Choosing a router is actually pretty easy. Once you’ve decided on a modem/router combo, there are only a few questions left to ask. Do you have any special requirements for security features, or any reason for an unusually high number of Ethernet ports? If not, then you really only have to think about bandwidth. And that makes things much simpler.

ARRIS Surfboard SBG7600AC2

The ARRIS Surfboard series always had their own distinctive style. Unfortunately, the SBG7600AC2 largely lacks that style. It looks more like an ordinary home router than almost any other Surfboard. It only retains a glimmer of that distinctive style when you turn to its backside. From a hardware perspective, this router is a continuation of the widely popular SB6121.

Putting aside a tragic loss of unique aesthetic, the Surfboard SBG7600AC2 is actually a pretty impressive piece of equipment. It’s packed with the latest versions of the latest technological formats, giving it a forward looking design that ought to allow it to be compatible with future technological improvements in Internet speed.

Perhaps most importantly of all, the router is combined with an equally effective cable modem. Though being attached to a cable modem does put a handful of limitations on the router portion of the device, it also makes installation and network maintenance much simpler. For people who are looking for a simple one-device solution, the Surfboard SBG7600AC2 has plenty to offer.

Build & Design

The SBG7600AC2 measures 6.4 x 2 x 8.7-inches, and weighs about one pound. Were it not for the fact its name is written across the top of the chassis, you could hardly spot this ARRIS device out of a lineup of similar equipment. The front display looks terribly generic, right down to the usual five LED icons. Those icons give you information about the network that you can use to diagnose issues. Beneath them, you’ll find a WPS button and a USB slot.

But the backside looks very little like any router besides an ARRIS Surfboard. It’s been redundantly color coded and labeled to the point anyone should be able to work with the Surfboard, both when it comes to installation and when it comes to troubleshooting. The backside also has four Ethernet ports, each capable of one gigabit of traffic.

If you’re looking for design complaints, there aren’t any options for mounting the Surfboard. But that’s not unusual for a home router.

Network Speed

The SBG7600AC2 is capable of streaming with DOCSIS 3.0. That’s about eight times faster than DOCSIS 2.0. Download speeds rocket towards 680Mbps per channel on the AC2350 2.4/5.0 GHz dual band connection. For further sake of comparison, that’s about twice as fast as the SBG6700AC. And AC2 is several times faster than wireless N routers, which most people are still using.

Like its name suggests, the ARRIS Surfboard SGB7600AC2 32×8 supports 32 download channels and 8 upload channels. It basically means this router was made to deliver blazing-fast download capabilities, and above-average upload capabilities. Moreover, having these extra channels allows the router to communicate more efficiently with several devices on the network.

As homes begin to fill up with voice activated assistants and Wi-Fi tea kettles, routers have to serve double-duty. Though these devices may not require much bandwidth, their cumulative needs can still weigh on a router’s abilities to deliver data to the right places in the right order. It’s why an otherwise healthy network can suddenly slow down if half a dozen friends start using your Wi-Fi on their smartphones.

Though this is a slight oversimplification, the 32×8 support is suitable for about eight high-bandwidth users, and a few dozen smaller devices. It’s worth remembering that these speeds will ultimately depend on your ISP. If your internet provider isn’t giving you 10Gbps of bandwidth, the Surfboard isn’t going to either.

Speed Caveats

While the Surfboard will spread your signal across both the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz band, achieving the best possible speed is only possible through the 5GHz band. Your fastest wireless devices will more-or-less need line-of-sight with the Surfboard, as well as any other devices that hope to make use of that band.

Provided you’re within line of sight, you’ll find the bandwidth you enjoy is as fast as you could possibly want from a commercial router. When you’re outside of line of sight, beamforming steps in to help, but ultimately you’ll be refined to what the 2.4GHz band can bounce over to you.

If you’re creating a network in an environment that has plenty of obstacles for the signal, you may end up needing to use a mesh router to help spread your network to areas with impaired connectivity.

Network Coverage

In addition to the speed and efficiency of the network, you’ll want to think about coverage features. The ARRIS Surfboard 32×8 Cable Modem uses Wi-Fi beamforming to help spread your network across a larger area, for optimal coverage. It can spread reception of your network throughout a broad area, but the Surfboard SGB7600AC2 isn’t built to provide coverage to a massive 10,000 square foot warehouse.

It’s made to provide coverage for something closer to 3,000 square feet. Your actual coverage depends on the obstacles positioned around the router, so it can be difficult to predict with precision. Even though it uses beamforming, to really take advantage of the best possible speeds the Surfboard can offer, you should take a moment to consider its placement.

Security Features

ARRIS outsourced most of their security issues to people who know how to handle security. That’s why the Surfboard includes MacAfee Home Security. MacAfee is a pretty big name in the security industry, and they have some pretty compelling app support to help you monitor your network from anywhere. They can also help protect your network from new threats as they emerge, and without your need to micromanage those protections.

However, the MacAfee support cuts out after three years. Three years of free support isn’t bad, but you will need to find a replacement for security when that time is up. For people who aren’t interested in complicated solutions, the MacAfee service isn’t terribly expensive to continue using.

The Surfboard SBG7600AC2 32×8 Cable Modem + Router Combo includes many of the same parental support features that have found their way onto almost any similar home router. You can setup user profiles and outline limits on how they can access the net, created blacklisted or whitelisted sites, and so forth.

Apart from keeping an eye on the traffic of people who you want on the network, the Surfboard SBG7600AC2 can be configured to send you alerts about outside security threats. You can get instantly alerts for suspicious activity, or alerts for users who are trying to circumvent the parameters of their user account.

Cable Router Combo

Are you confident in your networking skills? Are you also willing to take on the burden of placing a second router-sized object next to the router in your home? In that case, you should consider getting your modem and router separately.

If your modem breaks, you can replace it. If your router breaks, you can replace it. If the modem in your modem/router combo breaks, you’re going to end up replacing both parts. If the router technology in your modem/router combo ages quicker than your modem technology, you run into similar problems.

Though admittedly, using AC2 and DOCSIS 3.0, there’s little chance of speed being an issue anytime in the foreseeable future. These formats are prepared for UHD content and so they’re here to last. It’s quite fair to say the Surfboard SBG7600AC2 is a future-proof device.

There’s nothing wrong with playing the odds that you’ll never encounter an issue with your hardware. Because most people shouldn’t encounter an issue. But anyone choosing a modem/router combo should be aware of all their options, and know that simplicity does mean making a small trade-off in flexibility.

Other Considerations

The SBG7600AC2 supports IPv4 and IPv6, covering both legacy standards and modern standards. It’s compatible with every US cable provider. Speaking of cable providers, this is a cable modem. Consequently, it means you can only use this device to connect to cable internet providers. That might include Cox, Affinity, Comcast, and so forth.

You won’t find support for Verizon, CenturyLink, or ATT. If you decide to switch to satellite, DSL, or another non-cable technology, then you’ll need a new modem to match. Suppose you did switch providers. You could still make use of the router portion of this device while not using the modem portion, but only in some circumstances, and only with great difficulty. In other words, it’s a good idea to be sure you’re married a cable internet connection before choosing a cable modem.

The ARRIS Surfboard SBG7600AC2 includes a two-year warranty. That’s about average for a router these days, and certainly enough time to ensure you didn’t receive something that was broken. ARRIS doesn’t have the same extensive technical support resources as brands like NETGEAR. But their consumer support is still quite formidable, and largely US-based.

Who Should Choose the ARRIS Surfboard SBG7600AC2?

It can be a good idea to use a router and modem combo, like the ARRIS Surfboard SBG7600AC2. If you’re someone who’s looking for something simple, it can make things simple. It’s as easy to setup as any modern router, and it’s nearly as powerful as commercial grade equipment.

Over the next few years, as new technologies continue to emerge, there’s really no reason to think this router will fall behind. It’s designed to adapt, change, and update for the future. That’s possible with a combination of modern software and powerful hardware combined to create a deeply powerful cable modem/router combo.

The capabilities of that hardware are ideal for someone who expects to make pretty heavy use of their bandwidth. That makes the SGB7600AC2 a good choice for someone who expects several people on the network to be using large chunks of bandwidth, and people who have several smart-home devices connected to their router. The future-proofing is really just a cherry on top.

The post ARRIS Surfboard SBG7600AC2 32×8 Cable Modem + Router Combo Review appeared first on Nerd Techy.

As smart-home devices become more popular, homes around the world are filling up with Wi-Fi signals. Refrigerators connected to Wi-Fi aren’t exactly going to tear through your bandwidth. Neither will a Wi-Fi Tea kettle, or a Wi-Fi connected lightbulb. But added together, their presence on the network does add up.

Once that happens, network traffic can start to become congested. That’s why so many routers are being redesigned. Their new designs aren’t strictly to accommodate high quantities of bandwidth, as older N-generation routers focused on doing. Rather, the current generation of routers are focused on creating support for all those individual connections that are making their way onto our networks.

TP-Link Archer AX6000 8-Stream Smart WiFi Router

The TP-Link Archer AX6000 8-Stream Smart WiFi Router has all of its most important features listed right in its name. It works to benefit your existing devices by making the most of AX technology, increasing the speed of any crowded AC or N router network. Going head-to-head with an AC router, the 2.4 GHz band is roughly twice as fast, and the 5GHz band is almost three times as fast.

The 8-Stream portion of its name indicates it’s capable of handling several high bandwidth connections. And AX6000 indicates an enormous 6 Gbps bandwidth capacity. For people who don’t have extreme demands on their network, this router offers all the hardware and software features necessary for it to be safely considered future-proof.

Build & Design

The TP-Link Archer AX6000 is actually fairly large for a router. In terms of size alone, it’s more like a cable box, DVD player, or VCR. It measures roughly 10 x12 x 4-inches. The majority of its height is made up of antennas, and it weighs about three pounds.

It’s hard to deny this router has a distinctive style. It’s a style that’s becoming increasingly common for top-shelf equipment like the Archer AX6000 8-Stream Smart Router. Around the outer edges of the platform, eight smart-stream antennas extend upwards. This leaves the router looking like the battlements of some kind of fortress, or a tower of some kind.

This aesthetic is becoming more popular among high end equipment because this kind of gear needs to use several antennas. Those antennas have to end up somewhere. But it’s important to keep in mind, the idea behind having an eight-stream router isn’t only about having greater bandwidth.

AC vs. AX Router

After all, how many people really use 6 Gbps connections? Speeds like that seem more suitable to a public library or medium-sized business than someone’s home. But the eight stream design isn’t only about increasing theoretical bandwidth potential, it’s about improving on your existing data transfer tasks.

In other words, it’s about making the current network traffic of your network a bit more efficient. Because these eight streams allow the TP-Link Archer AX6000 8-Stream Smart WiFi Router to interact with large batches of different devices simultaneously. And when it comes to high-bandwidth traffic, like UHD streaming, they’re nearly just as good.

The difference between AC routers and AX routers is like the difference between a drinking-straw and a garden hose. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to make use of all that added bandwidth, but it does mean your network will be prepared for the future.

Network Speeds

The AX6000 is based around a 1.8GHz and 64-bit quad core processor, which is joined with three co-processors. When you’re dealing with large quantities of bandwidth, and you expect multiple devices to be interacting with the router, you want processing power to match. The AX6000 has capabilities that only fall short when compared to industrial equipment.

Similarly, the Archer AX6000 provides a full 1GB RAM to support faster transmission speeds, especially when several devices and applications are making simultaneous demands of the network. Basically every aspect of its hardware is made in this way, emphasizing the support of several devices. The software side of things is equally wide open. The AX6000 supports current generation DOCSIS 3.1 technologies for the fastest speeds you can get from a router.

Between its eight independent streams, that hardware can deliver 1147 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band, and an additional 4800 Mbps on the 5 GHz band. Combined, that’s the 6 Gbps you can see in the name AX6000.

On the backside of the Archer AX6000 Smart WiFi Router, there’s a 2.5 Gbps WAN port. That means if you do happen to be one of those individuals who actually wants to use a 2-Gigabit connection on their personal computer, that option is open. Whether you’re doing 4K or 8K streaming, that ought to be enough for almost all people. It’s equally suitable for trying to download huge files.

Quick Note About Gaming

Though MU-MIMO isn’t generally considered a gaming feature, the inclusion of features like this ensure the AX6000 is made specifically for homes with several devices connecting to their network.

Preempting problems which occur when too many devices are connected to the network can ensure your gaming never encounters undue latency. There are no features explicitly made for gamers, but there are plenty of features for gamers to love.

Network Security

It’s not often the case that security features become a critical component of a home router. Basically any major brand, like TP-Link, will be able to provide the same protections as their competitors. In this case, it’s TrendMicro security definitions that keep your network up-to-date with the latest protections, so you’re protected from viruses and malware before you hear about them in the headlines.

If you want to get picky about security, there are really only gradients of difference when it comes to routers that are made specifically to provide security features. That equipment is usually made with businesses in mind, and the extra security it provides is generally useless to most home users.

While it doesn’t have every advanced VPN feature that businesses may want, the TP-Link Homecare software does cover every security essential. That includes essentially every common sense feature you’d expect to find from a modern home router.

For example, there are parental controls that allow you to create user profiles, and then establish time limits. If you don’t feel like controlling access through individually whitelisting or blacklisting websites, TP-Link has an active content filter setting. It works to create age-appropriate presets for viewable content categories.

Ease of Use

Over the past couple of years, routers have become enormously simple to install. The TP-Link AX6000 really brings nothing special to the table to make it any simpler. How much can you improve on plug and play?

Maintenance of the network is also quite simple, thanks entirely to the TP-Link graphical control interface. Unlike many routers, you don’t end up trying to configure your network with barren text windows. Navigating those windows can be tough because they often only give you a vague idea of what settings are being changed. For people who aren’t network specialists but want to be able to configure their network, a graphical interface is the way to go.

Things are even simpler thanks to the TP-Link network app, which can help you maintain mobile monitoring of your network from anywhere you’ve got an internet connection. Just about everybody has an app these days. Once again, the TP-Link app doesn’t bring anything truly special to the table. But it does mean being able to configure your network and create alerts, which is all you could ask for, isn’t it?

Other Considerations

The TP-Link Archer AX6000 has native support for Alexa. This basically helps ensure you don’t ask a question, only to hear a long pause before any response. The AX6000 supports IFTTT, for users who are little more hands-on with their network control. IFTTT means the sky is the limit for smart-home connectivity, especially if you want to take advantage of some of the more advanced features which TP-Link brings to the table.

If you need to broadcast your wireless network across a giant 15,000 square foot warehouse, then you’re going to need a mesh router in addition to the AX6000. The same is true for people who are setting up networks in areas with unavoidable Wi-Fi dead zones, caused by things like thick brick walls.

Similar to most commercial routers, the TP-Link Archer AX6000 includes a two-year warranty. It also includes a short Ethernet cable to help you get started, but it’s only a couple of inches long. You may want to pick-up your own lengthier Ethernet cable, if you don’t already have one to use.

Who Should Choose the TP-Link Archer AX6000 Smart WiFi Router?

The TP-Link Archer AX6000 is really for two groups of people. The first is someone who has a network that already uses lots of bandwidth. The AX6000 is capable of taking on network traffic from roughly eight heavily active users, and several dozen independent Wi-Fi connections. It’s not something you’d want to power the library of a major university, but it’s suitable for virtually any home.

Routers are being redesigned to accommodate a world where not only two or three devices connect to the network, but potentially dozens of them. The TP-Link Archer is equipped for that kind of world. The AX6000 8-Stream Smart WiFi Router is also for people who want their network to be ready for the future. Using IFTTT, DOCSIS 3.1, and 6Gbps of bandwidth, there’s really no reason why this router shouldn’t be able to see service for years to come.

The list of things to dislike about the TP-Link Archer AX6000 is fairly small. The biggest complaint anyone ought to have is its price tag. That’s because this is a top-shelf router. It’s only marginally less impressive than industrial equipment. If you can’t actually make use of an 8-stream router, and you don’t see any advantage in having room to grow, then you’d want to choose a less powerful router.

If you want room to grow, or you can take advantage of these kind of smart features already, then the Archer AX6000 is certainly among your best options.

The post TP-Link Archer AX6000 8-Stream Smart WiFi Router Review appeared first on Nerd Techy.

Connecting all your devices under one network can be tricky. Wi-Fi signals are not good at working their way around obstacles, especially dense materials. That’s really the origin of most Wi-Fi dead zones. Getting your network connected with one device is sometimes possible, with brilliant positioning of your router. But the rest of the time, what you need is a mesh system to help expand your network, and reach those dead zones.

Onelink Secure Connect (Dual & Tri-Band) Whole Home Wi-Fi Mesh System

Onelink recently released two sets of mesh router systems aimed at addressing this problem. The first is the Dual-Band Wi-Fi Mesh System, and the second is the Tri-Band Wi-Fi Mesh System. They might sound terribly similar, but these two pieces of equipment are actually quite distinct.

Of course, they have plenty of similarities, which can make it hard to see the ways in which they are distinct. Both are fundamentally the same in that they’re using 802.11ac Wi-Fi architecture, and both are capable of delivering multiple mesh access points. They also have identical security features.

Dual Band vs Tri Band Systems

The Dual-Band Whole Home Wi-Fi Mesh System is available in two variants. The first offers 1,500 square feet of coverage, while the second version delivers 3,000 square feet. Likewise, the Tri-Band System comes in two variants. One offering 2,500 square feet of coverage, and the other offering 5,000 sq. feet of coverage.

That already sounds a little confusing, but what this really means is that you’re able to find equipment that’s perfectly sized for the Wi-Fi dead zones you need to fill. If you’re someone who’s looking to broadcast to one bedroom in an upstairs position of your home, then you can immediately narrow down your selection in a meaningful way.

But of course, it’s still important to verify that the hardware itself performs up to your expectations. Especially if you’re a high-bandwidth user, or if you’re someone with more than a handful of devices connecting to their network.

Build & Design

The Dual-Band and Tri-Band Wi-Fi systems do not only vary with respect to square footage. The Tri-Band system actually includes two separate mesh Wi-Fi units. In a worst case scenario, you might need two or even three different routers help boost your signal to different areas of a room. And the Tri-Band system prepares you to take-on those types of worst case scenarios.

Physically speaking, Onelink’s Dual-Band console measures 2.5 x 5.5 x 6.6-inches. It resembles a large white flask, and is intended to rest vertically. The Tri-Band consoles measure 7.0 x 8.8 x 1.6-inches, and is intended to rest horizontally. It looks more like a large, rectangular fire detector. Not surprising considering this equipment is made by Onelink.

In both cases, the Onelink brand name is brandished across the topside of each unit. Though the Tri-Band version is marginally more stylish due to the addition of a silver band running across its topside. Neither version is capable of being wall-mounted, but both are capable of being stored away pretty easily.

The reason why Onelink took the time to make these routers look attractive is because you probably shouldn’t be storing away your Wi-Fi nodes. Think of them like antennas, after all, that’s literally what’s inside of them. In any case, that’s why aesthetic isn’t a totally unimportant concern for a mesh router.

Analogue Connections

On the backside of the dual-band device, you’ll find a pair of Ethernet ports, a DC power adapter, and a reset button. The only other significant physical difference with the tri-band version is the addition of a third gigabit Ethernet port. But that’s basically just keeping pace with the fact you’re dealing with two units instead of one.

For the dual-band version, the reset button is recessed well-within the chassis of the router, similar to most other home router equipment. But the spacing provided to access the reset button is actually quite wide, so you don’t need to go searching for a pin or needle to do so. On the tri-band version, the reset button is not nearly as large and accessible, which is slightly disappointing.

Network Coverage and Speed

In both cases, the Onelink Secure Connect is constructing an access point with the help of a quad core processor. Having reasonably good processing power is essential to one of this router’s best features, a dedicated wireless backhaul channel. That’s something you’ll only find among some of the best home routers on the market right now.

If you’re someone who has numerous different Wi-Fi devices connected to your network, or someone who primarily draws their internet connection wirelessly, that dedicated channel can make a huge difference. But for someone who’s primarily using a wired connection, the difference will be miniscule.

On the dual-band units, you’ll find speed that’s commensurate to coverage. It begins around 1300Mbps, which is allowed to be maintained even as you connect more and more devices to the network. When you move to the tri-band unit, you basically have twice the bandwidth potential. It’s actually a little bit more than twice the bandwidth potential, reaching a cap of 3,000Mbps.

In either case, these devices are intended to be adaptively supportive for home assistants, cameras, and similar Wi-Fi connected devices. Perhaps nowhere is that clearer than in security protection — this router can scan outbound traffic to look for signs of infection. That way, even devices which don’t have antivirus software, like cameras, are well protected.

