Even though every device relies on wireless these days, it’s not an experience everyone enjoys. The curse of mediocre WiFi is that it can be frustratingly mediocre, and barely stretch throughout your home, let alone outside.
Curiously, the solution is typically a bigger wireless networking router with more modern technology inside. The model your internet connection came with that your service provider supplied is almost definitely going to be low end, and almost certainly made for a handful of devices. That’s a problem if you have several more, and especially if you’re needing an internet connection outside.
One solution is to set up an access point near the outside, and hope it pushes the signal out, but it mightn’t do much more than extend the range. Your connection just might not get the oomph it needs.
If you live in a mesh world, however, you may find that setting up multiple mesh points helps create the Venn diagram of WiFi your home needs. That could be a mesh point near your NBN box, another elsewhere, and depending on what mesh system you’re using, possibly one outside, as well.
The number of devices made for outside are few in number, but Amazon’s Eero mesh networking appears to now have one, launching the Eero Outdoor 7, a WiFi 7 mesh point compatible with Eero’s other mesh networking devices that not only extend a network with WiFi 7, but also does it in a weather-resistant way.
The Eero Outdoor 7 comes with an IP66 weatherproof rating, basically ideal for temperatures from below 40ºC to 54 degrees Celsius, and arriving with support for smart home services including Thread, Zigbee, and Matter. That essentially means it’s designed to handle extreme heat, clearly important for parts of Australia, though the catch could be how it gets its power.
At the moment, wireless networking devices need more power than what a battery can typically provide, and so the Amazon Eero Outdoor 7 needs a proper power connector using AC, or alternative Power-over-Ethernet, and that might be a problem for some.
We suspect most people will take the AC adaptor, plugging it into a port outside on a wall in the back- (or front) yard, but you definitely need power, because this isn’t a battery situation like with wireless security cameras.
You’ll also need to pony up for it, with the Eero Outdoor 7 commanding a sizeable price tag in Australia, set for $729.99, and found at Bunnings, JB HiFi, and Officeworks, as well as online through Amazon’s online store.
