Category: Consumer

Looking for a new router? Read this.

Post author By yuval
Post date June 20, 2020
No Comments on Looking for a new router? Read this.

My contract with Verizon Fios was about to expire. I love Fios for having symmetric traffic and remarkable reliability (3 momentary outages in 14 years). Upon upgrading to their 200Mbps tier, I was told I can return their decent Actiontec router and save the $10/month rental fee. Seeing that you can easily recoup the cost of a new router I set out to get one.

I was surprised how exhausting finding the right router was and after trying out four devices (all highly recommended on Amazon), I finally found one that works.

The requirements were:

Modern WiFi: AC format faster than 1300Mbps. I did not need a mesh router as I have an old but otherwise fantastic Apple AirPort Extreme router that is on a wired connection covering the other half of my house.
Parental controls: With two teens in the house, I need to be able to shut Internet access down to individual devices and specific times, reactivating access the following morning.
DHCP Server: Standard on virtually all routers, I want to have static assignments to some machines in my house. I also want to specify my IP range.
Security patches: While the AirPort would have been just fine, Apple ceased issuing security updates after 8 years. The new router will need to be supported.
Works with Cisco AnyConnect VPN: Did not think this would a be challenge but apparently some routers cannot wing it with what is literally one of the most popular (if not THE) business VPNs. So yeah, I need that to make a living.
User interface: Apps are great. A web user interface normally offers more capabilities and control. If it’s usable – that’s a bonus.

Note that all my impressions were using the latest available firmware for each router. I connect directly to Verizon Fios via an Ethernet line to my Fios box in my garage.

The first router was a NETGEAR NightHawk R6700. Clocking in at AC1750, it seemed to be fast, from a reputable American company and naturally had great reviews. Setup was easy using NetGear’s modern app which handles many of the basics. What is evident the moment you log in to the router’s web interface is that the app puts a thick layer of lipstick on an aged pig.

Originally sold in 2016, the R6700 web interface looks straight out of 1999. Any changes to settings required a reboot (that lasts 30-50 seconds). In addition, NETGEAR does not have *built in* parental controls. They farm that task out, albeit with solid integration, to the Circle app. Circle is just great and clear but what you get from NETGEAR is a limited license to Circle “version 1”. The app lets you control device access manually. If you want to schedule internet access to individual devices, you need to pay. $50/year. For something you can do with your humble Verizon router. Which is not cool. So that would not work. To add to that, network throughput (on wired Ethernet) with 10 devices connected was disappointingly slow.

The benefit of having an old router is that the DD-WRT open source firmware on it to replace the outdated and limited firmware NETGEAR sells the device with. While not faint of heart, I really don’t feel like futzing around or doing the work NETGEAR was frankly too lazy to do in installing modern firmware.

Amazon Prime delivers the replacement a couple of days later: An ASUS RT-ACRH17. While not the main-mainstream router (it apparently uses an ‘exotic’ Qualcomm chipset) it looks good on Amazon reviews. Hooked up, the user interface looks a bit like something out of the Matrix. Not fresh but not as stale as the NETGEAR’s. Fine. It also has proper parental controls.

By the time I’m up and running (installed in the afternoon) and I get back to work, I try to connect to my office VPN. And umm… something is off. Nothing works. I disconnect the VPN and we’re back in business. I try another VPN endpoint, connect, and then – no Internet. Or office network. I naturally Google and see that there is an ocean of results to ‘ASUS Cisco AnyConnect’. Whatever. Impossible. I decide to reset the device to factory settings. Go through the setup again; connect to the VPN again and then something truly odd: The router just dies. I mean, not just the WiFi but the Ethernet ports are just dead. Amazon’s getting another router back…

Fed up, I decide to splurge a bit and went for the very highly rated Google Nest WiFi. This one is made by the one technology leader of the free world that is not Apple. Maybe this is the spiritual heir to the brilliance of the aging AirPort Extreme. And when I get it there is more than faint resemblance. It is so small and simple and yet very powerful (AC2400!). It’s also so small and simple it only has one wired LAN Ethernet port. So I also had to get another switch [Gigabit Ethernet all around, wires upgraded as part of this effort].

The Nest WiFi is different in many ways. You control via Google Home App. And the Google WiFi App. No really. Neither app controls everything. The UI is mostly clear. Getting up and running is quick and we’re happy. The VPN also works. Great, despite the fact that to control ANY function in the router your have to also accept Google’s user data collection which DOES share data with Google’s servers. About the router in your house. Uhhh, umm, I want to control the darn thing so I agree. Fine (not fine).

Then something happens and in the middle of a work meeting the entire house loses the Internet connection. Which is fair. Third time in 14 years Verizon is allowed to hiccup. But that exposes something very uncool:

To control your router you need to use the apps
To use the apps you need to have an Internet connection
Without an Internet connection there is no way to connect to the router
- There is a soothing yet informative blinking light (soft, rhythmic) telling you something is wrong

I repeat: No Internet = No Router.

To diagnose what’s wrong – umm – yeah, no.

I contact Google support (after Verizon restores the connection without my doing anything) just to be sure that I’m not crazy. They respond super quick. They even call me the next day to offer more help. But the bottom line is that there is no web interface and that yes, you need to be connected to Internet to do anything (via the apps) with the router. I trust Google but that this is just illogical. And not done by just any other router. Think different alright, but not this way. Another return thanks to Amazon Prime.

