Samsung Moves Into Crowded Mesh Wi-Fi Market

[thiggins]

Samsung officially announced its Connect Home system that was previewed at the end of March. It is a multi-node Wi-Fi system with built-in SmartThings hub. This makes it the first mesh Wi-Fi system to include a smart home hub with both ZigBee and Z-Wave radios.

Connect Home has a 2x2 AC1300 class Wi-Fi radio used to service both devices and node-to-node backhaul. Maximum link rates are spec'd at 400 Mbps and 866 Mbps for 2.4 and 5 GHz, respectively. It will be sold singly ($169.99) or as a three-pack ($379.99).

There's also a Connect Home Pro version with shared 4x4 AC2600 class radio, which bumps maximum link rates up to 800 Mbps and 1300 Mbps for 2.4 and 5 GHz. Samsung announced only single-unit pricing for the Pro at a pretty pricey $249.99.

The Pro will be the only mesh Wi-Fi product with a dual-band 4x4 radio servicing devices (and backhaul). NETGEAR's Orbi also uses a 4x4 radio, but it is 5 GHz only and used exclusively for backhaul between the router and satellite units.

Samsung says both Connect Home models can support networks of up to five nodes.

Not much was revealed technically about the product with no spec sheet available on the product page. But CNET's preview piece back in March, has both specs and a photo showing two Ethernet ports, presumably gigabit class.

The specs call out a quad-core processor @ 710 MHz (likely a Qualcomm IPQ4019), 512 MB of RAM and 1 GB of flash. Also called out is a Bluetooth 4.1 radio, which is pretty much standard in mesh designs for initial app-based setup. It's safe to assume the Samsung Connect app is Android-based, but the announcement has no mention of iOS support.

The company is going with a Best Buy exclusive rollout starting July 2. So don't expect any discounts off the MSRP's quoted above.

 

[RMerlin]

I hope the engineers working on their Smart TVs weren't involved in the software stack of these...

 

[coxhaus]

Smart TV support is being dropped for many TVs so they have extra programmers.

 

[Makaveli]

Smart TV support is being dropped for many TVs so they have extra programmers.

Since when?

Every recent tv i've seen in store is a smart tv.

 

[Ramias]

I like my TV's with ethernet so I can turn them off via the network (have to turn them on via HDMI CEC). But I don't use the software on my samsung anymore. AppleTV FTW.

 

[coxhaus]

I like my TV's with ethernet so I can turn them off via the network (have to turn them on via HDMI CEC). But I don't use the software on my samsung anymore. AppleTV FTW.

I think what you are doing will be the future as old smart TV's software gets outdated. I think our time is limited on software support in the future.

 

[pete y testing]

would be a brave beta tester indeed to jump on board with a newcomer to the market and have the backup and support needed to wade through its expected bugs and flaws

might wait out this one and see how the dust settles

 

[pete y testing]

and thinking of switching to a Samsung Smart TV.

why just buy a set top box or pvr that can do all that and still use your existing tv as a monitor only

 

[RMerlin]

Agree. Don't spend more money on a built-in Smart TV system which might stop being supported long before your TV reaches its end of life, get an external device instead, could be a self-built HTPC, one of the numerous Kodi boxes, or a Roku. Even a Chromecast might be sufficient for most people's needs, and be quite inexpensive.

 

[sfx2000]

why just buy a set top box or pvr that can do all that and still use your existing tv as a monitor only

I'm not a big fan of "Smart TV's" -- whether android based, or there own creations - life span of a TV is much longer than something we might use as a set top box for content...

For those who have no choice, or whatever - just don't connect them to the internet, which is the easiest option here....

 

[sfx2000]

@coxhaus and @RMerlin - the "SmartTV" API's were deprecated some time back - mostly due to lack of consensus... so everybody started doing their own thing...

It's a bit of a mess...

That being said - going into SmartTV's, while interesting, it is a bit off topic...

Samsung has been doing some interesting things in the home IOT area, outside of the TV...

Mesh seems to meet their needs, and as long as the user experience is good, and security is handled, they should be fine...

 

[RogerSC]

Smart TV software came along with my Samsung UN65KS8000 and UN50KS8000 TV's. Also have a Roku box. I was going to use the Roku box and get a second Roku for the upstairs TV because of all I've heard about how bad Samsung Smart TV software is *smile*. Well, we use Netflix a lot, and that works just as well with the TV's software as it does with the Roku box...happy to have eliminated the Roku box. Less boxes to connect and maintain makes me happy. Connecting the TV's via wireless or using powerline networking adapters has been working well, no buffering, just streaming.

Also got a Sony Blu-Ray player at least in part because my old (and I mean OLD) DVD player didn't have an HDMI connector. When I turn on the player and put in a DVD that turns on the TV and selects the DVD HDMI input on the TV. So there's no setup to do to play a DVD. I like that, too.

Sorry for the OT post, just thought I'd share my experiences, since they seem to go counter to the rest.

 

[CaptainSTX]

The next time you shop at Costco or where ever look at how few plain/dumb TVs they stock. Just like a lot of electronic products the more features engineering can build in the more features the boys from marketing can hype.

My 4K Vizio with a built in Netflix App allows me to stream 4K videos. They look really great on a large screen. I don't have a Roku that will stream 4K so I can't compare. My Tivo's only do HD.

If they software becomes obsolete I'm not to concerned. Flat screen TVs are cheap these days and in my experience they don't last nearly as long as the old CRT type TVs and the cost to repair a flat screen is hardly worth it. You basically have just three components, screen, motherboard and power supply.

 

[sfx2000]

True, true...

Thing with SmartTV's - just don't hook them up to the network, and use a set top box...

 

[Makaveli]

I use samsung link in my smart tv to connect to my HTPC running kodi and just stream from that box works great.

 

[whsbuss]

I waited for the HiveSpot ASUS release way too long - got a 3-pack eero and won't look back.

 

[pete y testing]

I waited for the HiveSpot ASUS release way too long

its called the asus lyra now