An interesting article over at CNet. It explains how you can improve your home wifi network.
You bought a top-tier router and expected to have Wi-Fi in every corner of your home. Turned out, a large part of the house still had no signal at all. What gives?
Why ‘traditional’ routers often disappoint
A powerful router’s Wi-Fi signal can be strong enough to cover approximately a 3,000-square-foot home, but only if it’s placed right in the middle of the house. This is because the signal spreads out equally from the router’s location. Most people, however, place the router at the service line (DSL, cable and so on) drop, which is usually in one corner of the house. In the end, half of the router’s Wi-Fi coverage is actually outside of the house, leaving the farthest part of the home uncovered.
Home Wi-Fi systems such as Google Wifi, Netgear Orbi, Eero, Almond 3 and Portal — also known as home mesh networks — are designed to solve this problem. Instead of just one router, they come in two, three or even more units, allowing you to blanket your home with Wi-Fi.
But Wi-Fi systems aren’t perfect. Before you invest in one, consider these pros and cons.
Wi-Fi systems CNET has worked with
| Set units | Mobile app | Web interface | Account required | Signal loss | Handoff | Price | |
| Almond 3 | 3 | Yes | Yes | Required for certain functions | Yes | OK | $400 |
| Eero | 3 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Excellent | $500 |
| Google Wifi | 3 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Excellent | $300 |
| Netgear Orbi | 2 | Yes | Yes | Optional | No | Excellent | $400 |
| Plume | 6 | Yes | No | Yes | Minor | Good | $379 |
| Portal | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Bad | $319 |
| Linksys Velop | 3 | Yes | No | No | Minor | Excellent | $500 |
Source: CNet
