The purpose of a Mesh WiFi system is to blanket your entire home in solid WiFi coverage. In theory, you should never deal with dead spots or weak signal that causes lag. It is still possible that you may experience lag with a mesh system, but that would only happen for reasons like not placing your mesh router or nodes in the best spot.
Setting Up Your Mesh System Correctly
Just like with a traditional router, proper placement matters for a mesh router. Make sure your router is centrally located and is off of the floor and not hidden behind anything. Anything in the way that acts as an obstacle can interfere with the mesh system connection.
The same thing goes for the satellite nodes. They need to be properly placed throughout your space to receive the WiFi signal. To properly place the nodes, make sure they are no more than two rooms away from each other. They will work best this way.
If you experience lag with your mesh network, look at these two things first and make adjustments. Placement is critical for setting up a solid mesh network.
How to Get Rid of Lag for Better Gaming
Lag is the biggest enemy for online gamers. While mesh WiFi is awesome for getting solid coverage in every room in your home, believe it or not, it may not be the best solution for gaming. That’s because a mesh network can experience high latency (which causes lag).
The most foolproof way to get rid of lag is to use wires. Connecting your gaming console or PC with an Ethernet cable will guarantee fast, uninterrupted connection.
While wired Internet might not be convenient for everyone, it could be an easy sacrifice to make to get lag-free Internet.
There are other alternatives to mesh WiFi to eliminate lag on a WiFi network if you live in a smaller space. Things like:
WiFi range extenders, which are devices that you place between your router and the hard-to-reach area. Similar to mesh WiFi, the wireless range extender helps extend the reach of the existing WiFi signal to get more coverage.
MoCA technology with MoCA adapters, which helps converts coaxial cable TV wiring into an Ethernet connection (great for gaming), creating a direct connection for reliable Internet.
This isn’t to say that you can’t have good gaming experiences or lag-free Internet on a mesh network. Because mesh WiFi is designed to eliminate weak WiFi. However, by nature, wireless Internet is always vulnerable to lag.
Want more resources about Mesh WiFi? Check out Hitron’s Learn page.