Why Surround Wi-Fi Is Better

[thiggins]

The days of the big honkin' router are coming to an end.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

 

[L&LD]

That article reads like a paid ad to me.

I don't see anything good happening with crowded zones (apartment/condo buildings, etc.) each having their own 'mesh'. I think it will turn more to 'mess', imo, for multiple neighbors on similar systems.

 

[Weaselboy]

That article reads like a paid ad to me.

Nobody is hiding that fact. It says sponsored post right at the top of the article.

 

[System Error Message]

I would prefer surround sound or surround displays rather than surround wifi lol.
With surround wifi how do you deal with 2.4Ghz? Do you have 1 main big router for 2.4 and 5Ghz in the middle and 5Ghz mesh all around?

 

[RMerlin]

I would prefer surround sound or surround displays rather than surround wifi lol.
With surround wifi how do you deal with 2.4Ghz? Do you have 1 main big router for 2.4 and 5Ghz in the middle and 5Ghz mesh all around?

The idea of having more APs is probably so you can get rid of the overcrowded, long-ranged 2.4 GHz, and go with the shorter-ranged, less crowded 5 GHz band.

It's time laptop manufacturers got the hint, and stopped shipping these single band garbage adapters. A basic dual band adapter would barely impact the BOM on a laptop (unless they are getting this single band junk for pennies).

 

[pete y testing]

That article reads like a paid ad to me.

isnt that exactly what it is ? even marked so at the top of the post

The idea of having more APs is probably so you can get rid of the overcrowded, long-ranged 2.4 GHz, and go with the shorter-ranged, less crowded 5 GHz band.

thats where the sengled project may also come into its own eg wifi transmission in every room although a bit of a pain in the butt having to have the light switched on to get the wifi to work lol

 

[L&LD]

isnt that exactly what it is ? even marked so at the top of the post

Yes. Already acknowledged by my 'like' of Weasleboy's post.

 

[Samir]

While not a fan of the gimmicky name of 'surround wifi', the concept is pretty solid as Meraki was basically the company that really had this as their core product for many years. It sounds like Luma is basically the Meraki system designed for the home.

As far as signal crowding issues, you definitely got that right. This system would be a bit smarter, but would still have the problem of just too much data in the air. I even warned our apartment complex about this as they wired nothing in their new construction except one ethernet to their demarc where at&t had fibre. They did this because at&t told them 'everything would work wirelessesly'. Luckily I have powerline adapters so I didn't have to deal with this mess...

 

[sfx2000]

The days of the big honkin' router are coming to an end.

They've been for a while - both directly, and indirectly...

Thanks for posting...

 

[Samir]

They've been for a while - both directly, and indirectly...

Thanks for posting...

What was the deal with their 'stealth fighter' wind tunnel tested asthetics? Was that supposed to actually improve performance? Because enterprise stuff must be really slow with those old school box shapes, lol.

 

[sfx2000]

What was the deal with their 'stealth fighter' wind tunnel tested asthetics? Was that supposed to actually improve performance? Because enterprise stuff must be really slow with those old school box shapes, lol.

Actually, the enterprise and carrier stuff is a bit ahead of the game... nice to see some activity here in the home network space, as this tries to solve the same problem.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

It's a solid concept...those of us that do networks for a living, know that having several lower powered APs sprinkled around the area to be covered, is much better than trying to put 1x big honking AP in the middle.

We have already seen various "kits" come out...utilizing different technologies, like the Arris G.hn, or Ubiquitis Amplifi product, Luma, Eero, Netgear Orbi, going back a few years...Open-Mesh.

Better, more reliable, stronger coverage.....is becoming more and more important these days, with average homes have many more wireless devices to connect than just 10 years ago.

 

[thiggins]

There is more to come in the wireless-backhaul multi-AP space, guys. NETGEAR's Orbi and Amped Wireless' ALLY are just the start....

 

[pege63]

The idea of having more APs is probably so you can get rid of the overcrowded, long-ranged 2.4 GHz, and go with the shorter-ranged, less crowded 5 GHz band.

It's time laptop manufacturers got the hint, and stopped shipping these single band garbage adapters. A basic dual band adapter would barely impact the BOM on a laptop (unless they are getting this single band junk for pennies).

Even if the laptops manufacturers offer AC its still at most 1x1 or 2x2 and the bioses are locked and then you can NOT upgrade the WIFI M2 card inside.

 

[RMerlin]

Even if the laptops manufacturers offer AC its still at most 1x1 or 2x2 and the bioses are locked and then you can NOT upgrade the WIFI M2 card inside.

2x2 would be sufficient for the vast majority of laptop users. That't be 866 Mbps with 802.11ac, which is already 10x faster than the 72 Mbps that most current laptop get out of a 1x1 20 MHz 2.4 GHz connection. 3x3 is very uncommon in M2 format anyway, and would carry a price in battery usage.

 

[Mordred]

The days of the big honkin' router are coming to an end.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

No idea why anybody needs this. I have a 12x12m house built of brick and concrete + garage and 1000sqm large garden. I get a good signal throughout my property with only one router.
If you need more, then a surround wifi won't really satisfy you.
I'd rather go for a few APs that are wired to the network.
This is just another marketing trick to sell more routers and to make a single router worse, in order to persuade the buyer to get 3 or 4 which allows them to make more money.

 

[Samir]

This is just another marketing trick to sell more routers and to make a single router worse, in order to persuade the buyer to get 3 or 4 which allows them to make more money.

Definitely a lot of marketing gimmick behind these products, but the concept of a mesh does have advantages when moving between APs regularly.