Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Sony giving away free games as part of their play at home initiative, Instagram and copyright claims, ride sharing drivers during the pandemic, Instacart tips, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Peter Reichert, CEO/Founder - AtmosFX

Victor in Aurora, Colorado listens to the podcast and asked: "I have an Xfinity modem in the basement. I have a Netgear extender upstairs. They work fine together, but I'd like to go out into the garage and working out there, but the signal is very weak. I was looking at getting another extender for out there, but I was wondering if the mesh system that you guys talk about would be a better option."

http://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2020/04-17-2020/04-17-2020-H2S5.mp3

Victor, if you already have that repeater working and set up - and it’s possible for you to get another one to work alongside what you already have deployed - then it will probably be a lot cheaper to go that way.

Mesh systems are great, they’re seamless and can often adjust or at least give reports of what coverage is like at all points, but they’re not cheap. Even the fake mesh systems like Google WiFi cost several hundreds, a new repeater may end up costing you $30 and you’ve already been able to set one up successfully.

If you’re happy with the way your current system works, expanding it is probably going to be a better choice for you than replacing it.

Chris shared his personal experience:

I use a Mesh system at my house. I have the Netgear Orbi, with one satellite unit. I live in a two-story townhouse and my router is downstairs. In my upstairs bedrooms, my streaming content was constantly buffering and I was getting a very weak wifi signal. When I installed the mesh system and placed the satellite unit upstairs, it was a night-and-day difference. No more buffering issues. Again, I only have the main router unit and one satellite. With many of these systems, including the Orbi, you can add multiple satellite units to increase the coverage in a larger home.

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