Oliver Haslam·

New Easy Mesh Standard Will Allow Different Routers To Form Mesh Networks

WiFi is something that has become much more simple to get working over the past few years after a period during which it did seem to be something of a dark art for many.

That has perhaps been improved by the fact that mesh routers have started to become more popular, allowing users to blanket their homes with a WiFi network that is made up of multiple pieces of hardware, all of which work together to form a “mesh” network, ensuring there are no blackspots to speak of.

That’s all well and good if you’re using mesh WiFi hardware that is all from the same manufacturer, but right now, you’re out of luck if you want to try and mix and match. That may be about to change, though, with the WiFi Alliance keen to make things much simpler.

The people who oversee the WiFi standard, the WiFi Alliance, are introducing a new standard that they call Easy Mesh. This new standard will allow users to install mesh routers from different manufacturers and have them all work together so long as they adhere to that standard. Essentially, if your kit has the Easy Mesh banding, then you should be good to go.

This alone will hopefully ensure that mesh routers become more common, assuming the standard is widely adopted. Right now, users have to buy systems that tend to be costly, made up of multiple bits of hardware that they then set up throughout their home.

If this new standard takes off, individual routers will be offered more singularly, allowing networks to be built up rather than bought all at once.

Certification for Easy Mesh is expected to start soon, although there is no estimate yet as to when we can expect hardware to start arriving into the market with the name slapped on it.

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