Security Protection

With respect to security options, you’ll find the Onelink Secure Connect Whole Home Wi-Fi Mesh System is capable of delivering on basically everything any ordinary home user might expect. For instance, you can create personalized profiles for everyone on the network, and then give them unique permissions.

That’s in addition to support for parental controls, a feature that’s becoming so common it hardly needs to be mentioned anymore. But Onelink gives everything a mom or dad would need to carefully curate how much time their kids can spend online. There are content filters, internet pausing capabilities, time limit settings, and so forth.

What you won’t find are the kinds of protections typically reserved for business-tier equipment. For example, features to specifically for creating your own secure wireless VPN network. If you wanted to run a secure network exclusively consisting of the computers operating at your place of business, that might be an essential feature. But typical home office users shouldn’t have to think twice about that type of thing.

Ease of Use

It’s been pretty easy to setup routers for a couple of years now. In that regard, you can pretty much expect more of the same with these devices. Onelink curates a thoroughly guided setup process, moving you step-by-step through the Onelink Secure Connect app. This does mean you have to install their app. But it’s actually not a bad idea to keep it around because the app lets you monitor your network from anywhere you’ve got an internet connection.

It only takes a couple of minutes before you’ll have all your Wi-Fi devices online. Setup is even easier thanks to QR code sharing features. In other words, if you can operate a smartphone, you can setup one of these routers. The process is almost fool-proof.

Actually maintaining the network is a slightly different matter. The accessibility of user controls could be described as modern, and the interface is approachable. It certainly uses plenty of descriptive phrases to ensure you’re changing the right settings.

However, Onelink is relatively new to the game of making router equipment. Their inexperience isn’t reflected in any of the physical hardware, but they haven’t been refining their interface for generation after generation. Consequently, they don’t have the kind of polished interface that can only be developed after you’ve been making steady improvements for years.

Other Considerations

The Onelink Whole Home Wi-Fi Mesh System includes a power adapter, Ethernet cable, and quick start guide. You can also pair them with a Onelink Safe & Sound Smoke CO Alarm, but those alarm units are not included with this router system. If you happen to have an extremely well-connected smart-home, then you would definitely want that kind of support.

Onelink doesn’t mention their equipment having any gaming features. But if you dig around through user menus, you’ll find it’s not hard to setup some basic traffic prioritization. Apart from being useful for gaming, it’s also quite useful for downloading large files, or streaming high bandwidth video content.

Because Onelink doesn’t have extensive experience creating router equipment, their support pages aren’t as robust as equipment made by long-standing manufacturers. With that said, you shouldn’t encounter those kinds of issues anyway. And if you happen to encounter a serious problem, you’ll find Onelink’s warranties compare with the best of them.

Who Should Choose Onelink Whole Home Wi-Fi Mesh System?

In many ways, it’s pretty easy to choose between this equipment. They really only differ when it comes to the question of coverage. Dollar for dollar, the dual-band version of the Onelink Whole Home System is pretty spectacular. You only get one node to help expand your network, but probably all that most people will need anyway. If you’re trying to extinguish a single Wi-Fi dead zone, small or large, the dual-band kit can almost certainly help you.

If you’re looking to eliminate more than one Wi-Fi dead zone, then you’ll want to consider using the tri-band version instead. It includes two nodes to help expand your network, which means you’re capable of ending two distinct Wi-Fi dead zones, small or large. Additionally, the Tri-Band Wi-Fi Mesh System has coverage options that literally compare with industrial scale equipment.

Though the bandwidth capabilities of Onelink’s gear isn’t exactly future-proofed, nor are they ready to be used by hundreds of separate users, they are well beyond what the average internet user will need during the next decade. Which really makes either of the Onelink Secure Connect Mesh System routers worth consideration.

The post Review of the Onelink Secure Connect (Dual & Tri-Band) Wi-Fi Mesh System appeared first on Nerd Techy.

The idea of a gaming router is mostly nonsense. When you break it down, there’s very little which makes a gaming router distinctly useful for gaming. For the most part, gaming routers really just take features that already exist on regular routers, and make them a little simpler to access. Or at least, that’s the general idea.

But gaming routers are also consistently ranked among the most powerful and impressive networking equipment on the market. Because the hardware itself is often designed to a higher standard. For most people, the difference between 50ms and 120ms means essentially nothing. But for gamers, a difference like that can mean the world.

ASUS ROG GT-AX11000 Tri-Band WiFi Gaming Router

As a brand, ASUS hardly needs an introduction. They’re one of the most respected manufacturers in the PC industry, from monitors to motherboards. The ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 WiFi Gaming Router can tell you almost everything you need to know about it by reading its name. It’s a router with enormous bandwidth capacity, with an advanced Wi-Fi architecture, and with an emphasis on gaming features.

Some people like the idea of hiding away their router where it can’t be seen. But if you’re serious about getting strong wireless connectivity, then you want your router to be positioned appropriately to help spread your network. That generally means having your equipment in a conspicuous position. To that end, the aesthetic of the ROG GT-AX11000 Gaming Router is actually worth thinking about.

With respect to network performance, the GT-AX11000 is almost unparalleled. When you start to put this equipment to serious industrious use, like a LAN party among 25 friends, you’re going to encounter some issues. But it’s really only circumstances like that, which are outside of home-office environments, where the GT-AX11000’s performance will fail to deliver.

Build & Design

The Rapture AX11000 measures roughly 11.3 x 4.7 x 14.9-inches. Standing almost a foot tall, you’ll notice the height is almost entirely the result of the eight antennas. Equipment with this many antennas looks stylistically attractive, but it also ends up consuming a lot of space. Size is actually one of the bigger weaknesses of this router.

The equipment is large, and you won’t find and wall-mounting capabilities either. You’d have a slightly difficult time mounting it, anyway. Antennas aside, this beast weighs about four pounds. That’s two or three times the weight of many home office routers, so it’s ready to defy simply adhesive mounting solutions.

Because this is a gaming router, and there are about a million different opportunities to use LEDs on the antennas, ASUS was kind enough to provide some LEDs. They’re mostly positioned along the topside of the device, in a square-like formation, but the ASUS logo lights-up as well. The top face of the router has a cool stylized mesh lattice design, highlighted by the ROG logo.

Since the ROG GT-AX11000 is an ASUS product, it supports their Aura RGB lighting software. Even if this was your only piece of Aura gear, you can still fully customize the appearance and display patterns of the LEDs. You can get all your different Aura get to visually sync together through the Aura sync app, which can look very cool when you have several different pieces of equipment working together. For people who don’t really care about LEDs, it’s also possible to switch them off.

Connection Ports

On the backside of this router, you’ll find a pair of UBS ports. Both ports are stacked closely together. The position of the USB ports is a minor problem because USB Type-A connectors often have bulky connection heads. That’s especially true for connections to printers. But provided you can actually connect your cables, each USB port can provide more than 100 MB/s of read speed.

This device provides four Gigabit LAN ports, but that’s low-average compared to similar equipment in this price range. Apart from those ports, you’ll also find a power button, reset button, DC power jack, a WAN port, a 2.5 Gbps LAN port, and dedicated RJ45 port for gaming.

802.11ax Wi-Fi Architecture

The GT-AX11000 Tri-Band Gaming Router makes use of the 802.11ax architecture, also known as Wi-Fi 6. Like you may have guessed, this format was made to help fix the shortcomings of the previous version.

Compared to the output of an AC or N router, the difference is insane. The maximum throughput of 802.11ax is something close to 11 Gigabits of information. It’s also more than twice as fast for multi-device setups, and it has a maximum Wi-Fi radius that’s nearly twice the distance of Wi-Fi 5.

That kind of improvement in coverage can lead to incredible gains in the battery lifespans of your mobile devices. Because if your smartphone has to struggle less to find a steady signal, that’s only going to help you. Though in order to benefit from the features of 802.11ax, you’ll need your Wi-Fi client to be capable of taking advantage of those technologies.

Network Capacities

The ASUS ROG GT Rapture AX-11000 is just as impressive from a hardware perspective. That’s because it’s built around a 1.8 GHz 64-bit quad core processor, comparable to the kind of processor you’d see inside an impressive gaming PC about a decade ago. And it’s important to have that kind of power for handling many of the other technologies associated with this router.

For example, MU-MIMO support also allows you to use orthogonal frequency division access (OFDA.) Being able to accommodate communication with several different devices simultaneously can chew through processing power. That’s where the quad core comes in handy. Having that kind of power means you won’t encounter any kind of bottlenecks in performance.

MU-MIMO is rarely touted as a gaming feature, but it can have some ancillary benefits to gamers, especially for mobile gaming. When your network has numerous devices connected, even if they’re not drawing large quantities of bandwidth, their connectivity can create network congestion. This kind of congestion typically affects gamers more than any other group of people because it can have a direct impact on latency.

MU-MIMO helps prevent those kinds of problems from cropping up. Additionally, the tri-band design features one 5 GHz dedicated band, made specifically for gaming. Though if you want to take advantage of that band, then you’ll need your device to have line of sight with the router.

The tri-band network gives you 15 channels among the 5 GHz band. As a result, you’re not going to encounter networking problems even in areas with Wi-Fi traffic congestion in the air. But once again, placement of the router is essential to determining how much you’ll be able to take advantage of those benefits.

Quick Note About Gaming Features

When it comes to actual gaming features, as mentioned earlier, it’s mostly about making things easier. For example, the ASUS ROG GT-AX11000 Tri-Band WiFi Gaming Router can help you do port forwarding in three easy steps. You just select the game you want to play, press the activation button, and you’re done. Of course, other routers will allow you to do port forwarding. The only difference is the number and complexity of the steps involved.

Similarly, the Rapture GT-AX11000 offers game acceleration features to prioritize traffic for your games. This can be switched over to prioritizing traffic for others tasks as well. For example, you might use it to ensure your streaming videos never encounter sudden buffering.

Security Features

Even on a gaming router, you’ll find plenty of parental controls. Outside of gaming, these controls are actually pretty useful for helping keep yourself on task. For example, imagine you found yourself spending too much time on social media in the middle of the day. It would be possible to limit your access to 30 minutes per day.

You can schedule blocked time, or manage accounts through adaptive content filters. You can also monitor the health and access of your network through a network activity dashboard. AiProtection provides an additional layer of security on top of the usual protections a router provides. Consequently, you get essential protection against external attacks on your network, including protections for the mobile devices which are connected.

You can take advantage of advanced features which are typically reserved for business-grade equipment, too. For example, ROG lets you use VPN Fusion tech. That lets you operate a VPN and a regular web connection at the same time!

Other Considerations

This equipment supports ASUS AiMesh, which lets you use several ASUS routers to create a Wi-Fi mesh in your home. Though this is not technically itself a mesh router, it can be paired with other ASUS equipment and used as a mesh router. In fact, much about this router is customizable. Even the button on the front side of the GT-AX11000 is customizable to perform any function you wish.

If there’s one flaw with this router, it’s that the process of connecting an external drive to run as a read/write drive for your network is needlessly confusing. Having any aspect of a router being confusing is really unnecessary these days. But once you’ve got it setup, it’s no longer an issue.

Though this doesn’t matter much, ASUS routers happen to be an award-winning and exceptionally popular choice for gamers. What matters a little more is they have industry-leading warranties, and customer service that doesn’t make you want to pull your hair out.

Who Should Choose ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Tri-Band Gaming Router?

If you’re looking for downsides, the biggest negative aspect of this router is the cost. Premium equipment comes with a premium price tag, unfortunately. This kind of equipment would be suitable for eight high-bandwidth wireless connections, and half as many wired connections. It’s hard to imagine many circumstances where that kind of power would be insufficient, unless you’ve got a hundred people on your network.

Suffice to say, the gaming-oriented features make it a little easier to keep your connection smooth. That makes this router great for playing essentially any of the most popular games out there. Whether you’re into League, Diablo, or whatever game happens to be trending on Twitch this week.

Because the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 is incredibly powerful. Like many powerful gaming PCs, not many people truly need this level of performance. But if nothing else, this kind of equipment does help ensure you probably won’t need another router for the next decade.

The post Review of the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Tri-Band WiFi Gaming Router appeared first on Nerd Techy.

More often than not, people only replace their router when it stops working. But there are always reasons to upgrade your router, or otherwise expand your existing Wi-Fi network. Especially with the fast rate at which wireless technologies have been growing.

Ending up with a router appropriate for your needs is really about understanding the kind of traffic you expect your network to experience. It used to be imperative to think about the coverage area of your network, too. But with the help of mesh technology, those kinds of issues have become something you can address with relative ease.

Linksys MR8300 Max-Stream AC2200 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi Router

In many respects, the Linksys MR8300 comes close to being a niche device intended for a niche audience. One thing might confuse you at first, it’s bandwidth capacity isn’t exactly reflected in the price tag. For equipment in this price range, you might expect to be able to haul a couple more Gigabits of bandwidth.

But instead of focusing on what is likely to be superfluous raw bandwidth capabilities, Linksys designed their Max-Stream AC2200 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi-Fi router to do something else. The MR8300 was made to support what could be called a high-density network. It’s built to provide connectivity not for two or three people, but about four dozen separate connections. That’s ideal for setting up a smart-home, a retail space, or anything between.

This router’s range is best characterized as suitable for a medium sized household. That’s something in the ballpark of 2,500 square feet. Not exactly an incredibly large space, but if you do end up needing to extend your network, Linksys included Velop Mesh technology.

This router doesn’t use every modern Wi-Fi standard, and isn’t what you would call totally future-proof equipment. Though the bandwidth potential of this equipment is low-average relative to its price, that’s really not the point of the MR8300. This is a device intent on providing a particular depth, stability, and expandability to your network.

Build & Design

The MR8300 measures 7.3 x 10.1 x 6.3 inches. Its tall height is almost entirely due to the antennas. If you can ignore the antennas, it faintly resembles an old digital answering machine. Because you can’t actually ignore the antennas, this build is slightly bulky. It takes up a fair amount of desk space, and it can’t be wall-mounted.

On the backside of the MR8300 you’ll find four Ethernet ports and one WAN port. Unfortunately, all of these ports are labeled using the same yellow coloring. The WAN port is placed on the end of the row, and it’s probably distinct enough as to avoid confusion.

There’s only a single USB 3.0 port, but one should be enough for a router built to this scale. Like you may expect, you can use that port to attach a drive, and then distribute content across your network. Because it’s a USB 3.0 port, there’s a pretty high ceiling on the kind of bandwidth throughput you can expect from those transfers.

Support Icons

Normally, a router like this would include a full row of different LED icons. In this case, Linksys used a single multicolor LED on the topside of the device. The LED can change colors and blink to help let you know what’s wrong with the network. For people who have already memorized every network icon that occurs on the front side of a router, this might not be convenient.

But for everybody else, this system is far easier to approach. Whether you’re trying to solve network problems yourself, or you’re trying to get help from tech support. If the MR8300 has a blinking yellow light, that’s terribly easy to communicate to others, or to search for in order to solve the problem yourself.

Red Button of Doom

Another thing you’ll find is a red reset button. For some reason, Linksys often decides to make their reset button highly accessible. Some of their models use typical positioning, seating the reset button deep inside the chassis itself. That way, people have to use a pin or needle to use the button. You have to deliberately hit the reset button when it’s positioned in this manner.

The fact it’s bright red should prevent many people from accidentally pressing it. That means restoring the out-of-box settings for the MR8300, and wiping away your current network options. But make no mistake, since it’s not recessed inside the chassis, this button is prone to being flicked on accident. It also makes this equipment slightly less suitable for being positioned in public spaces.

With those caveats aside, if you can trust yourself to not accidentally bump the button, it’s not hard to appreciate better accessibility. You probably don’t always have a pin or needle when you need it, after all.

Network Speeds

The Linksys MR8300 is constructed around a fairly unimpressive 716Hhz Quad Core processor. Though it’s not the strongest processor you’ll find inside networking equipment, it does happen to have power proportionate to the kind of throughput this equipment was designed to handle. It’s only when you run 50 concurrent connections on the network that you’ll really encounter problems with the processor’s power.

Entertainment is delivered through tri-sand speeds of 2.2Gbps, which should be clear from the AC2200 portion of this device’s name. That 2.2Gbps is composed of 400Mbps on the 2GHz band, and an additional pair of 867Mbps connections on the 5GHz band.

Those connections are made with the help of four external adjustable antennas, which are hard to miss atop the Linksys MR8300 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi Router. The MR8300 makes use of dedicated signals to deliver them, along with the help of MU-MIMO. Consequently, the MR8300 is made to make to support several high speed wireless connections. That way, even your mobile devices can take advantage of 4K streaming content.

The result is similar to having independent routers for each of the bandwidth-hungry devices on your network. Of course, actually getting your network to perform that way depends on the physical setup location of the hardware. To take advantage of MU-MIMO, you basically need line of sight with the router. When your equipment can’t stay close to line of sight, it’s unable to use the 5Ghz band, and consequently unable to take advantage of MU-MIMO.

Network Expandability

Mesh WiFi Technology lets you add a Velop Mesh WiFi node. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to extend your network, being able to add on another node makes things pretty simple. Whether or not you currently have a Wi-Fi dead zone isn’t really the point. It’s that you have the option to scale-up your network, and create simple solutions if a dead-zone should develop.

For instance, if you move the router to a new location and begin encountering issues, it would be terribly easy to fix. You might place one Wi-Fi node on the second floor of a building, and then use an additional node on a third story.

Network Control and App

But you don’t actually need to use elaborate setups to use the MR8300. With respect to software, this equipment can be setup by following along with the included Linksys app. You basically just install the app, connect the equipment, and then give your network a name and password.

After your network is configured, the app continues to be useful because it allows you to see what’s going on inside of your network. For instance, it might tell you that six devices are connected, and inform you about your current bandwidth consumption.

And it’s from here where you’ll be able to access guess controls, parental controls, and device prioritization. The app allows you to manage as many as 50-guests, and create separate wireless networks specifically for those guests.

Security Options

Linksys includes automatic firmware upgrades for the MR8300 Max-Stream AC2200 Tri-Band Router. Whenever there’s a new update, you won’t have to head to their website and dig it up. You won’t have to try and remember your equipment needs to be updated at all.

Turning to the parental controls, you’ll find they offer the typical settings you’d expect of almost any home router these days. You can restrict certain types of content, control hours of use, or block specific devices at specific times of day. Apart from that, it uses standard 128-bit WPA2, WPA-Mixed, and WPA2-Pesronal encryption. Really nothing to complain about.

Other Considerations

Inside the app, there is also a handy speed test feature that can let you monitor the speed you’re currently drawing from your internet service provider. If you encounter a network issue and you want to determine if the problem originated from you or your provider, tools like that can be pretty handy.

If there’s one weakness in this router, it’s the fact that it’s still using 802.11ac network standards. That’s not going to affect the performance impact of this equipment at all. And for virtually all people in all circumstances, it won’t be worth going out of your way to use the latest AX standard, also known as Wi-Fi 6. But it’s a limitation that’s worth noting.

Who Should Choose the Linksys MR8300 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi Router?

The MR8300 is designed to be easy. From its installation to the execution of your network on a daily basis, everything was made simple. Security controls using the Linksys App are accessible. Even doing somewhat sophisticated tasks, like creating separate guest networks, is really much easier to do.

Though this router doesn’t advertise itself as an entertainment router or a gaming router, being able to manipulate device prioritization settings means this equipment is perfectly suitable for those kinds of network tasks. Moreover, simple doesn’t mean limited. In fact, the MR8300 has almost limitless expandability.

As a result, the Linksys MR8300 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi Router is a good choice for most people looking for a mid-shelf router that regularly sees high-bandwidth usage. If you didn’t need all this power, you could find a more economical choice, perhaps one with a reset button that wasn’t positioned on the outside of the unit. But then again, the MR8300 does provide room for growth.

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Picking a modem/router combo isn’t tough. Figure out how much bandwidth you need to move, think about your budget, and reflect on compatibility with the rest of your system. That’s really all you need to do. And keeping those guidelines in mind is one of the only things that can stop you from choosing the wrong equipment.

NETGEAR CM1150V Nighthawk Multi-Gig Speed Cable Modem

The Nighthawk series is mostly future-proofed hardware with exceptionally strong ease of use. Though some of their equipment is intended for network experts, the CM1150V Nighthawk Cable Modem was made more for people who don’t know what they’re doing. Still, there are deep customization options available for more advanced users. But it’s the smooth setup and maintenance that really draws people to something like the CM1150V.

From a superficial perspective, this modem/router is well suited to serving medium-sized environments. It was made to deliver gigabit speeds alongside the best call clarity you can expect from the XFINITY network. And as a distinguishing part of that support, it provides a pair of phone line ports for people who need to retain Comcast’s voice services.

The CM1150V isn’t going to be the right solution for everyone. But for networking novices who are looking for a simple and quick way to connect to the internet, the CM1150V has plenty to offer.

