Gadgetory

last year I reviewed the google onhub a collaborative between google tp-link and a soos to create a truly simple home Wi-Fi router and they achieved that and more it was simple to use and outperformed a ruckus our 7/10 in our testing $1,000 solution now of course we weren't able to get like a hundred different Wi-Fi devices on it or anything crazy like that where a ruckus device would shine but that's still damn impressive there was only one small problem if your home was too large or had too many walls that were difficult for Wi-Fi to penetrate like cement you were kind of screwed range extenders are objectively terrible and having multiple access points with separate SSIDs is hardly user friendly this time there's a new solution enter Google Wi-Fi and one of its competitors the Netgear or b2 different Wi-Fi solutions that promise better coverage and smoother access point transitions through mesh networking let's check them out verdaguer zerg anomic s and plus line gaming chairs make a great addition to any gaming setup check them out of the link below the idea behind these so-called Wi-Fi systems which include a router and one to two additional access points is smooth uninterrupted transitions between Wi-Fi zones you should be able to walk around your house seamlessly changing what access point that you are connected to without any hitches in your signal while everything is handled by the Wi-Fi system in the background no need to go into your phone or laptop and change what point you're connected to as you walk around it does it all for you this may seem familiar if you've used a well implemented Wi-Fi system at something like a large office or a school but it hasn't been very accessible for consumers until now both the Google Wi-Fi and the Netgear or be promised essentially the same thing I mean they even both have the same quote from C net on their respective websites saying that their Wi-Fi system is the best on the market though to be fair reading the full quote on CNET of the or be review reveals that they actually said that it was the best at the time and that it may be better to wait for Google Wi-Fi tisk tisk Netgear physically however both devices are quite different the main or b package comes with two rather large units a router and an access point both of these units feature quite a bit of expandability with four Ethernet ports and a USB port Google wi-fi's main package on the other hand comes with three rather small units which are all identical featuring two Ethernet ports which can operate in a switch mode if preferred and then there's also a Type C USB port but that's for power the setup of both systems was simple and easy in their own way Google does theirs through an app and mostly has you just clicking next or scanning a QR code as it handles all of the work for you and hides most of the complicated stuff behind the scenes as you place the access points around your location it will constantly test to make sure that the signal to the base is strong and stable Netgear on the other hand has you connect to their network with a default password then go through a simple in browser setup process with slightly more revealed Advanced Options than Google wi-fi's while it does testing and stuff in the background as well keeping the whole thing simple overall now at a surface level this may leave you thinking that the or B is better set for like if you have an access point in an office and you have a bunch of things plugged into it more business focused and less total Wi-Fi range and the Google Wi-Fi is more for just having Wi-Fi everywhere but it's not actually that simple they're actually quite different overall and while Google hides most the specs for their unit performance should reveal what is best for you so let's try them out whoa it's like many days later after CES we took some extra time on this one because we experienced a few oddities with our testing I set up both of the routers on Linus's desk which is just outside of the main offices area of our studio and don't worry I do this one at a time so they wouldn't screw with each other then during their respective testing sections I set up one access point in the furthest away reasonable corner from Linus's desk but still within the office area and for Google Wi-Fi I also set up a third unit way on the other end of the warehouse then I tested the transfer speeds of one large file one medium file and a ton of small pictures going from a Mac book which has fantastic Wi-Fi capabilities to a desktop that was wired into the network on that router that I set up earlier and vice versa I do this in three locations six feet away from the router to simulate a small relatively cramped office in the conference room which wasn't very close to any access points at all and in one of the loading bays which was the furthest corner of the warehouse away from all of the access points the orby behaved sort of weird especially when the laptop was about 6 feet away from the router to be clear you don't want your Wi-Fi devices that close to each other having a laptop this close to the router is not an ideal situation but it is a very possible situation in cramped apartments and Google Wi-Fi dealt with it just fine in conclusion my testing methodology involved a warehouse some random files that we've been using for file transfer tests for years now and a rather large testing area that was totally out of spec at 6000 square feet neither of them say that they can handle that at all and both of them did that's something to give the or be considering their mesh properties both systems did very well but still Google Wi-Fi was a rather clear winner in this use case but there's one last very important thing the creepiness level for the or B I didn't personally finally think fishy but I could be wrong on the Google side of things they don't even try to hide that they're collecting data it's up to you to decide if you're okay with what they're collecting or not look up Google Wi-Fi and your privacy for more information tunnel bear is the simple VPN app that makes it easy to browse privately and enjoy a more open Internet with tunnel bear turned on your Wi-Fi connection is secured and your online activity is kept private from your internet provider some looser hacker guys and advertisers especially anyone looking to track or profit from your data tunnel bear has a top rated privacy policy and does not log your activity try for free with 500 megabytes and no credit card required and if you choose to get a year of unlimited data you can save 10% by going to tunnel bear comm slash LTT thanks for watching guys if you liked this video like it if you disliked it dislike it could subscribe all that fun stuff check it down below you can see to buy some mesh networking parts if you would like them also you can see where to purchase one of our shirts and discuss these mesh networking ideas on the forum if you want to check out that google onhub video that i referenced earlier because maybe you have one our friend has one you think about adding Google Wi-Fi to it for whatever reason it could expand your network check that it up here