Unless of course you were some sort of network engineer or you had some serious money to invest in a real Wi-Fi system along with an IT team to manage it. Using it in the home however, was pretty much unheard of even though homes are a perfect use case for mesh Wi-Fi. At the time, the concept of mesh Wi-Fi was really limited to just high end enterprise systems that typically used it to blanket places like stadiums, shopping malls, and hotels. On Twitter, he’s On email, he’s You can read all his articles here, or you can sign up to get his columns by email.WiFi That WorksĪround this time last year, I stumbled upon the Eero Mesh Wi-Fi System. Dead spots are the latest scourge of humanity that we’ve now wiped out.ĭavid Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. In any case, if your house’s size or construction stymies any single router you’ve tried, treat yourself. If you can’t wait, you can save almost as much money, and still get unbelievable coverage, with the Amplifi HD ($350) or the Netgear Orbi ($380). Unfortunately, the three-pack of Google WiFi is currently sold out everywhere. The modules are gorgeous and not so ostentatious, and the app offers a smoother setup. (Then again, if your pad is more of a palace, you ‘ll want the Amplifi HD, which says it can cover 20,000 square feet!)īut if money is an object-namely, if you object to a $490 price tag-then you can save $200 by getting the Google WiFi trio. A set of three is designed to cover 6,000 square feet of house-far more than the Google WiFi (4,500 square feet), Netgear Orbi (4,000), or Eero or Luma (3,000). These babies look great, they’re absurdly fast, the features are all there, and the software has its act together. If money were no object, I’d tell you to buy the LinkSys Velop. Price: $350 for the base and two satellites Speed tests: 48 mbps/sec closest spot, 44 farthest. The app is lovely, and gives you access to all kinds of advanced router settings (port forwarding, DHCP settings, etc.)-and even offers parental controls. Here’s part 2 of the Amplifi system, courtesy of the magnetic ball hinge. This week, I reviewed six of these systems: Eero, Plume, Luma, Google WiFi, Netgear Orbi, LinkSys Velop, and Ubiquiti Amplifi HD. And because many of us have children, most offer either parental controls (to block iffy websites) or a Pause button for specified offspring (so we can have dinner conversation face to face). Because we’re human beings and not engineers, they all include phone apps that make setup simple. And man, they are great.īecause a router out in plain sight offers better coverage than one in a closet, they’re all great-looking. Today, every networking company and its sister now offers a similar system. After I tested it ( my review’s here), I was so exhilarated that I actually bought a set for myself, at the nosebleedy price of $500. The revolution began a year ago with the introduction of the Eero. The result is a single “mesh network,” a roaming network, that blankets the entire house in good, strong signal. Instead of one Wi-Fi transmitter too weak to fill your entire home with signal, a mesh system uses a set of them, spaced evenly through your house. But they all have downsides, like diminished speed and having to change Wi-Fi network names when you move around the house. For years, we’ve tried to solve this problem with various imperfect solutions like Wi-Fi repeaters/extenders.
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