How a Great Network Brings Your Smart Home to Life
Discover Unparalleled Comfort & Convenience
There was a time when home networking from the local internet service provider was sufficient for most homeowners and their connected devices. There was also a time when the average number of connected devices came to about five.
Then, smart homes arrived, and with them a host of connectivity—at least 20 and sometimes 100 or more devices communicating with the central platform and with each other. This technology brought unprecedented ease of living and a lifestyle par to none. But it also puts extreme pressure on the home network.
If you’re still using a network designed for the typical home, it’s time for a change.
SEE ALSO: Designing a Smart Home that Looks as Good as It Functions
The Signs of Bandwidth Congestion
Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred over your internet connection in a specific period. Like a highway with more cars merging onto the interstate, the traffic slows until, at rush hour, it crawls. That’s what happens when multiple devices compete for bandwidth. Soon, you experience slowdowns, lagging, and buffering.
This congestion may manifest as documents taking longer to download, connections dropping, the annoying spinning circle that interrupts your streaming movie, and video freezing during your conference call.
You can tell you have congestion in a smart home when devices respond slowly and there is a delay from when you ask your home to take an action. Frequent disconnections may occur, particularly during peak usage when everyone is home.
Fortunately, there is a solution.
The Enterprise-Grade Network
Today, many home environments have network requirements similar to those of businesses. If a company’s internet goes down, it struggles to continue operating. If the internet goes down in a smart home, they may lose control of the essentials, from automated lighting to door locks.
The answer for both businesses and smart homes is an enterprise-grade network. Designed for more expansive needs, they offer a significant increase in bandwidth and are suited to larger buildings and greater usage.
Upgrading may involve installing more powerful routers and Wi-Fi access points that support the newer Wi-Fi standards, such as Wi-Fi 6, 6e, or 7. These next-generation Wi-Fi standards emerged, in part, due to the rise of smart homes and the connectivity they require. They increase speed and enable routers to communicate with multiple devices simultaneously without traffic jams and slowdowns.
Installing multiple Wi-Fi access points is also standard practice in enterprise-grade network solutions. These access points ensure corner-to-corner coverage in your property, including your outdoor spaces.
Now, the kids can be playing an online video game in the media room while someone else is on a scheduled video conference call, and neither will experience lag or freezes.
A Smart Home You Can Count On
Smart home living offers an incredible lifestyle. It sets the stage for life’s events, creating the ideal ambiance for each unfolding moment. The climate, lighting, music, video, shades, security, and more come together to create the perfect setting, whether dining, relaxing, entertaining, or exercising.
And with a robust, reliable, and fast home network as its backbone, you can count on your smart home working and responding as it should, when it should. At Hippo’s, we believe that’s the key to enjoying your smart home to the fullest—a continuing trust in its extraordinary abilities.
To learn more about the latest home networking upgrades, contact Hippo’s.
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