Despite being best known for its phones like the Mate 10 Pro, Huawei isn’t solely a smartphone company, and it really works on all aspects of connectivity — from infrastructure to base stations — as proven by its latest product announcement. It’s called the Huawei WiFi Q2, and it’s a hybrid home Wi-Fi system, designed to solve those annoying connectivity dead spots and slow speeds we often suffer with in our homes.
If you’re wondering what happened to the WiFi Q1, don’t worry, it was launched in China only a few years ago. The launch of the WiFi Q2 outside China appears to be driven by the growing number of connected products our homes contain, from phones to computers, and lightbulbs to televisions. That could add up to dozens of devices all connected to a single router, potentially all suffering from connectivity problems.
The Huawei WiFi Q2 is sold in packs containing a base station and at least one satellite, which employ a hybrid system matching a MESH and 1Gbps PLC system. What does this mean? Once the WiFi Q2 has been set up it provides greater connection distances, the elimination of Wi-Fi blind spots, and the intelligence to assign the right connection to the right device. Don’t worry if you live in a massive house either, because a total of 16 base stations and satellites can talk to each other, meaning you’re OK even if you own a mansion.
There are many benefits to using the WiFi Q2 over the router provided by your internet provider. It takes just two minutes to connect up to the plug-and-play slave satellites once you’ve provided connection details, and it will automatically connect to the best Wi-Fi channels. Additionally, it defaults to 5Ghz, and has a dedicated channel for Internet of Things hardware. This provides these always-connected products with the most stable connection available.
Huawei will release the WiFi Q2 is April and it will be sold through Amazon, Best Buy, and other stores. There will be three prebuilt packs, starting out with a single base station and one satellite for homes with three or four rooms. The next adds another satellite to cover homes with up to five rooms, and then a multifloor house pack with three base stations. Prices will be announced soon, so check back for an update.
