Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020
Ubiquiti AmpliFi Alien Mesh Kit Review: An Odd Pair of Wi-Fi Tango
If my previous mentioning of the AmpliFi Alien router’s mesh portion sounded a bit like a tease, that’s because, at the time, I knew Ubiquiti would release an Alien Kit, but couldn’t talk about it. Even though you can use two Alien routers — at…
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Netgear Orbi AX6000 Review: Great Wi-Fi for a Hefty Price
Even at a reduced street price of $650, Netgear’s new Orbi WiFi 6 System AX6000 (model RBK852) is crazy-expensive. It’s an excellent Wi-Fi system but, for my money, not hundreds-of-dollars better than the recently released budget-minded Orbi RBK13. But among its peers, the new Wi-Fi…
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Ubiquiti AmpliFi Alien Review: A Peculiarly Good Router
The Ubiquiti’s new AmpliFi Alien is a weird one. It’s unlike any other tri-band routers I’ve seen. In many ways, this new Wi-Fi 6 router is similar to the Arris’s SURFboard mAX Pro, which is thin on network settings and customization. Yet, it also has…
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Zyxel PLA6456 Review: A Bulky but Fast Powerline Kit
The Zyxel PLA6456BBKIT powerline adapter kit is a quick way to extend your wired network from one end of your home to another, without running an actual network cable. It turns a couple of power sockets into two ends of a standard network connection. The…
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EnGenius ESR580 Tri-band Mesh Review: Almost Ingenious
The EnGenius ESR580 EnMesh Tri-band Whole-Home Smart Wi-Fi System is a decent mesh, with the potential to be an excellent one. It has a practical hardware design, an easy setup process, and a useful app. The performance is also better than many similar canned systems,…
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Best Wi-Fi 5 Mesh Systems to Buy Now
Since the first consumer-grade Wi-Fi system — the original Eero — debuted in early 2015, there have been so many others on the market, giving those living in large houses plenty of options. Below is the list of what I consider the best Wi-Fi 5…
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Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine: The Ultimate Wi-Fi 5 Router
The Ubiquiti’s latest Wi-Fi 5 router, the UniFi Dream Machine or UDM, is my new favorite. It’s an advanced enterprise-class system packed into a beautiful and compact home-friendly hardware box. You can use it as a simple single router via a sleek mobile app like…
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Best Wi-Fi 5 Routers to Buy Now
The Wi-Fi router is the heart of your digital home. Among other things, it provides wireless Internet to all of your devices. Generally, if you live in a small or medium-size house, a single Wi-Fi router will suffice. You’ll find here my list of the…
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Netgear Orbi RBK13 Review: A Reliable Budget Wi-Fi Mesh
At $230, the all-new Netgear Orbi RBK13 is the most affordable version among the popular Orbi mesh brand. The new Wi-Fi system has a completely new design, consisting of three hardware units, instead of the traditional two. But it shares the same mobile app, web…
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TP-Link Archer AX3000 Review: Wi-Fi 6 Made Affordable
With the Archer AX3000, which is available in certain parts of the world as the Archer AX50 variant, TP-Link manages to hit that current sweet spot of Wi-Fi 6. The router delivers the performance level of existing available clients at a cost most of us…
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ARRIS SURFboard mAX Pro Review: Excellent Wi-Fi Stunted by Zero Multi-Gig Port and Scant Customization
ARRIS’s first Wi-Fi 6 offering, the SURFboard mAX Pro AX11000 Mesh system (model W133), is a bit of an exaggeration. Without a multi-gig network port, it can’t deliver max Wi-Fi 6 speeds, and its mobile app doesn’t include any pro features or, I dare say,…
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Asus RT-AX88U Review: A Router for True Gigabit Internet
The Asus RT-AX88U is one of the first Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) routers on the market, and I was quite excited to get my hands on it. So excited, I decided to test it for a second time — I didn’t have any Wi-Fi 6 clients…
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Netgear RAX200 Review: Nice, Super-Fast but Overpriced
The Netgear Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream AX11000 Tri-Band WiFi 6 Router (model RAX200), unveiled back in March, is easily one of the most, if not the most expensive, Wi-Fi router on the market. It’ll set you back at least $100 more than does the RAX120, which…
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AmpliFi HD Wi-Fi System Review: Still a Mesh Novelty
I was first introduced to the AmpliFi HD Wi-Fi system a few years back, at its launch, and somehow never got around to reviewing it. Ubiquiti got in touch with me again recently, and here we are — better late than never. Indeed, after all…
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Sprint MiFi 8000 Review: A Cool Hotspot for a Price
The MiFi 8000 is the Sprint version of Verizon’s MiFi 8800L that came out late last year — both come from inseego, formerly Novatel. It, too, is likely Sprint’s last 4G hotspot, due to the availability of 5G. Considering the slow roll-out of 5G, though,…
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Nokia Beacon 1 Review: Dated Wi-Fi Solution with Oddities
I’m not sure what it is the idea behind the new Nokia Beacon 1 mesh Wi-Fi router. At $129 per single unit (or $299 for a set of three), it’s not exactly affordable. Using dated entry-level Wi-Fi 5 specs — as the world is moving…
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