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Eric Willis

Google Wifi - A new kind of Wi-Fi system from Google

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Joshua Pinter
Another product area that Apple could have dominated in but, alas, we're stuck with the Airport that hasn't been updated for years.
Ktryn Dchrs
@joshuapinter The day Apple will see his profit margin going down, we may have a chance to see them innovate once again… But for now on, it is a big desert of idea…
Kunal Bhatia
They didn't mention it during the announcement, but the nice thing is that this will work with existing Google OnHub routers. You can add Google Wifi as a point to create a mesh network.
Brian Lee
@kunalslab I was going to say whether or not onhub was yet another throwaway google device. Good that's cleared up
Matt
Why isn't this a Nest product? Another Google fail.
Joshua Pinter
@professorz Why Nest? Eventually they'll roll the Nest thermostat under the Google brand, too.
d a n n y
@professorz Why would they do that, exactly?
Matt
@searchresults Nest brand name is the #1 in the smart home industry.
Matt
@joshuapinter If they were going to do it they would have when Tony Fadell left
Joshua Pinter
@professorz Doing so requires a tonne of effort to integrate the product, brand and team and it's not a high priority so I understand why they have not done it yet. But, eventually they will do it. Between the two directions they will go, it'll be Nest -> Google, not the other way around.
Eric Willis
Hunter
It's a new Wi-Fi system designed to give you a fast signal in every room, on every device. Each Google Wifi point creates a high-powered connection, and the different points work together to determine the best path for your data.
Pietz Prove
at least Google got the price right on one product
Michael Babich
Nice. Though it would be logical to make Google Home and Google Wi-Fi router modular to fit in one set. I guess both should be on the same spot and in every room. Thus Google Home without color case could just fit in Home / Wi-Fi combo case easily.
Glenn Joseph
My concern with mesh network systems is that at every hop, your throughput drops by 50%. What makes these "mesh" systems any better than for example, a multi Apple AirPort Extreme setup where one AirPort Extreme works as a WiFi repeater for the main Wireless Access Point?
Eric Wilson
@glennjoseph There's one wifi product coming out in December that solves this ("Plume") by having each hop use different channels so you get full wifi throughput, even if two people on opposite sides of the house are running 4k Netflix. Based on Google's description, their product sounds way more like a cheaper Eero clone – aka Yet Another Mesh Network. Their product goal seems to be simplicity and range rather than throughput. I don't think it's the product for me – I have 1gbps internet and often multiple devices streaming media either from Netflix or from a local media server. But I'd totally recommend Google's product for my non-technical extended family.
Glenn Joseph
@ecwilson Hmm thanks for the feedback!
Abdul Umer
Any word on if this will work with my ISP's modem/router?
Glenn Joseph
@kanyesboy What ISP and modem/router do you have? If your ISP provides you with a wireless gateway (modem+wireless router combo) then you should be able to use Google Wifi. You might have to disable the wireless broadcasting on your wireless gateway to prevent it from interfering with the Google Wifi wireless network but that should be pretty easy to do.
Abdul Umer
@glennjoseph Sweet, thanks for the insight.
Mikael Forsgren
512 MB RAM!
H.Murchison
Want more technicals (Mesh or nah?) what kind of protections does it have for children (a la Circle) and does this work with a TRS-80?
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