David Papp Blog

Google Wifi coming soon to a home near you

Picture this … your friends are all at your place, and you’re streaming the Superbowl through your big screen projector. The Redskins are 4th down on the 12-yard line and the game starts buffering. Or maybe you took an important business call at your home office and the connection is unsure. Either way, wouldn’t it be nice to have secure streaming anywhere you go – no matter how many devices are plugged in?

With Google Wifi, homes everywhere will be able to have seamless coverage from attic to basement and from sunroom to garage. With traditional Wi-Fi, your signal comes from your Internet service provider to a modem. Then the modem is hooked to a router that transmits a wireless signal throughout the immediate area.

The problem is … the signal gets weaker as you move away from the router. A movie played far enough away from the source could end up in a real-life scenario like that famous scene from Singing in the rain. You know – the one when the talking movie goes out of sync. Then the blonde gets the voice of Gene Kelly, lol.

Wifi extenders can help, but they often reduce bandwidth – so they provide only a partial solution.

Then there’s the freeware make-your-own solution the teens down the block are using. This is the one they turn to when Mom and Dad hide the router (yes, you can easily turn your laptop into a router). And there’s the cell-phone as hotspot. You’ll find this popular gathering place at college dorms lacking wireless. But these are imperfect, inefficient answers …

Enter Google Wifi

Google Wifi completely replaces your router. It gives you seamless and fast coverage throughout your entire home. “Points,” chunky white round disks that look like stacked hockey pucks, are placed throughout the home. They cover large areas of your home with strong, reliable signals. A basic set comes with three points, but you can link together 6 or 9 if you have the desire or the need. Three points will cover a home up to 4500 feet.

You can put the Wifi points almost anywhere. They connect to each other wirelessly, and each one acts with full router power. You get full speed in the areas surrounding each point. “Mesh” technology lets you move from kitchen to study without missing a thing. And Google’s intelligent software, Network Assist, always ensures the fastest connection available. It automatically hooks you up to the best point for your location.

One system supports all your devices. It allows sharing, streaming, and downloading at the same time. Control everything with an app on your phone. Google Wifi will test speed and tell you how much bandwidth your iPad and ThinkCentre desktop are using.

You can even limit streaming to specific devices to ensure your kids aren’t playing video games at 3 a.m.

So you can take that router out of your bag, Mom.

Google Wifi points are now available for order and start at $129 USD for a single unit.