It’s a good day when I find something this interesting and detailed. Learned quite a bit. But Wi-Fi marketeers continue to promise “seamless” roaming and frustrated Wi-Fi users continue to believe them, especially when vendors promise their products use special techniques to bend Wi-Fi devices to their will. So since I always say that data should do the talking, I’m […]
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It is great to see home Wi-Fi companies focused on mesh systems. Repeaters work, but they add a level of complexity and wonkiness that most people don’t want to deal with. The new ASUS Lyra Trio’s 3×3 MIMO pyramid antenna system claims coverage for homes up to 5400 square feet and an easy setup. And as a bonus, as it […]
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Mesh Wi-Fi is the “it” home networking product right now – for good reason. With the increase in streaming media content, and device proliferation a single wireless access point (AP) off wherever the cable comes into the house is not good enough. Mesh networking solves this problem in a more elegant way than the repeaters of yesterday. With […]
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I get a lot of Kickstarter pitches in the MissingRemote inbox, but it’s not that often that I see one that looks interesting. STREAMZ is one of those. Combining an Android powered Wi-Fi streamer in the headset alongside Bluetooth and wired connectivity it can provide a complete music solution. Music can be stored locally (it supports up to 256GB SDXC), […]
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NETGEAR touts the Nighthawk X8 AC5300 (R8500) Smart Wi-Fi router as “the next wave in Wi-Fi”. Generally, I am inclined to dismiss this sort of hyperbole, but the $350/£350 802.11AC includes features that are a reasonable step up from other models including: quad-streams, two 802.11AC radios, Wave 2 enhancements , and six Gigabit Ethernet ports, with two 802.3ad (link […]
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NETGEAR has added an AC2600 802.11AC router, expanded its cable modem router offering, brought out the first AC2200 Wi-Fi range extender, and a PowerLINE Wi-Fi 1000 adapter kit to its product portfolio as well as annouced that the Arlo Q (hardwired) cameras are now available for purchase. NEW NETGEAR NIGHTHAWK X4S AC2600 SMART WIFI ROUTER DELIVERS FASTEST ONLINE GAMING AND […]
Read moreIt came out a few months ago that the FCC was seeking to ban the ability for users to install custom/third-party firmware on their routers, specifically calling out DD-WRT. Now they’re back tracking a little; no longer is DD-WRT specifically called out, or that third-party firmware specifically banned, just that it isn’t OK unless OEMs can guarentee that these won’t […]
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In many larger, or particularly solid, homes one Wi-Fi router can’t quite get to the edges, so it is necessary to add an extender or second access point. There are many options about there, but AFAIK this is the first, and only, touch screen model. I’m not sure what the touch screen really adds to the mix after first run […]
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Today NETGEAR announced the latest addition to their high-end consumer 802.11AC Wi-Fi routers; the $400 Nighthawk X8 R8500. Like other “AC5300” routers the X8 is based on a 1.4GHz SoC with tri-band Wave2 sporting one “1000Mbps” 2.4GHz and two “2166Mbps” 5GHz radios. Unlike previous generations of 802.11AC routers the X8 has two features which make it very unique compared to […]
Read moreI was quite a shocked the other day to discover that the FCC wants to ban custom/3rd party firmware for Wi-Fi routers like dd-wrt. The goal, which is understandable from their perspective, is to remove the ability of radio wireless devices to work outside of their allowable parameters. The problem is that this is one of those “use a sledgehammer […]
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