Best Way to Set Up Ethernet Switch and Mesh Network

Want to connect all your wired and wireless devices and expand your network with ease? Setting up an Ethernet switch and mesh network may be the best way. Because today it becomes increasingly difficult to use only a router to make your all connections since the approach of IoT. However, Ethernet switch and mesh network will function adequately no matter how many connections you want to make. Here focus on the Ethernet switch and mesh networking.

Why Mesh Networking?

Unlike the stand-alone routers, which will arise signal loss or strength drops when you go away from them, while mesh Wifi networks can use another connection to create a continuous wireless link which minimizes the possibility of dead zones. For example, you put your router in the downstairs living room. When you are on the first floor, your phone can connect to the Internet with a strong signal. But when you want to search the Internet in the upstairs office, the signal would degrade. Of course, you can boost a Wifi router’s connection with a signal amplifier. But in that situation, you have to manually connect your phone to the amplifier’s Wifi network. And if you go back to the downstairs, you have to switch back to the main router’s wireless network again. What a pain! Luckily, working with mesh Wifi networks, things are different. In a wireless network, all the nodes are connected with each other which means any node could be an Access Point (AP). Therefore, through the APs, wireless mesh network allows your phone automatically connects to the strongest signal no matter you are in the upstairs or downstairs. That’s better than what we could do with the traditional router Wifi networks.

Figure 1: Mesh network exists in our life.

When to Set Up Ethernet Switch and Mesh network

If you want to build a wireless mesh network, using an Ethernet switch is a good choice. Before installation, you should consider how much coverage you need in your home. For many people, the money might be better spent on a Wifi router with good quality, since the mesh network equipment like the switches cost too much. But if you want to cover a large area with signal and your home brick is too solid for signal travel through, then use a switch to build wireless mesh network is a way to go.

Use FS Ethernet Switch to Build Mesh Network

Achieving a cheap mesh network is based on switches. FS.COM publishes a set of Gigabit Ethernet switch supporting 1G, 10G, 40G and 100G Ethernet, in order to meet different demands. All the Ethernet switches meet all design and safety standards made by international and industrial organizations like ISO9001, FCC etc.

The following is a 10Gb switch named S5800-48F4S. It has 48 1GbE SFP ports and 4 10GbE SFP+ ports. This switch is a Layer2/3 switch with low latency of 2.3us. With the switching capacity, it provides a throughput of 130.95MB. Besides, it supports functions like MLAG, SNMP and so, making it becomes popular on market. Following the S5800-48F4S switch installation guide, you can easily finish the switch installation. Then you can configure the bridge parameters of AP according to the installation instructions to build a mesh network.

Figure 2: S5800-48F4S 48 Port Ethernet Switch

Conclusion

Due to mesh network advantages and disadvantages, we understand why and when to use wireless mesh network. Based on Ethernet switch, mesh networking can spread out fast Wifi across a relatively large area, which makes our life and work more efficiently. So don’t hesitate, pick one Ethernet switch from FS.COM to optimize your Wifi network.

What Is a Mesh Network?

This is sometimes annoying that the video stops when we are catching up on the most recent You Tube video, or there’s no signal in the kitchen when we want to watch the cooking video. The poor wireless signal is really a headache since people’s life has relied heavily on WiFi today. How will you fix this? Welcome to the new network solution—mesh router systems. Simply put, it consists of several small routers that communicate with each other to provide a seamless wireless network in your house. This is the reason that encourages you switch from a wireless router to a mesh network. So what is a mesh network?

What Is a Mesh Network

Wiki says a mesh network is a local network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (like data switch or bridges ) connect directly and non-hierarchically, in order to efficiently route data to the end users via the nodes. This network enables the network devices that can provide connectivity capabilities like bluetooth or wifi to form a node one after another. Then a dynamic route is formed between each device and the others, and as a result the data can be delivered within the mesh network. When a node in the network topology fails, other nodes that connect with this one will also fail. But luckily, the whole network will still work, because only one connection point is broken which will not affect the other connections. Thus, we often regard the wireless mesh network as a decentralized information network.

Figure: Example of Mesh Network

Benefits of Using a Mesh Network

What is a mesh network, after figuring out this question, let’s turn to the benefits of a mesh network. Compared with the ordinary Internet which is built on a few centralized access points or Internet Service Providers, mesh network enjoys many benefits.

• Extremely Reliable and Expandable

The most striking feature of a mesh network is the construction. This means users can add the wireless router in the specified places, thus they can build a new broadband access network just by the existing facilities. It’s convenient to add or remove the wifi mesh nodes. In addition to expand the wifi range, the wifi mesh network can help one’s electronic devices connect the strongest wifi signal automatically when you walk around the room.

• Support High Demand

In the above part what is a mesh network, we know each additional device in a mesh network is regarded as a node, the mesh topology can support high amount of network traffic. Thus, interconnected devices can send data smoothly.

• Less Expensive

Traditional networks rely on multiple equipment such as Gigabit Ethernet switch or transceivers to connect users, while mesh network uses the wireless mesh nodes to spread data. Using fewer equipment means it costs less to build a network. A general 10 Gigabit switch will cost you about 2000 dollars, not mention the high-end switches or other network equipment. Also, using a mesh network will help to eliminate the complexity of cables installations.

How to Create a Mesh Network

It’s not enough to learn what is a mesh network and its benefits, we also need to know how to create a mesh network. At present, the main method of wireless access is to set up wifi in the hotspots places. In order to enable wireless access throughout the whole city, technicians have to create network access points as many as possible by numbers of cables or fiber optic cables. Unlike the normal wireless Internet, to form a mesh network, technicians only need to connect one node to a network such as Internet modem or router. Then the connected node will share its Internet connection with the other nodes within its range. Then one after another, more nodes are connected and a bigger mesh network is created.

Conclusion

As for the question what is a mesh network, I believe now you have a clear understanding. A mesh network has a greater range and is much faster and stronger than the normal wifi network. Any question about mesh network, please contact us via our website FS.COM.