Build & Design

Standing upright, the CM1150V measures 6.1 x 10.3 x 3.4-inches. It would look like a terribly ordinary modem, except it’s been covered with a number of texturized holes. Some of these indentations are purely decorative, but many of them serve to provide better airflow for the equipment. Modems can run a little hot, routers can run a little hot. When you combine the two, things get hotter.

Rather than being square, this modem actually has the shape of an elongated hexagon. Each end of the device leads to a point, which doesn’t really provide any significant advantages to your connectivity, but it does look pretty neat. Though without the stand, you’ll find it impossible to keep it upright.

It might seem trivial, but the upright position is actually the best way to use and store this equipment. If it’s laid flat against a table, you’ll drastically reduce airflow to the device. Routers can run a little warm, and modems can run a little warm. When you combine both into one thing, it really helps to maintain your airflow.

Apart from the neat aesthetic, you’ll notice the front side of this modem features a long row of high-contrast LED icons. Most of these can be identified without the use of the user manual, but if you encounter some kind of network issue, these icons can be pretty instructive.

Turning to the backside of the Nighthawk CM1150V, you’ll find a four Ethernet ports, two phone jacks, and a cable connection. There’s also the DC power port, the power button, and a reset button which was hidden away within the chassis of the modem.

Network Speeds

The CM1150V is a DOCSIS 3.1 device. That allows you to access the fastest speeds available, and makes your gear ready for the next generation of speed upgrades. It also means you get speeds which are ten times faster than DOCSIS 3.0 standards. And 3.1 happens to be backwards compatible with 3.0 equipment so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues cropping up.

Supporting 32 downstream and 8 upstream channels, the router portion of the Netgear CM1150V is suitable for providing two gigabits of throughput. If you actually want to use two gigabits of bandwidth for a single connection, then you’ll need to use a Link Aggregation Group, which is supported. But a ceiling of 2 Gbps is high enough for essentially anyone who’s not trying to setup a library, or some kind of internet café.

One thing this equipment cannot provide are network expanding features, like MU-MIMO support, or native mesh support. Many people won’t find that to be a problem. After all, MU-MIMO is pretty cool technology, but it’s totally dependent on the 5GHz band. That puts some pretty hard-and-fast limitations on who can use those features. Because your devices need line of sight with the CM1150V to access the 5 GHz band and all those extra features.

Consequently, equipment like the CM1150V probably isn’t the right router/modem combo for someone who’s working on creating an expansive smart-home. When you have 15 different devices connected to your Wi-Fi network, you’re going to want networking features made specifically to support that level of connectivity.

The CM1150V is better suited to about a dozen concurrent connections. You’ll find the network latency can become slightly sluggish if you really start pushing beyond that point.

Call Services & Comcast Orientation

The Nighthawk Multi-Gig Speed Cable Modem was made specifically for Comcast, and consequently it will self-activate for people who are using XFINITY. Most people using their own cable modem have to call Comcast and go through an installation procedure to register their equipment. Being able to skip that step is quite convenient, especially if you’re trying to do an installation outside of Comcast’s support hours.

The CM1150V comes with a pair of telephone ports, which can be used to prioritize voice control services. That includes 3-way conference calls, call forwarding, basic caller ID, and similar features.

The presence of those ports is certain to be a distinguishing feature for this device, because without them, you’re unable to access any of Comcast’s voice features. For a lot of people, that’s just not acceptable, especially when it comes to essentials like caller ID.

Breaking the Combo

It makes sense that Netgear made the CM1150V Nighthawk into a single unit, but this is actually two separate devices crammed into one. It’s a router and modem combined. For most people, picking up equipment like the CM1150V makes sense, especially when it supports forward-looking standards like DOCSIS 3.1.

But from the perspective of enthusiasts who are looking to min/max their network performance, it usually makes sense to get your router separately from your modem. There are generally two reasons why. The first reason is because if one component of a modem/router combo breaks, you lose two pieces of equipment.

The second reason has to do with planning for the future. In the past, it really made a lot of sense to choose entry-level networking equipment. Because better performing technologies were constantly coming down the pipe, and it seemed like Wi-Fi was improving every two or three years.

But the Nighthawk CM1150V provides support for DOCSIS 3.1, which gives it a forward-looking design, ensuring an ability to serve just as well in the future as it does presently. So the second reason isn’t very damning of the CM1150V, either.

Security Considerations

For protecting your network, most of the heavy lifting occurs in the gateway between your network and your connection. In other words, your router is really doing most of it, so you don’t have to look to the modem portion of this device to monitor security.

Fortunately, Netgear is no slouch when it comes to security features. The entire Nighthawk line of routers provides automatic firmware updates, ensuring you get the latest protections for your network as they’re available.

How many people sit around thinking about the last time they updated the software on their router? Even for people who use the internet all day long, that kind of thought just doesn’t occur to us. Automatic updates can be an enormous aid to your network.

These protections also ensure every device on your network is covered, even devices that don’t have their own independent antivirus protection software. For example, DSLR cameras and game console devices. That’s not to say Netgear’s protections can be used in place of all other security measures, but they do add another layer of protection.

Netgear also delivers when it comes to more common sense security features, like home network management. You can establish a variety of different user profiles, and use them to determine who’s allowed to do what.

Can your guests download large files? Can they visit video streaming websites? Whether you’re trying to protect your kids, or you’re just making it easier to avoid using social media sites during the middle of the day, these security features can be put to a variety of different purposes.

Other Considerations

It’s becoming increasingly common knowledge that people can save money by owning their own modem. Compared to renting from an internet service provider, you can easily save hundreds over the course of only a year or two. That really makes it easier to contextualize the cost of the CM1150V.

Netgear includes a one-year warranty. That’s a little underwhelming. Not because the warranty will be inadequate, but because equipment in this price range often does better. Though as a counterbalance, it’s worth noting that Netgear has great tech support. You also get 3-months of tech support. After that, you’ll be reliant on their web services to solve any issues that crop up.

NETGEAR CM1150V Nighthawk Multi-Gig Speed Cable Modem

The Netgear CM1150V Nighthawk was really made for three reasons. Internet service providers are currently working on extending gigabit-style connections across the nation. For people who are currently able to take advantage of those speeds, equipment like this is necessary. For anyone who wants to be able to take advantage of greater speeds when they’re available, DOCSIS 3.1 provides room for growth.

If you’re not a Comcast customer, this router/modem combo wouldn’t make any sense. You can’t use this equipment for DSL or satellite connections, and you’d have a tough time using the router component separate from the modem component. It also doesn’t make much sense for people who don’t need the old phone ports because the cost of supporting voice features is present in the price tag.

Using two WAN ports means you’re able to take advantage of multi-gig speeds. And of course, compared to renting a modem, the CM1150V is incomparably superior. If you happen to be a Comcast customer, and you care about support for voice services, it’s worth carefully considering the CM1150V.

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Minimalistic networking equipment can be hit and miss. When you know exactly what you’re looking for, it tends to be a little easier to find the right gear. But with how network standards seem to change every couple of years, it’s also terribly easy to fall behind on new terminology.

All you really need to know is this. Router technology has vastly outpaced the average connection speeds of ordinary people. In the United States, most people are using internet connection speeds in the ballpark of 70 Mbps. That kind of bandwidth capacity is something almost any router made in the past 5-years will be able to accommodate.

Even for people who have amazing Gigabit connections, router hardware can now accommodate multi-gig ports, for even faster connections. Consequently, even modest wireless equipment is now often capable of delivering a deeply impressive price to performance ratio.

Netgear WAC124 AC2000 Dual Band 4×4 Wireless Access Point

It’s great that the technology keeps advancing, but when it comes to buying your next wireless access point, most people only want to pay for things they’ll actually be able to use. The Netgear WAC124 is attempting to be the sweet spot between present necessity and future value. It’s also a mixture of value and network capacity.

As a wireless access point, the WAC124 can be used either independently as a router, or in conjunction with your existing network. That kind of adaptability isn’t too uncommon, but hasn’t been common on equipment in this price range until relatively recently. If you need to expand your network in the future, the WAC124 provides about the same ceiling for growth as equipment that costs four times as much.

Often times, wireless equipment that’s made for a general audience will lack the features desired by specific power-users. For example, people who have special security concerns, or people who are looking to prioritize connectivity to entertainment applications. But with the WAC124, Netgear is really trying to cover all your bases.

Build & Design

The WAC124 measures roughly 9.2 x 6.0 x 2.1-inches, and weighs just under one pound. It’s powered with a standard 12V power adapter, and it consumes about 16W during peak consumption. That makes the WAC124 run a little warm, but not so much you’d need to consider airflow during placement.

Surprisingly enough, the WAC124 is actually a wall-mountable unit. That’s pretty rare for this kind of low-budget, home office router. Normally, mounting options are left for routers made specifically for businesses.

Though it’s unobtrusive enough for a simple desk installation, wall-mounting can be slightly superior for your connectivity because it can provide superior positioning for your antennas. Whether or not you’ll want to consider a wall mount really depends on your own environmental circumstances, but it’s nice the option is present.

Ports and Connections

On the backside of the WAC124, you’ll find four Gigabit Ethernet ports. Once again, that represents full scaled equipment. It’s just as many ports as you’ll find on equipment that costs four or five times as much as the WAC124, even some equipment that’s scaled for large scale use. You won’t find any special multi-gig ports, but those kind of features can only be used by a tiny handful of people, anyway.

Even though this is a budget router, it still provides everything you’d need to setup separate hardwired connections for printers, desktop PCs, and so forth. There’s also a USB 3.0 port, which uses a USB-A type plug. You can use that port to share data across the network, or otherwise configure your WAP.

Network Connectivity

It’s getting increasingly common to find homes with dozens of Wi-Fi connections within their walls. For a large family, you might be looking at half a dozen smartphones, and then half a dozen smart-home devices. One by one, each device making a connection to your network can gradually accumulate to real network congestion. That’s why you need features like MU-MIMO, even if you’re using a smaller scale router.

You can tell from its name, the Netgear WAC124 AC2000 WAP supports a maximum throughput of roughly 2Gbps. About 300Mbps comes across the 2.4 GHz band, while the remaining 1733 Mbps comes through the 5 GHz band. If you want to actually use all your wireless bandwidth, you’re going to need to position the WAC124 with line of sight on your bandwidth-intensive devices.

That coverage is spread with the help of a 4×4 MU-MIMO network, beamforming, and a couple of antennas. Actually, the antennas are fairly high performance units, capable of 3dBi output. That’s just a hair above standard issue, and the antennas use a smart omnidirectional design that doesn’t require much in the way of special positioning.

Spreading Your Network

Connections which do not have line of sight with the WAC124 will be forced to use the 2.4 GHz band, spread with the help of beamforming. So when you step outside your front door, you’ll still have a Wi-Fi connection, but it’ll be restricted to the speeds provided by the 2.4 GHz band.

The WAC124 includes high performance 802.11ac Wi-Fi coverage. Unfortunately, they’re not using the very latest Wi-Fi architecture. But that actually has no real impact on the performance of the WAC124. After all, this router wasn’t really intended to be future-proof equipment.

The maximum number of client connections for the WAC124 is 64, which is evenly split between the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz band, which means a total of 32-users on each band. Though MU-MIMO is really only going to provide excellent support for the first four high bandwidth connections, and then strong support for the next sixteen.

Security Features

Additionally, the WAC can support three dedicated SSID network slots. You might use those to create separate networks for guests, employees, or administrators. Once setup, you could assign different characteristics to those networks. For example, you might prevent anyone on the guest network from downloading torrent files or accessing video streaming services.

With respect to security, Netgear provides MAC address filtering, three BSSID options, and WI-FI Protected Access Pre-Shared Key (WPA-PSK.) Additionally, you get regular and automatic firmware updates from Netgear. That allows your network to stay protected against the latest security threats, and without having to micromanage and update the equipment on your own.

While the WAC124 doesn’t make much fanfare about it, this equipment includes a VPN pass capabilities. That’s useful for either security conscious individuals, or businesses interested in extra layers of protection for their network.

Network Setup Process

For the most part, creating a new network is really quite simple. It used to be a horrifyingly complicated process, as recently as only two decades ago. But the WAC124 can be installed with about as much difficulty as it takes to install an app on your phone.

The Netgear app is pretty smooth. And it ought to be, they’ve been developing their user interface for a couple of decades now. Plenty of time to polish it, make it accessible, and make that accessibility available whether you’re shopping for entry-level or top-shelf equipment.

Though if you move from the setup interface on PC to the app interface, you’ll find the two don’t look totally identical. Both are actually capable of nearly all the same functions, but minor differences in navigation mean you might have to learn two separate interfaces.

Part of that probably an unavoidable part of moving between such diverse platforms, but it’s also something Netgear could’ve addressed better. Fortunately, you don’t actually have to use the web app, if you don’t want to get your mobile device involved. There’s an equally quick-and-effective standalone installation, and it doesn’t even require you to use a CD.

Other Considerations

The WAC124 includes an installation guide, power adapter, and a short Ethernet cable. The cable only runs about two feet, so if you plan on making a wired connection to other devices, you may want to pick up a longer cord. If you’d like to pick up some stronger antennas, these can be detached. Though the included antennas provide little reason for people to do that, they’re not bad.

Netgear also includes a one-year warranty. That’s a little on the short side for a warranty, but it still provides adequate coverage. Humorously enough, Netgear estimates this equipment is capable of running for about 50-years before needing replacement. At least, when operated around 77°F. That estimate only decreases slightly when you start to consider warmer environments.

One of the reasons this wireless access point is inexpensive is because it doesn’t contain a built-in modem. Given the kind of multi-purpose design and adaptable nature of the WAC124, that’s not really a problem, but it’s something to keep in mind for people who are looking for a simple one-unit solution.

Who Should Choose Netgear WAC124 Dual Band 4×4 Wireless Access Point?

When you’re setting up a Wi-Fi network for a smaller area of space, like 1,500 square feet, you don’t need enormous mountains of network hardware to do it. The WAC124 can provides 2 Gbps of bandwidth throughput. That’s not very impressive from a numerical perspective. But it’s literally about a thousand times faster than the average American’s internet speed.

The WAC124 was made for dorm rooms, home offices, retail shops, and similar small spaces. It’s only when you expect greater things that the WAC124 will disappoint you. When you’re trying to reach 5,000 square feet, that’s when you’ll encounter some issues. When you’re trying to draw more than 300 Mbps through the 2.4 GHz band, you’ll run into some frustrations.

But those are some high ceilings. And the WAC124 wasn’t made to impress, it was made to be cost effective. To that end, this WAP could be considered a total success. For small businesses searching for simple Wi-Fi solutions for an office, cafe, or retail space, something like the WAC124 is ideal.

If you’re searching for something inexpensive, simple to use, and you don’t anticipate requiring more than 2 Gbps of bandwidth, it’s definitely worth picking up the Netgear WAC124 AC2000 Dual Band 4×4 Wireless Access Point.

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These days, having access to the internet at all times is expected. For the most part, our cellphones provide us with connectivity while we’re out in the great outdoors, and we rely on WiFi while we’re inside. Unfortunately, cellphones are a pretty expensive way to get access to the internet. If there is WiFi available, most consumers would prefer to use that over their mobile network provider.

If you’re looking to get a network set up outdoors, your first instinct might be to purchase the biggest, baddest, most powerful router that money can buy. But this isn’t necessarily the case. The latest networking standard – 802.11ac – is considered to be a massive improvement over 802.11N. It can handle massive bandwidth, and has better signal penetration through walls.

Believe it or not, 802.11ac is actually worse for an outdoor network. Higher bandwidth for each client means that less clients can be connected at the same time. Better penetration through walls means that the range is shorter.

802.11N is older technology. And if you take a router from a few years ago and pit it against a modern router, the modern one will perform better. But if you get a specially designed outdoor range extender, you’ll be able to create a network that will blow away any indoor router.

In this guide, we’ll show you the three best WiFi range extenders for outdoor use. First, we’ll look at each individual model and show you what it has to offer. After, we’ll help you find the one that’s right for you.

EnGenius Long Range ENS202EXT

Although EnGenius makes a large number of routers and other networking appliances, they’re not a brand that everyone is going to be familiar with. EnGenius tends to go against the grain, creating specialty hardware designed for specific purposes. Though they aren’t a household name, there are very few brands we’d trust more to make an outdoor WiFi extender.

Installation

How a range extender is designed has a huge impact on your installation process. In some cases, the costs associated with installing a poorly designed extender can greatly outpace the cost of the extender itself. Fortunately, EnGenius made sure that this process was simple with the ENS202EXT. All you need is four screws and a plug. It runs off PoE – meaning it pulls it’s power from the Ethernet cable that feeds it’s signal.

As for the four screws? Put them in anywhere you like. With four anchor points, the router will be very sturdy wherever you choose to mount it. It’s IP55 rated, so it can handle even extreme weather conditions even without a separate enclosure.

The actual configuration process is a little more involved than your standard router. First, you’ll have to plug it into a separate computer and configure things like the IP address for DHCP, the name, and the network rules. There is a wizard that walks you through it, but a little tech know-how is required.

Networking Technology

This extender is capable of using 802.11 B, G, and N. For 90% of users, N will be the best option. B & G are very old standards, but they can be amplified a higher rates. If you’re using a special directional antenna to transmit long distances, you’ll have the ability to do so. But even by default, this is a pretty impressive piece of kit.

It’s antennas have 26 dbm of gain, allowing it to broadcast the network over a range of about 500 feet. In our tests, the connection speed was fantastic until the 300-foot mark, where things started to drop off a little.

These are MIMO antennas, meaning that you have to separate 802.11 networks. This allows twice the number of users on a single extender, something that is worth having with such a long range.

Features

The range on this unit is wide enough that it can be used in a professional setting, so EnGenius gave it plenty of professional features. The POE feature can be extended allowing you to run wired IPTV cameras through the extenders. This is a huge advantage for anyone who wants a security system, as it drastically reduces installation costs.

You’re also given tons of network security settings in the control panel. You can set up private VLANS, set private mac address filtering, install QoS systems that prevent one user from bogging the whole system down with a 4K Netflix binge. There is no doubt that this is an enterprise grade piece of hardware. Not everyone will take advantage of these features, but it does give you the option to manage a lot of users.

Ubiquiti UniFi AP Outdoor+

Ubiquiti’s name is based off a word meaning “to appear everywhere,” which happens to perfectly describe what we want from our wireless networks. This access point is designed to be universal. You can use a single model to extend over a small range, or pair an entire array of them for a larger coverage.

Installation

Although the installation process of the UniFi AP Outdoor+ is a little more involved with this access point, Uniquiti does give you many unique mounting options. The simplest choice would be to take the mounting plate and screw it directly onto a wall. It’s much easier to work with a single plate than it would be to try and make your screws line up with the holes on the access point, so you’re going to save yourself time and frustration with this design. If you’re trying to mount it up high to get a better signal, you’ve also got the ability to use the included hose clamp to strap it directly to a pole.

Getting connected is also very easy. You just plug in your Ethernet cable and everything works. There is a pass-through, so you can daisy chain one access point to another to cover a large area.

You don’t have to have an advanced technical skillset to set up a Ubiquiti access point. Just plug it in, and your network will be up and running. All settings are adopted from the host router, so there is no additional configuration required.

Networking Technology

This access point uses 802.11N as its primary communication protocol. It is backwards compatible with other standards, but there are no special features available for long-range transmission. The advantage of this design is that this access point is very compatible. It will work with virtually any device you connect it to, so you won’t have to provide tech support for your clients.

The omnidirectional antennas boost the signal at 23 dBm, which is just a tiny bit lower than the Engenius model. In our tests, the signal quality was good for about 250 feet, and the connection was extremely stable anywhere within this range. Although it’s not the highest range on the market, this access point does have a better system for handling high volume users.

You’ll be able to connect quite a few devices before the network gets congested, making this the perfect choice for a dense installation.

Features

One of the standout features of this extender is the built in hotspot management software. You’re able to limit use, so users don’t bog down your network with unwanted activity. You can display your terms of service before the connection is active, and even set up a billing system where clients can pay for network access. There are plenty of 3rd party programs that do this, but they come at a hefty price. Having this included with your networking hardware is a huge advantage.

TP-Link CPE510

Having been covered in many of our guides, TP-Link is a company that we are very familiar with. They made a name for themselves providing high performance networking hardware for the corporate and household market. This particular extender sets itself apart by combining long range and high performance technology, making this an ideal choice in situations where bandwidth is crucial.

Installation

Although it’s possible to mount this directly to a wall, the TP-Link CPE510 will work best when mounted on a pole. The idea is to mount it high, and point the flat face of the extender in the direction that you’d like coverage. It’s extremely well made, so you don’t have to worry about winds or weather damaging it – ideal when it’s going to be fully exposed to the elements.

