Among its CES wares is the ASUS HiveSpot and HiveDot mesh networking system, something the company describes as a modular and high-speed solution for home networks that’ll get rid of poor connections and dead zones in one’s residence. The system is comprised of HiveSpot and HiveDot ‘nodes,’ of which at least three are required to get a home mesh network up and running. The system maxes out at five nodes.
Linksys has joined the mesh networking club, launching Velop, a multi-unit WiFi router system at CES 2017 this week. Aiming to blanket your home in wireless coverage, each of the Velop units - a white, 7-inch tall monolith - interconnects with each other, forming a mesh of connectivity. Meanwhile, there's the promise of automatic firmware updates should security loopholes be spotted down the line.
Google Wifi may look like a shorter, squatter version of Google Home, but while the two smart home devices might share DNA, there's oddly little overlap. The mesh router, which began shipping earlier this month, doesn't stint on features to go with its boosted range. Despite that, there's still one big thing missing.
With its focus on the cloud it's in Google's best interest to get you online as fast, and as consistently as possible, and now that's down to Google Wifi. Handiwork of the same team responsible for OnHub, the system you see today is more than three years in the making. Its goal isn't just raw throughput but addressing what the company claims is the number one pain-point users complain about: inconsistent network coverage.
YouTube videos stutter, network backups take an age, and every Spotify playlist sounds like trip-hop from all the hiccups and pauses: face it, your WiFi network needs an intervention. Once upon a time that meant switching over to the newest, fastest router, but there's a new technology in town. Mesh networking is the wireless fix of the moment, and there's a good reason for that.
Google's new home networking system, Google WiFi, may not be actually out juggling internet packets in users homes yet, but that hasn't stopped the company from declaring a premature mesh victory. Announced in early October, the cylindrical router doesn't just aim to replicate what the existing OnHub does, but goes beyond it by allowing multiple units to work together. It's called mesh networking and, while Google isn't the first company to attempt it in the home, the search giant is claiming to be best at it.
The use of the Internet has exponentially grown that even the usually wider highway of Wi-Fi networks have already become crowded. And just like real-world vehicular traffic, congested networks mean slow-moving data. Trying to prevent an Internet catastrophe before it happens, the Wi-Fi Alliance has announced the start of a certification program that could herald the arrival of networking devices next year supporting WiGig, or multi-gigabyte Wi-Fi 802.11ad on the 60 GHz band.
People don't typically think much about the nest of cables and wires that run through walls and ceilings at the office and in the home. These Ethernet cables are what bring the connectivity we need to work and play to our computers. The IEEE has now ratified a new Ethernet spec called IEEE P802.3bz that promises five times the top speed of current specifications without having to tear out the cabling already in place.
Dead zones in home WiFi networks can be a rage-inducing problem, but Netgear is looking to make that issue a thing of the past with its latest router. The Orbi functions a bit differently from most WiFi routers you'll come across, as it's more of a "WiFi system," featuring both a router and an accompanying satellite meant to offer a more consistent wireless signal throughout your entire home.
WiFi doesn't always work when it comes to getting connectivity for all your computers and gadgets around your home. The problem is that some areas can be hard to reach or unreachable depending on interferences in and around the home or business. In instances where WiFi isn't cutting it for some reason, a good alternative is power line networking and D-Link has a new PowerLine AV2 2000 Gigabit Passthrough Starter Kit that is good for up to 2000Mbps speeds.
Facebook is exploring ways of delivering internet connectivity via lasers, developing a new receiver technology that promises to be less complex and more affordable than current systems. Dubbed free-space laser communication, Facebook's break-through is in an all-new optical detector that - unlike existing examples - would neither require mechanical stabilization, nor expensive micro-motors, sensing, or processing.
As the cost of network hardware continues to tumble, fast ways of getting online around the home needn't break the bank. Announced at CES 2016, D-Link's DIR-879 AC1900 EXO WiFi Router promises a noticeable upgrade from your cable company's default hardware, without headaches at setup and for a street price of under $150.