Fed up, I spread beyond the Amazon review world (which is becoming very questionable) and determine that the TP-Link Archer C2300 is a decent bet. A trip to Target this time, and I pick it up on sale (it’s getting old). I open the box. Something is clattering inside of the router’s body (like a loose piece of plastic). So be it. I plug it to the Verizon outlet and it just works. And VPN just works. And the network speed is really fast.

So while the lights on the router itself are just the opposite ones of the ones that according to manual need to be on, it just works. The web UI is quick and clear and sensible. There are parental controls just work. And it does not ask for any subscription fees or looks like 1999. While it is a bummer that this is not an American-made/controlled router (it’s VERY Chinese) – it just works. So it’s my keeper and my recommendation. Not thinking different. Working.

Tags Google, networking

Analysis Consumer General Marketing mobile Television

Why the Google Nexus Q is so brilliant for Google

Post author By yuval
Post date July 5, 2012
No Comments on Why the Google Nexus Q is so brilliant for Google

Amid the excitement and announcements made at Google’s I/O conference, Google announced a TV-connected device called the Nexus Q. The Nexus Q is similar to devices like the Apple TV and Google’s on Google TV sets in its ability to stream video and music from providers like Netflix and YouTube. Where it stands out aside from its round shape is in the fact that Google chose to include an NFC chip in the device.

NFC, short for Near Field Communications, is a technology standard and communications protocol. It specifies and enables devices to communicate without any configuration to exchange small bits of data. To communicate devices need to be near each other, normally to the point of touching or tapping. The main uses devised for NFC include things like train and bus tickets, payment systems (Visa PayWave, Google Wallet), billboards that send you to websites for additional content (Samsung), and even devices that talk to each other to spare you the configuration.

Google is a big believer in NFC and made it simple for device makers and software developers to build smartphones and applications that use its Android operating system. Google’s first NFC initiative had to do with payment – which is where most of the attention around NFC resides. Its Google Wallet service lets you pay with a credit card (presently just a Citibank credit card) by tapping NFC-enabled payment devices. But the Nexus Q brings into the fore something that is closer to Google’s bread and butter – advertising.

If you were unaware of this, Google is primarily an advertising company. The search engine lets Google make billions of dollars selling ads and placement to companies who want to be found when you search for products and services. While search makes Google huge amounts of money, the company always sought to expand on that base. Google’s forays into newspaper and radio advertising failed, yet its television advertising offering is still around.

With smartphones in every home and nearly every pocket, advertisers are looking for ways to activate consumers beyond showing them the television commercial. Commercials are meant to get you off the couch and into the store, online or the phone to buy the stuff brands are pushing. TV commercials are expensive but in most cases it works. Problem is that so far it was difficult to build a bridge between the television and the smartphone (or tablet).

Some attempted to use QR codes, square barcodes app can read using the smartphone camera, in television commercials. This was cumbersome as you had to make sure the TV viewer was ready, had an app that could read the barcode and you had to show the barcode for several seconds. All in tall that’s a lot of work.

Another angle is to use Shazam. Shazam is a popular smartphone app that identifies the artist and song by ‘listening’ to a short bit of music. Shazam is currently used to identify commercials using their soundtrack. The advertiser flashes the Shazam logo on the corner of the screen and hopes that you can get the app ready in time, that the room is not too noisy and that the audio is playing loud enough. It is also assumed that the app is installed on your phone and that you actually identify the icon on the screen. Again, quite a list of assumptions and a tall order for viewers to follow.

The hurdle can be summarized into awareness, activation and transmission. You need to be aware you can get something from your television – a link to a website, a coupon, an offer. You need to be activated – be able to react to a signal – an icon on the screen or some message in the television commercial. Finally, somehow the data or content needs to be transferred between the television and the smartphone.

NFC in the Nexus Q accomplishes two of the three tasks easily. With the Nexus Q Google can now activate viewers with smartphones with minimal effort. The bookcase example, in my opinion, is coupons. Imagine yourself watching a Tide laundry detergent commercial on television. A light turns on the Nexus Q, a message or an icon show up during the commercial to invite you to tap your phone on the Nexus Q. The tap sends your smartphone to the website where you can get the coupon. No apps necessary. It just happens, because that’s what NFC is: tap and go.

This can be taken a step further into instant commerce. With Google Pay or Wallet you can even order products from a TV commercial right to your home. You tap the Nexus Q, and with Google knowing your account information, an order can be made instantaneously.

Like with coupons, the Nexus Q can drive you to content that enriches your engagement with the currently playing TV show. Things like an app or a website, elements that extend your viewing experience. Transmedia (http://j.mp/LRFnAj) will become easier to accomplish for creative producers and visionaries.

Technically this Nexus Q NFC capability is very feasible. The main challenge will be to identify what you are presently watching. Companies are already doing that (http://j.mp/MZhpAB) which means that Google can develop its own technology or buy one of the players. Knowing what you are watching then enables Google to sell the NFC extension capability to advertisers and producers. These will in turn set up trusted web services that will communicate with Google’s own services to identify or just provision content to the Nexus Q owner. Sounds easy, right?

In summary, the Nexus Q brings NFC to television. Television makers do not have the vision or the motivation to put NFC in their sets, mostly because advertising is something they do on the demand side, not on the supply side. Google saw the opportunity and it is now coming. It is now only a matter of cost and adoption. And hopefully you also know that all of this is just conjecture and prognostication. I’m just really eager to see NFC do something meaningful. Beyond payments.