Once it’s mounted, you’ll want to get it connected up to Ethernet. You can use the included power adapter, or TP-Links POE adapter. This is a little box that plugs into the wall next to your router. Your router plugs into the adapter, then the adapter to the extender. This adds POE to a non-POE network, allowing you to use any standard router. It’s worth noting that this isn’t standard POE, it’s TP-Link’s own design. The adapter is simple to configure, but it’s mandatory.

The next step is to log into the repeater by typing it’s IP address into your web browser. You’ll be brought to the interface for the Pharos network management software. This is the simplest, step-by-step way to configure your outdoor network. We’ll get into the features shortly, but Pharos is the simplest way to set up an advanced network without a lot of advanced knowledge.

Networking Technology

802.11ac uses both the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands to work out a compromise between bandwidth and range. TP-Link does the same thing, with a catch. It runs on 802.11n/a, substituting the newer c standard for the classic N.

Typically, this would reduce the range. But TP-Link got around this by making the network directional. Instead of expanding out from the extender in a circular manner, it covers 180 degrees in front of it. The end result is a network that covers roughly the same area as other extenders – 300 feet. However, you get the added advantages of high bandwidth.

Features

The setup we described above is how the CPE510 comes standard. If you dive into the Pharos network management software, you can do more with this extender than you can with any other. Instead of setting it up as just an access point, you can set it up as a client. This means that it will receive a signal wirelessly, and rebroadcast it in another direction. This means that you don’t have to wire it into your router, although you do need to place it in an area where you already have a strong wireless signal. You can also use it as a router, creating a separate subnet for all of the clients of this access point.

Overall, this is much more than your standard wireless extender. It’s an all in one long-range outdoor router, so you can create configurations as advanced as you like.

Which Outdoor WiFi Range Extender is Right for You?

While these devices may all be sold under the same name, they are actually quite different in functionality. The choice boils down to two options: your current network, and the area you’d like to cover.

The EnGenius Long Range ENS202EXT is the best choice if you’re connecting to an existing commercial grade network. Although the setup is a little more complex, it adheres to all networking standards and supports the proper security systems. You don’t want your wireless network to be a security risk, and you don’t want to have to replace any of your existing hardware. For those reasons, this is an excellent choice.

If you’re looking for simplicity, the Ubiquiti UniFi AP Outdoor+ is the perfect option. This WiFi extender adopts network settings from the router it’s connected to, making setup a breeze. There are a few custom features available if you need them, such as a pay-to-use access point control software. But the entire platform is designed for simplicity, so you can set it up yourself.

Both of the above extenders broadcast your wireless network in 360 degrees around the antennas. But if you want higher bandwidth coverage in a specific direction, the TP-Link CPE510 is for you. This impressive piece of hardware offers a lot more than your typical extender, with one of the most customizable feature sets we’ve come across. If you’re really struggling to get your internet to work the way you want, this is the extender you need.

The post Reviews of the Best Outdoor WiFi Range Extenders appeared first on Nerd Techy.

Temperature and humidity can affect your health. In fact, people who suffer from asthma are mostly suffering from problems related to dampness. In the interests of health, most homes are actually too humid, which can facilitate the growth of fungi, mites, and the like. Of course, dry air can be just as bad.

Viruses are capable of spreading easier when skin, mucous membranes, and eyes become dried out. And that’s just thinking about people. What about wood furniture? Instruments? Incubators? Art? Without monitoring, temperature and humidity can damage or destroy your possessions. And because of how easy it is to monitor humidity and temperature these days, that destruction is totally needless.

These are the Best WiFi Thermometers & Hygrometers

But who wants to constantly monitor the humidity in their cellar? Who wants to be permanently aware of the temperature in their attic? The best Wi-Fi thermometers and hygrometers ought to be able to take those concerns off your hand, without requiring you to be ignorant of the world, and while allowing you to micromanage the system only as you see fit.

Sensor Accuracy

With any type of measuring instrument, accuracy counts, even with a wireless grill thermometer. But the degree of accuracy you should seek depends entirely on you and your use case. When you’re taking a measurement because you’re trying to decide if you should wear a jacket, then the accuracy of your measurement really doesn’t matter that much. If you’re doing something more precise, then accuracy becomes more of a concern.

Size & Portability

The thermometer/hygrometer may be combined with a display unit which allows you to view temperature data. But these days, more and more of these instruments are being made without a display at all. Instead, they allow people to collect data entirely though the internet.

Whether or not you need a display really depends on how much interacting you plan on doing through the included control app. For people who want to do less interacting with the app, or people who are doing more hands-on management, having a display can be useful.

The size of a display unit isn’t something you have to worry much about. But the size of a sensor is important to keep in mind, especially if you plan on positioning the sensor in a small space. Most sensors will only be a couple inches in diameter, usually not much larger than the batteries which are inside them.

Powering the Instrument

Most digital instruments of this type will be powered by simple AA or AAA batteries. Rechargeable ones are even better. You want to look for a unit that can provide about one year of power before you need to swap the batteries. That’s because most well-designed sensors will report about once per minute.

Reporting more often requires more battery life, and is generally not necessary for most people in most circumstances. In fact, even a one-minute reporting is a little fast in most circumstances. Going beyond that is really only going to create unnecessary cost and inconvenience.

MINGER Govee WiFi Temperature Sensor

The MINGER Govee WiFi Temperature Sensor was built with an indoor-outdoor design. It’s compatible with both iOS and Android. It’s got wireless thermometer as well as a hygrometer, and it’s capable of delivering alerts which arrive based on the thresholds you’ve determined. But you don’t have to wait around for alerts, you can actually monitor the sensor data from anywhere that you’re able to use the mobile app.

Build & Design

The Govee display unit measures about 3.0 x 2.5 x 0.9-inches. The front side features a fairly basic looking, but highly visible display of all essential sensor data. Because this is an indoor and outdoor design, you’ll find this is a sealed and waterproof chassis. It even includes a small wall mount, which allows you to place or retrieve the data console from a mounted position.

There’s really nothing descriptive about the sensor. It’s roughly 3 x 2 x 0.5-inches, and isn’t easily identifiable as a weather sensor. In fact, apart from the Govee name across its front side, and the battery port on its backside, you really have nothing to go on.

Every 60 seconds, data syncs between the thermometer and the hygrometer, uploading the data through a Wi-Fi gateway. You can export your data to CSV format without having to pay fees or leap through hoops. If you’re not familiar, CSV is Excel format. That’s pretty good for being able to categorize different types of data.

You’re also able to view the battery level of the device through the app, and you’re able to calibrate the sensors. The app actually shows you some pretty cool interactive graphs, explaining how the temperature and relative humidity have moved across the course of a day. Using the app is pretty quick and simple, but there is room for one small complaint.

One of the main program buttons, right next to the button that lets you adjust your profile settings and the button that lets you switch between devices, you’ll find a button that’s trying to sell you products. It’s basically an advertisement button that’s permanently in the middle of the interface. It doesn’t really get in the way of anything, but it’s bound to agitate someone, so it’s worth pointing out.

Other Considerations

The SHT30 sensor is accurate within a fraction of a degree. Turning to humidity, it’s accurate within about 3%. That’s not bad for digital equipment. The Wi-Fi gateway of this device allows for a connection distance of about 260-feet. You’re able to plant the sensor terrifically far from your network and still end up receiving transmissions.

Its range of operation is 14°F – 140°F, which is pretty protective. But in extreme temperatures, you will have to help the sensors retreat to calmer ground. Higher than 140°F and the device is prone to overheating, lower than 14°F and you encounter problems with the battery.

The sensor is powered by a single AAA battery, which is included. You’ll need to replace the battery every four or five months, depending on environmental circumstances, and the batteries you’re using in the first place. This is actually a nice chance to use rechargeable batteries.

The Govee includes a 2-year replacement warranty. That does not include the battery, however. Over the course of two years, the battery will naturally degrade, and its maximum capacity might fall by as much as 20%.

Ideal Sciences Temp Stick

You could be off by 5°F and still easily make the right decision. But when you’re taking scientific measurements, you need different levels of accuracy, which means you need sensors built to higher standards. With the Ideal Sciences Temp Stick, you’re able to check your data at any time with the help of a tablet, PC, or mobile phone. That makes it ideal for monitoring temperature in your fridge, cooler, attic, or on the top of a mountain.

Build & Design

The Ideal Sciences Temp Stick measures 3.5 x 1.5 x 1.2-inches, and weighs about six ounces after you’ve got the batteries inside. The sensor comes in either black or white, and isn’t joined by a display unit. Rather, you’re expected to do all of your interaction through the app. This design is completely wireless because the sensor is powered by a pair of AA batteries.

Those batteries are included, but you’ll probably want to have your own batteries ready to replace the included batch. Because the included batteries are bound to give out after only a few weeks. With proper batteries, you should expect a full year of performance before they need to be replaced. Though that can literally increase or decrease depending on the weather.

Other Considerations

This device does not allow for recalibration. That puts a very soft limitation on how long you’ll be able to maintain accuracy over the course of years. But that kind of issue is really only a concern if you’re using the sensor in extreme environments, like an area where you expect the humidity to remain steadily above 85%.

The Temp Stick provides data logging with an unlimited storage history, and without subscription fees. Another thing working for the Temp Stick is its fantastic 5-year warranty. But in this case, any instrument with at least a one-year warranty should provide you with all the protection you need. Unfortunately, their tech support is only available six days a week.

SensorPush Wireless Thermometer/Hygrometer

Some Wi-Fi thermometers and hygrometers were made for people who want to be hands on with monitoring. The SensorPush Wireless Thermometer/Hygrometer was made for people who want to remain hands off. This sensor is the sort of thing you might shove inside a guitar case, in the back of a wine cellar, or near fresh produce storage.

However, the SensorPush Wireless Thermometer/Hygrometer is actually one part of a broader set. The G1 WiFi gateway lets you get data alerts through the internet, but the sensor and wireless gateway are sold separately.

Build & Design

The sensor measures 1.57 x 1.57 x 0.65-inches, making it exceptionally small, similar to an object you’d find dangling from a key ring. In normal conditions, excluding extreme heat and cold, you’ll find about one year of battery life from the sensor. The chassis isn’t waterproof, but if you position the sensor correctly, using it outdoors with minor protection would be possible. You just wouldn’t want to stick it anywhere you expect a puddle to form.

The Wi-Fi gateway is actually an impressive unit. Similar to the sensor, it’s quite small, measuring 5.6 x 4.2 x 0.8-inches. It’s not tough to tell them apart because the gateway has a Wi-Fi antenna on its side. Part of what makes this gateway impressive is that it’s capable of working with all SensorPush sensors, and places no limits on how many sensors can be connected.

Other Considerations

In spite of all that extra support, there’s still no monthly fee. You get cloud service included in the price of the router. But there’s room for complaint. Once you have to change the battery, it’s necessary to remove a single screw to get the battery door to open. That’s a mild inconvenience, but at least there’s no swinging hatch that can break off.

The sensor was built with Swiss-made components for higher accuracy and reliability. Its operating range is between -40°F – 140°F. It’s a tad unusual for these sensors for operate in such cold conditions. And with hysterically high accuracy, within about ±2.2°F. You’re able to switch over to Celsius, as well.

Data is transmitted once per minute, and the sensor carries data onboard for about 20 days. App data storage is unlimited, though you are technically limited by the storage capacity of your own mobile devices. It has a powerful range which extends to 325ft. Of course, that’s assuming there’s perfect line of sight between the sensor and the wireless gateway. The moment you start to add obstructions to the signal, the radius will drop accordingly.

The included app supports both Android and iOS. Whether you’re using a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or you’re using an iPhone, both apps work equally well, and make monitoring equally simple. There’s a set-and-forget nature to this device because of the Bluetooth 4.0 support which lets you transmit readings and alerts only when you need to know about them.

Choosing Between the Best WiFi Thermometers & Hygrometers

The MINGER Govee WiFi Temperature Sensor is a good choice for someone who’s looking for something simple, reliable, and quite affordable. The sensors can be used independently, or paired up with a humidity monitor that can be used as a display unit. Being able to port your data to Excel is a pretty cool feature, too.

The Ideal Sciences Temp Stick can operate in terrifically cold conditions, it’s got a grossly accurate sensor, and its ease of use could be described as perfect. The only fault to find is it cannot be paired with its own display unit. You need to incorporate a tablet, smartphone, PC, or something else to actually read your data. But it doesn’t require any additional parts because the Wi-Fi gateway is built into the sensor.

The SensorPush Wireless Thermometer/Hygrometer needs to be paired with a separate Wi-Fi gateway in order to operate. Of course, that means you can place the sensor at a different place than the gateway. It also means you’re able to operate several sensors and create a broader network of data collection. For people who are checking temperature and humidity in more than one small space, that makes the SensorPush G1 an excellent choice.

Looking for something capable of tracking a bit more than just temperature and humidity? A wireless home weather station is a smart choice. Not only do they assist you with figuring out the rise and fall of temperatures and humidty around your home, they’re often smart enough to help predict fluctuations.

The post These are the Best WiFi Thermometers & Hygrometers for 2019 appeared first on Nerd Techy.

We’re often reviewing networking technology from the wireless side of the industry. Wireless networking is changing every day. We’ll look at a router and determine that it’s the fastest on the market, then three months later something better has come along. When you’re sending data through the air, you’re constantly battling a number of different issues. Signal quality, clarity, obstructions, and interference are all major factors. Your results in one situation won’t always be comparable in another.

For this reason, hard-wired computer networks are still a very popular choice. Anytime you need reliability, they’re the obvious choice. Generally, a network adapter that connects at a certain speed will continue to provide consistent performance in almost any environment, as long as the conditions are controlled.

The problem is that the majority of Ethernet adapters are not getting better. They’re actually getting worse. As consumers move towards wireless solutions, many manufacturers are removing the hardware adapter and replacing it with a software emulator. This means that high volume applications, the very same ones that make wired networks appealing, now use plenty of unnecessary CPU cycles and degrade the performance of your machine.

If you’re using a wired network, you should take a look and find out what kind of card you have. Unless you’ve specifically purchased a system designed for your needs, there is a good chance that your hardware is under-performing. Fortunately, there is a solution. For a low price, you can get access to a high-performance Gigabit Ethernet card that will bring your network up to the standard you demand. Let’s look at the three best cards on the market. Then, we’ll help you understand what you need to look for.

Intel Gigabit CT PCI-E Network Adapter

It goes without saying that Intel is the top brand when it comes to enterprise hardware. A network card is a very low level device. It interacts with the chipset and bus on a very simple level, so simplicity is key. Because Intel designs the chipsets for almost every major motherboard, nobody is better equipped than them to create a bulletproof piece of hardware.

Hardware

At the heart of the Intel Gigabit CT PCI-E Network Adapter is the Intel 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controller. This same controller is found in a lot of products. The top of the line server and gaming computers often have this chipset built right into their motherboard. What makes it so special? For starters, it uses very little power, making it highly efficient. Next, it has two queues for each Tx (transmit) and Rx (receive.) This allows the card to prioritize which data gets sent first. Large, intermittent packets will always be sent below compact, time sensitive ones. The end result is better performance, lower PING rates, and better handling of large loads.

It also supports all the advanced networking features that you might be interested in. Wake from LAN, network boot, (even directly off a server) and remote management are all included – something that is essential for businesses.

Compatibility

This chipset isn’t considered new technology, but it is widely accepted as standard. While many other cards have the same technologies, Intel wrote the laws they operate by. This means that the card is supported by virtually any operating system out there. Every version of Windows from 98 onwards, all flavors of Linux, BSD forks like Solaris and, yes, even OSX all work perfectly. You’d be hard pressed to find a modern system that isn’t compatible with this card.

Performance

Performance isn’t as easy to measure as it is with some products. For a single file transfer, this card approaches the theoretical limit of gigabit Ethernet just like any other. The performance improvements are a little hidden, but definitely present. Even though the CPU is no longer handling the networking, the card still needs to communicate with your processor. It does these through interrupts. Interrupts tell one core of your processor, “Hey! Stop what you’re doing. We’ve got work to do.” This NIC can group requests together, sending an interrupt only when necessary. This means that your CPU is free to do any other task you’ve assigned to it.

This card also has a higher signal to noise ration than any other on the market. This means less dropped packets, better ping speeds, and all around snappier performance.

StarTech Gigabit Ethernet Network Card

If you’ve ever shopped for an affordable cable or computer accessory, StarTech is likely one of the first brands that came to mind. Their focus is on affordable hardware that still uses high quality components. For this reason, they’ve become a first choice for businesses. Based on price alone, this Ethernet card might seem like a bargain basement model that is to be avoided. But once we saw the specs, we knew that it was going to be one serious piece of kit.

Hardware

The StarTech Gigabit Ethernet Network Card is available with either 1, 2, or 4 ports. They can also be purchased with 25W power over Ethernet (POE) hardware, something that is commonly used in industrial environments. Most users will just need the standard model. Regardless which one you choose; the power of this card comes from the Intel I210 controller.

The I210 is a popular choice because it takes many aspects of networking and offloads the responsibility from the CPU to its own dedicated piece of hardware. Tasks like VLAN management, traffic shaping, frame management, and filesystem interpretation (for PXE and iSCSI boot modes) are all handled right on this card.

Compatibility

Intel’s Gigabit CT card is popular because it’s completely standard, and therefore supported by almost every operating system. In some ways, the I210 platform is the opposite. It supports technologies and systems that cannot be found on any other card. Instead of two TX and RX buffers, this one has four.

They can even be used in conjunction. You can manage two VLANs at the same time. You can use the card to connect to port-mirrored audio / video streams and rebroadcast over a buffered on-demand system. The second set of TX and RX buffers are software definable, so there is a lot of custom equipment that requires this card. As for its compatibility with modern operating systems, it will work flawlessly on any windows system starting with Vista, and most Linux boxes.

If you’re looking to use enterprise grade software, you’ll have no problems with these cards. They’re plug and play on all versions of Windows Server from 2003 and up, ESXi 6.0, Hyper-V, and several other systems.

Performance

For standard users, the area where this card will excel is stability. It’s designed for incredibly high bandwidth uses, often with custom firmware running. This means that if you’re just using the standard network technology, you’ll notice excellent ping times, even when there is a lot going on in the background. It also supports jumbo frames up to 8K in size, making it perfect for high volume data transfer. In the right environment, this is one of the most reliable cards you can get your hands on.

Rosewill Gigabit PCIe Network Adapter

Rosewill is another manufacturer that targets the business sector, although they take a radically different approach to their devices. Rosewill solutions are along the lines of “everything but the kitchen sink.” If you’re looking for the best in features, you’ll be hard pressed to find something better than this option.

Hardware

With the Rosewill Gigabit PCIe Network Adapter, instead of going for brand name, they went for a programmable RC-411 standardized chipset. This chipset has been used in hundreds of different scenarios. The reason is that it’s very powerful. Perhaps a little overkill for most networking applications, but Rosewill made sure that it had the firmware it needed for almost any situation. One of the most important features of this chipset is that features can be enabled or disabled depending on the environment. This has implications in both performance and compatibility.

Compatibility

If you’re using a PC with a PCIe port, then you can use this card. There is no question about it. Thanks to the flexible firmware, you’re able to use it with every version of windows ever released except for early versions of NT. It even supports DOS, making it the first choice for those who need a card that is hardware addressable from within a legacy virtual machine.

But there is more to your network than the operating system, there are also dozens of communication protocols that may or may not be in place in your network. It supports all standards of IEEE 802.3 including u, ab, and x. You get 802.1q, CSMA/CD, and direct software addressable TCP/IP space. What does this mean? It means that no matter how your network is structured, this card will support it out of the box. It can use any type of Cat 5 cable, with an average maximum run of 100 meters. These are just the standards that are supported out of the box. There is more it can be used with, requiring only a little configuration. We’d list them here, but we’d just end up repeating the list of every Ethernet networking standard in place since the 90s.

Performance

One of the most stand-out features of this card is its ability to support full duplex mode. Essentially, this refers to the rate that data is transferred. Half duplex used to be more reliable, although this is less of a problem with professional grade networking equipment. Most of the 10/100/1000 cards you see run this way. Full duplex transfers data twice as fast. You now get 20/200/2000 Mbps. Great deal, right?

The issue is that a full duplex card running in half duplex mode will constantly ping the router before it’s ready. This puts a lot of extra traffic on your network. But this one has a feature called backpressure, allowing the timing to be synced with proper half-duplex networking equipment.

Alternately, you can run in half duplex mode and split the network in two. This is usually used in a VLAN, where the software sees two isolated networks over one cable. In this case, you’re able to set up VLAN tagging, a software trick that tags important data so it’s delivered first. This is great if you’re running a piece of software that needs local access, as it will always operate uninhibited.

