Eero – Blanket your home in fast, reliable WiFi
eero.com
eero.com
I don't really agree with the negativity here; sure it probably doesn't do as much as ubiquiti gear or dd-wrt or whatever, and it may cost more, but I think for the average person these are far outweighed by the "throw another box at it" simplicity.
Even if you're a technical person, your time might be more valuable than futzing around with a router.
A lot of people are willing to pay a premium for something that just works.
Anyway, yeah these sound neat. I hope more than anything, though, that they have secure firmware. One of the biggest problems faced by the average home is vulnerable router firmware, leaving millions of routers open to exploit for various nefarious purposes.
If it all works as advertised, this would be great. But there is no reason to believe these ambitious marketing claims before there is actual product on the shelves.
That said, a current-gen AirPort Express or Extreme covers many of the points here.
- You can set it up in seconds from your phone, if you have an iPhone. (Otherwise, you're stuck with OS X, Windows, or the Windows utility on WINE, though there are some okay open-source config utils).
- It's going to be pretty much rock solid. They're very good about reacquiring network access, and the firmware is about the cleanest I've ever seen on a router from a technical perspective (the iCloud services are a bit weird, but those are optional).
- You really only need one of them to serve single-level homes /apartments where they'll be punching through less than 5-6 walls.
- It won't auto-update, but some might consider this a feature.
- If you plug a second AirPort in, it asks if you want to extend the first network.
That aside, the bandwidth reduction from a multihop mesh would likely make the Eero unsuitable for my needs (I tend to saturate AC, so I just throw more wired access points at the coverage problem to keep my bandwidth up).
I tried setting up a linksys router as a bridge, but it was a little bit tricky and required me to reset it once or twice before I got it setup.
A few days later I purchased an airport express for the airplay feature to connect it to my radio. I installed it at one location in my home and it was drop-dead simple to set it up as a bridge to the existing network.
1. Give it a static IP on your local network (so you can find the web interface after step 2).
2. Disable DHCP on the router.
3. Plug your network into a LAN port on the router, instead of the WAN port.
Your router is now a dumb switch and access point. This works with most routers. While it can still technically route traffic to its WAN port, there's nothing plugged in there and it won't assume gateway status with no DHCP server.
Still, well done video, using your phone to connect for the first time (via Bluetooth) is clever etc.
Don't know if I believe all the 'never reboot a router again'-spiel, even more expensive gear needs to be power-cycled once in a while. Unless they do that auto-magically at night when you don't use it (that might or might not be clever - depends on you use-case).
I can pick up a Ubiquiti UniFi 3 pack for $189 or individually for $64 at Amazon today.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EORRBW/ref=olp_product_...
http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-UAP-PRO-Enterprise-S...
Also setting up a Ubiquiti UniFi is an enterprise level product, with all the complexity that implies.
Update: See http://wiki.ubnt.com/UniFi_FAQ#Wireless_Uplink as an example of what is required to setup Ubiquiti's answer to mesh networking. Note that this requires the user to setup server software to do the provisioning.
Running the installer and paging through the wizard.
The many positive Amazon reviews seem to suggest otherwise.
Here's a sampling:
"This was very easy to install and configure and has great coverage in our 3,500 sq ft home."
"As a tech savvy, but non-technically trained individual - this WAP was extremely easy to configure and provides exceptional wireless range and speed."
"I can't say enough how simple the installation process on these has been..."
Note, however, that the Java Runtime Environment is required to configure the software. I guess the dream of the 90s is alive at Ubiquiti.
They are faster than ever, and have a bigger range than ever before. I suggest skipping the Eero and opting for something like this: http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-ac2400-rt-ac87u-dual-band-...
You're right that the average Bay Area cardboard box doesn't need these, but the world's a lot bigger than the Bay Area.
But the price is a bummer. Routers are dirt cheap nowadays ( during Christmas/Thanksgiving a dual-band was only $18). I've got one WiFi router for each room, backed by Powerline, and the total was probably only ~$200.
Well I guess $100 isn't too much for peace of mind, if it really works as advertised...
Finally bumping out Aerohive, Meraki and others determined to destroy my wallet.
