A BLE-Mesh device includes a controller coupled to a memory and to a transceiver adapted to be coupled to an antenna, wherein the controller implements an applications layer including BLE and Mesh applications, and a BLE stack and a mesh stack. The BLE-Mesh device has a switchable high-speed and low-speed mode and a speed switching algorithm for implementing a method of communications in BLE-mesh network. A broadcast ping is sent to neighborhood devices with a time to live (TTL)=1. A manufacturer's ID is analyzed to identify in a manufacturer's ID field in pongs received to determine a higher-speed capable device or a lower-speed device. A higher-speed data rate is utilized for mesh communications if a percentage of higher-speed capable devices is≧a threshold percentage or a lower-speed data rate is utilized for the mesh communications if the percentage of higher-speed capable devices is