Which Gigabit Ethernet Card is Right for Me?

If you’re unclear on what these specifications mean for your real-world performance, there is no reason to worry. Any one of these cards will likely outperform the onboard Ethernet that came with your motherboard.

The first thing you’re going to want to do is determine what exactly you’re looking to do. If you’re purchasing this card for gaming, grab yourself an Intel Gigabit CT PCIe Network Adapter. This card is the most reliable on the market, and you’re not going to be able to take advantage of the extra features in the other models on a home network.

If you’re replacing the card is a workstation or non-essential PC, you’ve got two options. The Intel card can give you reliability, but we’d prefer the StarTech Gigabit Ethernet Network Card. There are a few extra features that are helpful to have in a business environment, and will help you improve the speed.

Lastly, the Rosewill Gigabit PCIe Network Adapter is best in servers or testing environments. It can be put to use in any computer system that is connected to from multiple sub-networks or VLANs, and is designed to be able to open a secure connection with any of your internal systems, no matter how old they may be. In fact, this card is commonly used by system administrators to move legacy software into a virtualized environment.

Chances are, most people will be reading this only looking for one specific thing. There is no reason you need to worry if you’re missing out on features. At the end of the day, all of them provide a cheap and effective upgrade from the terrible software-based systems of today.

Looking For More?

Home users, if you’re looking to squeeze the most out of your network, remember that the network card is only one of the pieces in the Pipeline. Just because some routers have a Gigabit Ethernet port on the back, doesn’t mean they can handle the full volume. Make sure you take a look at a high-performance router such as the Netgear Nighthawk X10. You can also double check your cable modem and make sure it’s up to snuff. You’re not going to be transferring 1 Gbps data over the internet anytime soon, but a speed improvement is definitely noticeable with the right model.

The post Best PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Network Interface Cards (NIC) appeared first on Nerd Techy.

Moving a network connection across great distances can be tough. It’s a large part of the reason why people switch to fiber optic connections. After about 100ft, Ethernet cables and their copper construction just don’t cut it. Which makes fiber connections essential for people who are trying to connect to the internet from isolated portions of a complex, separate buildings, or another area that’s generally impervious to Wi-Fi.

Best Ethernet Fiber Media Converter

An Ethernet fiber media converter does an incredibly complicated job — but understanding what it’s doing is actually very simple. They receive an electronic signal from an Ethernet connection, and then translate that electrical signal into a series of light pulses. Those light pulses can then be sent across a fiber optic cable, which transmits your signal to its destination at the speed of light.

Picking the right Ethernet fiber media converter isn’t nearly as tough as all the stuff the converter has to manage. If you’re picking a converter to be used in an array, you should think about the form factor. Otherwise, you can focus primarily on data rate, compatibility, and connectivity concerns.

Form Factor

There are typically three common form factors for Ethernet fiber media converters. The first is a PC card fiber media converter, which is installed directly into a computer. The second are standalone converters, and converters that can be installed into a larger chassis of converters in a greater system. Managed fiber media converters tend to cost a bit more, but they include remote configuration and have network managing tools that can make your life a bit easier.

You generally don’t have to think about commercial vs industrial grade equipment, with one exception. Industrial grade media converters are filled in hot, humid, electrically busy environments. They can survive freezing temperatures, too. If you’re not thinking about operating the equipment in those kinds of extreme environments, then you can stick with commercial gear.

Communication Protocols

Most Ethernet networks will use 10/100Mbps, 10/100/1000Mbps, or the 1000Mbps network standard. This is one detail that actually does matter. Because if you’re not careful, it’s easy to end up picking an Ethernet fiber media converter which doesn’t support the type of network you’re running.

Basic compatibility concerns almost don’t need to be mentioned. However, you might want to stop and consider if you intend to use a single mode fiber optic cable, a dual strand cable, or a single strand cable.

Connection Options

How can you connect the fiber media converter? With the right gear, your potential options are almost limitless. That might include support for copper RJ-45 cables, UPT, coax cables, single or multimode fiber connections, and so on.

StarTech.com Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Media Converter

Though this brand isn’t exactly a household name, in the world of PC adapters, StarTech has a cult following. Partially because StarTech makes a huge number of quality adapters, and partially because those adapters often get fantastic reviews. Because you tend to get what you pay for with these adapters.

Their Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Media Converter is actually available in six different variants. Those variations primarily vary based on the distance you need to transmit your signal. This particular gigabit Ethernet fiber media converter is capable of carrying your signal as far as 1804ft. That’s just over one third of a mile.

Build & Design

The StarTech Gigabit Fiber Converter measures 6.2 x 3.6 x 1.8 inches, a reasonably compact design that vaguely resembles a smaller router. The converter itself was constructed inside a sturdy metal housing, which was engineered to provide years of lasting performance. True to form, it can also connect an Ethernet network alongside a fiber backbone to integrate all your remote devices into one system.

The topside is highlighted by the StarTech logo, and the sides have a couple of ventilation holes. Beyond that, the front face of the device consists of the mini-GBIC port, Ethernet port, on/off switch, and six indicator LEDs. The LEDs can provide you information about the status your network, ranging from connectivity to power. On the opposite sides of three ports, there’s a simple DC power plug.

The plug-and-play design of this converter ensures installation should be pretty smooth. Though as with any device where many wires are connecting in a single place, there is the tendency for things to feel a little cluttered unless you wall-mount the unit and manage its cabling. Speaking of wall mounting, this converter provides several flexible installation options, including plenty of options for wall mounting.

Other Considerations

StarTech is a pretty good way to go for cost effective solutions that are also dependable for shorter range networks. The multimode transceiver is actually removable, so you can swap the transceiver in the future if your networking needs happen to change or fluctuate. And StarTech was careful enough to support 10/100/1000Mbps networks, so you don’t have to concern yourself with compatibility issues.

If you were looking to send your signal further distances, you’d need to use one of their stronger converters, like the SM 20km. But for someone who can make due with a third of a mile, this converter is a terribly cost effective solution. It could easily save someone hundreds or thousands of dollars when trying to run shorter connections.

In addition to the gigabit Ethernet media converter, StarTech includes a universal power adapter which can be used internationally. It also includes a two-year warranty from StarTech alongside unlimited tech support. However, it doesn’t include any wall mounting brackets or rack brackets. Those wall mounting is possible; you have to bring your own hardware solutions to the table.

TP-Link Gigabit Ethernet Media Converter

Similar to the StarTech adapter, the TP-Link Gigabit Ethernet Media Converter can convert Gigabit Ethernet networks in full duplex mode. You’ll also find support for mid/mid-x, TX, and FX ports. Things run a little smoother thanks to auto or force transfer on all those FX ports, allowing you to extend the total distance of your connection out towards 1,600ft.

Build & Design

It’s strange how TP-Link is the biggest name on this list, yet their fiber media converter is arguably the ugliest looking. Its simple gray chassis measures 8 x 2.6 x 6.5 inches, and weighs about a pound. That weight is entirely due to the sturdy metallic construction, which is pretty hard to miss.

Similar to a router, a number of LED indicators on the front of the device make it simple to view the present status of your network. Those indicators also provide you details about the kinds of connections you have going on at the moment.

This converter was designed to be used with a multi-mode fiber cable and SC-connector. It also supports shortwave laser specifications for full wire speed forwarding. More than that, it can be used as a standalone unit, in combination with other converters, or even run without the chassis.

With respect to installation, many converters claim to be plug and play. But the TP-Link Gigabit Ethernet Media Converter gets pretty close to achieving perfect plug-and-play installation. There isn’t any configuration involved whatsoever. The only mess you have to sort out is cable management and the placement of the converter.

Other Considerations

If you’re looking to operate this converter in an array, it’s worth knowing TP-Link has a pretty impressive 19-system chassis that’s compatible with this unit. It has bottomless support for TX ports, and the front panel doesn’t block visibility of LED indicators. Pretty smart design.

You could use this for IP cameras, but not if your camera draws its electrical power from Power over Ethernet. Because this device converts Ethernet connections to fiber – PoE features gets swallowed in the process.

A couple more notes about compatibility. You can’t connect this converter straight into a 220V outlet, you would need an international adapter plug. And though this information is slightly implied by its name, this Gigabit Ethernet Media Converter is not compatible with 10/100 networks.

Networx Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Media Converter

Networx doesn’t have a fraction of the name recognition of a brand like TP-Link. But this converter performs every bit as respectably as anything TP-Link has ever made. Actually, the more accurate comparison would be with the StarTech converter.

Similar to StarTech, the Networx Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Media Converter converts your data signal from a 10/100/1000 Base-T connection to a fiber signal. Additionally, it supports flow control for full duplex ports, backpressure for half-duplex ports.

But unlike many similar converters, Networx manages to maintain high performance across distances as far away as 49 miles. At least, when paired with the right cables.

Build & Design

Networx’s converter measures 8.1 x 5.8 x 1.8 inches, making it slightly larger than the other equipment on this list. The build is still pretty slim and portable, though its nearly 1lb weight means you might need more than tape to mount the unit. Luckily, wall mounting options are available.

Fully equipped with a fiber optic connector, this converter is capable of transmitting TX and receiving RX. There’s also one RJ-45 jack and an external power supply receptacle for expansion possibilities. And six LEDs have been built into the front side of the unit, which are handy for diagnosing problems with the system, or otherwise continually monitor its performance and state of power.

But they’re not terribly well labeled, so you have to rely on the user manual to help become aquatinted with them. Once you do, they can be very useful. They include the UTP link, UTP activity indicator, fiber link indicator, fiber activity indicator, full duplex indicator, and data rate indicator. Additionally, you can configure the display to recognize either half duplex or full duplex operation.

The adapter looks a bit utilitarian. The outside has a few LEDs, connection ports, and heat grating. The topside of the unit provides clear identification for the unit, along with information about compatibility. That way, someone who’s just picking up the gear with no context can still immediately appraise its capabilities and limitations. The connection ports are equally well labeled.

Other Considerations

This converter comes with everything you need to get started, including the power supply. This converter actually doesn’t draw much power, which makes it uniquely useful running an underground fiber connection between different buildings. With so much data flowing through it, you would think it would run hot.

The included user guide is a little technical. But it provides separate figures and diagrams for different types of installations. It’s pretty handy for orienting yourself to the Networx Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Media Converter.

Choosing Between 3 of the Best Ethernet Fiber Media Converters

For someone who is using their fiber media converter as part of a collection of converters, the StarTech converter is worth careful consideration. It’s been made to ensure your network can expand and grow in the future. Its compatibility options leave little to be desired, though it’s unfortunate they don’t provide anything resembling mounting hardware along with this kit. If you can forgive that, it’s usually worth trusting StarTech equipment.

The TP-Link Gigabit adapter is a good choice for a person who’s trying to find a basic, cheap, and simple converter. Though this is one of the less expensive fiber media converters you’ll encounter, it’s made by TP-Link, which provides it some clout. If you end up needing tech support, you’re much better off turning to TP-Link than a smaller brand like Networx.

Finally, there’s the Networx converter. It’s almost identical to the StarTech converter. But StarTech provides slightly more support options while Networx provides a greater maximum transmission distance. For someone who intends to run their signal more than a mile, the Networx Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Media Converter will be worth careful consideration.

The post Guide to the Best Ethernet Fiber Media Converter for 2019 appeared first on Nerd Techy.

Trying to get wireless in your apartment? Then you probably don’t need a router capable of blasting your signal across the street. For years, entry-level routers had entry-level features. But lately, it’s getting much easier to find cutting edge wireless features on cheaper equipment. For two or three people living in a regular sized home, that makes it much easier to upgrade your network speeds with modern standards.

TP-Link Archer A6 C1200 Wireless MU-MIMO Gigabit Router

The A6 C1200 is actually the second version of this particular Archer router. This newer version combines 802.11ac alongside 2×2 MU-MUMO. Combined, these types of technologies provide a pretty compressive approach to wireless. The general idea is to pack those modern-features alongside hardware that’s been scaled down, intended to be used by two or three people.

Because the A6 has its hardware scaled down to power these more modestly sized environments, it’s constructed with hardware proportional to those tasks. Compared to other routers, this hardware looks a little weak. But none of that weakness is felt in performance, and its part of the reason why this equipment has its priced eased down to such a comfortable level.

There are many different kinds of routers. In the AC1200 niche, you’ll find a particularly large number of different options because it reflects the network capabilities that people need most. For two or three people in a two room apartment, the A6 is pretty much perfect. The only hard limit to keep in mind is that 2×2 MU-MIMO isn’t 4×4. So this equipment is only effectively capable of emulating two separate networks instead of four.

Build & Design

The Archer A6 measures 9.1 × 5.7 × 1.4 inches and weighs about 2lbs. Fairly ordinary for a router of this type. Somewhat less ordinary, the A6 is made from glossy black plastic, with a pleasant wave-like texture ripple echoing across its entire body. It’s a pretty stylish and distinctive design.

They probably worked hard at making this router pretty because it’s almost impossible to hide it. In the interests of keeping a strong signal, you need to position this router so the antennas can bounce around information. Positioning is even more important if you expect to pull data from the 5G band. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to wall-mount this equipment. Which is probably why it’s a good thing they made the chassis so attractive.

Getting back to the chassis, you’ll find six LEDs along the front. As per usual, they indicate the status of your network. That includes information about the power, Ethernet cable connections, WPS, and connections on the 2.4 and 5GHz bands. Thankfully, the LEDs are not very bright, so they don’t become disturbances for people in dark rooms.

Antennas & Ports

Along the back end of the router, you’ll find four antennas, which extend directly up into the air above the router. These antennas are suitable for sending a wireless signal across roughly 1,500 square feet. Pretty average for an AC1200. But they’re actually non-detachable antennas, which is unfortunate for a number of different reasons.

For starters, it means you can’t upgrade them with stronger antennas at a later time. It also means you can’t pop one off for different types of hands-on installations. But provided you don’t have some strange installation placement in mind, that shouldn’t be a big concern.

For ports, the backside of the Archer A6 hides away four Ethernet ports and a WAN port. Each of those Ethernet ports is capable of hauling a full gigabit of bandwidth. Though were you to start drawing that much power over Ethernet, you’d find the 2.4GHz band would have slowed in speed by about one third. Apart from those ports, there is also a power button, reset button, and WPS button. Fairly standard stuff.

Networking Hardware & Speed

With respect to its hardware, the Archer C6 is built with a single core processor. It’s a Qualcomm QCA9563, which runs at a modest 775MHz. Certainly one of the less impressive processors you’ll find in a router these days. Why is it so seemingly weak? Because it’s only as strong as it needs to support a network of this size. It was made to expect only three or four people interacting with the network, and only two high-bandwidth connections.

That’s not to say this equipment is handicapped or slow. Like any AC1200, the theoretical bandwidth potential of this hardware is 1167Mbps. In this case, that connection would occur with 300Mbps across the 2.4GHz band, and then an additional 867Mbps across the 5GHz band.

Whether or not you actually achieve those speeds or not depends on many factors, including the placement of your devices. But for its part, the Archer A6 does an excellent job of carrying your connection. The fact you can’t remove the antennas is really the only cloud in this particular sky.

Security Issues

Surprisingly, the security options are pretty impressive, too. Typically, all you end up with is some kind of basic firewall provided by TP-Link, and then the usual gamut of parental controls. Of course, in this case, all those basics are still present. But then you get a little bit of extra stuff that’s actually more characteristic of business-quality security features.

As any modern router should, the A6 provides the usual range of parental controls and guest network options. That includes the ability to dictate specific hours when certain people can be online, how long they can spend online, what websites they can visit, and so forth.

The guest panel also lets your setup a separate network which guests can use independently from the primary network. Apart from all the various parental controls you could apply to this secondary network, it’s also worth noting you can establish bandwidth allocation as well. That way, the guests on your network can never interfere with your own streaming experience.

In other words, the next time someone takes out their smartphone to browse the web while you’re watching a movie together, their connection is less likely to interfere with the streaming video on your TV.

Apart from that more rudimentary stuff, the TP-Link Archer A6 includes some solid support for VPN configuration. Whether you’re extra-concerned about security, or you’re trying to setup your own private network among company devices, that can be pretty handy. Small scale VPNs are excellent for security, whether you’re a business or an individual.

Setting up the Network

Setup is pretty simple and smooth. You’re guided through a setup wizard which asks you to create a password for your network. You don’t actually have to set a password, but of course it’s a good idea to do so. You’re then taken step by step through the rest of the installation process, step by step.

By the end, the setup wizard will ask if you’re connected to the internet. If you are, the wizard is complete. If you’re not, it will start helping you tweak your settings to fix things. Pretty straightforward, and hard to mess up.

Another thing that’s easy to appreciate is the approachable the customization windows. When you’re setting up your network settings, even beginner users should be able to navigate through the advanced settings tab.

Which is helpful because that’s where they’ve hidden away a number of useful options for making the A6 a bit more functional. For example, it’s where you’ll find your most sensitive wireless settings, the ability to setup a guest network, parental controls, NAT forwarding, VPN server options, security settings, and so forth.

Other Considerations

Oddly enough, this equipment will not automatically seek out new versions of firmware. That’s a pretty common feature for many routers lately, even other TP-Link routers. Though new firmware does not come out that often, so this isn’t something to be terribly concerned about.

Some people who are zealous about security will probably appreciate their updates aren’t done automatically. But the firmware is only available in English, even though the rest of the app has great multi-lingual support. That’s a minor letdown.

The A6 does not have its own USB port, so you can’t use a thumb drive to send data across all the devices in your network. It’s a feature that most people don’t actually need, but can be super handy for the few people who do. The lack of a USB port is mostly related to price, so if you don’t need that port, you can look at its absence as another way of saving you a few bucks.

This equipment supports Linkx, NetWare, Mac OS, and Windows systems. Basically anything you want to connect with the TP-Link Archer A6 will find compatibility isn’t an issue. That includes more obscure connections, like hooking up with a Raspberry Pi B+. The A6 includes a two-year warranty from TP-Link. They also include 24/7 technical support.

Who Should Choose the TP-Link Archer A6?

The TP-Link Archer A6 C1200 Wireless MU-MIMO Gigabit Router was made for people with smaller or medium-sized apartments. Even though this is a smaller piece of equipment, made to be used on a smaller scale, it’s able to provide modernized Wi-Fi networking standards and all the benefits therein.

What isn’t included with this router is also pretty clear. There isn’t a USB slot, or any sort of multi-gig slot. This router doesn’t have built-in modem, nor any kind of phone jack. The MU-MIMO is restricted to 2×2, which is fine for two high-bandwidth connections, but would be prohibitive for three or more.

This router only becomes a little subpar once you start to expect more than 10 wireless devices making a connection to the network, or once you expect to broadcast beyond four or five rooms. In other words, this might not be the right choice for a café, or even a business with more than 4 employees.

But it’s an excellent choice for people in smaller homes and apartments, especially on a relatively low budget. Because even though it provides all those modern standards and bleeding-edge features, its price is highly competitive.

The post Review of the TP-Link Archer A6 (C1200) Wireless MU-MIMO Gigabit Router appeared first on Nerd Techy.

For just about any online gamer, having a stable connection is pretty important. The kind of brief internet hiccup that might otherwise not bother a person can be a source of immense frustration for a competitive player. Even if you’re a more casual player, in the wrong game, a little bit of lag can ruin everything. Your voice chat, your stream, your streaming video, the list goes on.

NETGEAR XR300 Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router

The Nighthawk series isn’t necessarily a gaming router series, but in its ranks you’ll find a number of excellent gaming routers. The XR300 is among the latest in the series, yet it’s already won a number of notable awards, and is now considered to be one of the best gaming routers on the market.

Why? The XR300 has the potential to considerably reduce gaming latency by working to prioritize your network traffic. With a couple of minutes of configuration, you can easily tweak virtually any aspect of your connection. Quite useful to help stabilize your ping, ensure your local connection is lossless, or otherwise reduce network lag.

You don’t actually need much bandwidth to enjoy games. At least, not unless you’re streaming video. In any case, the XR300 provides a full array of features aimed at non-gaming tasks. You could probably think of this as more of an entertainment router than a gaming router per se.

Build & Design

The XR300 measures roughly 8 x 6 x 2.5 inches. Similar to most Nighthawk routers, the shape of the XR300 is quite distinctive. Even the number of antennas is a little unique. It feels like most routers end up with either one antenna, two antennas, or four and up. The XR300 is in the unique position of running three.

Moreover, all three are attached to the backside. It’s increasingly common for routers like the XR300 to have their antennas positioned on at least three sides of the device, which can be a minor inconvenience for certain types of placement and installation.

Antennas aside, along the front side you’ll find a total of ten indicator LEDs. They give you information about the power status of the router, the 2.4/5G bands, the status of the connection to your internet service provider, and the individual connectivity of each wired connection.