So... you buy 3 WAPs, one acts as a router, and I guess they all talk to each other via wifi bridging. At the right pricepoint this must be attractive for those who just want something "that works" but if its too expensive, just using plain old wifi bridging will beat them out. Not sure how business will react to this as they typically have ethernet all over the place and don't need, or want, wireless bridging of access points.
I do wonder why no one has made a wifi device that does bridging over 5ghz but does 2.4ghz for clients. No client-side interference issues to worry about as the three WAPs communicate with each other, but at the cost of 5ghz for clients (which most clients dont support).
I think the larger issue here is why wifi gets so little spectrum from the FCC. It would be nice if we moved towards opening up some more spectrum for home wifi. Perhaps start working on making channel 2.4ghz 14 work, like they have in Japan. Shame the sweet 700mhz band was sold to the telecoms instead of given to the people for open access. So here we are with the status quo of "just add more access points" and hope to god all your neighbors don't do the same. As someone who has neighbors who already do this, it pisses me off there aren't any clear channels for me to use, so I'm always dealing with interference.
I think eero could really cause some problems as one apartment dweller could take up all three overlapping channels very quickly and now everyone else around her is suddenly getting half or less the speed they are used to. In the age of 50-100mbps internet to the home, suddenly being unable to get all of that via wireless-N sucks. I have 50mbps internet, and can barely crack 30mbps over wifi no matter what channel I use. Over wired ethernet, I get all 50mbps. Netstumbler shows me, amongst other WAPs, my neighbor has 3 AP's with the same SSID using all three non-overlapping channels, which is pretty much what eero is. So what now? Nothing, I just have to suck it up or hope that wifi AC fixes everything. I suspect AC won't make much of a difference if it doesn't have the available spectrum.
Also, anyone else impressed with the PR this thing is getting? Its on all my feeds/sites/etc. Someone is paying for quite a marketing campaign.
1. In the Mesh, all units using the same MAC address and Channel. This means no actual "hand-off" needs to be made from the perspective of the client device, even as you move about the covered area. It sounds like Antenna Diversity on Steroids.... There will need to be multi-path-rx consolidation done within the mesh, and some decision making which eero (and which antenna on the specific eero) to send device bound packets to.
2. According to another response I got, however the mesh is currently formed, it's day-to-day operation can be supported both wirelessly or hard-wired (cat5). I am guessing (hoping) this means that a giga-switch could be installed between eeros, and I will be able to use my previously installed pulled cat5 cabling to reach from my Router in the basement to my top AP two floors up.... the guy indicated that wire based mesh will still be faster (at least from a latency perspective) than a fully wireless based mesh. I intend to have a hybrid wired-wireless mesh unless it proves to be too much hype.
3. I did not get a definitive answer (I don't think) about the usefulness of the 2 gigaports on each eero. They are both WAN/LAN auto-sensing, but was hoping to learn that they could both could be used as LAN ports at the same time.... Maybe they can, maybe they can't, but at least one can be a LAN.
4. I have not really received an answer on how "customizable" the QoS settings are. I have a lot of "critical bandwidth" devices (tivos, game consoles, VOIP) and I would like "massagable" QoS settings, by port and by fixed IP or MAC.
Assuming this radio setup:
Do you dedicate one of the radios to the mesh communication?
If so, does this mean you have a non-simultaneous dual-band 2.4/5 on the other radio for client devices?
Do you intelligently switch the mesh radio between 2.4GHz and 5GHz on a per-access point basis based on what gives the best ratio of packet loss to bandwidth to the surrounding mesh nodes?
How many antennas do you have per radio/band?
I'm also really skeptical of anything that calls itself "self-fixing". I have yet to see any tech get that right. Usually that just means "we obscured most of the settings you need to fix things away from you, hidden behind a fancy UI".
While, I get what you are saying with regards to most people expecting wifi and routing in an all-in-one package, this is clearly not what Eero is meant to do. If someone buys this expecting it do everything, then they will probably be able to return it for a full refund.
Most wireless APs can and do have those features.
It looks like they're targeting the group of people who want their home network to just work.
> your modem's built-in router will continue to manage the network unless you can turn off the routing functionality. That means that eero won't manage your firewall, your NAT or your DHCP settings.
I'd guess if it gets an RFC 1918 address from upstream it turns off NAT and DHCP.
