“What the heck is wrong with the wireless?” This is a question that comes up often in my house. My usual response: No idea. The gremlins and fairies that carry my Internet data back and forth between the iPad in my hands, my phone, a connected garage door opener, a connected doorbell, the security cameras, and 17 million other gadgets in my house are taking a break I guess. They’re tired. I’m not actually sure how any of this works, and if you start talking to me about wireless network specifications I will hit myself in the head with a frying pan.
I did start using a product recently that has solved the problems, though. The Google Wi-Fi Router two-pack uses something called mesh networking to improve your signal. Think of this product as adding more fairies and gremlins to your wireless network. Okay, fine: The technical reason it works better is that the second router extends your network to more rooms of the house. You are creating a wireless bridge so the signal strength is stronger. Getting that second router involves one simple app (called Google Wi-Fi) and following a few equally as simple steps. Then my gadgets connected faster and more reliably. I streamed a 4K movie using an NVIDIA Shield in my bedroom and I’m serious: For the first time ever the movie didn’t pause or turn into streaming media sludge.
Also, the garage door opener didn’t occasionally sputter and disconnect. The doorbell worked better. Security cameras, phones, tablets, laptops. They all worked better than a single router in my basement, and everyone is now happy as clams.
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You can add more Google Wi-Fi routers if you live in a mansion or just really want to make sure your Xbox gaming experience is optimized. I won’t say my life has completely changed and I’m a new person now, but no one ever asks me about the wireless anymore.
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