Our old Welsh cottage is long & low and has very thick stone walls. This, added to the lack of fibre broadband in our rural setting, means that our internet connectivity leaves much to be desired.
As we work from home and run a predominantly internet-based business, connection speed & strength are extremely important. Sometimes, the sluggishness experienced when uploading, downloading and streaming can mean that tasks take twice as long as they should. We’ve been looking at available solutions; boosters, range extenders and mesh wi-fi routers.
BT is our current land-line and broadband provider, so their bundle seems like the best option for us. They even offer a selector tool to see which of their products would be most suitable.
However, we also have an Amazon Alexa set up; a little Echo Dot that works with our Sonos smart speaker system. As it’s produced by Amazon, the eero would slot straight into that seamlessly.
If you’re more of a Google smart home household, the Nest is an obvious and very attractive choice.
- BT Mini Whole Home wi-fi, pack of 3: £74.99, John Lewis
Get rid of those wi-fi dead spots and stay connected to the strongest signal as you move around your home. Even with multiple devices connected you won’t lose speed. So stream, watch, share and download anywhere at home. Easy to set up straight out of the box. Our intelligent app will show you where to put the discs for the best connection.
- Google Nest wifi router: £149.00, Argos
Nest Wifi is a scalable system that creates a mesh network, which helps deliver a consistently strong, reliable signal. Mesh Wi‑Fi can help provide more coverage than a traditional router by using multiple Wi‑Fi points together to create a connected system that gives you a strong signal throughout your home. Nest Wifi is a scalable system that gives both whole-home coverage and a consistently strong signal. Each Nest Wifi point is also a smart speaker with the Google Assistant. One Nest Wifi router with one Wifi point is strong enough to handle up to 200 connected devices and fast enough to stream multiple 4K videos at a time.
- Amazon eero Pro mesh wi-fi router/extender: £179.00, Amazon
Tri-band speeds: the eero Pro mesh Wi-Fi router connects to your existing modem to bring up to 160 sq.m of fast, reliable Wi-Fi to your home. Works with your internet service provider: eero Pro connects with your modem to bring your existing internet connection to every corner of your home. Set up in minutes: the eero app walks you through setup and allows you to manage and control your network from anywhere. Gets better over time: automatic updates keep your network safe and secure. TrueMesh technology: eero Pro intelligently routes traffic to avoid congestion, buffering and loss of connection. Phones, computers, smart TVs, security cameras and everything else just works with eero. Since eero Pro works with Alexa and more, it’s the best choice for smart homes.
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