I am looking to add smart technology to my home. What sort of infrastructure/ fibre speeds will I need to support smart home devices?
Hi Jack,
You’ll first want to make sure you have a separate 2.4GHz WiFi network in your property - some routers have “band steering” on which can cause problems, so a separate network using only 2.4GHz should work fine - majority of smart devices use this WiFi band if not Bluetooth.
You also need to ensure the WiFi coverage in your property is good - as if you plan to install something in a room that has problems with WiFi signal, you might notice it can’t connect or will drop off the network a lot.
In terms of network speeds, your smart devices will use the internet to update, search for things, and play music, so 5Mbps or more should be sufficient.
If it’s a 4K smart TV that you will likely be streaming hi-def movies on, you’ll probably want a connection that’s over 20Mbps.
I hope this helps.
Andrew
I’m glad to hear 5mbps would be sufficient because I was worried about my smart home devices taking up too much bandwidth. This was exactly what I was after. You have given me lots to think about.
Thanks for the help, very useful!