I think it was probably getting on for a decade ago that I invested in a couple of Google Mesh WiFi nodes. They have done me well but the computer in my upstairs office needs a wired connection so I’d resorted to some even older Ethernet over Power plugs that worked but didn’t have blazing speeds and tended to drop out once or twice a day. I had also tried a USB WiFi device but that was also on the intermittent side.

Since networking technology has moved on a lot in the past decade, I decided it was time to shell out for an upgrade. After some research, I picked the TP-Link BE3600 mesh system, which offers WiFi 7 compatibility. It isn’t one of the big sharks in the pool but, compared to the minnows I had been using, I was hopeful it would be a worthwhile upgrade.

My 3 node system arrived yesterday afternoon and I got it set up today. Set up wasn’t entirely straightforward but IT troubleshooting is mainly about patience – give things a little time to work and, if they don’t, backtrack and try another path. On my main computer, I’ve gone from download speeds round about 25Mbps to nearer 500Mbps which makes much better use of the fibre connection from my ISP. I do want to see if that holds up over the next couple of weeks but I’m very happy so far.

One fly in the ointment was Jane’s laptop, an Acer device we bought in 2018. I suppose seven years isn’t too bad for a laptop but it has issues. When we upgraded her to Windows 11, it lost use of the microphone (no updated driver available) and it has also been a bit flaky on power management. Today’s issue was that the built in network card couldn’t see the new network at all. She is temporarily sorted with the USB WiFi device (also TP-Link so perhaps it will work better on the new network) but I think we’ll be looking at a new laptop for her in the New Year.