Where does one go (as a somewhat technical non-Wifi expert) to get guidance on positioning, configuring, naming just two wifi routers for a 700 square foot apartment? (E.g. should I have both on the same channel? Should I have the same or different SSIDs?)
You can only pick the same channels if you are absolutely, 100% certain that there is no signal overlap.
With just two routers and a single laptop moving around an apartment, your biggest problem for signal (on a 2.4GHz network) will be the neighboring apartments and not the unused router, as it is just broadcasting beacon frames about every hundred milliseconds and not doing much else.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_allocation_schemes#DCA_...
You're pretty much guaranteed to be fighting with several neighboring wifi networks in an apartment (and you're more likely to get the hidden node problem), so that's pretty much worst case for 2.4GHz.
If you have a legacy requirement for 2.4GHz, try a single ASUS RT-N66U before installing two routers. I've seen it effortlessly cover several-thousand-square-foot areas from the back room or basement. I was able to get reasonable signal from one in a lobby through four vertical floors (and through many other active wireless networks).
If you want AC / have AC-capable devices: get an AirPort Extreme if you use Apple hardware, or any of the ASUS AC (like the AC66U) routers otherwise. Be forewarned: many AC routers on the market combine their maximum 5GHz N speed and 5GHz AC speed for their "total capable speed", for example "N600 + AC1800 = AC2400!" [1] (it is a very nice router, but you're just about as well off in an apartment with an AC66U). Also, if you get an ASUS router, make sure to replace the default firmware with Tomato Shibby or asuswrt-rmerlin as the stock software has a bad habit of sprouting moderate to critical security vulns (ASUS isn't special here. Many of the consumer router vendors have this problem.).
I don't think this product is the right one for you, but it is for someone my parents' age or for my non-technical peers. If my parents / in-laws have WiFi trouble I wouldn't hesitate to recommend that they get a couple of these.
"run wires if that doesn't work": If you can't get decent wifi signal through an entire 700sqft apartment (where you'll probably have at most 1-2 walls between your router and computer at any point in time), you have bigger problems that a mesh network might not solve. At this point, you probably have too many neighboring wireless networks or bad walls, and mesh networks don't solve either of these.
"make sure to replace the default firmware": My primary recommendation is Apple hardware, which is fine on default firmware. I also mentioned ASUS because some people actively don't want Apple hardware, but I'd venture those people are also more likely to be happier to install their own firmware/OS than the average.
Have the 5GHz channel on a separate SSID. Some devices (Apple seems to be bad at this) will end up having an "affinity" to the lower speed 2.4GHz because of signal strength (often only trivially different, and usually with more interference).
I have "My Home SSID" and "My Home SSID 5GHz", and set the 5GHz with a higher connection priority and it works well - only if the 5GHz noticeably deteriorates does it switch down (and devices that are not 5GHz get more access to the 2.4GHz network).
There is another product Open-mesh which is a system which was before eero so this part of the FAQ needs to be updated.
Smart use of two radios though for the repeating stuff.
Having deployed a large Aruba installation, I really like the Aruba system in general (consumer-unfriendliness aside).
That being said, unless things have changed since a few years ago, you're still looking at >$1000 to do a minimal installation, once licensing and support is set up.
Then we discovered Ubiquiti and their hardware was amazing, but you couldn't use it for open-mesh after the FCC tapped Ubiquiti on the shoulder for allowing their radios to be reconfigured with a different country code.
Open-mesh seems like they're targeting the hobbyist / light commercial deployment market, Eero looks like they're aiming for the home and end-user market. Maybe their marketing is stretching things a bit, but I don't think it's completely out of line.
I wonder if anyone is working on a relatively easy to set up system that could be rented out to small conference organizers.
5GHz has twenty-one non-overlapping channels.
In an apartment building, where you're pretty much guaranteed to be in close proximity of at least a few other active routers, 5GHz is a big deal.
I was just thinking of putting together a router using a RasPi. What's the best way to get 802.11 a/b/c/g/n/* capability? Should I use 2 USB dongles, one for "g" and the other for the rest?
Huh?
Finally, WiFi that works.
My WiFi works just fine, always has. And if I ever upgrade to an A/C network it'll be fast, too.