalled for a turn-key experience.
There are some simple steps consumers can take to ensure a high-quality Wi-Fi experience:
Use today’s Wi-Fi
To achieve a high-quality Wi-Fi experience in the home, consumers should make sure their devices support the latest Wi-Fi technologies. Today, that means high-performance Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ac™, which delivers faster speeds — about three times faster than Wi-Fi from only two years ago — and enables devices to handle demanding applications, such as 4K UHD video streaming.
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ac operates in 5 GHz but almost all products also support 2.4 GHz to provide support for older devices. Other technologies, like WiGig®, complement Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ac and use the less congested 60 GHz band to send data at multi-gigabit speeds — up to 7 Gbps — at shorter ranges.
Check your location
Another opportunity to enhance Wi-Fi coverage and performance throughout the home is by placing access points, the Wi-Fi equipment that provides connectivity to your devices from a central location where it can reach multiple areas within your home.
Avoid the temptation to hide your equipment in a closet or cabinet where building materials, such as brick and cement walls, often make it difficult for the Wi-Fi signal to reach your other devices. Some retail, multi-access point solutions coming to market make this even easier by eliminating the need to run cables between each access point.
Additionally, homes built to a Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Home Design already have access points installed in optimal locations for whole-home coverage.
Make it Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™
Consumers should look for the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ logo, designating products that have undergone rigorous testing to ensure they work well with other devices. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED devices include the latest in WPA2™ security, providing a high level of security and privacy for communications as they travel across a home network. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED logo gives consumers confidence that products across many vendors will deliver a good user experience.
Wi-Fi is the home’s connectivity foundation. Even with advances over the last 16+ years, Wi-Fi is not standing still.
It’s important that consumers not only ensure their home Wi-Fi network provides a strong foundation, but also invest in products that meet today’s quality, performance, and security standards while maintaining compatibility with old and new devices being brought into a home.
Kevin Robinson, VP of Marketing, Wi-Fi Alliance, [email protected]