Nowadays it’s a given that every home has a Wi-Fi network. The Achilles’ heel with Wi-Fi is that it’s nearly impossible to blanket an entire house effectively with one wireless router. Wi-Fi waves diminish the farther you get from the access point and often can’t penetrate walls, furniture, refrigerators and the like.
With the proliferation of internet-dependent appliances and devices such as radios, TV, security cameras, mobile phones, tablets, etc., having a decent network is even more critical. There’s nothing more annoying than walking into a dead space at home and dropping a phone conversation or watching a movie on Netflix go herky-jerky on you because of your network.
More than ever, you need a dependable data stream to feed the beast.
Manufacturers have responded to this with a plethora of offerings, and one of the coolest we’ve looked at comes from a San Francisco company called eero. My colleague Rob Kay tested out an eero system recently on his home and was pleased with the technology.
Why?
Eero’s system fixes the limitations of a single wireless router by providing multiple access points that can be easily placed throughout the house. With multiple access points you can be at the far end of your house or in the carport and you’re not going to be out of the data stream. What’s more, the nodes are engineered to be a mesh network that work in harmony to deliver fast, stable Wi-Fi.
Kay said the system was straightforward to set up. Download an app onto your smartphone, connect it to the router via Bluetooth and you’re halfway there. Then plug the eero into an electrical outlet, cable it into your modem or router, and the app will activate the nodes one by one.
The eero device, which is glossy, sleek and about the size of a saucer, does a great job of covering roughly an area with the radius of 50 feet. It provided speeds of 50 Mbps for downloads and about 10 Mbps for uploads. (The speed inside your home really depends on what kind of access you’re getting from Oceanic or Hawaiian Telcom). According to Oceanic’s measure, the download speed to Kay’s home was about 118 Mbps, and the Wi-Fi network ranged from 20 to 50 Mbps.
If you have an existing router, you can still keep it and leverage the eero to cover the rest of your home.
When setting up the network, if you find reception is deficient in one room or area, you can experiment by changing the configuration of the access points. Every home is different. Just keep the access points from 30 to 50 feet apart and you’ll find the best combination of placement for each home.
Of course, sometimes installs don’t always go smoothly. Rob found that one of the eero access points was faulty. Eero tech support, based in Austin, Texas, was able to resolve this problem and replaced the faulty unit in a matter of days.
What are the cons?
The main issue is the price. The three-pack will set you back about $500. This is a premium product that emulates a controller with access points and would be ideal for homes with issues like concrete walls, multifamily units, or with a lanai where extra coverage might be needed.
The eero system is elegant and well engineered. With the contents of the three-pack placed strategically throughout your home, you’ll have a formidable network. Moreover, those dropped Wi-Fi calls will be relegated to the dustbin of history.
Mike Meyer, formerly internet general manager at Oceanic Time Warner Cable, is now chief information officer at Honolulu Community College. Reach him at mmeyer@hawaii.edu.
