Page 32 - Take Control of Wi-Fi Networking and Security_Neat

Mesh nodes have three options for backhaul, the term for how they

shuffle data among themselves, as opposed to handling Wi-Fi connec-

tions to and from wireless clients:

• Backhaul over the same 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks used for Wi-

Fi with wireless clients. While today’s mesh networks are more

efficient than WDS ones, this still steals throughput from your

network’s devices.

• Add a third radio system devoted to backhaul with other nodes. This

additional radio picks a 5 GHz channel that’s not in use by the node

for Wi-Fi for that purpose. (In the mesh system descriptions below,

I note the bandwidth each system says its third radio can handle

backhaul, if they provide it at all.)

• Backhaul using Ethernet. This sounds contradictory! Why use

Ethernet with wireless mesh? Because it can add 1 Gbps of backhaul

in places you have Ethernet connections for nodes, and lets you

extend a mesh network using a node that’s too far away to “hear”

the wireless signals of the rest of the network, like in a backyard

cottage or shed.

Note: I mentioned in Wi-Fi Spectrum earlier in the book that each

band requires a separate radio. This is also true for separate channels

within a band. A tri-radio node interacts with wireless clients on a 2.4

GHz channel and a 5 GHz channel, but uses its third radio to transmit

data to other nodes on a separate 5 GHz channel.

Let’s look at a detailed list of what mesh networks’ benefits are next.

to Pick Mesh
Why

Although I wouldn’t say that mesh networking is as easy as “plug and

play,” it does handle many details you’d have to sort out for yourself if

you were using a standard Wi-Fi network:

• Easy configuration: While you still have to enter some network-

ing values to connect to the internet, a lot of the fussy settings for

32