Techniques for multi-data rate communications include receiving, by a first node device within a mesh network, an information element that specifies one or more communication modes supported by a second node device within the mesh network; selecting, by the first node device, a first communication mode from the one or more communication modes, wherein a first metric value determined for the first communication mode based on the information element is lower than a second metric value determined for a default communication mode by a threshold value; and configuring, by the first node device, a communication link between the first node device and the second node device according to the first communication mode.