Most London homes have the same complaint: the router sits by the front door, and the signal fades long before it reaches the back bedroom or the kitchen extension. Thick brick walls, plastered ceilings, period features and neighbours' networks all make it harder. The two usual fixes are a mesh Wi-Fi system and a wired backbone. This guide explains how each works, where each wins, and how to choose.
What a mesh system actually does
A mesh system replaces one router with a main unit and several smaller nodes placed around the property. Your devices connect to the nearest node and move between them as you walk about. Done well, it removes dead zones without any new cabling.
The weakness is the link between the nodes. In a wireless-only mesh, each node talks to the next one over the same radio spectrum your phones and laptops use. Every hop can cut the available speed, and a node placed too far from its neighbour gives you a stronger-looking signal that is still slow. That is why placement matters more than the number of nodes.
Our Whole-Home Mesh Setup: £299 inc. VAT covers installing and configuring a mesh system with up to 3 nodes, migrating all your devices to the new network, setting up a guest network and parental controls, and an optimal node placement survey. Mesh hardware is quoted separately, or you can bring your own.
What wired backhaul changes
Backhaul is the connection between your router and each node. If you run a network cable to a node instead of relying on radio, that node no longer competes with your devices for airtime. The result is steadier speeds, lower delay and far fewer drop-outs, which you will notice on video calls and gaming.
In a London flat, the usual compromise is one or two cabled points to the rooms furthest from the router, with wireless covering the rest. In a house, a cable to each floor is often the single biggest improvement you can make.
Our Pro Network: £549 inc. VAT is built for this approach. It includes mesh setup with 2 wired-backhaul Cat6 points, a patch and cable tidy, separate IoT and guest VLANs, a remote-support handover and a speed certification report.
When mesh alone is enough
Wireless-only mesh suits many properties:
- A one or two bedroom flat where one extra node fixes a single weak room.
- Rented homes where drilling or cabling is not allowed.
- Households whose heaviest use is streaming and browsing rather than large file transfers or gaming.
If you already have a router and just want it set up properly, a lighter option may be all you need. The Wi-Fi Health Check: £149 inc. VAT includes a full-home signal survey, router repositioning and reconfiguration, channel and band optimisation, and a before and after speed report. It is a sensible first step before buying any new hardware, and our guide to fixing slow Wi-Fi in a London home walks through what the engineers look at.
When to cable
Choose wired backhaul, or at least a few cabled points, when:
- Your home spans three or more floors, or has a basement or loft conversion.
- You work from home and cannot afford a flaky video call.
- You have smart devices, security cameras or a home office that benefit from a separate, tidy network.
- You are already redecorating or opening up walls, which is the cheapest moment to run cable.
A single cabled point is our Single Cat6 Point at £129 inc. VAT, which covers the run, termination, testing, labelling at both ends and tidy trunking where required. If you want several, the Home 4-Point Bundle: £399 inc. VAT gives four tested and labelled points with discreet routing, and suits TVs, consoles, offices and mesh backhaul. Our Cat6 cabling guide covers whether it is worth it for your layout.
A simple way to decide
- Walk the property with a phone and note where the signal drops.
- Count the floors and the thick walls between the router and those rooms.
- Ask whether anyone depends on a rock-solid connection in a far room.
- Check whether cabling is practical, or whether you are renting.
If the answer to the last two points is yes and practical, favour wired backhaul. If not, a well-placed wireless mesh is a good result.
Either way, a survey before buying avoids the common mistake of spending on extra nodes that sit in the wrong places. You can see everything we do on our data and networking page, and our engineers will recommend the lightest option that solves your problem rather than the biggest.
All prices above include VAT. Tell us about your home, the rooms that struggle and whether cabling is possible, and we will suggest the right setup.