Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#31

Post by agentdrtran » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:11 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #15

rmanalan wrote: post #2

I just bought an OnHub last year. WTF Google?!

> I just bought an OnHub last year. WTF Google?! Do you get upset when a new phone is introduced a year after you bought your last one? A new car?

The OnHub still has a disabled USB port and is missing other features - it's been abandoned.

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#32

Post by gr3yh47 » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:13 PM UTC

detaro wrote: post #20

kyriakos wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

doesn't make me feel good buying this one knowing that next year they might abandon it....

Did they abandon the OnHub?

The above commenter was probably referencing the Nest situation

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#33

Post by andrewpe » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:14 PM UTC

Anyone notice they are using their new TLD?

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#34

Post by the_watcher » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:14 PM UTC

Apreche wrote: post #14

You can tell this product is made by people who live in suburban McMansions. In a 1 BR NYC apartment, you have no problems with wifi coverage.

So they didn't build this product for your use case. Is that supposed to mean that they can't try to solve the problems that others have?

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#35

Post by cocktailpeanuts » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:21 PM UTC

the_watcher wrote: post #27

calinet6 wrote: post #3

Serious question: whose WiFi is not working, to the degree that they think, "I really need to get a modern router to make this Internet thing actually work." I'm seeing about a dozen fancy modern wifi routers all trying to solve a problem I'm not sure exists.

It's not about the internet not working in general. These routers are about dead spots in places that have functional internet already. It's a pretty common problem that absolutely does exist.

I live in downtown Manhattan and have that problem, but like OP asked, I don't think it's a huge enough problem to warrant a separate router just for the purpose. Most people simply use the router rented out from their internet provider (for free), and in most cases just make it work somehow (instead of buying a new device just for routing they would rather acknowledge that wifi doesn't work well in some parts of the apartment and live with it). Sure sometimes it's shitty and I have to reboot it to get it to work again, but I can live with it if it's not too often.

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#36

Post by unprepare » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:25 PM UTC

xahrepap wrote: post #8

calinet6 wrote: post #3

Serious question: whose WiFi is not working, to the degree that they think, "I really need to get a modern router to make this Internet thing actually work." I'm seeing about a dozen fancy modern wifi routers all trying to solve a problem I'm not sure exists.

I had nothing but problems with typical consumer hardware. Having to restart routers all the time. Dead spots. When family would visit (both my wife and I have large families) they would connect at least 2 devices each to my wifi (tablet, phone, laptop, etc). My wireless would just tank. They would always ask me why my internet was so terrible. Last year I bought an Edge router and a higher end Netgear hotspot. Works…

> I wish I could easily add new hotspots that just seamlessly worked so that I could eliminate the dead spots on the edges of my house and in my yard over time.

Ubiquiti has wifi APs and you can add them whenever youd like. They automatically detect the existing APs and download their config.

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#37

Post by sp332 » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:26 PM UTC

imajes wrote: post #13

calinet6 wrote: post #3

Serious question: whose WiFi is not working, to the degree that they think, "I really need to get a modern router to make this Internet thing actually work." I'm seeing about a dozen fancy modern wifi routers all trying to solve a problem I'm not sure exists.

the number of networks i see living in a densely populated city (NYC) is pretty intense. Most modernish routers indiscriminately broadcast on both the 5GHZ + 2.4GHZ band, plus create an automatic (or, at least, one-click) guest network. So in a given building there maybe something like 2+ SSIDs per apartment. that alone creates plenty of noise to wade through...

Do multiple SSIDs from a single AP create more interference?

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#38

Post by sp332 » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:27 PM UTC

andrewpe wrote: post #33

Anyone notice they are using their new TLD?

Yeah, I thought they were only using that internally. Well, there used to be an April Fool's page at elgoog.google which was just a mirror-image of the homepage, but that's gone now.

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#39

Post by sp332 » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:28 PM UTC

wmf wrote: post #7

rmanalan wrote: post #2

I just bought an OnHub last year. WTF Google?!

And you just got an email saying that OnHub and the new Wifi router use the same OnHub firmware, which presumably will be maintained at least until the Google This-Time-We're-Serious router comes out.

Do you have a link to this message?

Re: Introducing a new kind of Wi-Fi system

#40

Post by captn3m0 » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 7:29 PM UTC

SEJeff wrote: post #26

mariusz79 wrote: post #22

The list of features is missing one important item - Using these we will be better able to monitor your indoor whereabouts.

And in specific, lookup Tomographic Motion Detection ala: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8updJWoSxE http://www.securityelectronicsandnetworks.com/articles/2014/...

This is a nice piece of recent research: Keystroke Recognition Using WiFi Signals

[0]: https://www.sigmobile.org/mobicom/2015/papers/p90-aliA.pdf