investigated: your wi-fi vs the iot

All those things can’t be good for your bandwidth...

What’s the big problem?

The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) is an inevitable future, but it’s not the most pleasant prospect for your router as-is. Your fridge, toaster, shower and the like hammering your Wi-Fi frequencies means traditional tech will struggle to keep up, and the stuff that needs bandwidth can’t properly be catered for. It’s happening: we’ve had problems with thermostats and baby monitors already.

Is this all my fault?

Technically, a good ISP should make this issue go away, but routers are burdened with certain limitations that mean even the best traffic shaping won’t help. Limited spatial streams is the most crippling: your Wi-Fi router can only handle so many incoming and outgoing signals at once, and too many devices vying for attention means speeds suffer. This on top of the age-old issue of crowded channels – especially tricky in a built-up area – spells Wi-Fi doom.

What’s the solution?

More spatial streams, and more available channels. The most recent Wi-Fi standard, 802.11ac, has made great strides in solving the overcrowding problem, offering up to eight multiple-in, multiple-out streams with a wider bandwidth for greater throughput. The next generation, 802.11ax, is due to be ratified in 2019, and should improve connections further with multi-antenna tech.

What can I do now?

The solution to your router running out of active streams? Add more streams. More specifically, add a wireless access point, ideally running on a different SSID and channel. At least while you wait...