And at the far end of those indicators, you’ll find a pair of analogue buttons. The buttons actually easy to miss because they match the style of the LEDs, so they almost look like just more lights. But these are actually wireless extension buttons to help you get new devices on the network with the single press of a button.

Inputs & Interface

The backside of the XR300 is pretty intuitive because the backside I/O is well organized and straight forward. Way off on the right side, you’ll find a DC power port and a power on/off switch. Towards the center, you’ll find a yellow WAN port, which is offset from LAN ports, and highlighted with a separate color to ensure the XR300 is approachable to novice installations. And towards the left side, you’ll find four gigabit Ethernet ports, and a reset button that’s been recessed within the chassis.

Quickly getting back to the antennas, it’s worth noting the XR300’s antennas are a high performance design, made to reduce interference while maximizing network coverage. Along with the help of beamforming, they’re able to extend your network pretty effectively across the 2.4 GHz band. But the 5G band is pretty much the same as it is on any other router, requiring line of sight for connections.

Front Facing USB Access

When you’ve got six wires running from the backside of this router, and it’s placed up against a wall, you don’t necessarily have great access to the backside. And getting access to the backside might require you to pick up the router, disturb those wires, or potentially even turn off your network. Pretty inconvenient if you need to get back there, right?

Interestingly, the XR300 was built with its USB access port on the front face of the router. Somewhat similar to the reset button, the USB slot is recessed within the chassis, but not quite to the same degree. This front placement is a great idea, though. Even though it might not be the best aesthetic decision, anyone who’s using the USB port on a regular basis will be able to get much better access to the XR300.

The Control App

Using the Netgear control app, you can get a detailed picture of how you’re spending bandwidth. That includes a picture of who’s currently chewing through bandwidth on the network, and how much they’re using. If you want to take things a step further, it’s possible to actually establish control limits to help prioritize some devices while blocking others. Voice assistants tend to absorb a lot of bandwidth in particular, so they can be worthy of management.

Likewise, the user interface for their DumaOS dashboard is pretty approachable. Even though configuring a router can be a pretty technical task, Netgear managed to make things a bit easier to understand. Whether you’re trying to mitigate the effects of network congestion, or ensure it doesn’t affect specific devices, you’ve got an array for quality of service options. And even novices should be able to move through the more “advanced” options.

Hardware & Network Potential

The XR300’s quality of service technology is powered by a modest 1GHz dual core processor. Not super powered by any means, but it’s powered appropriately to the requirements of the XR300’s anticipated network load. With its assistance, even when you’ve got a congested network filled with dozens of different devices, having too many connections on your LAN won’t cause gaming lag.

Imagine you might have six different smart-home devices making an independent connection to your router, and you have six more smartphones doing the same. For a lot of modern routers, that kind of scenario means anyone who’s trying to enjoy a game will start running into some semi-serious network problems.

One possible outcome is that your ping creeps up a little higher. Another likely outcome is that you’ll start to enjoy some lag spikes when other devices start to interact with the network for any sustained period of time. Short bursts of heavy lag can be pretty devastating in certain types of games, especially games where rapid response times are necessary.

Depending on how the game’s anti-cheat is configured, these micro-stutters are even capable of causing you to lose your connection to game servers. In order to stabilize your connection, the XR300 uses anti-buffer bloat technology, which is basically a means of creating an express lane specifically made for your games. Consequently, lag which isn’t provided by your ISP can generally be avoided.

Security Features

With respect to its security features, the XR300 is pretty average. You can establish parental settings, and create separate guest networks. That includes the ability to establish specific controls over what content can be visited, when it can be visited, and how much bandwidth they can use.

The only way in which the XR300 really shines here is in transparency. It’s great at letting you know what’s going on over the network. But to its credit, the XR300 does add on another layer of customization potential by letting you determine minute-by-minute bandwidth rules.

You also have some basic access to VPN features, but really only as many as a gamer might need. It doesn’t quite have the same level of robust VPN support that you might find from an enterprise tier business router. But you shouldn’t have a problem getting any existing VPN services you use to play-nice with the XR300.

Other Considerations

Similar to almost any modern Netgear router, the Nighthawk XR300 supports automatic firmware updates. You don’t have to spend time checking for updates or bothering to install them. The router basically takes care of itself. Pretty cool.

To some degree, the idea of a gaming router is a little silly. Because plenty of non-gaming routers still have the ability to help you make similar game-facing customizations. For instance, you might still be able to prioritize traffic with many mid-shelf routers that have nothing to do with gaming.

But the XR300 is really about making those features highly accessible, bundling them in one place, and taking as much off your plate as possible. It’s about prioritizing games from the first moment you start using the router, so you don’t have to spend a bunch of time setting things up every time you play something new.

Different types of games have different types of networking standards. Some games will kick you out the moment they detect you’re lagging; others don’t mind as long as your ping doesn’t exceed 5000ms. Whether or not the XR300’s game-facing features can really help you does at least partially depend on the sort of games you’re playing.

Who Should Choose the NETGEAR XR300 Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router?

The NETGEAR XR300 Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router is a pretty good choice for gamers who aren’t necessarily networking wizards. It’s also a good choice for lazier people who don’t want to have to bother with setting up their gaming settings in a more laborious process.

Of course, you don’t actually need to be a gamer to get the best benefits this router has to offer. Its abilities can be applied equally well to things like streaming content. The same things that help make your games smoother can be turned to making your videos a bit smoother, too. You could easily prioritize your connection to Netflix, YouTube, or a similar streaming service.

If you were looking to fill an incredibly large area with Wi-Fi, the XR300 would not be able to do that on its own. But it is possible to conjoin the XR300 with other units, and effectively extend the already formidable size of its network radius. With that said, XR300 is a pretty good choice for someone interested in a future-proof network at an effective price.

The post Review of the NETGEAR XR300 Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router appeared first on Nerd Techy.

A new era of Wi-Fi connectivity is already underway. The software and hardware are already developed, while 5G and Wi-Fi 6 are being implemented across the globe. But while this is happening, many people are still using older generations of router equipment. With few exceptions, any router that wasn’t made in the past two years is not going to be adequately prepared for the future.

Bandwidth isn’t the only thing these new technologies can offer. They can ensure that certain network tasks, like your streaming video, are among the very last things to be disturbed when your network is under strain. And as an increasing number of smart-devices begin to fill up our homes, there’s a growing incentive for your router to be equipped to accommodate multiple tiers of connectivity.

NETGEAR Nighthawk AX4 4-Stream AX3000 WiFi Router (RAX40)

Who was the Nighthawk AX4 made for? A quick glance the port array will show you this router wasn’t made for industrial use. And an evaluation of its internal hardware reveals this router is probably a little too powerful to be used in two-bedroom apartment. Rather, the Nighthawk AX4 was made to help fill broader areas with a heavier signal.

Want to extend your Wi-Fi network out towards your backyard? The AX4 might be able to help. Apart from the above average signal radius provided by the antennas, the AX4 was constructed to provide virtually every one of the latest networking standards. That means getting all their associated benefits, which allows the AX4 to carry roughly four times the data capacity compared to previous generations of Wi-Fi.

Nighthawk routers tend to be either mid-range or high-end routers, with few exceptions. The Nighthawk AX4 seems firmly in the midrange section. That means this equipment tends to be well suited for people who need a little more than what the most basic routers can provide, but a little less than some sort of business-tier solution.

Build & Design

The AX4 uses a professional looking black-and-gray chassis that’s been latticed with a cool textural design. It definitely looks pretty distinctive and modern. And the AX4 is actually one of the more compact and slim routers in the Nighthawk series.

With a hexagonal shape that extends roughly 14.7 x 8.4 x 2.3 inches, this router certainly looks unique. The predominantly horizontal build looks a bit like an old answering machine, or rather, what an answering machine might have looked like if they were still popular in the 21st century. With respect to its height, keep in mind, that 8” is on account of the two high-performance antennas. It’s otherwise pretty slim.

The antennas have their range maximized and extended for both indoor and outdoor coverage. Unfortunately, these antennas can’t be removed. But because the included antennas are optimized in relation to the hardware behind the AX4, so there’s little reason for considering their replacement anyway. You’d be better off adding another router and creating a mesh network instead of trying to extend the antennas, anyway.

The AX4 weighs about 1.3lbs, making it a little on the lighter side. Even though there is no mounting hardware included with this kit, the lightweight nature of the unit ensures it wouldn’t be tough to rig your own simple wall mounting solutions. You could probably use a couple of pieces of sticky tape and get the job done, though again, none of that is included.

Apart from the front indicator LEDs, Netgear didn’t go out of their way to slather this thing with a bunch of unnecessary lights. Some of these Nighthawk routers look like Christmas trees, while others look more like business equipment. The AX4 tends to be more in the latter category. That’s probably a good thing because if nothing else, it means you’re not paying for a bunch of style-only LEDs you don’t care about.

Input Ports & Physical Interface

The backside of the unit has a pretty standard layout. On the far left side, you’ll find a power on/off button, and a DC power port. They’ve positioned those two together, instead of on opposite sides, like so many routers end up doing. It’s a minor detail, but getting these minor details right is reflective of the smart design that permeates the entire device. It’s almost as if Netgear has been making routers for decades or something!

Anyway, along the front of the unit, you’ll find nine LED indicators and two analogue buttons. The LEDs are pretty standard network indicators, giving your insight into the power, network connectivity, 2.4/5G wireless band connectivity, and the status of all the devices you’ve got plugged in on the backside. It’s a pretty great interface for helping you quickly narrow down network connectivity problems to their source.

Netgear didn’t make these LEDs particularly small. In one regard, that’s a good thing because it means they’re much easier to see and work with. But if you were positioning this router in a sleeping area or a dark workspace, it would be worth noticing the LEDs are actually pretty bright. Could be a bit distracting in the wrong area.

Moving past the power, you’ll find the WAN port has been highlighted bright yellow to distinguish it from the Ethernet ports. It’s also set off to the side, giving it physical distance from the Ethernet ports as well. Another small detail, but it’s a pretty smart design for people who aren’t super comfortably setting up their own networking equipment.

Towards the center of the I/O, you’ll find four gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, each capable of connecting additional wired devices. There’s also a USB port, a reset button hidden away inside the chassis of the AX4, and an LED on/off switch. Some of these Nighthawk routers have taken to moving their USB port on the front side of the unit, but the AX4 is not among this group. Having the port placed on the backside is slightly less convenient, but isn’t really much of an issue unless you’re making regular use of that port.

Networking Potential

The Nighthawk AX4 was constructed to provide a four steam Wi-Fi network. It’s the result of mixing a 600+2400 Mbps setup together for some pretty amazingly fast wireless. And that’s in addition to the four gigabit Ethernet LAN ports on the backside, which can provide wired devices with equally formidable uninterrupted connections.

If you’re not familiar with router tech mumbo jumbo, that means you can get 600Mbps of connectivity across the 2.4GHz band, and 2400Mbps on the 5G band. The 2.4GHz band is the one that can bounce around from room to room, while the 5G band basically requires line of sight with the AX4.

In order to handle higher network throughput, the Nighthawk AX4 was constructed with a pretty powerful Intel 1.8GHz 64-bit quad core processor. With a processor that powerful, you can transfer gigabits of your data with almost no load on the CPU. It’s only when you start connecting more than a dozen and a half device that you will see the CPU come under some strain.

The rest of the hardware is equally well-rounded. The AX4 was constructed with 256MB of flash and 512MB of RAM. You’ll find 160MHz channel support and 1024 QAM are in place to help greatly improve the extent of your network efficiency. OFDMA technology enables more efficient transmission of data, extending network benefits to a total of 16 devices at the same time.

Security Concerns

As you move from one Nighthawk router to the next, you’ll find security support is almost identical. Virtually every Netgear router, even their most budget equipment, includes some pretty formidable support for security. That includes things like automatic firmware updates, parental privacy settings, and the ability to create guest networks.

It’s only when you start getting into the weeds that you’ll find real differences between the Nighthawk AX4’s security and the security features of similar equipment. For instance, the AX4 has some routine support for VPNs, but it doesn’t have the kind of robust support you’d want from a business router made specifically for creating private local area networks.

Likewise, the AX4 uses much of the same standard control software as other Nighthawk routers. And Netgear’s control app is pretty smooth. They’ve certainly polished it over the years, continuing to find new ways to make it a little more intuitive or approachable.

Other Considerations

With a feature that’s increasingly common to the Nighthawk series, the AX4 is able to work alongside existing Wi-Fi devices to extend the range of your network. It’s backwards compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac devices as well. Netgear includes a one-year warranty with all of their routers, as well as 90 days of free tech support. The fact their tech support isn’t unlimited is mostly a testimony to the quality of the support.

Who Should Choose the NETGEAR Nighthawk AX4?

The AX4 was made to help support a busier type of wireless environment. For two people in a small apartment, this kind of router wouldn’t make much sense. Because it was designed to help extend essentially flawless connectivity to about 16 devices.

If you keep piling on devices after 16, then you’re going to run into some network congestion. You can prioritize certain aspects of your network to help ensure that the congestion doesn’t result in noticeable impacts for what matters most. But if you wanted to get more than 16 devices on the network, you may also want to consider a different Nighthawk router.

For people who are considering upgrading their current router, compared to an AC router, the AX4 offers essentially double the potential performance. Performance benefits are especially strong for people who are able to relieve themselves of existing network congestion.

The AX4 is also pretty good at extending your connection over distances. The 2.4GHz band is quite adaptable, and with the help of the high performance antennas, you can get your signal moving out towards 3,000 sq. feet. For someone who can take advantage of that kind of power, the Nighthawk AX4 is worth careful consideration.

The post NETGEAR Nighthawk AX4 4-Stream AX3000 WiFi Router (RAX40) Review appeared first on Nerd Techy.

Internet technologies keep getting better. People want to stream in higher resolutions, listen to audio content at higher bitrates, or otherwise chew through more data. As that happens, internet technologies have to adapt and improve to keep up. For people who haven’t updated their modem or router for more than a few years, there might be some surprises in wait.

Most of the big advances to modem and router technologies have been in relation to bandwidth. But many of them have also been working on better methods of maintaining multi-device connectivity. As smart-homes begin to fill up with countless devices that connect through Wi-Fi, it’s becoming more important to choose equipment that can accommodate an increasing number of devices attempting to make connections to the web.

ARRIS Surfboard (SBG8300) Cable Modem Router Combo

The ARRIS Surfboard SBG8300 is essentially two devices and three tiers of technology, crammed into a single chassis. The first component is a DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem, which is pretty formidable in its own right because it’s making use of current generation technologies. The second component is an AC2350 dual band Wi-Fi connection, which is the sort of router equipment that you might expect to use inside of a larger household. And then there are all the features aimed at compatibility.

Among the many ARRIS Surfboard routers on the market, the SBG8300 is one of the strongest and most impressive. It’s got faster DOCSIS speeds than the 7600 series. It’s got dedicated OFDM downstream and upstream channels, and most importantly of all it’s been approved for Gigabit internet plans from cable modem providers. Like many ARRIS Surfboards, the SGB8300 was made with Xfinity and Cox connections in mind.

It’s not always the right choice to pick a modem/router combination like this. But some people are looking for that sort of convenience. Which is going to make the SBG8300 pretty attractive to a number of different users. People who are looking for something they can buy, setup, and forget about for the next ten years will probably be among them.

Design & Layout

The SGB8300 measures roughly 10 x 8 x 3.7 inches. Though the front and sides of the Surfboard look pretty much like an ordinary router, the backside shows a bit more character. Each section of the device makes use of color labeling instead of using words or symbols. The section that contains Ethernet ports is red, while the ports themselves are yellow.

The section that contains the coaxial cable connection is blue, and the section for the power port is green. It’s easy on the eyes, and simple enough for basically anyone to follow along with. Though I suppose, if you were totally colorblind, you might not find this system especially convenient.

Often times, a router will use a number of LEDs on its front side to help you diagnose network issues. That’s pretty much not the case with the SBG8300. They’ve got a total of two LEDs onboard, and they can only let you know whether the Surfboard is online, and whether your Wi-Fi is broadcasting. It’s a far more simplicity design for sure. Beyond that, you’ll actually have to start using their app to get further diagnostic support.

Along the backside you’ll find a total of four gigabit Ethernet ports. Since each Ethernet is a full-fledged gigabit port, you can draw quite a bit of bandwidth from any one of these connections. But they’re also pretty close to perfect for lower bandwidth connections where you need to prioritize latency. For instance, gaming consoles, smart TVs, and similar wired devices.

Network Connectivity

If you haven’t been paying attention, the latest standard available through cable ISPs is DOCSIS 3.1, which is capable of supporting 32 downstream and 8 upstream DOCSIS channels. But with the ARRIS SBG8300, that’s actually more like a beginning for the device. You’ll find there are also two downstream and upstream OFDM channels, which can be quite handy if you’re actually taking advantage of the higher bandwidth potential of this device.

The SBG8300 Cable Modem Router Combo supports a theoretical maximum download speed of 10Gbps. In practical tests, you’ll find it ride right up against that ceiling, though in practice most users will, of course, never get anywhere near using all of that 10Gbps. A little more importantly, the Wave 2 AC Wi-Fi speeds max out around 2350Mbps. And that’s actually quite a bit of bandwidth for a wireless connection. Though if you want to reach the upper echelons of bandwidth potential with a device like the SBG8300, you will need to start using those wired Gigabit connections.

Moreover, the dual band portion of this device can run concurrent AC2350 connections in 3×3 mode, or you can run 4×4 on the 5GHz band with a MIMO antenna configuration. MU-MUMO speeds are always very impressive until you remember that you’ve got to maintain line of sight with the router in order to achieve them. The SGB8300 wasn’t intended to be wall mounted or otherwise specially mounted, so your ability to properly position it will ultimately determine whether or not you’ll be able to take advantage of those speeds on the 5GHz band.

How many devices do you plan on having connected with your router? If the answer is only two or three, then you don’t have to concern yourself with these kind of issues. But what about if you’re someone who’s got half a dozen smart home devices connected to their network, and half a dozen entertainment devices that all want a smooth and lossless connection to the web? That makes things a little bit different.

For instance, a lot of people really aren’t taking advantage of MU-MIMO technologies right now, or even the 5GHz band in general. Because it requires you to have line of sight between the router and the devices that you’re trying to communicate with. But a person who’s actually taking advantage of higher bandwidth connections on the 5GHz band will find being able to run 4×4 is quite impressive.

Ease of Use

How much control over your router do you need? If you’re looking to stay hands-off, it helps to have an app… but it helps even more if you have voice controls. And with the SGB8300, you’ll find it’s possible to add the SURFboard into a smart-home network due to native support for Alexa.

Want to reset your router? What could be easier than asking Alexa to do it for you? And without having to shut-off the power to other devices in the process of power-cycling. Of course, for truly detailed changes to the settings and configuration of your router or modem, you’ll still have to break into the settings through an app. Or through a desktop PC.

Speaking of apps, ARRIS has their own Surfboard manager app, which is supported on both the Android and iOS platforms. The app is actually very similar to the NETGEAR app, both in form and function. It allows you to start making changes to how people access the network, to create separate networks within your home network, and so forth. Naturally, that includes fairly detailed parental controls, and a variety of presets for people who are looking for a hands-off approach.

Longevity

From a firmware perspective, the SBG8300 is positioned excellently. It’s designed to be able to perform well for more than a decade to come — because DOCSIS 3.1 is a forward-looking and adaptable format. Even as internet standards continue to change and adapt, this Surfboard ought to be able to keep up for years to come. How about the physical hardware itself? Well, that’s a more involved question.

Sometimes it makes sense to package all your electronics into one place, and sometimes it doesn’t make sense. When a modem and router are made into a single chassis, what happens if your modem croaks? The router dies with it, and vice versa. That’s why many people decide to get a router and cable modem separately. It can be slightly safer, and if you only want to upgrade one part of the whole, separate units makes that possible.

But on the other hand, the probability of you encountering those kinds of problems is pretty low. Setting things up is much easier when you’re only dealing with one device. And it’s much easier to have everything inside a single unit for the sake of convenience and clutter. This is a judgement call, there’s not technically a right or wrong answer, but it’s something that can affect your decision.

Other Considerations

This Surfboard was made with Xfinity and Cox in mind. You can also manage connections on the Spectrum network, which includes Time Warner, Brighthouse, and Charter. But you won’t find compatibility with AT&T, CenturyLink, or Verizon.

You should also keep in mind that this is a cable modem, and as such, it can’t be used to connect with other types of internet. That includes satellite connections, DSL connections, optical fiber connections, and so forth. This thing is built to handle cable signals, which means copper wiring.

One thing the SBG8300 does not have is USB ports, which is something it shares in common with some of the smaller ARRIS router/modem combos. Of course, most people don’t use these ports anyway. They’re something that tends to be less common for home users and more common for people who oversee large networks in a public space or business environment.

