Google Wifi

NOT THE MOST POWERFUL HARDWARE, BUT IT’S ELEGANT AND SIMPLE.

THE NEW GOOGLE Wifi is a product very much in the vein of the Ubiquiti mesh kit (left), a slick consumer-friendly solution that’s controlled entirely with a mobile app.

Like Linksys and TP-Link, Google Wifi makes no distinction between satellite and router. There is only one Google Wifi product, and you just buy as many of them as you need to cover your home. You can start with one and add more as you like. The first one you set up will be configured as a router, with one of the two Ethernet ports assigned as a WAN port; on additional Google Wifis both ports will be assigned as LAN ports.

In terms of actual Wi-Fi capabilities, it’s limited to 866Mbps 802.11ac and 300Mbps 802.11n, which makes it one of the slowest products here. Relays happen in-band or cross-band, so the back channel will take up some of the bandwidth that you might otherwise use for user data.

The mobile control app is as simple to use as Google could make it. There are some surprising depths here, though, like the ability to schedule kids’ internet access or cut them off with the touch of a button, as well as the capacity to prioritise certain devices on the network. But if you’re looking for deep router controls like port forwarding or VPNs, you won’t find them here. It’s designed to be as accessible as possible — a device that anyone can set up and use, not just tech guys.

In all, we really like the simple symmetric design of the Google Wifi. It’s not particularly fast, but it’s easy to set up and manage and expanding your coverage is very straightforward. It’s certainly not going to be the choice of power users, but as a solution for everyone else, it’s elegant and capable.