last year I reviewed the Google onhub a collaborative effort between Google
tplink and ASUS to create a truly simple
home Wi-Fi router and they achieved that and more it was simple to use and
outperformed a Ruckus r710 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 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 userfriendly
this time there's a new solution enter
Google Wi-Fi and one of its competitors the Netgear Orbee two different Wi-Fi
solutions that promise better coverage and smoother access point transitions
through Mesh networking let's check
out verdig Gear's ergonomic s and plus
line gaming chairs make a great addition to any gaming setup check them out at
the link below the idea behind these so-called Wi-Fi systems which include a
router and 1 to2 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 Orbee promise essentially the same thing I'm
they even both have the same quote from CET 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 CET of the Orbee 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 Orbee package comes with two rather large
units a rotor 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
advaned options than Google Wi-Fi 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 Orbee 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 of 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 did 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 Macbook 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 did this in three locations
6 ft away from the router to simulate a small relatively cramped office in the
conference room which wasn't very 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 Orbee
behaved sort of weird especially when the laptop was about 6 ft 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 departments 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 a
spec at 6,000 square ft neither of them say that they can handle that at all and
both of them did that's something to give the Orbee 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 Orbee I
didn't personally find anything 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
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bear.com /lt thanks for watching guys if you like
this video like it if you disliked it dislike it get subscribed 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 or a
friend has one you're thinking about adding Google Wi-Fi to it for whatever
reason it could expand your network check that out up
here