Google Wifi

Price: From $129 (£TBC)

If you’ve ever played around with Powerline and Wi-Fi extenders in an effort to make your wireless signal reach all the way through your home, new Google Wifi is the product for you.

Price

The Google Wifi UK release date has not been confirmed, though we were told at the launch that Google hoped it would be coming soon. In the US Google Wifi is available to preorder from November, and will cost $129 for a single pack and $299 for a pack of three.

Features

Built on the strengths of OnHub, Google Wifi is in essence a series of mini wireless routers that all talk to each other and can be scattered across the home to ensure a strong and fast wireless signal in every room. Google designed Wifi to be able to support multiple devices at once, and to withstand high-bandwidth activities such as streaming video and gaming. You can buy Google Wifi points in packs of one or three, enabling you to keep adding to your setup if you have a large home. Google recommends using one point in a small house or flat measuring between 500- and 1500 square feet, two in a medium house measuring between 1500- and 3000 square feet, and three in a large home between 3000- and 4500 square feet. It uses mesh Wi-Fi, with each Google Wifi point creating a high-powered connection and able to determine the best path for your data. Other alternatives include Powerline, which uses the electrical wiring in your home to create a simple but fast, wired network that connects adapters in rooms away from your internet router. (See our top Powerline adaptors on page 137). If you want manual options they are available through a companion app for Android and iOS, but for those who don’t, Network Assist technology takes the hard work out of optimising your router basically by doing it for you. It will ensure your Wi-Fi is operating on the clearest channel, and it will continue to optimise your Wi-Fi no matter which room of the house you are in. Network Assist can even tell you where best to place a Google Wifi point or advise you to adjust your broadband tariff.

A handy feature of Google Wifi is that at any point you can pause the Wi-Fi connection on a given connected device, such as the kids’ tablets when you want them to come down for dinner. You can also see how much bandwidth these devices are using and prioritise particular devices over others.

Google Wifi supports wireless encryption, verified boot and auto updates, keeping security and user privacy as high priorities.