Most UK consumers have between 1 and 20 WiFi devices in their home, nearly half of them want better coverage, but only 17% are aware of mesh WiFi.
That’s according to research commissioned by Netgear and carried out by polling company YouGov this February. It outlines the huge opportunity that could be grasped by professional home technology providers in advising and delivering better networking solutions for their customers.
The online survey of 2,179 adults in the UK reported that just under half (49%) of consumers said their priority for upgrading WiFi was better coverage throughout their homes.
While 56% said that faster internet speeds for everyday use was their priority, 42% wanted trustworthy WiFi performance even with multiple users online and just under a third (32%) wanted a seamless connection for all smart devices and home networks with zero delay.
The survey reflects the popularity of WiFi devices, with 89% of respondents with home broadband saying they have between 1 and 20 in their homes. Amongst these are smartphones, smart TVs, gaming consoles, laptops, security cameras and smart watches.
The importance of strong, consistent WiFi – which 28% of respondents said was a priority for home office tasks – means that innovative technology such as mesh WiFi which delivers comprehensive coverage in every corner of the house, is increasingly important. This is particularly the case among younger groups for whom a flawless signal is essential. Thirty-eight percent of 18- to 34-year-olds said that if mesh could provide WiFi across the home to all devices, they would be likely to buy it in 2024. However only 17% of respondents were aware of mesh WiFi.
Gary Newson, EMEA sales director at Netgear, said: “Consumers today are heavily reliant on their smart devices with 25% planning to buy more this year. But most of them will be missing out on the full functionality of these smart tools because of a mediocre, or even poor, WiFi signal to all parts of the house.
“Most households in the UK are unaware that the broadband they pay for is not being fully utilised due to sub-standard equipment, thick internal walls or even the layout of the property. Investing in a mesh WiFi system will very quickly allow them to enjoy super-fast, secure and highly reliable connections wherever in the house they are, and on whatever device they are using.”
The issue of enabling WiFi connectivity is set to become even more important with the advent of WiFi 7, the new, powerful standard which will deliver four times faster throughput than the previous WiFi 6E version, and twice the available bandwidth. This means it can support multiple devices simultaneously, enabling consumers to fully experience smart devices from connected doorbells and heating systems to Tesla cars and Apple Vision Pro spatial computers.