Connecting mesh Wi-Fi units with an Ethernet cable can fix slow far rooms. Engadget says a pair of 50-foot cables costs around $30.
If your mesh Wi-Fi feels slow in some rooms, a plain network cable between the units may help. Engadget reports that wiring the units together can speed up the whole system. A pair of 50-foot Cat 6 cables costs around $30, based on the article's estimate.
A mesh system uses several units placed around your home. Those units must pass data to each other. That link is called the backhaul. By default, it runs over Wi-Fi, and you do not have to set anything up.
Wireless has two problems. Speed drops as distance grows, and the gap between units can cost hundreds of megabits. Your devices are also limited by the bandwidth of the closest unit. The result still beats a standalone router, but it is not ideal.
Cheaper dual-band systems have a second issue. They use the same wireless bands for the backhaul and for your devices, so both suffer. Engadget advises against buying dual-band mesh. Models with a dedicated backhaul link are at least tri-band, and some are quad-band.
With a cable, it no longer matters whether a system is dual-band. Over the distances in an average home, Ethernet should not lose a meaningful amount of speed. Cat 6 cable will probably deliver at least 1 Gbps. Your Wi-Fi devices will likely see only part of that, but the link between units is no longer holding them back.
The hard part is the cable itself. Even apartments may need a few dozen feet, and a two- or three-story house needs more. Most people do not like wires across the floor, and hiding them can become a real project. If your Wi-Fi is already fast enough, Engadget says a wired backhaul may not be worth the time, money or effort.
If far rooms have weak Wi-Fi, a cable between mesh units may fix it, but check for a fast, free port on each unit before you buy.
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