The Everyday Frustration that Starts with Your Network

Wednesday, 03 December 2025

Signs Your Smart Home Is Ready for a Home Network Upgrade

It’s not always a dramatic system crash—more often, it’s the everyday stuff that starts to chip away at the experience: music that won’t play outside when guests are over, lights that take just a little too long to respond, a control app that freezes right when you need it, voice commands that go ignored, or a video doorbell that buffers just long enough for you to miss the delivery.

None of these feels like a big deal on its own—until you realize they’re all symptoms of the same problem: a network that wasn’t built for a smart home.

Here, we’ll uncover the symptoms and the solutions of an overloaded home network.

The Smart Home Challenge

The average U.S. household has up to 21 connected devices, a significant jump from the period when 5 was the standard. A modern, luxury smart home, however, has significantly more, somewhere between 50 and 200 devices vying for your home network’s bandwidth. Smart TVs, streaming devices, gaming consoles, smart security cameras, and video conferencing equipment are some of the biggest bandwidth hogs.

At one time, the recommendation was for families to avoid using bandwidth-intensive devices simultaneously. However, as smart homes grew, sluggish speeds and dropped connections became the norm, affecting the smart home experience and straying from the ease and luxurious lifestyle they were meant to provide.

As the connected devices grew, it was clear that the infrastructure, network routing, and internet access provided by Internet Service Providers weren’t sufficient for smart homes. And that’s where enterprise network solutions come in.

The Enterprise Home Network

A simplified equation is this: homes of 2,000 square feet or more can struggle to power all devices equally. If your home includes brick, stone, or concrete, it’s potentially blocking RF signals, the radio waves used to transmit data.

Enterprise-grade networks overcome these challenges. They are designed to support vast organizations, from banks to retail stores and office buildings. These businesses require a fast, reliable, and secure internet solution they can count on 24/7, every day of the year. It’s the same type of connectivity your smart home needs.

The New Wi-Fi Standards

While the backbone of a solid home network is the wired infrastructure, smart homes also depend on Wi-Fi for the flexibility and corner-to-corner coverage it provides. Over the last five years, Wi-Fi has undergone tremendous changes, with the advent of Wi-Fi 6, followed by its extension, Wi-Fi 6E. Today, Wi-Fi 7 is here, but not every device is compatible with it yet.

So, what does Wi-Fi 6E bring? It offers rapid wireless speeds, reduced latency, improved capacity, and extended range. What does this mean for smart homes? Family members can play HD video games, stream Netflix in 4K, and join a video conference call all at the same time without connectivity issues. Wi-Fi 6E-enabled access points extend your coverage to the far reaches of your property, including the pool house, garden area, and patio.

Traffic Controller

Imagine an airport without a traffic controller or a central construction zone without anyone directing traffic. An accident or a major pile-up is bound to happen.

Your home network runs in much the same way, requiring a traffic controller to prioritize the most critical connections. For instance, essential security cameras that eat up quite a bit of bandwidth can be managed on a different internet connection, and, when the kids are engrossed in multiplayer gaming while a major conference call is underway, Wi-Fi 6E creates a “fast lane” and allows the router to handle multiple devices simultaneously. Our network experts at Pacific Audio & Communications can also prioritize certain types of network traffic over others.

Time for an Upgrade

If you’re beginning to question your current home network’s ability to sustain your smart home, now may be the time to consider an upgrade. At PAC, we design and install customized networks specific to each property. To experience your smart home as it was meant to be, contact PAC.