Who Should Choose ARRIS Surfboard (SBG8300) Cable Modem Router Combo?

As is so often the case with a modem/router combo like this one, whether or not you’ll be able to take advantage of all the speeds promised really depends on a variety of circumstances outside of the router itself. For instance, the plan you’ve selected from your internet service provider, environmental conditions in your home that might make Wi-Fi signals especially difficult to manage, and so forth.

If you’ve got a gigabit Ethernet plan, then you’ve got a great reason to think about using a modem/router combo like the ARRIS Surfboard SBG8300. And if you have several high-bandwidth devices connecting to your network, then you’ll be able to appreciate a lot of the speed advantages for certain.

For someone with a more budget-oriented Internet plan, and someone who doesn’t have that many devices on their network, this equipment would probably be overkill. But not gross overkill, which really just means it provides room for growth in that case. Provided you really want everything packed into a single unit, the SBG8300 is a pretty good pick.

The post Review of the ARRIS Surfboard (SBG8300) Cable Modem Router Combo appeared first on Nerd Techy.

Basically all gamers will agree on the importance of having a stable internet connection. There are even games that only let you play when you’re connected to the web. And when you’re playing a multiplier game, the sort of slight interruptions in connectivity that might not bother other people can be extremely frustrating. A little lag can quickly ruin your game, limit the number of lobbies you can join, or even prevent you from playing to begin with.

NETGEAR Nighthawk XR450 Pro Gaming Router

Though the Nighthawk Series is not technically a series of gaming routers, it’s a series of Netgear’s top shelf equipment. And that means it will inherently include at least a couple gaming routers. The XR450 is a solid step over predecessors like the XR300, though this unit shouldn’t be seen as a sequel as much as it should be seen as a stronger alternative.

The XR450 offers the potential to greatly drop your latency while also helping to better prioritize traffic within your network. Taking a few moments to setup the router, it’s possible to tweak basically all things about your network. For helping stabilize your ping, or helping keep a more stable connection to game servers, that can be essential.

The XR450 uses a variety of state of the art software to better prioritize your connection in favor of gaming. It works to smooth out lag spikes, and maintain a higher degree of reliable connectivity, even as other people make use of your network. You can even restrict lag in ways that are pretty novel with geo-filtering.

You probably already know that you don’t need a ton of bandwidth in order to enjoy gaming. Bandwidth becomes a tad more important when you’re trying to stream video, stream your gaming, or stream content concurrently with gaming. No matter what you’re doing, the XR450 was made to anticipate and work to help ensure your games keep running smoothly. So really, it would probably be more apt to describe this as something like an entertainment router.

Design & Layout

The XR450 measures 12.7 x 9.6 x 2.2 inches, and weighs about 1.7lbs. It’s got a fairly standardized and recognizable design that basically anyone should be able to identify as a router. Every router in the Nighthawk series has a pretty similar aesthetic. These routers are supposed to stand out, at least a little.

They’ve got a highly angular design that’s supposed to look just a little alien. And with the gaming versions of these routers, like the XR450, they usually slather them with LEDs. That’s certainly the case here, but if you find the lights are a little much, there’s also an LED on/off switch on the backside.

On the backside you’ll find a pair of USB 3.0 ports. It’s worth pointing out these have basically twice the bandwidth of the slower and more popular 2.0 format, and there’s two separate ports. That means you can use of those ports dedicated to USB storage devices for data backup, and have the other port free for data access in the network.

There are a total of five internet connection ports, one WAN port and four LAN ports. As is typical for Netgear these days, they’ve highlighted the WAN port in yellow so it’s a bit easier to spot. Each is a gigabit Ethernet port, running 10/100/1000Mbps standard. All in all, a pretty standard and approachable I/O.

Networking Features

Most Wi-Fi routers just blast their wireless signals in every direction and hope for the best. And it works out reasonably well – but you can do better. Beamforming+ allows the XR450 to communicate with the devices that are communicating with the router, and locate them. Once the router knows where they’re located, it will send the signal towards the device.

Aiming signals right where they’re needed can boosts the reliability, speed, and range you can get from your 2.4G and 5G signals. The end result is basically a faster connection and more reliable degree of connectivity — even if the devices you’ve connected are moving throughout their environment over the course of a day. So you don’t have to worry about connections dropping to your tablets or smartphones as you start walking around.

Another thing to consider is MU-MIMO. Regular Wi-Fi works by sending data to one device at a time. So your PC asks the router for something, your smartphone asks the router for something, and your TV asks the router for something. Then each of those devices gets to take turns getting their needs met. This is often experienced as video buffering.

With MU-MIMO connections, several devices can be communicating with the router at the same time. So even though your PC, TV, and smartphone are still trying to get its attention, the router can respond to all three simultaneously. The end result is obviously a bit smoother in experiential terms, though this technology does depend on using the 5G band. Which means you’ll need to maintain line of sight of with the router for devices which hope to make use of MU-MIMO.

Data Backup

Another neat feature this router brings to the table concerns data backup. The ReadySHARE Vault app lets you get continuous backup from you Windows PC to a USB hard drive connected alongside the Nighthawk. The app is pretty straightforward, and once you’ve got everything setup, you can forget about losing data.

Automatic, continuous backup occurs throughout the day, which allows you to easily restore any deleted files and run back old snapshots. You can safeguard data and videos, too. You won’t find a USB drive included with this router, but depending on the amount of storage you need for your backup drive, it really shouldn’t be an expensive addition.

Support for Managing Your Network

Netgear has done a great job of making ease of use incredibly straightforward. You can basically plug-and-play the XR450, with few exceptions. It certainly feels far more streamlined once you have everything setup. Because then, if you want to make new connections, you just use the WPS button to push-and-connect additional devices to the network.

Once you’ve got your network going, you might be able to make use of a gaming dashboard software suite provided by Netgear. It lets you see real-time utilization statistics for your bandwidth. You can see what devices are getting how much ping, and even get clues as to why your connection is experiencing interruptions.

As mentioned a bit earlier, you can also use a geo-filter to limit the distance you allow yourself to connect to other players or game servers. That prevents you from accidentally getting connected with players who are 2,000 miles away from you, and guaranteeing increased ping in the process. Though you have to use good judgement in when to use these filters, or you can accidentally prevent yourself from joining games that you wish to join.

Network Support & Speed

One more thing to point out is the Quality of Service feature, which was made to prioritize gaming devices like consoles and PC games. It works to identify then prioritize gaming tasks, so you don’t have to worry about someone’s download interrupting your game time. You can actually customize these controls a bit further, and use them to prioritize streaming video as you see fit.

The XR450 is built around an AC2400 dual band router, with all the hardware necessary to support those types of connections. That basically means you can pull more than 2 gigabits of data through this network – far more than the average household will ever need. Which really makes the XR450 a strong choice for someone who already enjoys a gigabit internet connection, but still a reasonable choice for someone who hasn’t upgraded to those levels of speed just yet.

Privacy Concerns

Likewise, the XR450 delivers when it comes to security features. You have VPN support with support-secure remote access options, and your signals are protected with Wi-Fi Protected Access WPA/WPA2-PSK options. Moreover, you can use a double firewall — both SPI and NAT providing two layers of protection against threats.

And the XR450 provides native denial of service attack prevention, though obviously this is a relatively small amount of protection against DDOS. It’s enough to prevent your internet connection from becoming tanked, at least. DDOS protection isn’t a feature most people will need, but streamers may be able to appreciate it.

Other Considerations

The system requirements for this hardware is pretty approachable. Anything as recent as Microsoft Windows 7 is supported. UNIX and Linux are also supported. You’ll need Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, or Firefox in order to be able to change your router settings through a browser.

The XR450 includes four detachable antennas, a short Ethernet cable, a quick start guide, a power adapter, and the router itself. Netgear also includes their standard warranty for the XR450, covering you for a year.

Who Should Choose the NETGEAR Nighthawk XR450 Pro Gaming Router?

The NETGEAR Nighthawk XR450 could be a good call for players who aren’t extremely knowledgeable when it comes to networking. It’s a great choice for someone who is a bit lazy, and doesn’t want to have to setup network settings for each of their games in order to get the best possible outcomes. But with many of the things this router has to offer, you don’t actually need to be a gamer to appreciate them.

This router works almost equally well for people who are concerned with streaming content, though many of the game-facing features would be wasted on such users. Still, it’s nice knowing you can prioritize connections with YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and other video services.

If you were trying to spread your signal across a stadium, then this router probably wouldn’t be able to achieve that goal by itself. But since it’s possible to get the XR450 working alongside other routers to create a mesh network, you have to give this thing credit for being adaptable, too. Which really makes the XR450 a decent choice for someone looking for fairly future-proofed router.

The post NETGEAR Nighthawk XR450 Pro Gaming Router Review appeared first on Nerd Techy.

The majority of network faults in a data network aren’t the result of someone spilling coffee on the mainframe. It usually comes down to faulty cabling. That’s why the lines need to be tested for faulty connections, damaged fibers, splices, issues with data transfer, and so on. And that’s precisely what a network cable tester is for.

Network cable testers are the go-to instrument for testing strength and connectivity within a line or measuring the performance of a high speed cable. Network technicians use them like a carpenter uses a hammer. Homeowners can use them to resolve network problems without having to get help from professionals. And just about anyone with an Internet network consisting of more than one cable will benefit from these kind of tests.

Choosing a Network Cable Tester

The most basic type of network cable testers offers little more than essential verification about the physical status of each wire. They’ll let you know if each cable is connected and paired properly, but they’re not going to give you any more detailed information about potential problems. And they certainly won’t give you any insights into the data communication taking place on the cable. They’re basic verification testers, and useful only for essential testing.

And then you’ll find some testers do more than the basics. They may be able to determine if a cable is properly setup, helping you determine problems easily. They may be able to give you a better read of data transfer going on within the cable. And they may be able to give you a much better idea of precisely where problems in the line are taking place. But whether or not you need all these added functions depends on individual factors, like the types of cables you need to test.

Some of the most expensive network cable testers are what are known as qualification testers. These are designed for technicians doing repair or maintenance on huge systems of cables. They’re packed with all the features you’ll find in verification testers, but they add in far more detail about the transfers supported by the cable. Certification testers are essentially the best network cable testers you can buy, providing the sophisticated features necessary for professionals who install and maintain large networks.

Ease of Use

Anytime you’re selecting an instrument, ease of use is probably one of your biggest concerns. For carrying out extensive measuring, you’ll want a network cable tester with a higher resolution display, allowing you to see everything without the need to toggle between various screens. Even the weight and build of the tester can play into ease of use, especially when you’re physically handing it for lengthy periods of time.

Technician skill is another thing to think about. Some network cable testers are built so that you can get intelligible results even if you don’t know the first thing about data cables. Others provide you only the raw data you need to make your own analysis, or require you to have a familiarity with network cable testing equipment to begin with.

Physical Construction & Compatibility

Like with nearly all tools, the physical construction of the network cable tester another point of contention. Even if you’re sitting in air conditioned rooms all day, occasionally dropping whatever’s in your hand is bound to happen. Cell phone repair is a billion-dollar industry for a reason.

Fortunately, cable testers generally have few moving parts, which make them not too difficult to build sturdy. But sturdy can mean many things. Some network cable testers provide protective straps to prevent drops, while others provide strong waterproofing for testing in the field.

And finally, there are basic compatibility issues. You’ll want to make sure all the cable formats you want to test are supported by the cable tester, or if you’ll need to deal with add-ons. Most network cable testers will provide some combination of RJ11, RJ45, and Coax connectors. But be sure to check that they’re native to the device, and not something you’ve got to purchase a separate adapter to use.

Fluke Networks MS2-100 Cable Tester

For decades, Fluke has long been a top choice for network technicians. Their network connectivity tools are industry renowned for both high quality and accuracy. While the MS2-100 carries a hefty price tag, it’s actually one of the least expensive of Fluke’s testers. As a full-fledged qualification tested, the MS2-100 has far-reaching support for testing around data, voice, and video.

Features and Build

The MS2-100 is constricted with a fairly compact 1.4 x 3 x 6.4-inch build, weighing just short of 13 ounces. Carrying the unit is easy due to a magnetic strap, which is useful for helping technicians remain hands free. A rubber mold over the body of the device makes for a steady grip, and adds a small degree of additional ruggedness. All in all, it’s a design that is lightweight and easy to hold in your hand.

The external body of the device is a tad minimalistic, but consistently durable. On the front of the tester you’ll find an oversized display that’s quite readable. While it doesn’t compare to the aesthetics of a modern smartphone, its bright LCD screen does look sharp by the standards of other digital instruments. Moreover, the MS2-100 uses a backlit display, which makes it easy to read and retain your results in any range of testing conditions.

Testing Details

With each of its testing modes, MS2-100 displays its results on a clear and readable LCD. They include details about pair lengths, cable ID, distant to fault, and even a graphical wire map you can follow on the display. The MS2-100 also supports testing of low voltage cables without the necessity of added adapters, thanks to the inclusion of an integrated coax cable. And naturally, you’ll also find RJ11 and RJ45 ports for routine cable testing.

The MS2-100 will test 1500 feet of cable at a 0.3m resolution. It detects media services for 10/100/1000 Ethernet, while supporting POTS and POE. If you detect an issue, locating it within the cable is easy. That’s thanks to the use of IntelliTone Digital analogue testing, which can help you hunt down even small problems at their source.

Other Considerations

Technicians tend to be in environments with more than just one or two cables. Tools oriented towards basic consumers are often inadequate for people working in more hectic environments. The MS2-100 is perfect for locating elusive cables within a chaotic environment.

But in spite of the price tag, the MS-100 isn’t a top-shelf tester. Consequently, you’re not going to find the slew of convenience features you’ll see on premium tools, like being able to save and export test results. With realistically tempered expectations, the Fluke MS2-100 can truly wow you.

Klein Tools VDV Scout Pro 2

Klein Tools is another big name in network electronics, with a history reaching back to 1857. Klein actually constructs a huge array of tools, but they’ve made a name for themselves in recent years with several formidable network cable testers. One of their more recent creations is the VDV Scout Pro 2, a versatile data, voice, and video cable tester. For regularly monitoring coax, data, and phone cables, you can scarcely do better.

Features and Build

The VDV Scout Pro 2 feels in your hands. That’s partially because it weighs only 10.6 ounces, which is light relative to its large 12.5 x 6.8 x 0.5-inch build. But it’s also because the VDV Scout 2 isn’t built to take a beating. The plastic isn’t particularly sturdy, and the build doesn’t inspire confidence in your hands. Provided that you’re not putting it in grave danger, you won’t be disappointed with its functionality.

The VDV Scout Pro 2 includes five separate remotes that can be set up to remotely monitor the performance of a cable. For instant diagnosis and routine checks, the Scout 2 can save you quite a bit of time. Klein also offers kits with 8 or more remotes, but those are generally suited towards larger industrial applications.

Testing Details

The VDV Scout Pro 2 supports testing across RJ11/12, as well as data RJ45. You can also test video content through the included F-connector. That makes the Scout 2 a fairly versatile testing kit. Using the LCD display, you can take advantage of 5LanMap and CoaxMap location remotes to help you trace the paths of long running cables. The Scout 2 remotes are self-storing, so you don’t have to worry about losing them. And of course, the Scout 2 offers basic safety features, like voltage warnings and shield detection

Other Considerations

You’ll also find a handful of ease of use features, like a low battery indicator, and an automatic power-off function. Klein Tools VDV Scout Pro 2 is easy to use once you understand it, but it can be hard to reach that point. The included manual is terrible. If you’re not experienced with these tools, you’ll have to dig around online to get better information about how to actually use the Scout Pro 2.

NetScout LinkSprinter 300

For a pocket-sized tester, you can’t do better than the NetScout LinkSprinter 300. And for ease of use, you can do no better. That’s because the LinkSprinter 300 offers end-to-end testing over your network with the support of cloud-based reporting. With the press of a single button, you can initiate a request for professional technicians to review your data and supply you with an analysis of what’s gone wrong.

Features and Build

Not much can be said for the physical build of the LinkSprinter 300, it’s a highly compact 5.4 x 3.6 x 1.6-inch build that fits neatly in your pocket. Weighing only 4.2 ounces, it’s easy to forget you’re carrying it on you. That’s because the LinkSprinter 300 isn’t doing analysis on its own, its merely taking measurements and sending them off to be analyzed. The result is one-button operation, supported by a simple a collection of LEDs for basic readouts.

Testing Details

Connect an Ethernet Cable to the end of the LinkSprinter 300, and in under 10 seconds, you’ll get an LED color-coded readout giving you the status of the line. You can test power over Ethernet, DHCP, Internet connection, Gateway, and diagnose the link to the switch. Test results are sent to Link Live Cloud service and then processed for your email.

The Link-Live Cloud service is NETSCOUTs testing service, where technicians annotate tests and data for you. Only seconds after sending your results, you’ receive an email with detailed results, and expert troubleshooting techniques are provided to you via color-graded LEDs displayed straight on the LinkSprinter 300. That means you don’t have to be sitting on your email account to actually make use of the 300.

Other Considerations

The LinkSprinter 300 has an extremely durable build that will easily survive many drops. That’s largely because there’s not much inside the device to get banged up to begin with! Much of the heavy lifting done by this tester is done off-site, through the cloud.

The LinkSprinter 300 is powered by either two AA batteries or POE. Using the NETSCOUT testing service has no annual service fees, and the first 4 months of reporting is free. But after those initial months, you only receive 10 reports free per month, with each report after that costing ten cents.

Choosing Between 3 Versatile Network Cable Testers

The Fluke MS2-100 is a fully loaded option for technicians who are overlooking massive networks, and technicians who are doing their own analytics and diagnostics. It gives you more data than you can shake a stick at, provided only that you know what to do with it. For high-end networking cable testing equipment, you can scarcely do better. any.

The VDV Scout Pro 2 is great for technicians monitoring a single network. By setting up the various remotes, the Scout Pro 2 makes regular monitoring and diagnosis of network problems a breeze. To validate everything is working within a cable, it’s an inexpensive and powerful choice.

The NetScout 300 offers Fluke-quality testing gear with a lesser price. It’s a great choice for less experienced technicians, or people with minimal testing expertise. The 300 is small enough to stick in your pocket and forget about, but powerful enough to test with the best. It’s also a highly economical choice, provided only that you don’t perform hundreds of tests on a regular basis.

The post Guide to the Best Network Cable Tester appeared first on Nerd Techy.

Routers and other Wi-Fi systems all benefit from good positioning. Your wireless signals will be stronger when they’ve got line of sight with the devices which they’re connecting with. And line of sight is actually required to make use of the 5G band. But understandably, not everybody wants to put a router in the center of their home, let alone three or four of them.

Zyxel Multy U AC2100 Tri-Band WiFi System

Which is part of the reason why the Zyxel Multy U was created. If you’re going to need a wireless device to have high visibility in your home, it may as well look like it belongs. The Multy U is supposed to deliver a fresh and youthful alternative to the more mundane, traditional-looking Wi-Fi systems that dominate the market. A considerable part of what makes this system special is the unique rounded design.

You’ll notice these routers are available in a one-pack. But they make the most sense in two packs and three packs. Because it’s really the special network connectivity that makes this Wi-Fi system so special. Running a one-pack would be okay if your goal was to add an additional node to a preexisting setup; but wouldn’t make as much sense when used independently.

For wireless features, you’ll find no shortage of good inclusions. That includes a bridge mode, MU-MIMO, automatic path selection, AP steering, band steering, and the ability to separate the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. It’s also possible to use a single name for your Wi-Fi network. But there are at least a couple of limitations that using a system like this can impose on you.

Hardware & User Interface

Each Zyxel Multy U Tri-Band Wi-Fi System node measures about 4.8 x 4.8 x 1.2 inches, and each unit weighs about 0.7 lbs. That’s lightweight enough to hang basically anywhere that you could hang a jacket. Style and beauty tends to be a subjective thing, but it’s fair to say that many people will think the chassis looks great.

What’s a little less subjective is the hardware inside. Internally, you’ll find a 1 GHz dual core CPU, and a total of six internal antennas. That includes both the Wi-Fi antennas and the Bluetooth antennas. And the native Bluetooth is version 4.1 – which means these Tri-Band systems are also able of connecting with Bluetooth 5 devices.

For physical buttons on these routers, you won’t find much. There’s basically just a reset button that’s been deeply recessed within the chassis, and an LED on/off button if the LED isn’t always welcome. It’s understandable you might want to turn it off at night, depending on the room where you place the node.

Apart from that, it’s worth noting that this design is fantastic at cooling itself without making noise. The enclosure was made with its own unique coating to allow the chassis to work as an effective heat sink. As a result, the device doesn’t end up needing any additional fans or vents. And it’s basically dust-proofed as well.

