wifi

Wi-Fi routers are often treated as primarily utilitarian pieces of equipment. They’re placed in some corner of the room or some shelf and are often forgotten and ignored until some problem occurs. But because of the growing complexity, number, and sizes of antennas needed in today’s routers, some equipment makers have taken the opportunity to make their gear look more fashionable, futuristic even. Like NETGEAR’s new Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream Wi-Fi router, which almost looks like a modified Imperial Shuttle ready to take flight.

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Wi-Fi networks these days are becoming complicated. Even home networks are no exception with the rise in the number of connected devices at home. And it’s not just for computers and mobile devices either. Smart home appliances, gaming consoles, and more require not just fast speeds but also stable connections. That’s why simplified Wi-Fi meshes like Linksys’ Velop system are becoming more common. And with the new Velop Plug-in, it doesn’t get easier than just plugging the node into a socket.

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WiFi is about to get a lot more easy to understand, with the Wi-Fi Alliance announcing WiFi 6, its freshly rebranded push to reduce wireless confusion. WiFi 6 isn't a new technology, in and of itself. Instead, it'll be the consumer name for 802.11ax, the next-generation of WiFi that isn't expected to show up in devices until 2019 at the very earliest.

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was launched with the debut of the game Fortnite on Android. As the Galaxy Note 9 was essentially touted as the ultimate mobile device on which one might play Fortnite, we decided to run a test. At 9AM on test day I began playing Fortnite, and I did not quit the game nor did I turn off the display until the phone's battery went dead.

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Huawei has launched an LTE-connected smart speaker and router, the Huawei AI Cube, complete with Alexa built-in, but the weirdest thing about it is the shape. Making its debut at IFA 2018 today, the Alexa speaker may be called a cube, but in fact it's a stubby cylinder. Huawei does say the design may change before launch, but what shouldn't are the capabilities.

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T-Mobile has a new promotion lined up for Labor Day, one that will be available to all smartphone users...including those who are signed up with different carriers like Verizon. This upcoming Monday, the Uncarrier will give smartphone users free in-flight Gogo WiFi on domestic flights, giving them a taste of the T-Mobile ONE plan experience.

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Samsung wants to tame your smart home and end your WiFi deadspots, with its new SmartThings Wifi mesh router system. Promising not only smoother internet access for things like online gaming, streaming media, and general browsing, the mesh networking system also integrates an IoT hub that could leave you spending less time jumping between apps and more time letting your connected home do the hard work in the background.

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This morning the folks at Google revealed - officially - the last Developer Preview Android update for Android P before release. This will be the last time - before the public beta release - that Google will deliver a software update for Android P preview before it's available completely to the public at large. This update is called Android P DP4, and all downloads are ready to roll now.

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Wi-Fi is pretty much the wireless technology that binds us all to the Internet. Given the prevalence of laptops and mobile devices and the costs of cellular data like LTE, Wi-Fi is still the preferred way to connect to the Internet both at home and outside. So much so that when the KRACK vulnerability was discovered, there was an even bigger panic than with Meltdown and Spectre. While those holes have mostly been patched up, the Wi-Fi Alliance, the caretakers of the technology, quickly moved to finalize WPA3, the first Wi-Fi security update since 2003.

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TP-Link has a new mesh router on the scene, and it seems to do a little bit of everything. Today the company revealed the Deco M9 Plus, a tri-band router that can cover the same area with fewer nodes than previous releases in the Deco line. Beyond that, the Deco M9 Plus has a few tricks up its sleeve as well.

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Wi-Fi meshes are now the hot thing in home networking. Once just a feature in offices and more sophisticated environments, home networks have become just as complicated to require their assistance. There is no shortage of Wi-Fi meshes from popular router and networking equipment makers, but, while more open and flexible, they may not always work with ISPs proprietary technologies. That is why Comcast has just launched their own xFi Pods mesh system so that XFinity subscribers won't have to look elsewhere or give anyone else their money.

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Mesh WiFi systems promise to spread wireless internet access to every dead-zone in your house or office, but now the Wi-Fi Alliance wants to make them play nicely together, too. Systems like Google Wifi, eero, and Linksys Velop are all designed to support multiple units - or mesh nodes - to which your phones, laptops, consoles, and IoT gadgets connect to for ubiquitous coverage, but so far you've had to commit to one brand.

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