WHAT A MESH!
Wireless mesh networks are a real thing, not some sort of marketing hype for once, so what are they? As with many technologies, mesh networks span out of military development to increase the overall range and robustness of a wireless network by linking and routing through individual wireless devices.
For us home consumers, the appeal is to have a home network that offers a reliable, fast, and consistent network. The number of wireless devices in a smart home is getting cray cray, as the kids would say, and a mesh network made of two more routers can offer smarter use of the available wavelengths and bandwidth through a variety of tricks. It can maximize bandwidth by utilizing the channels and wavelength with the least interference. There is a standard for this, defined by 802.11s; some devices, such as Google Wi-Fi, use this, but companies are free to ignore it and implement their own mesh protocols to improve performance.
We took the Linksys Velop system for a spin. We first set up one unit and tested the throughput in two control locations: in the same room, and a room away, blocked by a brick wall. We then set up a second unit and tested to see the effect on overall performance in the same locations.
The same-room control connected at 300Mb/s, with 12.8MB/s upstream and 20.8MB/s down transfers; the oneroom-away control connected at 121Mb/s, with 3.4MB/s up and 8.5MB/s down. With the second Velop in action, the sameroom performance was 13.9MB/s up and 20.5MB/s down; oneroom-away connected at 300Mb/s, and tested 9.9MB/s up and 21.6MB/s down. So, a marked increase in the previously poorly serviced area.