LED System

How do you diagnose a network problem with a regular Wi-Fi system? Well, a good place to start is by looking at the LED interface on the front of your router. From there, you’ll be greeted with about half a dozen LED icons. You’ll take a look at which icon is blinking or isn’t lit, and then try and figure out what that icon means. Maybe you have to eventually open a user manual to check.

The Multy U makes things much simpler. It uses a LED based indicator system. The breathing effects of the onboard LEDs allows you to instantly determine the status of your router by just glancing at it. So if you look over and the router is breathing red, you know it’s experiencing a network disruption. If it’s flashing blue, you know it’s connecting. That makes it much easier to figure out what’s going on from a glance. It also makes it much easier to interact with tech support, or do your own tech support, if that’s ever necessary.

Creating Wireless Networks

Technically speaking, this is an AC2100 mesh router system. But you have to keep in mind that the second 866 Mbps antenna is dedicated to backhaul, which means you’re really working with a system that’s capable of delivering closer to 1166 Mbps of connectivity. In other words, each node is closer to being an AC1200 unit when it comes to sheer bandwidth potential.

However, the extra backhaul support ensures that you’re going to get performance which exceeds anything you might expect from that tier of router. More so after you consider the fact these devices are so mobile and easy to position in perfect places.

How strong is your wireless signal? The answer to that question will be partially determined by the location of your router. Is the access point huddled behind some shelving, or placed behind some thick walls? Then it doesn’t matter how good the hardware is – you’re going to end up with a miserable connection. But what if you could just pick up and move the access point to anywhere you needed it?

Hanging Strap & Magnetic Base

Since a big part of the Zyxel Multy U is the cool style, it’s worth pointing to the inclusion of a leather strap allows you to hang Multy anywhere you need a wireless connection. They could’ve made that strap from a thousand different materials, including a basic nylon. But since presentation counts, they’ve made sure the included strap looks the part.

Outside of hanging, it’s possible to use the Multy U with the included magnetic stand. That allows you to place it vertically on a desk, or install it on the wall. Since the stand is magnetic, there’s no need for special tools to use it. For desk placement, the stand basically flips out from the backside of the unit, and then can be attached to the base.

The base itself is a nice and stable Y-shaped foundation which is resistant to being bumped over. Underneath the base, you’ll find all of the various connection ports necessary for hardwired connections. That includes two Ethernet ports and a DC power port. Simple but effective.

Network Capacity

From the 3-pack, you can create a “mesh” home network that’s around 6,000 square feet in total. Enough to accommodate the largest front yards, furthest garages, and so forth. Network capacity is just as wide, spanning support for around 130 total devices without lag becoming an issue. That’s partially because this device uses a Wi-Fi design with one of its bands entirely dedicated to connecting the various Multy units into one cohesive network.

For speed, tri-band connections allow you to move 866 Mbps from the 5 Ghz band, on two separate antennas. But again, one of those antennas is reserved for network backhaul. There’s also a third antenna for the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band, allowing you to move another 300 Mbps outside of direct line of sight of the Multy U.

Another neat thing these routers can do is automatically optimize each unit to provide the best connection for nearby devices. So as you wander from one room to the next, or as you disconnect Multy U’s from the network, you shouldn’t end up with a network disruption. Things remain pretty smooth and stable, in part due to that large network backhaul.

Networking Features

The Multy U Tri-Band Wi-Fi System doesn’t have tons of extra features, but among the more standard ones, you will find a few cool things. For instance, you can measure your actual internet speeds with their test application. Their app lets you figure out whether you’re getting the best available speeds, if something can be improved, or if there’s a problem on your internet service provider’s end.

You can also stay up to date with the push notification feature, allowing you to get notifications about the latest happenings with your device connections. Is there a firmware update? You’ll be among the first to know. And the remote access allows you to use the Multy U system basically anywhere that you’ve got a connection to the internet. Have your phone on you, but you’re out of state? That won’t stop you from configuring your home network.

Other Considerations

The app allows you to go through a quick Bluetooth based setup process. That allows you to find the most effective installation locations, as well as a graphical map of where you should be placing your equipment. The app also enables the automatic firmware updates mentioned earlier, as well as some pretty good network diagnostic tools.

It’s possible to control access on your network by groups of devices, or based on time schedules. It’s also possible to restrict users to 15-minte intervals of connectivity per session. You can override your existing rules at any time, so you don’t have to worry too much about getting them perfect during your first time you’re setting up the network.

Who Should Pick the Zyxel Multy U AC2100 Tri-Band WiFi System?

A great deal of what these types of devices bring to the table is convenience. Need to expand your network with more coverage? All you have to do is add another node. Not getting the desired speeds you want upstairs? Add another node. There’s no problem that can’t be solved by re-positioning a node or adding another.

The Multy U also supports Alexa, so you’re able to control the network using voice commands. For instance, you might ask Alexa to test your internet speeds, to disable the guest Wi-Fi, or to turn off the LEDs on the chassis. And unlike most home routers, the Multy U can be secured against a wall, coat rack, or basically anywhere else.

Which should emphasize the fact that this system isn’t only about looks and style. Being able to position your equipment exactly where it’s needed isn’t something any home Wi-Fi system can do. And it’s something the Zyxel Multy U does with style. Provided you’re not running some massive multi-gigabit internet connection, these really ought to do the trick.

The post Review of the Zyxel Multy U AC2100 Tri-Band WiFi System appeared first on Nerd Techy.

Getting an effective router used to be more difficult than it is today. Part of what made it tough was that usually, a single device needed to handle everything. That meant people were forced into buying the biggest, baddest router they could afford. But even then, you’d face limitations. Because a single router can’t be in two places at one time.

Which is pretty much the reason why mesh networks were invented. To help fill the gap. Even though you’re running several distinct routers to create your network, mesh allows those devices work in conjunction with each other in order to make one unified Wi-Fi system. Strangely enough, that can make choosing multiple-router systems easier than single devices.

ARRIS SURFboard mAX Plus W30 Mesh AX7800 Wi-Fi 6 AX Router System

Plenty of ARRIS SURFboard Wi-Fi equipment is impressive in its own way. A lot of them are rather distinct looking. The mAX Plus Mesh W30 AX7800 combines both of those qualities into one unit. Or rather, two units, as this is actually a two node system. This router might not look quite as distinctive as some of the others in the series, but it’s still got an unusually smart design.

Especially when it comes to cable management, which is something often overlooked when organizing several mesh nodes. Apart from the physical design, the networking hardware itself is stunningly powerful. You can glean most of that from the fact this is an AX7800 device. Even when a ton of that bandwidth is being used-up by network backhaul, you can still squeeze gigabits of bandwidth out of these nodes.

Build & Design

Each node is about seven inches tall, with a diameter of about four inches. And each has an elongated cylindrical shape that’s quite unusual for networking equipment. Along the base there’s a light blue LED that can be turned on or off as needed. Usually it’s not worth dwelling on the aesthetic appeal of networking equipment. But since these nodes are going to require placement where they might be seen, the aesthetic might really count for something.

The fact these routers are standing upright might seem a little odd at first. Many people are used to taking their router and shoving it back into a dark space somewhere, as if it were some kind of Blu-ray player or DVD drive. But positioning is critical for these nodes, and the elevated design allows the antennas a better position within a room as a result.

If you turn around to the backside of the device, you’ll find that each SURFboard mAX Plus Mesh node is lifted-up by a circular ring. This ring allows you to connect to the Ethernet ports on the bottom side of the unit, and then have those cables exit elegantly out the backside. It’s a pretty smart design. It might not be much of a surprise, but ARRIS didn’t include alternative ways to mount or hang this equipment. It’s intended to sit on a stable, flat surface, and doesn’t really give you much wiggle room on that.

Oddly enough, one of the most distinctive features of any ARRIS router tends to be the fact they always color-code the user I/O. In this case, they’ve dispensed with the color coding entirely, using a regular black matte I/O instead. That’s probably because the inputs are hidden away on the bottom of the node, where they’re not often seen.

Network Speed

But once you’re looking at the bottom side, you’ll find a total of eight gigabit nodes available in this kit. That’s the result of four hard wired connection ports per mesh node. Internally, this Wi-Fi 6 mesh system operates with 802.11ax. That’s the latest wireless format, supporting the highest bandwidth ceiling you’ll find on any similar equipment. It’s also a forward-looking format, so you can anticipate being able to use it for decades to come.

If you’re comparing this router to something like an AC2 or wireless N router, then you’re basically looking at eight times the potential bandwidth. You’re also looking at far better backhaul support, and much better support for other efficiency features. More specifically, for networking features, you’re looking at dedicated 4×4. The gigabit backhaul reaches up to 4.8 Gbps.

All in all, these nodes should be able to comfortably accommodate about eight high-bandwidth connections. For lower bandwidth connections, you should be able to reliably squeeze a couple hundred devices into the network. What are those three bands? Well rather predictably, they’re 5 GHz, 2.4 GHz, and the Bluetooth band.

As you may or may not be aware, the best speeds are something which are only possible across the 5G band. That band requires the user to maintain line of sight between the router and the device which is connected to it. So when you don’t have line of sight between one of the mesh nodes, you are almost certainly going to be swapped over to the 2.4 GHz band. At that point, your network connectivity speeds will drop towards 300Mbps. A respectable amount of speed, but not the nearly gigabit speeds you can get on the 5 GHz band.

For bandwidth capacity, you can hardly do better than the AX7800. Even households or organizations that are interested in running several 4K video streams at the same time will have no problem doing so across these nodes. This kind of hardware is well suited for people working with gigabit speed internet plans. If you’re running less than a gigabit, then the AX7800 would be gross overkill for you.

Setup & App Support

The SURFboard mAX was made to be easy to setup. In fact, the inclusion of Bluetooth means that making your network ready for access is as simple as following along through the SURFboard mAX Manager app. Even if the devices you’re connecting with don’t have Bluetooth, from your smartphone or tablet, the app can setup the router for its first time being used.

Beyond installation, the app is also useful for basic network management. That includes parental controls, and the ability to establish guest networks. That can be pretty useful for opening your network up to outside users without necessarily placing anything on your network at risk. It’s often a cool feature for micromanaging bandwidth as well, depending on how strong your internet connection is to begin with, and how many people are using the network.

One more thing that might be worth noting is the app also has a system speed checker. If you happen to be curious about how much speed you’re getting from the network, a reading right off your router is pretty convenient. It’s also a good way to figure out if a connection issue is related to your internet service provider or not, and can help you determine better positioning for each node.

Network Coverage

Speaking of positioning, how much coverage can you squeeze from two Wi-Fi nodes? Well in this case, between these two devices, you can expect to reach about 6,000 square feet. Interestingly, this is the same amount of space covered by a lot of different 3-unit systems. That’s because each individual unit is actually quite powerful, and could very well be used independently in a respectable way.

Compared to a more traditional single-unit ARRIS SURFboard, you’re looking at basically twice the connection radius. Of course, some of that depends on your ability to place the nodes in the most appropriate spaces. In real use situations, you might end up with closer to 5,500 square feet.

Security Features

When you’re picking a higher-end router, security features can be especially important. For the more mundane protections and customizations, ARRIS shoved their full suite into this router. But for the most part, ARRIS does their security through MacAfee, which is one of the larger names in the tech security industry. It also means you get a lot of impressive MacAfee features without having to subscribe to their software program.

At least, for a time. After a few years of MacAfee support, you’ll need to start subscribing or swap to a different service. In any case, much of the security features are handled through the app. That includes the ability to whitelist or blacklist websites, ban users from the network, and so forth. Is also possible to get alerts about suspicions connections on your network, or even some notifications about people who are trying to get around the rules you’ve set for the network.

Other Considerations

The app is supported on both iOS and Android. So if you have basically any kind of mobile device at all, you’ll be able to use the app to setup the router. Though if you don’t have those devices or don’t want to use the app, a more traditional installation is also possible through your desktop PC. Your computer shouldn’t have any trouble recognizing the mAX Plus Mesh and starting it use it rather quickly.

Another thing to note is these routers have native support for Alexa, allowing you to interact without having to wait extra time for responses to be cleared through your network. Native voice assistant support is something that you can take or leave most of the time. But if you make common use of those kinds of devices, being able to prioritize them in your router can be useful.

Another thing to note. You’re going to end up needing to run a modem, since these are router devices and not modems. This equipment doesn’t come with a bunch of added extras, but it does include a two-year warranty from ARRIS. And their tech support is pretty solid.

Who Should Choose ARRIS SURFboard mAX Plus W30 Mesh AX7800?

Technology is speeding right along, but it’s still hard to imagine reasons why the W30 AX7800 would be any less impressive in 10 years’ time. That’s mostly because it’s using Wi-Fi 6, so it has the most forward looking wireless formats out there right now. But also because it’s an AX7800, which is a kind of bandwidth that most people will probably never need.

You could run a small library on a system like this. So these kinds of networking capabilities are going to end up being adequate for people who are running multi-gig networks. They’re also a good choice for people who expect several users to be on their network. Because if you had fewer than 5 people on this network, it would be pretty close to overkill.

The post ARRIS SURFboard mAX Plus W30 Mesh AX7800 Wi-Fi 6 AX Router System Review appeared first on Nerd Techy.

Traveling always comes with certain risks. And in the digital age, those risks aren’t only things like pickpocketing. They also include risks to your data and even your identity. Accessing public wireless networks means transmitting your data into the hands of someone else’s networking equipment. That can put you at risk if the person setting up the network was incompetent, or if there are malicious people around. Which is why a lot of people turn towards VPNs.

Keezel 2.0 VPN Portable Router

The new Keezel 2.0 VPN Portable Router is essentially only a small improvement over the previous iteration. But any improvement is a good improvement, right? Keezel’s VPN router is supposed to be a cybersecurity device that makes an active effort to protect users from malware and other malicious programs. That includes attacks from hackers, protecting you from spying, and preventing ransomware from taking over.

And they’ve ensured their VPN is portable enough to be taken basically anywhere. That includes working remotely, traveling, and so on. You could even take this thing in to work with you. That makes portable VPNs like the Keezel a good choice for people who are persistently traveling, and therefore at greater risk of losing their data across an unsecured public network.

Clearly, Keezel has a heavy focus on security. And as part of that, they provide users with encrypted data from one end to the other. And then they layer on decently formidable firewalls, and some add blocking and anti-phishing features. That means your device will never be connected to an unsecure network because anytime you’re using a VPN you’re secure. And it means you’re protected even if the network you’re using isn’t.

Design & Layout

The Keezel 2.0 has an elongated egg-like shape. But it measures around 4.8 x 3.2 x 1.8 inches, and weighs a little more than one pound. That’s basically a hand-held shape that’s not that different from a smartphone, just a tad thicker. So you can pretty easily shove it into your pocket, take it in a travel bag, toss it into a glove box, and so forth.

Notably, the device doesn’t seem to have any cooling ports or fans. As such, all of its heat is dissipated through the shell. Since the shell is made of the right plastics for heat dissipation, this works pretty well. It also means you don’t have to worry about noise being made by fans. But the Keezel 2.0 still manages to heat-up considerably while under full load, similar to a regular router. You don’t need to make sure it has airflow or anything like that, but you probably wouldn’t want to wrap it up under fabric or otherwise hide it away while being used.

Because internally, Keezel 2.0 is made with a dual core CPU. And that processor is powerful enough to produce a decent amount of heat. Additionally, there’s 512MB of RAM. That seems a little bit low, but it’s sufficient for the ten connections this device is supposed to facilitate.

Of course, since this is a VPN network, you’re never going to end up with the same kind of speeds that you can get from a direct connection. But nevertheless, Keezel 2.0 does a decent job at keeping those speeds up, as we’ll see in a moment. First, we should look at how long Keezel can maintain one of these networks on its battery supply.

Battery Lifespan

Portability is a mixture of many factors. In this case, it’s important to look at how they’ve managed to keep their travel router powered. Because no small part of the appeal of Keezel is that you’re able to use this thing for traveling. If you were going to take Keezel and throw on some kind of wired connection, the portability would disappear in an instant. As such, they decided to shove a battery inside.

Though amusingly, the battery weight makes up the majority of the weight of this device. So in an ironic way, the battery also slightly detracts from its portable nature. In any case, the battery they’ve used is a pretty formidable 8,000mAh lithium-ion rechargeable. It’s supposed to be able to deliver around 20 hours on a regular basis. Though the actual performance you get from the battery will depend on a number of factors. Is there just one device connected, or do you have ten users in the network?

Are you using the Keezel in an area that’s unusually warm or cold? With the wrong set of circumstances, you could see that 20-hour lifespan start to creep closer to 16-hours. Still pretty impressive, and still enough to get the job done in most situations. Recharging it from empty does end up taking the better part of five hours. Big batteries tend to take a while to finish. And regrettably, there aren’t any fast recharge features to help things along.

When it comes to longevity, it’s important to recognize that any device with a built-in battery is ultimately a disposable device. Especially if it can’t be operated without that battery someday. Because after regular use, even a good lithium-ion battery is eventually going to wear out. In this case, you’re looking at around 500 recharge cycles. In other words, you can expect something like a minimum of 10,000 hours of use from the Keezel 2.0.

Security Provided

When you flip on the Keezel, it works by creating its own separate wireless network. That network is dedicated to you. That way, the Keezel connects to whatever public Wi-Fi networks are around you. And then your other devices connect to the Keezel. That puts a barrier of separation between yourself and a variety of threats.

How does Keezel compare to VPN software? Well, the big problem with VPN websites is that you’re required to connect to the WI-FI network in order to then access the VPN service. That means you will momentarily be connected with an unsecured network. And all it takes is one second to put your data at risk. Though admittedly, VPN software will cover you in most situations, there’s no denying that Keezel is more secure across the board.

You can connect a maximum of 10 devices at the same time. Keezel is compatible with basically anything that can support a wireless connection. That might include a laptop, smartphone, Apple TV, Roku, and so forth. The 10-device limit shouldn’t be a big barrier for many people. Though finding a network that’s capable of protecting more devices is possible, it also becomes rather expensive. So if you can squeeze by with the 10-device design, then you’re better off doing so.

Another thing to keep I mind is that Keezel provides continuous software updates for their router. That means you’re protected from new threats as they emerge. And without a need for you to go out and download updates or otherwise protect yourself in a more active way. That can be pretty important because new threats appear on literally a daily basis, so router companies have to be vigilant about combatting them.

Networking Power

The wireless is 802.11b/g/n running both 2.4Ghz and 5GHz. So being able to access either band means you’re in a great position to get signals when you’re not directly next to the router to which you’re connecting. And you’re also in a great position to get high-bandwidth connections while you’re positioned near the broadcasting router.

In either case, you get the full advantages of running a modern wireless network in the Keezel 2.0. And you’re able to access VPN servers from around the globe. Of course, setting things up isn’t totally smooth and seamless. A lot of the time, networking equipment can be a little complicated. And when you’re getting other people’s networking equipment involved with your own devices, then adding an intermediary device like Keezel? That’s only asking for complications to crop up.

Thankfully, using Keezel is pretty smooth once you’ve got it setup for the first time. Once you get it going, the setup is really like a road bump. But you will need to follow along with the user manual because the series of steps required to finish the setup must be taken in proper sequential order. It would’ve been nice if they’d designed this around some kind of one-button Bluetooth installation, but it’s not so complex that the average person can’t handle it.

Other Considerations

Keezel’s VPN works well for tablets, smartphones, laptops, and so forth. But of course, this device doesn’t necessarily need to be used for traveling. While it would make a little less sense in a home environment due to the battery limiting the lifespan of the device, it would work just fine in that capacity. And you might use Keezel for a smart TV, Wi-Fi home appliances, and so on.

Usually, devices like this come with a solid two or three-year warranty. Keezel hasn’t gone so far. Though they do provide you with everything you need to get started using their router. That includes the short charging cable, a user guide, and a small carrying pouch.

Who Should Choose Keezel 2.0 VPN Portable Router?

The Keezel 2.0 VPN Portable Router isn’t going to be the right solution for everybody. Compared to simply using some cheap VPN software, the Keezel isn’t all that much better. But it does have some distinct advantages. Notably, it means you don’t ever have to connect to an unsecured network, not even for a moment. That kind of extra security can matter while you’re traveling and using questionable wireless networks.

Keezel’s capacity to keep up with local networks, updated security, and modern wireless technologies makes it pretty solid from top to bottom. And having Keezel also adds layers of protections that may or may not be provided by the network you’re joining. For instance, it provides you with your own firewall, and it has those native ad-blocking and anti-phishing filters. For anyone who’s not an expert on web security, those kinds of extras can really help.

Though the fact this device is made with a battery really emphasizes its portable nature. Though this might not be a bad choice for someone setting up a network at home, Keezel is really best suited for someone who spends a lot of time traveling.

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